Rapid prototyping and three-dimensional printing became an important part of prototyping, making the process more enhanced and fast. Since that time, it has been available only for powerful industries, corporations and companies due to its high price and expensive equipment. Presently, the time is coming when rapid prototyping technology and 3D printing is going to become available not only for big industries, but also for private individuals and small industries that may need to use rapid prototyping for their own purposes.
The process of three-dimensional printing is similar to the usual printing. The only difference here is that different materials like plastic are used instead of ink, and the process does not need paper to fulfill a project. Let us imagine the following situation. It is snowing outside and the temperature is very low. You have a great coat, protecting you from bad weather conditions and you are just going to put it on when you notice that it lacks one button. You have nothing else to get on and you have no extra button to sew on the coat. Just imagine how convenient it would be, if you had a device capable of producing the same button in few minutes! Three-dimensional printing would come in handy in such situation. So what is the essence of the 3D printer work? The process is assisted by a computer, by so-called CAD technology (computer-aided design) which sends a signal to a printer, producing the needed detail, part of any real object. The production is carried out using layered technology, which is the growing of material layer-by-layer until the model is done to its full size and considering all needed characteristics.
One of possible applications of three-dimensional printing technology is production of toys and their parts. It is very interesting variant, because you will not have to buy a present for you little niece or a child of your friend

Tags: prototyping, rapid prototype