3D printing

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3D printing is one of the latest and coolest services libraries now offer. It can be used for students, professionals, or just the average library user. The basic 3D printer uses plastic filament to build a 3D model of whatever was downloaded to an SD card. Other filaments do exist, one of the most common being metal, but those are not typically found at libraries. 3D printing can be used for anything from school projects to rebuilding a spine (3ders.org).

At my previous place of library employment, we had a 3D printer. One of the coolest things that I succeeded in was getting a large corporation that built machine parts to use the printer to make plastic pieces for whatever prototype they were building, instead of going all the way to Meridian to use the more expensive metal 3D printer. I am very excited for the future of 3D printing as I think it will solve many problems the world faces today at a much lower cost.