3D Printing: the journey of a machine.

Last year, the ASME recognized the first commercial 3D printer as a mechanical landmark.

On May 18, 2016, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) named its 261st Historical Mechanical Engineering Landmark. Invented in 1983 and patented in 1984, the stereolithography (SLA) process developed by Charles Hull would eventually be called 3D printing. By 1987, the first SLA commercial 3D printer was produced, fittingly called SLA-1. Hull would later become a co-founder of 3D Systems.

SLA is a photopolymerization procedure in which a fabricate plate is submerged 0.002 to 0.006 in. (0.05 to 0.15 mm) in a bowl of fluid photosensitive material (see underneath). This profundity can fluctuate in view of laser quality, material, or resistance wanted. An UV laser (not light) sets one cut of the part onto the fabricate plate. The plate at that point submerges another 0.002 to 0.006 in., and the laser hardens the following cut of the part. The thickness of the layers can influence the nature of print and resistances. An industry normal resistance is around 3.9 × 10-3in. (0.1 mm). The laser ventures to every part of the whole way of the part's cross-segment as it develops each layer, so speed turns into an essential thought.

However, the landmark is for the machine that started it all—the SLA-1. Today, rapid prototyping has become a leading technology for the manufacture of new products and parts, with its influence impacting the medical, automotive, and aircraft industries, among others.