QAD : Has 3D Printing Made the Junkyard Dog an Endangered Species?

When I was a kid my dad owned a 1958 Triumph that was always one pothole bump or one rainy day short-circuit away from being disabled. It would repeatedly and predictably break down. He would take great pride in going to the junkyard with a screwdriver or a wrench and wrestle the required replacement part from some skeleton of a wreck. Many of these salvage yards are long gone as the era of DIY mechanic is passing and the modern nature of automobile design has made salvage parts less viable. Why search out a specific part if you can download the specs and print it?

3D Printing: An Endless Source of Spare Parts

Perhaps3D printingis the logical substitute for acres upon acres of salvageable spare parts. It seems only logical that I should be able to use my home 3D printer to create a replacement for the broken turn signal arm for that 1958 Triumph. Acknowledging that the auto graveyard is a bygone commodity, I do think that there are a number of other spare parts that can and will be printed at home. Over the years, I personally have ordered many replacement parts for refrigerator shelves, washing machine legs and any number of other worn or broken items around the house. If given the option I would gladly have downloaded the file and printed spare parts on my own. Without having to even factor in shipping costs or time, this solution beats the glorious free 2-day shipping from Amazon Prime that we've all come to expect.

3D Printing is Out of this World

Just as you and I need spare parts, astronauts working on the International Space Station (ISS) have the same needs. Perhaps theirs are a little more high-tech than a washing machine leg, but you get the idea. They are hoping toutilize lunar or Martian dust combined with water and a binding agentto print buildings, structures and spare parts on site. Metal 3D printing is also on the table. This would eliminate the need for transporting large items via space travel. Can you even imagine what the shipping costs would be?

There's no doubt that3D printing in manufacturinghas come a long way since it was first developed in the 1980s as a rapid prototyping technique - what are your thoughts on the many uses we keep finding for 3D printing?