A man who lost half his face to cancer recently appeared on Channel 4’s Embarrassing Bodies. Doctors rebuilt what had been missing by creating a prosthetic replica, using a 3D printer.

In a parellel development, at the beginning of this month, a group called Defense Distributed, based in Texas, successfully fired the world’s first completely 3D-printed gun. The gun is undetectable in security checks as it’s made of plastic. This has led law-makers in three US states to seek a ban on the weapons. Clearly the potential of the emerging technology of 3D printing is extraordinary – and fraught.
“We must be pro-active in seeking solutions to this new threat rather than wait for the inevitable tragedies that this will make possible,” said Californian State Senator Leland Yee, as reports surfaced of the first 3D-printed gun. At present 3D guns are only capable of firing a single shot, have an aimable range of mere metres but requiring just one additional metal component pose a potentially very serious threat.
In Ireland, the Department of Justice has said that it too is keeping the matter under review. It also confirmed in a statement to Hot Press that “a person who was in the possession of such a firearm would face the full rigours of the law.”
The technology is moving fast, however, and as a result, there’s currently no law to prevent weapons being manufactured using a 3D printer. If someone had the financial backing, they could set up their own suburban gun factory in the middle of Dublin – and be well within their rights.
When Defense Distributed created their gun, coyly named ‘The Liberator’ – nothing to do with Daniel O’Connell, we assume – they made the schematics and blueprints free to download online. Anyone in possession of one of these super space age machines could simply input the downloaded information and in a matter of hours have a fully-functional weapon that could be slipped through a security check.
Right now there are probably more cost-effective ways of procuring a gun, albeit illegally. But as the technology advances, these machines will become standard household appliances.
“We are working all the time here on many different machines, some more industry-oriented and others possibly more desktop, for the home,” says Deirdre MacCormack, Chief Marketing Officer of the Co. Louth based Mcor Technologies.
Mcor Technologies is a classic business success story. Launched by two brothers with a dream, they recently secured a lucrative contract that will see Mcor manufacturing 3D printers for the global stationery giants, Staples.
“We’re 10 years in 3D now,” Deirdre tells Hot Press. “My husband and his brother set up the company. The first in-house machine was actually in my front room.”
Mcor represent the positive possibilities of 3D printing, creating jobs in a shrivelling economy. The prospects are good: 3D printing will hugely affect the way things are done in a whole range of different businesses.
“Our typical markets are education, architecture, medical, dental and product designers,” Deirdre explains. “However, we are getting a lot more people calling in and asking, ‘Oh, could we use it for this?’ and that sort of thing.”
Industry experts are comparing this stage of 3D printing to where personal computers were at in the ‘80s – and they predict exponential growth.
“3D printing and digital manufacturing could potentially revolutionise the manufacturing sector in Ireland,” states Emer O’Daly of Dublin online start up, FabAllThings. Emer’s company are aiming to transform the current manufacturing model by moving it onto the web and empowering the public. Designs can be submitted through their website: the public will vote on the ones they want made and FabAllThings will then create these.
“By using a crowd-sourcing model, we’re bringing designers, customers and manufacturing together in a new and exciting way – a factory for the digital age,” Emer says.
President Barack Obama recently announced that the US government will be investing heavily in the development and implementation of 3D Printing.
“If the Irish government is serious about growing the manufacturing industry, they should start paying attention to additive manufacturing,” Emer says.
The benefits of the 3D printing industry are potentially colossal. However its misuse, symbolised by the way it facilitates the creation of guns, also looms like a dark cloud.
Watch this 3D space.