The emerging technology of 3D printing has huge potential for both the auto industry and the enthusiast world alike. We hear you want to know more, so here’s a great little video introduction by PBS Digital Studios. 

This little story grew out of a number of conversations we’ve had with Motor City Garage readers in recent months.  Many of you in the biz have been working with 3D printing for a few years now, and for you the technology is old news. But as we have learned, there are many folks out there who haven’t been exposed to it yet, and they want to know more. They have questions, beginning with: How does it work? What can it do? Is it worthy of the hype?

Actually, 3D printing has become sort of an umbrella term for a number of processes with names like rapid prototyping and additive manufacturing. This is a gross simplification, but in one technique, imagine a mechanism something like an ink-jet printer that can build up material (a plastic resin, for instance) not only on the Z and Y axes, upon a flat surface, but on the Z (vertical) axis as well, creating a three-dimensional object.

This part can serve as a full-size pattern or prototype, saving untold time and cost in the tooling process. In some cases, the piece can even serve as a finished product—examples include trim parts and intake manifolds. The potential is huge for all kinds of short-run automotive manufacturing, from motorsports to vintage auto restoration.

This little video doesn’t include any specific automotive applications that we noticed, but only a little imagination is required to see the possibilities. Thanks again to PBS Digital Studios.