 Take Notes

The additive fabrication technique of inkjet printing is based on the 2D

printer technique of using a jet to deposit tiny drops of ink onto paper. In
the additive process, the ink is replaced with thermoplastic and wax
materials, which are held in a melted state. When printed, liquid drops of
these materials instantly cool and solidify to form a layer of the part. For
this reason, the process if often referred to as thermal phase change
inkjet printing. Inkjet printing offers the advantages of excellent accuracy
and surface finishes. However, the limitations include slow build speeds,
few material options, and fragile parts. As a result, the most common
application of inkjet printing is prototypes used for form and fit testing.
Other applications include jewelry, medical devices, and high-precisions
products. Several manufactures have developed different inkjet printing
devices that use the basic technique described above. Inkjet printers from
Solidscape Inc., such as the ModelMaker (MM), use a single jet for the
build material and another jet for support material. 3D Systems has
implemented their MultiJet Moldeling (MJM) technology into their
ThermoJet Modeler machines that utilize several hundred nozzles to
enable faster build times.

The inkjet printing process, as implemented by Solidscape Inc., begins

with the build material (thermoplastic) and support material (wax) being
held in a melted state inside two heated reservoirs. These materials are
each fed to an inkjet print head which moves in the X-Y plane and shoots
tiny droplets to the required locations to form one layer of the part. Both
the build material and support material instantly cool and solidify. After a
layer has been completed, a milling head moves across the layer to
smooth the surface. The particles resulting from this cutting operation
are vacuumed away by the particle collector. The elevator then lowers
the build platform and part so that the next layer can be built. After this
process is repeated for each layer and the part is complete, the part can
be removed and the wax support material can be melted away.
Advanced Manufacturing Technology (AMT) is a modern method of
production incorporating highly automated and sophisticated
computerized design and operational systems. AMT aims at
manufacturing high quality products at low cost within the shortest
delivery time.

Manufacturing is the strength of any industrialized nation. Although large

segments of the population may be employed in service industries, it is
manufacturing that produces the wealth of a nation. In 1979, Gross
National Income (GNI) was about $780 per capita. In 1999 GNI was less
than $365 per capita. Despite huge investments in the oil and gas sector
of the nation's economy, with an annual average investment of
US$10 billion, its contribution to the GDP has been minimal. This is largely
due to the low Nigerian Content in the industry, evidenced by the over
80% of work value which is broadly hi-tech and executed abroad. Likewise
in the auto industry, local content is still less than 15% and in fact, only
simple components such as batteries, tyres, tubes, wire harnesses, oil
filters and seat covers, can be regarded as locally manufactured
components.

Manufacturing around the world is changing rapidly. The processes,

equipment and systems used to design and produce everything from
automobiles to computer chips are undergoing dramatic changes in
response to new customer needs, competitive challenges and emerging
technologies. The situation in Nigeria is that all of our manufacturing
processes are still based on conventional methods of operation. Recent
advances in Information Systems, business practices, engineering
techniques and manufacturing science now enable companies to produce
new and better products more quickly and at a a much lower cost than
every before. This makes it increasingly difficult for underdeveloped
nations to get into the game of quality manufacturing. Advanced
Manufacturing Technology (AMT) is an effort to minimize this effect and
slip Nigeria inside as one of the players.

The use of Computer Numeric Controlled (CNC) machine tools has spread
rapidly during the last decade. Almost 80% of machine tools in modern

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manufacturing industry are computer controlled. Products can now be
made better, faster and cheaper and no manufacturer can afford to do
otherwise, else such a manufacturer will produce goods that are not
globally competitive.

The manufacturing sector in Nigeria is not making the expected

contribution to the GDP, while there is an inherent high level of
importation. For Nigeria to be ranked among the 20 richest countries by
2020, the use of AMT for economic prosperity is the way out.
3D printing law is a collective term for the areas of law that are likely to
be impacted by the technology of the moment – 3D printing. Already 3D
printers have been used to make customised prosthetic limbs, surgical
implants, pills, machinery parts, weapons, replicas of museum specimens
and artifacts. But what is 3D printing? And what areas of law are
impacted by this technology? Is 3D printing illegal? What are the legal
issues?

What is 3D printing?

3D printers are machines which can make different objects from digital
files. They are able to create objects from all sorts of different materials
e.g. plastic and pharmaceutical substances. The object that you wish to
‘print’ is designed using software on your computer. The 3D printing
process then ‘slices’ the object into hundreds of layers which it ‘prints’ on
top of each other to create the object.

So, it uses the same concept as printing ink on paper hence the name.
The machinery itself is expensive but the idea is that as it develops it will
become a cheaper form of manufacture that is highly customisation and
refined in a manner that current forms of manufacture are not. There has
even been a development of a 3D printer that can print another 3D
printer.

3D Printing Law Intellectual Property Issues

One of the key issues in this area is copyright and design rights. In order

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to print a 3D object, you need an electronic plan (or design) of the object
and a 3D printer, which means anyone with these tools can produce exact
copies of an object. This might create a flourishing black market of
essentially counterfeited items which would jeopardise many people’s
intellectual property rights. Additionally, the use of 3D printers could also
severely erode the monopoly of patent holders.

3D printing poses a real threat to intellectual property owners

Product liability

3D printing has already been used to make guns. What happens if a

private citizen downloads a design file for the gun, prints it, and fires it
and the gun misfires due to mechanical problems and the user is harmed
in the process. Who is liable for this product defect? The electronic design
distributor? The maker of the printer? Do consumer protection principles
apply or does there need to be 3D printing law for product liability? The
position is not clear at this time.

You could be liable for something you print

Investment impact

Small businesses and startups that are looking for investment in a product
can use 3D printers to produce replicas of their product. These replicas
can be extremely accurate and enable investors to see what they are
going to invest in. This ability means that the risk of investment is
decreased- fail fast, fail cheap.

This change in investment rate and confidence in small businesses is likely

to have significant legal consequences and add a company law and joint
venture agreement element to 3D printing law. These increased
investment opportunities could be enormously important for the
economies of developing countries such as South Africa.