All 3D printing tends to get lumped together, but there are actually two specific styles with some pretty significant distinctions. Fused deposition modeling (FDM) is a faster, but less accurate, method achieved by layering melted plastic into a shape. Stereolithography, (SLA), sacrifices speed for precision by using an ultraviolet laser to harden a liquid resin. That trade-off limited 3D printing’s potential: You could either slowly print actually useful parts and objects, or rapidly print mostly useless trinkets. But thanks to a recent breakthrough from tag team of researchers, SLA has now become equally as fast as its counterpart.
Before this breakthrough, it was only worth using the SLA method to print small objects, like kitchen utensils. But, fortunately, two researchers at the University of Michigan have managed to significantly increase the speed of this technique, so much that it could potentially be used to print large objects, like furniture, without having to wait weeks or even months.
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