Indian Student invented an Cheap 3D printer

Research shows that the UAE’s 3D printing market size is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate or CAGR of 55.3 per cent between 2018 and 2024. The architecture sector tops the revenue generation for the 3D printing sector in the country. Binder jetting is the most widely used technology for architectural modelling.

Though 3D printers have been gaining popularity across the world, the price point has been a deterrent of sorts and more so in developing countries like India. But Melvin George, 24, from Kannur in north Kerala, the southernmost Indian state, has come up with an innovative and inexpensive way of developing a 3D printer amid the raging Covid-19 pandemic that is evoking widespread enthusiasm in the UAE.

George, a guitar aficionado, who is pursuing a postgraduate degree in commerce, wanted to print out parts of the musical instrument but found that a 3D printer at Dh7,500 was way too expensive for him to afford. This got his curious mind ticking: why not make a 3D printer all by himself? 

“Though I had made a guitar out of wood, I was keen to use original parts of the musical instrument. Initially, I wanted to take a 3D printout, but later because of the prohibitive costs decided to make one on my own which proved to be quite a resounding success,” he told.

The Internet proved to be a great leveller as he learnt the tricks of the trade from available online resources. He has been constantly upgrading his homegrown 3D printer, whose making charge is only Dh1,000 and still a work in progress. For the uninitiated, 3D printing, or additive manufacturing is a process of making three-dimensional objects from a digital file using additive processes. The maximum print size of a 3D printer is 120 centimetres x 83cm x 83cm.

So far, he has printed out figurines and showpieces besides parts of a guitar and its amplifier.