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A 3D printed part could save farmers time and money.
Winter
2015
grainswest.com
45
By PETER GREDIG
TECH@
WORK
Anotherprint revolution
Create your partswith3D printing technology
As the price of 3D printing
continues to fall, farmers should start
thinking about what they can and will do
with these devices. It’s not pie in the sky
… it’s here now!
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it 100 times:
“Can you please drive to the dealership
and pick up a part for me?” A “parts run”
is pretty much a standard practice and an
unavoidable part of agriculture. We use
machinery and it breaks—new parts are
required for repairs.
Huge strides have been made to reduce
the agonizing downtime we experience
while we wait for parts that are not
in stock at the local dealer. Overnight
couriers, mobile parts apps and improved
parts availability have all helped, but the
fact remains that the part is manufac-
tured somewhere, stored in a warehouse
somewhere else, shipped to a local dealer
and then picked up by you or someone you
now owe a favour.
This is about to change, and 3D printers
are the reason.
3D printers have been around for more
than 20 years, but only recently has the
process become economical enough to
be of use to non-commercial users like
you and I. Additive manufacturing is
the technical term for 3D printing. The
most popular application involves using
heated plastic (ABS) that runs through a
nozzle and is secreted in layers to build a
three-dimensional object or, in our world,
a part. It is one of those things that is
difficult to describe, but makes a lot more
sense when you see it in action.
If you do a YouTube search for “3D
printer,” there are some amazing videos
that show how the machines work and
some examples of what can be created.
You will be blown away.
In only a few years, the cost of a 3D
printer has fallen to about $1,000 today
from $5,000 or more. A low-end model
can be had for as little as $500. This tech-
nology will revolutionize light manufac-
turing around the world.
So what’s in it for you? Instead of wait-
ing for a part to be shipped from China,
you will just go online and buy a file that
you download and transfer to a 3D printer.
The printer spits out the part and away
you go.
Plastic is only one material that can be
used. Some 3D printers utilize metal or
super-strong composite materials. Bio-en-
gineers are even using 3D printers to
generate replacement organs and prosthet-
ics for humans. And Chinese technicians
built an entire house using 3D printers to
showcase the technology. It’s even possible
to create food products using 3D printers.
Farm equipment manufacturers are
already using 3D printing technology to
build prototypes before taking a new de-
sign to full production. These prototypes
can be generated at a fraction of the cost
of traditional tooling, so the innovation
process is faster and more economical
than in the past. AGCO Corporation used
this technology to produce new seed
meter designs for its planters. GVL Poly
makes plastic snouts, or dividers, for corn
heads, as well as other harvesting equip-
ment for John Deere, Case IH, AGCO and
others. GVL made a major commitment to
using 3D printing technology to develop
and manufacture the plastic snouts, it has
paid off big time.
Farmers will take 3D printing beyond
just creating replacement parts for equip-
ment. We know farmers are innovative by
nature. The cost of having ideas turned
into prototypes has been a major speed
bump for many would-be entrepreneurial
farmers. The low cost of 3D printing will
stimulate some amazing innovations at
the farm gate.
So you may not be chasing friends and
family to do a parts run for much longer.
The request may soon be, “Hey, can you
print a part for me?” And who knows,
maybe your future field service truck will
have a wireless-enabled 3D printer right in
the field.
Peter Gredig is a corn, soybean and wheat
producer near St. Thomas, ON. He is also
a partner in AgNition Inc., a Guelph-based
mobile development company focused on
building agriculture apps and solutions.