Three Most Amazing Things That Were 3-D-Printed This Year

1. Running Shoes
   
   Adidas has imbued its 3D Printing "Factories"with ability to print shoes 90 times faster than before. fast printing technology is being used to manufacture elastomer midsoles for the company’s When the doors of the second factory open in Atlanta in 2018, Adidas will manufacture one million shoes a year using the technique.

2. Eyeglasses, a bevel gear, and a miniature replica of the MIT dome
   

these small plastic tchotchkes are not particularly impressive—but the speed at which they were created is. MIT researchers made them on a new machine that prints items so fast you’d think a video of it in action has been sped up. Items that would once have taken hours to make are now down to minutes. The team published the details of its machine, which uses a heat generating laser and a high–pressure screw mechanism. In the journal Additive Manufacturing in November.

3.Jet-engine combustion liner

In November GE unveiled its newest 3-D printer, and a part called a jet engine combustion liner. Printed on the beta version of the machine. Like most metal printers are today, it uses lasers to transform powder into a solid metal. But this printer was made with the goal of overcoming size limits that have ruined previous designs. The combustion liner showed off the size capabilities of the machine: it can print metal parts up to one meter in diameter. When it debuts in 2018, the printer figures to be a centerpiece of the company’s push for 3-D printing to fuel the future of its business. In December, GE also used 3-D-printed metal parts to help set an efficiency record for a natural-gas turbine.