Loudspeaker Becomes First Ever 3D-Printed Electronic Consumer Item (Video)

Printing electronics isn't just an idea for the future. Scientists have managed to 3D print a working loudspeaker, seamlessly integrating plastic, conductive and magnetic parts. The achievement is huge when it comes to the future of 3D printing as a whole.

That said, a loudspeaker is a relatively simple object. It consists of plastic for the housing, a conductive coil and a magnet. The true challenge, though, is come up with a design and the exact materials that can be printed into a functional state. In this case, the researchers used a Fab@Homes printer, a customizable research printer that allows scientists to tinker with different cartridges, control software and other parameters. They used silver ink for the conductor and used a viscous blend of strontium ferrite for the magnet. In the end, they created a speaker that they could connect to amplifier wires and which worked perfectly.

That's not to say that this is the very first time that a consumer electronic device has been printed. In 2009, the researchers managed to print a working replica of the Vail Register, the famous antique telegraph receiver and recorder that was used to send the first Morse code telegraph. This particular project was printed on a research fabber, a predecessor to the Fab@Home.

Of course, it will be quite some time before there's a market for printed electronic devices. Yet this latest effort shows that it is indeed possible--at least with a simple object like a speaker. In fact, a market for printed electronic devices could be like introducing color printers after only black and white have existed.

"It opens up a whole new space that makes the old look primitive," said Lipson, one of the researchers, in a news release.

Want to learn more about the 3D printer and see it in action? Check out the video below or here, courtesy of Cornell University.