3D Printing
Lightship Learning uses 3D printing technology to print our models. There are a variety of 3D printing technology available now but the most common type for plastics is FDM printing or Fused Deposition Modelling.
3D technology has rapidly evolved over its relatively short lifetime and now is a highly affordable solution for innovators and designers to start making products for the marketplace. Rather than using highly expensive moulds for injection moulding, which can cost tens of thousands of pounds, it is now possible to design an item and have the machine next to your print it out in a matter of hours for a relatively lost cost.
3D Printing is not without its quirks and set backs. For one, it is far slower than injection moulding and on a large scale basis probably not that cost effective (although this depends entirely on the complexity of what is being printed). In addition, because of the way in which the printed fuses plastic layers together you can often get artefacts in the print which you would not normally see on an injection moulded part.