Seven uses for a 3D printer

The Sugar Lab use 3D technology to used 3D technology to design and print sugar sculptures. Credit: The Sugar Lab

Maplin has become the first high street electronics retailer to sell 3D printers to consumers. But what could be created using the 3D technology?

1. A gun

The technology has caused controversy in the US after a person successfully fired the world's first gun made using 3D technology.

The designer, Defense Distributed, made the blueprint available online where more than 100,000 downloads took place until the US government demanded that the designs should be taken offline.

Anti-gun campaigners have criticised the technology in the wake of shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

2. Prosthetics

In 2009, a man named Eric Moger was left with a prominent hole on his face after having a tumour removed.

Doctors printed a prosthetic using 3D technology which mirrors the right side of Mr Holger's face - an innovation which he said helped "restart" his life in an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald.

3. Sugar sculptures

The Sugar Lab, run by Kyle and Liz von Hasseln, have used 3D technology to design, digitally model and print sugar sculptures.

According to their website, the couple came up with the concept after trying to make a friend a birthday cake. As the they did not own an oven, they decided to try to 3D print a cake instead.

The Sugar Lab use 3D technology to used 3D technology to design and print sugar sculptures. Credit: The Sugar Lab

4. Bowls

The Nautilus bowl is specifically designed for people with hand disabilities. The bowl, designed by Shelly Ni and Gaia Orain, is ergonomically designed to be easy to use with one hand.

5. Food

NASA granted Texas-based Systems and Materials Research funds to develop a 3D printer that will create "nutritious" foods suitable for Astronauts on long journeys.

NASA say the techbology could be used to tailor food to each individual astronaut's nutritional needs therefore improving health and perhaps reducing boredom.

Food tasting session in the Habitability and Environmental Factors Office at NASA's Johnson Space Center. Credit: NASA

6. Shoes

Last week at Paris Fashion Week, Dutch designer Iris Van Herpen used the technology to create shoes for the catwalk.

In conjunction with 3D printer Stratasys, the designer unveiled intricate shoes which aimed to echo "beauty and wilderness of the natural world" using 3D technology.

The first 3D model shoe, called the Melonia Shoe, was designed by Naim Josefi in 2010.

A 3D model shoe called the Melonia Shoe, designed by Naim Josefi Credit: REUTERS/Yves Herman

7. Houses

Last year engineering professor Behrokh Khoshnevis described how a full-sized house could be 3D printed in less than 20 hours in a speech at TED.