Ceramic 3D Printing At Ponoko

Distributed manufacturing giant Ponoko now offers a "glazed ceramic" material option for their 3D printers. This is a big development because it permits the creation of "food safe" objects. Typical extrusion-based 3D printed objects have tiny grooves corresponding to the extrusion layers that can obviously become fouled with foodstuff and be unsafe. Not so with glazed ceramic, which is essentially the same thing your plates are made of. 

 

The process by which Ponoko produces the glazed ceramic apparently involves several firings in a kiln, followed by a glazing step. This obviously puts great stress on the 3D model's geometry, and so Ponoko has a number of recommendations you'd best follow lest your design end up in several pieces. 

 

Who will be the first to design an entire set of 3D printed china? 

 

Via Ponoko