3D printing (3DP) is a kind of rapid prototyping technology, also known as additive manufacturing. It is a kind of technology based on digital model file, using powder metal or plastic and other adhesive materials to construct objects by layer printing.

3D printing is usually realized by digital material printer. It is often used in mold manufacturing, industrial design and other fields to make models, and then gradually used in the direct manufacturing of some products. There are already parts printed with this technology. The technology has applications in jewelry, footwear, industrial design, architecture, engineering and construction (AEC), automotive, aerospace, dental and medical industries, education, geographic information systems, civil engineering, firearms and other fields.

With the application of 3D printing technology in more and more fields, 3D printing usually classified into industrial grade 3D printers and common desktop 3D printers.

Industrial 3D printers are widely used in aerospace, automotive, medical, electronic products and so on. And some 3D printing products have realized massive production, such as headphones and dental products.

While common desktop 3D printers are generally used to print smaller products, and used to industrial design, education, animation, archaeology, lighting and other fields. Now, some have also been extended to the oral medicine industry and applied to the digital production process of dentistry. As a part of the digital medical model, they are used to assist in printing products.

It is reported that 3D printing of teeth and bone repair technology has been very mature, and has been widely used in various orthopedic hospitals and dental hospitals. In addition, 3D printing technology can also be used in medical "pre-operative plan", which "transforms" CT scanning data into a 3D model with a 1:1 proportion, so that patients would understand the disease more intuitively, and doctors develop more accurate and perfect surgical plan.

3D printing technology is based on digital model files, it needs to perform a lot of complicated and various instructions. At the same time, the industrial environment of 3D printer is very harsh in many times. Therefore, industrial embedded computer hardware products must be selected to support the control system of 3D printer, so as to ensure the reliability and stability of printing process.

In view of the application environment and technical requirements of 3D printer, it is very suitable to select ARM architecture embedded computer hardware. It has advantages like small size, low power consumption, high performance and low cost. At the same time, the embedded industrial computer has obvious advantages in adapting to wide temperature, wide voltage power supply, strong anti vibration ability and harsh environment, which can better guarantee the operation ability and stability of 3D printer.

Touch Think, as a top leading manufacturer of industrial computer, its product of this embedded industrial control motherboard meet the technical requirements of 3D printers. Its industrial computer is equipped with multiple I/O interfaces and support expansion for various of peripherals.