Abstract
Several years passed since 3-D printers attracted people’s attention as a new tool that provides the designed 3-D objects with the modeling method suitable for variable materials. The factors behind this rapid growth of 3-D printer movement are the reduction of development cost due to the expired patent about the fused deposition modeling (FDM), the rise of free 3-D modeling software, and sharing of the information about 3-D printers through the internet. Now we can design and manufacture goods personally, that is, individually. On the other hand, we have been originally developing the 3-D gel printer named SWIM-ER in different background from common 3-D printers at the same time. In this article, we will consider the advantages of gels in comparison with hard materials such as a plastic, metal and ceramic used in common 3-D printers, discuss the outlook of 3-D printed gel model utilizing its characteristics, and introduce the appearance of tough hydrogel as one of the reasons why we started to develop the SWIM-ER. Finally, we would like to show our progress of gel ink for the SWIM-ER and the 3-D gel model shaped in the form of a finger. We are convinced that the SWIM-ER will be a novel tool that promotes the next manufacturing.
