Question: How does a 3D printer work?

Lisa Simmons answered on 17 Nov 2014:

We have some really good 3D printers where I work, and I still haven’t used one. The product designers and engineers I work with have a lot of use for them.
They design an object on a computer aided design software package on the PC. The software then slices this model object into hundreds of thousands of horizontal layers. In our systems the printer reads these layers one at a time, which tells the printer head what position to be in. It then melts some plastic, lays that down and then moves on to the next layer.