Power to the printer! Designs for this fist-shaped wonder are available at Makerlove.com ... Now why hasn't anyone else thought of this yet?
How Does a 3-D Printer Work?
A 3-D printer takes a virtual blueprint created by computer aided design (CAD) or any type of animation modeling software and creates a solid 3-D object out of it. This is achieved by laying down successive layers of material to create a 3-D object. Such materials may include liquid, powder, paper or sheet metal. Next, the machine joins these layers together or automatically fuses them to create the final shape. The entire process can take between a few hours and several days, depending on the complexity of the design. The video below shows how a simple dildo can be printed out in less than an hour.
Time to Print Your Own Toys?
3-D printers can print in just about any type of material, including chocolate and cheese. Those could be fun materials in the bedroom (or ... not), but most high-quality sex toys are made of medical-grade silicone. Some sex toys out there are being printed are being made of polyvinyl alcohol, which is water soluble and couldn't be used with water-based lubricants. It's also porous, which isn't a good thing, particularly with toys you might use anally. Makerlove and many others use acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) a pthalate free material. It's non-porous, but because a printer can't make watertight designs (yet), the toy itself might be. (Learn more about the do's and don'ts of anal play in Why You Shouldn't Have Anal Sex.)
![3D printed blue dildo]()
Life in plastic, it's fantastic. A customized dildo could soon be yours. (Note that supports may be removed after printing). Image source: Makerlove.com.
There another problem too. These printers are thousands of dollars, and while you can get one and be printing your first dildo in no time, you probably won't want to actually, um, use it. Because the resolution of these printers is still a work in progress, the toys they create are a little rough, holey and even sharp. In other words, you probably don't want them around your naughty bits - and they may even be dangerous.
Despite all this, many experts believe it won't be long before the technology for your own personal sex toy factory becomes a reality. Until then, keep on working out those sex toy schematics. One day soon, they may be more than fantasy. (If 3-D printing is the next step in sex toy history, you might want to learn about everything that happened before. Check it out in A Long, Strange Trip Through Dildo History.)