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variants:
or less commonly 3-D printer
plural 3D printers also 3-D printers
Definition of 3D printer
: a device used to manufacture objects by depositing material in successive layers according to a prescribed pattern or model : a machine used for 3D printing That served to protect them for the next stage, in which they were mixed with plastic and used as feedstock in a 3D printer, which printed a model of the bunny. — The Economist Mr. Drumm … designed the Printrbot, a desktop 3-D printer kit. Like a number of other 3-D printers, it uses heated plastic—applied layer by layer to a heated bed by a glue-gun-like extruder—to turn designs created on a computer into real objects.— Steven Kurutz
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Time Traveler for 3D printer
The first known use of 3D printer was in 1991
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