Printers are found in basically every home and business nowadays. Every day they spew out reams of words and numbers on flat pieces of paper.

Newer devices that also are called printers are not limited to an output on flat pieces of paper. That kind of printer can make things that have length, width and height.

The devices known as 3D printers are fairly new technology, but more and more uses are being found for them.

They have been used to make parts for several years. People who like to build scale models of airplanes and other vehicles are often working with components that were made with 3D printers.

Now Iowa Central Community College and Iowa State University are working together on a project that will move 3D printing technology to a massive scale. At the heart of the two schools’ collaboration is a 40- foot-wide printer that can potentially be used to build houses. The machine is being assembled at the East Campus of Iowa Central.

The concept of using a printer to build a house is kind of mind-boggling. It is easy to imagine someone loading lumber and cement into one end of some huge machine and watching a house come out the other end. Obviously, it is not that simple. Not yet, anyway.

But if it ever does become that simple Iowa State and Iowa Central will likely have played a big role in making it happen. Those schools are engaged in one of the first programs in the nation which is focused on using and testing 3D printing technology for home construction. Iowa State is focused on the engineering aspects of the technology. Iowa Central is training the people who will operate the 3D printers that will be used in the construction industry.

By getting involved in this project, the leadership of Iowa Central is once again positioning the school in the forefront of worker training programs. That is a good thing for our community and state.

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