Blog

An Introduction to 3D Printing:

The benefits of rapid prototyping are well known, but the size and expense of current offerings has limited their use. With the advent of the low cost Desktop 3D Printer, it now allows many small businesses, design firms and schools to be able to have their own dedicated 3D printer on their desk. Professional designers, engineers and students alike will be able to build inexpensive models from their designs before committing to expensive and custom prototyping.

3D Printing – An Overview

3D printing is a form of additive manufacturing technology where a three dimensional object is created by laying down successive layers of material. 3D printers are generally faster, more affordable and easier to use than other additive manufacturing technologies. 3D printers offer product developers the ability to print parts and assemblies made of several materials with different mechanical and physical properties in a single build process. Advanced 3D printing technologies yield models that closely emulate the look, feel and functionality of product prototypes.

A 3D printer works by taking a 3D computer file and using and making a series of cross-sectional slices. Each slice is then printed one on top of the other to create the 3D object.

Since 2003 there has been large growth in the sale of 3D printers. Additionally, the cost of 3D printers has declined. The technology also finds use in the jewellery, footwear, industrial design, architecture, engineering and construction (AEC), automotive, aerospace, dental and medical industries.

A large number of competing technologies are available to do 3D printing. Their main differences are found in the way layers are built to create parts. Each method has its advantages and drawbacks, and consequently some companies offer a choice between powder and polymer as the material from which the object emerges. Generally, the main considerations are speed, cost of the printed prototype, cost of the 3D printer, choice of materials and colour capabilities. Three-dimensional printing makes it as cheap to create single items as it is to produce thousands and thus undermines economies of scale.

FDM begins with a software process, developed by Stratasys, which processes an STL file (stereolithography file format) in minutes, mathematically slicing and orienting the model for the build process. If required, support structures are automatically generated. The machine dispenses two materials  one for the model and one for a disposable support structure.

The thermoplastics are liquefied and deposited by an extrusion head, which follows a tool-path defined by the CAD file. The materials are deposited in layers as fine as 0.005-inch thick, and the part is built from the bottom up  one layer at a time.

Thermal Plastic Extrusion Technology [TPE]:

Fused deposition modeling (FDM) is an additive manufacturing technology commonly used for modeling, prototyping, and production applications. The technology was developed by S. Scott Crump in the late 1980s and was commercialized in 1990.

FDM works on an “additive” principle by laying down material in layers. A plastic filament or metal wire is unwound from a coil and supplies material to an extrusion nozzle which can turn the flow on and off. The nozzle is heated to melt the material and can be moved in both horizontal and vertical directions by a numerically controlled mechanism, directly controlled by a computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) software package. The model or part is produced by extruding small beads of thermoplastic material to form layers as the material hardens immediately after extrusion from the nozzle. Stepper motors or servo motors are typically employed to move the extrusion head.

Several materials are available with different trade-offs between strength and temperature properties. As well as acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) polymer, polycarbonates, polycaprolactone, polyphenylsulfones and waxes. A “water-soluble” material can be used for making temporary supports while manufacturing is in progress, this soluble support material is quickly dissolved with specialized mechanical agitation equipment utilizing a precisely heated sodium hydroxide solution.

The term fused deposition modeling and its abbreviation to FDM are trademarked by Stratasys Inc. The exactly equivalent term, fused filament fabrication (FFF), was coined by the members of the RepRap project to give a phrase that would be legally unconstrained in its use.

Commercial applications

FDM, a prominent form of rapid prototyping, is used for prototyping and rapid manufacturing. Rapid prototyping facilitates iterative testing, and for very short runs, rapid manufacturing can be a relatively inexpensive alternative.

FDM uses the thermoplastics ABS, ABSi, polyphenylsulfone (PPSF), polycarbonate (PC), and Ultem 9085, among others. These materials are used for their heat resistance properties. Ultem 9085 also exhibits fire retardancy making it suitable for aerospace and aviation applications

The newest  way to print 3D models right from your desk for visualisation, collaboration, and functional prototyping testing.
The  3D Printer is small enough to fit on your desktop, simple enough to use and affordable enough for most users. Using additive manufacturing technology to lay down successive layers of ABS to build up a printed 3-D model.
No more long waits to send your design concepts to a 3D print bureau and risk giving away your intellectual property. 3D Print whatever you want, whenever you want and as any times as you want.

The printer is assembled and ready to go out of the box and you’ll be printing models in 5 minutes. No need to spend weeks tinkering or fiddling to get average 3d prototypes with a DIY 3D printing project.

The printer uses standard STL files, and comes with software to convert these files and send them to the printer. The software is powerful enough to add ‘support’ structures to your model automatically. These will stop overhanging parts of the model from collapsing while the printing process in on-going and then can be easily removed at the end of the print.

• Concept Modeling
• Functional & Presentations Models
• Rapid Manufacturing
• Marketing
• Product Cost Reduction
• Product Mockups

Comments are closed.