3D Printing
3D Printing
3D Printing
ABSTRACT
1.Introduction to 3D Printing
As every designer knows, there’s magic in transforming a great idea into a tangible and useful
object you can hold in your hand. It can be a consumer good on a store shelf, a critical
component of an industrial machine, or even an early physical prototype that unveils your
new idea to the world.
Physical prototypes — basic and blocky or wonderfully realized in shape, texture and color
— go far beyond drawings or computer models to communicate your vision in a dramatic
way. They empower the observer to investigate the product and interact with it rather than
simply guess what it might be like. Before the product is ever produced, people can touch it;
feel it; turn it left, right and upside down; and look inside. They can test it, operate it and fully
evaluate it — long before the finished product is brought to market.
Until recently, a quick and affordable physical prototype has been an oxymoron. Obtaining
prototypes wasn’t quick. It meant contracting with a fabricator who handcrafted them or used
a complicated stereo lithography machine. In either case, it took weeks, and it wasn’t
affordable. You were billed thousands of dollars for your trouble.
And who needs just one prototype? Successful product developers revise a design repeatedly
until they approach their ideal. Physical prototypes available on demand in sample quantities
accelerate the design process, and more quickly send a better product to market.
This ideal is in fact a reality for some of the world’s most accomplished and demanding
designers and engineers. Available within a couple of hours of hitting “print” on a quiet, clean
and sleek machine in an everyday office setting, on-demand prototypes today help
engineering organizations:
improve communication within the product development organization;
shorten design cycles
put superior products on the market ahead of the competition
stretch R&D dollars
improve accuracy
2. History of 3d Printing
The technology for printing physical 3D objects from digital data was first developed by
Charles Hull in 1984. He named the technique as Stereo lithography and obtained a patent for
the technique in 1986.
While Stereo lithography systems had become popular by the end of 1980s, other similar
technologies such as Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) and Selective
Laser Sintering (SLS) were introduced.
In 1993, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) patented another technology, named "3
Dimensional Printing techniques", which is similar to the inkjet technology used in 2D
Printers.
In 1996, three major products, "Genisys" from Stratasys, "Actua 2100" from 3D
Systems and "Z402" from Z Corporation were introduced. In 2005, Z Corp. launched a
breakthrough product, named Spectrum Z510, which was the first high definition color 3D
Printer in the market.
Another breakthrough in 3D Printing occurred in 2006 with the initiation of an open source
project, named Reprap, which was aimed at developing a self-replicating 3D printer.
This builds objects by using a laser to selectively fuse together successive layers of a cocktail
of powdered wax, ceramic, metal, nylon or one of a range of other materials.
3.4 Fab@home
To set up this new process, two steps are necessary: the amount of the printed material must
be reduced to a minimum, and the dosed material mustn’t be a part of the desired object.
This will be achieved by separation of the process in information transfer and material
deposition. The minimum information to create the cross section of an object is the boundary
line. This outline will be printed by means of a droplet generator. Thus a thin shell of the
model will be formed. For example, the shell material could be a release wax with a high
melting point. In the next step the layer is filled with building material by a rapid application.
This material could be also wax with a lower melting point or a fast curing resin etc.
Figure shows the new printing method for making a three-dimensional body:
1 2 3
4 5 6
2) Applying a release wax in its liquid state onto selected areas of a building platform by
a multi-jet printhead, using a pattern according to the cross-section of a thin-walled
shell around the three-dimensional body, and a grid pattern (not shown in Figure 1)
across the remaining area of the building platform.
3) After finishing of the pattern of the current layer, the areas enclosed by the release wax
are filled with the building wax.
4) Smoothing and planing of the layer in order to expose the upper surface of the release
wax.
5) Ready for the next layer. Repetition of the steps 1) to 4) with patterns according to the
current cross-section of the three-dimensional body, thereby making the body itself.
6) Removing the structures not belonging to the body by dissolving the release wax.
5.2 3D Printing:
The 3D printer runs automatically, depositing materials at layers ~.003″ thick. This is
roughly the thickness of a human hair or sheet of paper. The time it takes to print a given
object depends primarily on the height of the design, but most designs take a minimum of
several hours. The average cost for printing a full color prototype is somewhere between
50 - 100$.
Every 3D printer uses some sort of material to support parts of the design that have an
overhang. Some printers use a loose powder which can be blown off and reused in future
models.
This is the sculpture with most of the support dust removed and it is then dipped in special
glue that makes them stronger and more colorful.
5.3.2 Heating
The models are heated to set the glue. It is funny to see the oven in this picture is a
standard consumer grade.
The output of all existing 3D printers is rough. The textures vary from pronounced “wood
grain” to merely “sandy”, With a little elbow grease you can get stunning results.
6. Benefits of 3D Printing
The most successful companies have adopted 3D printing as a critical part of the iterative
design process to:
Increase Innovation
Print prototypes in hours, obtain feedback, refine designs and repeat the cycle until
designs are perfect.
Improve Communication
Hold a full color, realistic 3D model in your hands to impart infinitely more
information than a computer image.
Create physical 3D models quickly, easily and affordably for a wide variety of
applications.
Win Business
7. Applications
7.2 Education:
Engage students by bringing digital concepts into the real world, turning their ideas
into real-life 3D color models that they can actually hold in their hands.
Here an electronic device circuit has come to life with the help of a 3-D Printer:
7.3 Healthcare:
A 3-D Prototype of the horizontal crossection of a human skull has been prepared to allow
its better study:
8. Conclusion
Nothing communicates ideas faster than a three-dimensional part or model. With a 3D
printer you can bring CAD files and design ideas to life right from your desktop. Test
form, fit and function and as many design variations as you like – with functional parts. In
an age in which the news, books, music, video and even our communities are all the
subjects of digital dematerialization, the development and application of 3D printing
reminds us that human beings have both a physical and a psychological need to keep at
least one foot in the real world. 3D printing has a bright future, not least in rapid
prototyping, but also in medicine the arts, and outer space. Desktop 3D printers for the
home are already a reality if you are prepared to pay for one and/or build one yourself. 3D
printers capable of outputting in color and multiple materials also exist and will continue
to improve to a point where functional products will be able to be output. As devices that
will provide a solid bridge between cyberspace and the physical world, and as an
important manifestation of the Second Digital Revolution, 3D printing is therefore likely
to play some part in all of our futures.
9.REFRENCES
[1]en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_printing.
[2]http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21128236.100-3d-printing-the-technology-
that-changes-everything.html
[3] http://www.stratasys.com/3d-printers/design-series/dimension-1200es
[4] http://replicatorinc.com/blog/2008/12/a-major-advance-in-3d-printing