Description

1. What is a 3D Printer?
2. What can you do with a 3D Printer?
3. 3D Printing Process Overview
4. Terminology

What is a 3D Printer?

3D Printers are a type of additive manufacturing machines used to create custom items and components out of an ever growing range of materials including plastics and rubbers (PLA, ABS, nylon, PETG, etc), composites, ceramics, metals, and foods. There are many types of 3D Printers, that physically work very different from one another and require different materials. Luckily, they are all driven by the same 3D files that we’ll be learning to work with. There are even 3D printers like the RepRap series, that are designed to 3D print themselves, so you can use them to create more printers!

We’ll be mostly focusing on design considerations for extrusion based printers, but the files and workflows you’ll be learning apply to any type of 3D printer! There’s a broad range of 3D printers available on the market, but for the most part they all fall into one of the 3 categories below.

Extrusion (FDM, FFM)

This is currently the most prevalent and low-cost type of 3D printing. Thermoplastic (any type of plastic that can be formed with heat) filament spools are fed by an extruder to a hotend, or heating element, very much like a tiny glue gun. Low cost, high-accuracy systems move the hotend over a build plate, and “print” custom 3D shapes and objects slice by slice. Additional printed “supports” may be required for more complex shapes (which may add additional post-processing).

Pros

• low-cost printers, materials
• relatively simple

Cons

• minimal resolution
• limited to certain materials

Stereolithography (SLA)

SLA printers use a light source (like those used to drive projectors, or a laser) and a set of optics to precisely expose photosensitive resins. By selectively exposing the resin, SLA printers can achieve higher resolution than most extrusion based 3D printers, albeit from a more limited range of materials. Most of these printers do not require additional supports

Pros

• high resolution and print fidelity
• high colour, high physical property options available
• consumer units are great for small detail items like jewelry
• high resolution and print fidelity
• high colour, high physical property options available
• Broad range of compatible materials including metals, ceramics, plastics
• accurate prints

Cons

• limited to certain materials
• expensive printers
• expensive, toxic materials

Selective Sintering / Binding (SLS, SHS, BJ)

These 3D printers use a variety of means (laser, heat source or chemical binders) to fuse powdered materials together. They work across a broad range powders including metals, ceramics, plastics, and even sugar and provide very accurate reproductions of digital files.

Pros

• high resolution and print fidelity
• high colour, high physical property options available
• Broad range of compatible materials including metals, ceramics, plastics
• accurate prints

Cons

• expensive printers
• expensive , toxic materials
• machines require industrial provisions (venting, and power)

What can you do with a 3D Printer?

3D Printers are used by an an increasing number of companies and individuals for both prototyping and low-run manufacturing. In industry, Additive Manufacturing empowers designers, engineers and enthusiasts to quickly create and validate complex designs, and the demand is only growing. The availability of low-cost, DIY 3D printers have made them more accessible to a broader community. Many individuals use them to solve personal challenges because of the 3D Printer’s ability to easily personalize and customize. And as individuals learn and become more comfortable with 3D printing and it’s process, they are able to offer 3D printing and consulting as a service, or use their skills to create designer objects that can be sold online.

Strengths

• Easily Create Complex 3D Shapes - 3D printers excel at creating accurate, custom 3D shapes. By downloading, remixing, and learning to design or scan your own 3D files, 3D printing allows you to tangibly create anything you can download, capture, or design with a computer.
  
  
• Expanding Range of Compatible Materials - Consumer 3D Printings popularity has created a large demand for new and different types of filaments. These materials can vary based on cost, sustainability, physical properties like stiffness, hardness, durability, colour. Certain filaments are designed to dissolve in certain conditions or solutions, allowing them to be used for the purpose of supports without requiring manual removal and cleanup.
  
  
• Low Cost, Accessible - The low material costs, combined with the technology’s popularity make it easy and affordable to get started with 3D Printing.
  
  
• Diverse Online Community - There is a lot of interest and support on the internet for 3D printing, which makes it easier to find information and help. Consumer 3D printing’s DIY roots also mean that new types of upgrades and 3D printers to download and print for yourself!

Limitations

• 3D Printers Only Add Material- A limitation of the 3D printing process is the fact that they can only add material to an object, so 3D printers cannot be used to cut or mark existing items.
  
  
• Reliability of Consumer 3D Printers - Consumer 3D printing is still maturing, so most commercially available 3D printers will require regular maintenance and troubleshooting to keep in working condition.

3D Printing Process Overview

There is a broad spectrum of 3D printing technologies available, but luckily developers have worked to ensure the processes remain as simple and universal as possible. Across different 3D printers a lot of the tools remain identical, and in cases like Slicing software where the app is dependent on the hardware

A standard 3D printing project consists of just 4 simple steps:

1.Deciding what to 3D Print

The first step in any 3D printing project is deciding on what to 3D print. This sounds simple enough, but there are considerations like the 3D printers you have access to, and any limitations they may have as far as size or materials. In other cases 3D printing may not be the best or most efficient way to fabricate a component in a design, or a design might only require a few 3D printed components, leveraging the combination of other materials and methods.

2.Getting Suitable a 3D File

After deciding, you’ll need files suitable 3D printing. Thanks to online repositories, you have the option of simply downloading the files, if another designer has shared them. If you are unable to locate a particular file to download, then you can use a variety of tools to model, or create a suitable file to your specifications. The standard filetype used for 3D printing files is .STL, which is something that many 3D CAD applications support. There are also a range of other tools for converting other data, and 3D files into STL files.

3.3D Print

Once you’ve got a suitable STL file, it needs to be processed for 3D printing and that will depend on where you plan on printing the object. If you have access to a 3D printer yourself, you’ll need to use a Slicer to convert the 3D file to a format the printer can print directly. If you don’t have access to a printer, then there are still options for 3D printing like using one at a makerspace or public library, or working with a fabricator either locally or online.

Slice and 3d Print file

When printing directly, you’ll use a special application called a Slicer, usually provided by the printer manufacturer via their website. It is important that you use the correct, corresponding software and configuration to slice your STL for your printer. Using the wrong application or settings can cause bad things to happen to your printer, so if you’re unsure be sure to check the documentation.

general slicing steps:

1. import model
2. set print options
3. slice model
4. transfer file to printer
5. 3D print

Send file to a 3d Printing Service

If you don’t have access to a 3D printer directly, there are still a lot of ways of ways of getting started! If you want to gain first hand experience with the printers themselves, then make spaces like some public libraries will allow you to print on their machines after some training. If you’re more interested in the end results themselves, there are Digital Fabrication services locally and online that you can pay a nominal fee to have your file professionally printed.

1.Post-Processing / Assembly

Once you get your 3D printed part back it might be ready to go, but in most cases the final step is post-processing and assembly. For the best results, parts should be cleaned up and slightly sanded (or chemically treated, depending on the print material), and if you printed a more complex multi-part object, you’ll need to finish it by assembling all the separate components.

Terminology

• DIY - Do It Yourself is the concept of learning to make items you need yourself, as opposed to purchasing it from a company or retail store. This, combined with the idea Open Source enabled the creation of low-cost 3D printers that individuals could build at home, and then use to refine and contribute to the designs of the printers themselves.
  
  
• FDM/FFM - fused deposition or fused modelling manufactuing is a type of 3D printing that uses spools of plastic filament extruded out of hot nozzles to create 3D objects.
  
  
  • Build Plate - the flat bed surface onto which the 3D printer lays its prints.
  • Hotend - the nozzle and heating element assembly where the filamant is extruded out of.
  • Extruder - the mechanism that feeds the filament from the spool to the Hotend.
  • Filament - thin plastic strands that come in spools, the raw material used by FDM printers. There are a number of possible materials with PLA and ABS being the most popular.
    
    
• SLA - see Stereolithography (SLA)
  
• SLS - see Selective Sintering / Binding (SLS, SHS, BJ)
• SHS - see Selective Sintering / Binding (SLS, SHS, BJ)
  
• Slicer - Software used to convert or “slice” 3D objects into the toolpath layers used by 3D printers to do the actual printing.
  
• STL - Stereo Lithography files, or STLs are the standard filetype used for 3D printing
  
• BJ - BinderJet printers work similar to traditional Inkjet printers, but instead of inks they precision spray binders, or glues onto fine layers of powders to form slices.

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Task

Share your answer to What type materials are you most excited to work with?

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Continue to Lesson 2 - Introductory Project - 3D Print an STL From an File Repository »