3D PRINTER

Even the best artists struggle to show us what real-world objects look like in all their three-
dimensional (3D) glory. Most of the time that doesn't matter—looking at a photo or sketch
gives us a good-enough idea. But if you're in the business of developing new products and
you need to show them off to clients or customers, nothing beats having a prototype: a model
you can touch, hold and feel. Only trouble is, models, take ages to make by hand and
machines that can make "rapid prototypes" cost a fortune (up to a half-million dollars).
Hurrah, then for 3D printers, which work a bit like inkjets and build up 3D models layer by
layer at up to 10 times the speed and a fifth the cost. How exactly do they work? Let's take a
closer look!

From Hand-Made Prototypes to Rapid Prototyping

Before there were such things as computer-aided design (CAD) and lasers, models and
prototypes were laboriously carved from wood or stuck together from little pieces of card
or plastic. They could take days or even weeks to make and typically cost a fortune. Getting
changes or alterations made was difficult and time-consuming, especially if an outside
model-making company was being used, and that could discourage designers from making
improvements or taking last-minute comments on board: "It's too late!"
With the arrival of better technology, an idea called rapid prototyping (RP) grew up during
the 1980s as a solution to this problem: it means developing models and prototypes by more
automated methods, usually in hours or days rather than the weeks that traditional
prototyping used to take. 3D printing is a logical extension of this idea in which product
designers make their own rapid prototypes, in hours, using sophisticated machines similar to
inkjet printers.
Examples of 3D Printing
3D printing encompasses many forms of technologies and materials as 3D printing is being
used in almost all industries you could think of. It’s important to see it as a cluster of diverse
industries with a myriad of different applications.
A few examples:
1. dental products
2. eyewear
3. architectural scale models & maquettes
4. prosthetics
5. movie props
6. design (lamps, furniture, etc)
7. reconstructing fossils in paleontology
8. replicating ancient artifacts in archaeology
9. reconstructing bones and body parts in forensic pathology
10. reconstructing heavily damaged evidence retrieved from a crime scene

Types of 3D Printing Technologies and Processes

There are several ways to 3D print. All these technologies are additive, differing mainly in
the way layers are built to create an object.
Some methods use melting or softening the material to extrude layers. Others cure a photo-
reactive resin with a UV laser (or another similar light source) layer by layer.
To be more precise: since 2010, the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM)
group ―ASTM F42 – Additive Manufacturing‖, developed a set of standards that classify the
Additive Manufacturing processes into 7 categories according to Standard Terminology for
Additive Manufacturing Technologies. These seven processes are:
1. Vat Photopolymerisation
A 3D printer based on the Vat Photopolymerisation method has a container filled with
photopolymer resin which is then hardened with a UV light source.
a. Stereolithography (SLA)
b. Digital Light Processing
(DLP)
c. Continuous Liquid Interface
Production (CLIP)
2. Material Jetting
In this process, the material
is applied in droplets
through a small diameter
nozzle, similar to the way a
common inkjet paper
printer works, but it is
applied layer-by-layer to a
build platform making a
3D object and then
hardened by UV light.
3. Binder Jetting
With binder jetting two
materials are used: powder
base material and a liquid
binder. In the build chamber,
the powder is spread in equal
layers and binder is applied
through jet nozzles that ―glue‖
the powder particles in the
shape of a programmed 3D
object. The finished object is
―glued together‖ by binder
remains in the container with the powder base material. After the print is finished, the
remaining powder is cleaned off and used for 3D printing the next object. This
technology was first developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1993 and
in 1995 Z Corporation obtained an exclusive license.
4. Material Extrusion
The most commonly used technology in this process is Fused Deposition Modeling
(FDM).
a. Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM)
The FDM technology works using a plastic filament or metal wire which is
unwound from a coil and supplying 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 computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) software package. The object is
produced by extruding melted material to form layers as the material hardens
immediately after extrusion from the
nozzle. This technology is most
widely used with two plastic 3D
printer filament types: ABS
(Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene)
and PLA (Polylactic acid). Though
many other materials are available
ranging in properties from wood fill
to flexible and even conductive
materials.
FDM was invented by Scott Crump in the late ’80s. After patenting this technology
he started the company Stratasys in 1988. The term Fused Deposition Modeling and its
abbreviation to FDM are trademarked by Stratasys Inc.
b. Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF)
5. Powder Bed Fusion
The most commonly used technology in this process is Selective Laser Sintering (SLS).
a. Multi Jet Fusion (MJF)
b. Selective Laser Sintering (SLS)
SLS uses a high power laser to fuse small particles of plastic, ceramic or glass
powders into a mass that has the desired three-dimensional shape. The laser selectively
fuses the powdered material by scanning the cross-sections (or layers) generated by the
3D modeling program on the surface of a powder bed. After each cross-section is
scanned, the powder bed is lowered by one layer thickness. Then a new layer of material
is applied on top and the process is repeated until the object is completed.
 c. Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS)
6. Sheet Lamination
Sheet lamination involves
material in sheets which
are bound together with
external force. Sheets can
be metal, paper or a form
of the polymer. Metal
sheets are welded together
by ultrasonic welding in
layers and then CNC
milled into a proper shape.
Paper sheets can be used
also, but they are glued by adhesive glue and cut in shape by precise blades.
7. Directed Energy Deposition
This process is mostly used in the high-
tech metal industry and in rapid
manufacturing applications. The 3D
printing apparatus is usually attached to
a multi-axis robotic arm and consists of
a nozzle that deposits metal powder or
wire on a surface and an energy source
(laser, electron beam or plasma arc) that
melts it, forming a solid object.