3D Printer Machine

3D Printer:

3D printing or Additive manufacturing is a process of making a two-dimensional solid object of virtually any shape from a digital classical. 3D printing is achieved using an additive process, where successive layers of material are laid down in different shapes. 3D printing is also considered distinct from traditional machining techniques, which mostly rely on the removal of material by methods such as cutting or drilling.

3D Printable Method:

3D printable models may be created with a computer aided design package or via 3D scanner. The manual modeling process of preparing geometric data for 3D computer graphics is similar to plastic arts such as sculpting. 3D scanning is a process of analyzing and collecting data of real object; its shape and appearance and builds digital, three dimensional models.

Both manual and automatic creation of 3D printable models is difficult for average consumers. This is why several 3D printing marketplaces have emerged over the last years. Among the most popular are Shape ways, Shivering and Threading.

Printing:

To perform a print, the machine reads the design from an STD file and lays down successive layers of liquid, powder, paper or sheet material to build the model from a series of cross sections. These layers, which correspond to the virtual cross sections from the CAD model, are joined or automatically fused to create the final shape. The primary advantage of this technique is its ability to create almost any shape or geometric feature.

Printer resolution describes layer thickness and X-Y resolution in dpi (dots per inch),[citation needed] or micrometers. Typical layer thickness is around 100 µm (250 DPI), although some machines such as the Object Conner series and 3D Systems' Project series can print layers as thin as 16 µm (1,600 DPI).[19] X-Y resolution is comparable to that of laser printers. The particles (3D dots) are around 50 to 100 µm (510 to 250 DPI) in diameter.

 Granular materials binding

The Candy Fab granular printing system uses heated air and granulated sugar to produce food-grade art objects.

Another 3D printing approach is the selective fusing of materials in a granular bed. The technique fuses parts of the layer, and then moves the working area downwards, adding another layer of granules and repeating the process until the piece has built up. This process uses the unused media to support overhangs and thin walls in the part being produced, which reduces the need for temporary auxiliary supports for the piece. A laser is typically used to sinner the media into a solid. Examples include selective laser wintering (S LS), with both metals and polymers (e.g. PA, PA-GS, Rigid GF, PEEK, PS, Aluminum, Carbonize, Elastoplast), and direct metal laser wintering.

Selective Laser Wintering (SLS) was developed and patented by Dr. Carl Rickard and Dr. Joseph Beam an at the University of Texas at Austin in the mid-1980s, under sponsorship of DARA.[27] A similar process was patented without being commercialized by R. F. Householder in 1979.

Selective Laser Melting (SLM) does not use wintering for the fusion of powder granules but will completely melt the powder using a high-energy laser to create fully dense materials in a layer wise method with similar mechanical properties to conventional manufactured metals.