3D Scanning and Printing

So the objective of the fifth week is to discover the various 3d printers available in the fab lab and the different technologies used. There are many technologies nowadays that are considered to be under the umbrella of 3d printing, by other words additive manufacturing. Among those are:

1. FDM - Fused Desposition Molding
This technology is the most commercial technology available in the market. It mainly uses filaments (PLA, ABS, PVA, NYLON..) that are heated and extruded in layers to produce the final shape we need.
2. Stereolithography
This technology is resin based and it uses a light source to cue the material. It is mainly used for producing small part willhigh precision and quality, usually for the jewelary or dental applications. There are two different mechanisms used for this technology:
• SLA, that uses a Laser Beam as a light source
• DLP, that uses a Projector as a light source
3. Slective Laser Sintering (SLS)
This technology starts with powder matrial that are melted and binded together using a beam of laser. It is usualy used for building durable functional prototypes with high quality finishing.
4. Slective Laser Metal (SLM)
This technology starts with a metallic powder matrial that are melted and binded together using a beam of laser. It is usualy used for building metalic parts.
5. Inkjet - Material Jetting
This technology starts with building material of various colors to produce parts having a variety of colors at the same time.

Group Assinment
The group assginment was to test the design rules of the 3D printers available in the lab. To achieve that, the students printed various test parts on the different printers available in the lab to study the limitations of each and the quality we can achieve.

3D printing or additive manufacturing is a process of making three dimensional solid objects from a digital file. The creation of a 3D printed object is achieved using additive processes. In an additive process an object is created by laying down successive layers of material until the object is created. Each of these layers can be seen as a thinly sliced horizontal cross-section of the eventual object.

Machines Used
The main machine that was tested for this week's assignment is the following:

1. Ultimaker 3 and Ultimaker 3 Extended is one type of the FDM 3d printers. It was used for 3d printing small scale objects up to 20x20x30 cm.

However, two different test where done summarized below.

Test the design rules for your 3D printer(s)

Test 1 - Ultimaker 3 - Extended

All-in-One 3D Printer Test

A Precision/Orverhang test was performed on a Ultimaker3 - Extended 3D printer and Cura slicer.
The All In One 3D Printer Test was downloaded from thingiverse.
The settings used are the preset standard settings for a normal quality print with PLA filament:

• Layer height: 0.15mm
• Wall thickness: 1mm
• Infill Density: 20%
• Print temperature: 200degC
• Build plate: 60 degC
• Print speed> 80mm/s
• Printing temperature:200degC
• Support: None
• Build pate adhesion type> none

Results:

• Hole size (3 holes 4/6/8mm):Good precision
• Diameter Test (1 mm wall): 4 tubes 4/6/8/10 mm: Good precision
• Support Overhang Test (10°/20°/30°/30°/40°/50°/60°/70°/80°): Below 60 good quality above 60 passing quality.
• Bridging print (2/5/10/15/20/25 mm): Good quality
• Surface (all the flat parts): Good
• Pins test: 2 mm x 10 mm – 2 mm x 20 mm – 2 mm x 30 mm: passing quality

Test 2 - Ultimaker 3

20-in-One 3D Printer Test

A test was performed on a Ultimaker3 3D printer and Cura slicer.
The 20-in-one Test was downloaded from thingiverse.
The settings used as recommended by the design are:

• Layer height: 0.1mm
• Wall thickness: 1mm
• Infill Density: 30%
• Print temperature: 200degC
• Build plate: 60 degC
• Print speed> 80mm/s
• Printing temperature:200degC
• Support: None
• Build pate adhesion type> Raft

Results:

• M4 nut fits perfectly.
• Font is not distorted.
• Hole sizes: 4.9, 3.9, 2.9.
• Star with sharp edges
• minimal clearnace that can be printed: 0.3 mm and above.
• Z height: 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8, 0.9, 1.0, 1.1 mm were fine, it starts failing at 0.3mm, and it does not print 0.1mm
• Bridge Print: 2, 4, 8, 16 mm, material starts hanging at the end of the 16mm bridge. Finest bridge was between 4 and 8mm.
• Sphere Mix, 7 mm height, which matches the test.
• Pyramid, 7 mm height, which matches the test.
• Overhang: if we go above 65°, there will be hanging parts.
• Hole in Wall, 4 mm diameter, which matches the test.
• Did not have a spike.
• The waves came rounded.
• It did not warp.

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