3D printing is a manufacturing technique used for making three – dimensional objects from a computer model. It is also known as additive manufacturing because the model is being printed by adding material layer by layer.
There are several techniques used in 3D printing utilizing different types of technology. Most used today are:
SLA (Stereolithography)
SLS (Selective Laser Sintering)
FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling)
Each of these technologies differ with the type of material they use, production accuracy, speed, cost etc. The most used and most affordable technology today, by far, is FDM. That is why, when people talk about 3D printing, in most of the cases, they are referring to FDM. This article will focus mainly on FDM printers.
Main parts of the typical FDM printer are:
Print bed,
heated extruder,
stepper motors,
motherboard and,
printer frame.
Print bed is the flat surface where an object is being printed on. It can be made from different materials, depending on the type of material that is being printed. It is extremely important that the first layer (initial layer) sticks well to the bed surface. Print bed is usually heated to a certain temperature before the start of the print. That is necessary in order to increase the adhesion of the printed part to the bed. Temperature of the bed differs based on the material being printed.
Heated extruder consists of the hot-end, nozzle and heatsink. The principle is that filament is fed into the extruder, melted inside the hot-end and fed through the nozzle on the bed. Melted filament is placed in layer by layer, until a full part is built. Layers are fused together soon as the filament is cooled down.
Stepper motors are used to drive heated extruder and bed in three directions (x, y and z). Depending on the printer, bed can move in vertical direction (z - axis), in which case extruder moves in x and y direction, or if bed moves in y-direction, extruder can move in x and z direction.
Motherboard is the “brain” of a 3D printer. It is basically a computer that tells all other components what to do and allows users to interact with them. Printer frame is just a mechanical setup that holds all the components together and allows its relative movement.
Now, how do I print something?
What are the main steps in 3D printing?
1. 3D Computer Model
Well, as we mention at the beginning, it all starts with a 3D computer model or 3D CAD model. You first need to make a 3D computer model of the object you want to 3D print (read this blog about 3D CAD modelling). If making a 3D model is not your cup of tea, you have several other options:
Buy a CAD model online – there are plenty websites on the internet where people sell their models (ex. cgtrader, turbosquid…).
Find free online models – in lots of cases you can get a model free of cost online. However, keep in mind that these models are probably protected under creative commons license, which basically means that you can use a model for yourself but not for commercial purposes (some websites to find free models: thingiverse, free3D, grabCAD,…).
Make use of CAD modeling services – if you need a custom 3D model, you can also find an online service that can do that for you (e.g 3Bee Printing provides this kind of service).
Learn CAD modeling - if you have the time and energy to learn 3D CAD modeling yourself then you can save yourself some bucks but expertise will come with time, so be patient.
2. Slicer Software
Once you have a 3D CAD model you need to import it into a slicer software (for this, your model needs to be of supported format). There are many slicer softwares out there (e.g. Cura, Simplify3D, Repetier etc.), but they all have the same function, and that is to make your 3D model readable by your 3D printer.
Now, how does it do that?
Well, it creates something called a “G-code” for your model. G-code is a programming language, but in essence, is just a set of instructions that tells stepper motors (controlling the extruder and print bed) in which direction to rotate and how fast. This will then allow your extruder to follow a certain path defined by your model and build it layer by layer (see this awesome video).
But do not worry, you do not have to know any programming to be able to 3D print something. Slicer software does this for you. You just need to import the model, adjust orientation, and set certain parameters (read how to do this in this article).
3. 3D Printing
Once you have sliced your model and generated g-code, you need to save it to an sd-card, insert it into your printer, and run the print. Then you can relax and let the printer do its magic. It is that easy.
To be fair, if you are 3D printing for the first time you will encounter issues from time to time. That will depend on model complexity, type of printer, material that you are printing with etc. However, you will also find out that there is a big online community dedicated to 3D printing that is always ready to help with any issue you may encounter. On the other hand, if you just want to have something 3D printed without spending a lot of time and effort, there are tons of affordable services that can do it for you (for example, you can check one here).
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