INTRODUCTION You may have heard about 3D printing on TV, or read about it on the internet. Like all new technologies, 3D printing draws the attention of mainstream media, but the topic is often covered in shallow or sensational ways. There are many myths oating around about 3D printing – including the common misconception that it’s a new technology. In fact, this type of manufacturing method has been known since the 1980’s and it’s now quite commonly used in all sorts of industries, and even by hobbyists at home.
You will nd out that 3D printing is not some kind of futuristic, complicated and super-expensive technology available only to a handful of mortals. On the contrary! The principles are pretty straightforward and simple. There are a number of industry-specic words and abbreviations that could, perhaps, frighten you at rst – don’t worry about that! Actually, there are not too many of them and you will soon wrap your head around them. This book will help you understand what kinds of 3D printing technologies are currently available and how they work.
We will take you through the whole process of 3D printing, starting with obtaining a printable 3D model, through the pre-printing preparations, to the nal post-processing of a printed object. You will learn what an extruder is, as well as slicing, perimeters or inll. We’re going to explain the dierences between commonly used materials, and how to utilize 3D printing for practical application. This book will give you a very good understanding of 3D printing and also provide you with all the basic knowledge required to start.
The only thing remaining will be to buy a 3D printer and start printing! Josef Průša Josef Prusa Josef Prusa (*23.1990) became interested in 3D printing before joining Prague’s University of Economics in 2009. Soon, Josef grew into one of the leading developers of Adrian Bowyer’s international open-source RepRap project. Today, you can see the Prusa design in dierent variations all around the world. It’s one of the most popular 3D printers and it’s one of the reasons why the knowledge of 3D printing has increased among the public.
In 2012, Josef established Prusa Research, which produces the Original Prusa 3D printers and delivers them to customers worldwide. 2 BASICS OF 3D PRINTING TABLE OF CONTENTS What is 3D printing? 4 History of 3D printing 5 Discovery of Stereolithography 5 The RepRap Project 5 The use of 3D printing 6 3D PRINTING TECHNOLOGIES 10 FDM/FFF 11 FFF 3D printers components 13 SLA – stereolithography 16 MSLA printer components 18 SLS / DMLS 20 Choosing a 3D printer 21 3D printing 101 23 Getting a 3D model 25 Online libraries and 3D hubs 25 3D modeling software 26 Tinkercad 26 Autodesk Fusion 360 27 Blender 28 OpenSCAD 29 Things to keep in mind when designing a model 30 3D Scanning and Photogrammetry 34 Choosing the right printing material 35 Slicing 35 PrusaSlicer 36 Simplify3D 37 Cura 37 Slicer - basic settings 38 Preparing the print surface 41 Starting the print 42 Post-processing 42 Gluing and smoothing models using acetone 43 Filaments 44 PLA 46 PETG, ASA and ABS 47 FLEX 48 Composite materials 48 PVA and BVOH for soluble supports 49 Other materials 49 Photopolymers / Resins 50 Multi-color 3D printing 52 Glossary 54 FAQ 58 BASICS OF 3D PRINTING 3 WHAT IS 3D PRINTING? to further modications and improvements. This was an important decision that allowed enthusiasts from the whole world to take part in the project. And it’s the main reason why the RepRap machines are currently the most widespread 3D printers in the world.
Thanks to RepRap, we can now buy 3D printers for the DIY/maker and semi-professional markets - these are usually machines under 4,000 USD. The community around RepRap printers is huge. If you want to understand how 3D printers work (or you want to try various upgrades, mods and experiments), RepRap is the perfect solution for you. These 3D printers can be purchased either as calibrated and fully assembled machines, or as DIY assembly kits, which are pretty fun to build - and actually less complicated than you might think.
Adrian Bowyer (left) with his RepRap 3D printer The use of 3D printing 3D printing was, at rst, used as a means for creating cheap and quick prototypes. As technologies became less expensive, 3D printers found their uses in other industries. One such example is small-series productions. There are companies manufacturing low volumes of their products and the high costs related to high-volume production would not be justied in such cases.
Therefore, 3D printing comes in as a more suitable solution. Another useful aspect is the fact that when you come up with an improved design, you can start producing it immediately, which means you can introduce new and improved products at a much faster rate than usual. We have embraced this approach with the production of our Original Prusa i3 3D printers. Our in-house 3D printing farm has now over 500 printers.
When there’s a redesigned or improved part, all we need to do is to test it and then upload it to the printing farm system - the production can start pretty much immediately. Plus, we can also send the data to our customers, so they can print the parts themselves right away. The possibility of quick iterations is one of the biggest strengths of 3D printing. Prusa Research print farm 6 BASICS OF 3D PRINTING WHAT IS 3D PRINTING? Personalized production enables manufacturers to produce customized items based on customers’ requests.
This can be, for example, a smartphone case with an individual motif, a customizable keychain or various marketing items modied to suit the customer’s needs. A 3D printer is also great for producing toys and gures. You can nd thousands of free or paid models on the internet, ranging from simple toys to meticulously crafted tabletop games. Cosplay* fans will nd 3D printers especially useful, because they can be used to produce masks, equipment, accessories and other items that can be easily post-processed (sanded and painted) to give them an authentic look.
* Cosplay - portmanteau of the words ‘costume play’. It’s a performance art in which the participants (cosplayers) wear costumes to represent a specic character from books, lms or video games BASICS OF 3D PRINTING 7 WHAT IS 3D PRINTING? www.com Another area where 3D printers really shine is the production of spare parts that are no longer available through oicial channels. It’s quite common that when it comes to restoration and repairs of antiquities or oldtimer/youngtimer cars, certain parts are no longer available – and you often need just that one thing. The same applies to repairs of home appliances, or manufacturing of various covers, boxes or holders.
Guaranteed, if you buy a 3D printer, you will soon see its eect everywhere in your house! www.cz 3D printers are a huge thing in architecture and construction spheres. One of the most important parts of architectural projects are 3D visualizations. These are still often showcased as 2D images on a computer screen, which may not be ideal. Many architects have decided to switch to 3D visualization.
Thanks to the increased popularity (and usability) of virtual reality, it is now possible to take a tour through a digital building. However, another great option is to actually print a small-scale replica of the planned project to have something more physical than just a digital rendering. 8 BASICS OF 3D PRINTING WHAT IS 3D PRINTING? 3D printing enables architects to create models faster and in a more eicient manner. The goal is to bridge the communication gap between the architect and the customer using a physical print instead of computer data.
This is not everything, of course. 3D printing is used in many dierent industries, including car and aviation industries, healthcare, RC models, jewelry and many others. New uses for 3D printing are discovered almost every day. So regardless of whether you need a new frame for your drone, a cable holder or anything between that, you can make it with a 3D printer.
It makes life so much easier! BASICS OF 3D PRINTING 9 3D PRINTING TECHNOLOGIES We can divide FDM / FFF 3D printers into sub-categories based on the movement of their axes in three-dimensional space. Cartesian 3D printer is named after the XYZ dimensional coordinate system. The extruder moves in two directions (X and Z), while the print bed moves along the Y-axis. It also means that the print bed is usually square- or rectangle-shaped.
Original Prusa i3 MK3S is a cartesian printer. Delta 3D printers have their extruder movements controlled by three moving arms, which meet in the extruder. Two of the biggest advantages are the speed of printing and large printing volumes. However, the printer requires extremely precise assembly and calibration.
The printer’s geometry requires complex calculations for movements of stepper motors in each of the arms. 12 BASICS OF 3D PRINTING 3D PRINTING TECHNOLOGIES 3. Polar 3D printers are relatively uncommon. They are based on a polar coordinate system.
The extruder moves in two axes and the print bed rotates. This system is pretty simple construction- wise, however, the preparation of the model is rather complicated. FFF 3D printers components All FFF 3D printers are quite similar construction-wise. They usually consist of the following parts: Extruder Extruder, or a print head, is designed to lay down printed layers by extruding melted plastic.
First, the lament strand enters the extruder through a PTFE tube. At this point, the lament is a solid plastic strand and is at the room temperature. It goes through a heat sink, which is a part designed to dissipate heat coming from the heat break and minimize the transition area between solid and melted lament. The heat sink usually has a fan mounted on the side to increase the cooling eiciency.
The heat break is essentially a piece of tube with an outer thread, which is narrower on one end to minimize the diameter as much as possible, so there’s less heat rising up towards the area, where the lament should remain solid. The heater block is made of heat conducting materials, usually aluminum, and contains a small electrical heating element along with a thermistor for measuring the temperature. The material is melted in the heater block and it is pushed further and out through the nozzle. The nozzle can have dierent diameters and many printers allow the users to change the nozzle to a new one with a dierent diameter.
You can read more about nozzles with various diameters and their benets in an article at blog. BASICS OF 3D PRINTING 13 3D PRINTING TECHNOLOGIES Extruder 1 PTFE tube 2 Heatsink 3 Print fan 4 Heat break 5 Heater Block 6 Nozzle 1 2 3 4 5 6 14 BASICS OF 3D PRINTING 3D PRINTING TECHNOLOGIES Heated bed Heated bed or Heatbed is an important part of every modern 3D printer that should be compatible with as many materials as possible. The heated bed stops printed objects from bending, warping or detaching from the surface. Frame The frame is the supporting structure of the printer.
Rigid and precisely manufactured frames have a positive impact on the printing quality. A robust and rm frame minimizes vibrations and allows for a faster print without noticeable quality issues on produced prints. Stepper motors Stepper motors take care of movements in all axes – this includes the extruder and the heated bed, while another motor controls the movement of the lament string. The advantage of stepper motors is the fact that the steps can be precisely controlled.
Mainboard The mainboard is an electronic component with integrated circuits that controls the whole printer. Its primary function consists of reading instruction les (G-Codes) and controlling the motors, heatbed and heater based on the instructions found within the G-Code.