Tuesday, November 24, 2009

3D Printing



Previous means of producing a prototype typically took person-hours, many tools, and skilled labor. For example, after a new street light luminaire was digitally designed, drawings were sent to skilled craftspeople where the design on paper was painstakingly followed and a three-dimensional prototype was produced in wood by utilizing an entire shop full of expensive wood working machinery and tools. This typically was not a speedy process and costs of the skilled labor were not cheap. Hence the need to develop a faster and cheaper process to produce prototypes. As an answer to this need, rapid prototyping was born.

One variation of 3D printing consists of an inkjet printing system. Layers of a fine powder (plaster, corn starch, or resins) are selectively bonded by "printing" an adhesive from the inkjet printhead in the shape of each cross-section as determined by a CAD file. This technology is the only one that allows for the printing of full colour prototypes. It is also recognized as the fastest method.

Alternately, these machines feed liquids, such as photopolymer, through an inkjet-type printhead to form each layer of the model. These Photopolymer Phase machines use an ultraviolet (UV) flood lamp mounted in the print head to cure each layer as it is deposited.

Fused deposition modeling (FDM), a technology also used in traditional rapid prototyping, uses a nozzle to deposit molten polymer onto a support structure, layer by layer.

Another approach is selective fusing of print media in a granular bed. In this variation, the unfused media serves to support overhangs and thin walls in the part being produced, reducing the need for auxiliary temporary supports for the workpiece. Typically a laser is used to sinter the media and form the solid. Examples of this are SLS (Selective Laser Sintering) and DMLS (Direct Metal Laser Sintering), using metals.

10 comments:

  1. 3D Printers from Objet Geometries are once of the leading in the field of office based 3D modeling. Their range consists of a family of 3D rapid prototyping machines that allow users (and this is the cool part) within the office environment to transform a CAD image to a 3d model in a matter of minutes.

    (http://www.objet.com/rapid_prototyping/)

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  2. This is an amazing technology, I read it a few years ago and I thought that this was something for 2020 or something like that.

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  3. what to say i praise of this blog, which contains a lot of amazing information as well as the thoughtful writes.

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  4. This technology is the only one that allows for the printing of Restaurant in Stellenbosch full colour prototypes. It is also recognized as the fastest method.

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  5. These Photopolymer Phase machines use an ultraviolet flood lamp mounted in the print head to cure each layer as it is deposited.

    Cnc prototyping
    Vacuum casting
    Model finishing
    rapid precision machining

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  6. Some strategies use melting or softening material to provide the layers. Selective optical device sintering (SLS) and fused deposition modeling (FDM) are the foremost common technologies exploitation this fashion of printing. Another technique of printing is to get liquid materials that are cured with totally different technologies. The foremost common technology exploitation this technique is named stereo-lithography (SLA). Thanks for sharing such kind of nice and wonderful collection. Click here Best 3D printer manufacturer company in China.

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