Chinese Company Constructs the 3D Printed Buildings and continues on developing the technology at the farthest level to reach on developing a 3D Printed Railway track.
Few of the 3D Printed Images of the houses.
What is 3d printing
"What is 3D printing" A common question arises in everyone's mind. Here is what it is
3D printing, additive manufacturing, rapid prototyping, desktop manufacturing, freeform fabrication, rapid manufacturing, digital manufacturing or fabbing – those are all buzz-words we are stumbling a lot upon surfing the Internet or checking the most recent media reports. Techies, hackers, fabbers, bloggers and journalists all talk excitedly about this technology’s “disruptive potential“, they dub it a “real game-changer” or even call it “the third industrial revolution“.But what really is 3D printing?
Definition
3D printing could probably be defined as “a process for making a three dimensional physical object from a digital file by using a device that adds successive layers of material until the entire object is complete“. A real definition does not seem to exist yet.
This complicated description basically means that you can use a special machine like a 3D printer which uses plastic or other materials to build a 3 dimensional object from a digital design. The objects that can be created span from spare parts to jewelry, from gears to quad-copters, from medical prosthetic s to children’s toys. The possibilities are very, very vast.
There are many different kinds of 3D printing processes, but contrary to traditional machining techniques (like milling, cutting and drilling, which use attractive processes), the 3D printing techniques all use additive processes, whereby a solid object is created by laying down successive layers of material.
Industrial 3D Printers
This layering process differs depending on the material used by the 3D printer, but also whether the printer is an industrial or a commercial model. 3D printers have been used by the industry for about 25 years, especially for rapid prototyping and later on rapid manufacturing (the relatively inexpensive production of a small number of parts). But industrial 3D printers are generally prohibitively expensive, not really user friendly and extremely bulky. The advantage of these machines is that they are very fast, they can often print in different colors and they can print multiple copies of the same object during the same print run. These machines also allow printing 3D objects in a very large variety of materials. With today’s 3D printing services, you can choose whether you want your part printed in metal, plaster, ceramic, metal alloy, paper, resin or even edible materials.
Consumer-oriented 3D Printers
However, the actual hype is about personal 3D printing and consumer-oriented 3D printers, also known as desktop 3D printers. These have only been around for a few years and were first adopted by techies and tinkerers. The technologies and software for these machines have progressed a lot since then, mainly thanks to the enormous efforts of makers, DIY’ers, enthusiasts and diverse open source communities. Consumer 3D printers are now desktop-sized and their prices have dropped significantly in the last few years. So much in fact that experts consider the technology is soon ripe to be adopted by a broader consumer level, before entering mass production stage. The current consumer-oriented 3D printers are however still directed at a hobbyist and enthusiasts market. The 3D printers are still less precise and far slower than their industrial counterparts, but how cool is it to actually print toys and tools at your desktop. Most consumer-oriented printers only use thermoplastics as printing material. Thermoplastics are plastics (polymers) that become pliable, mold-able or liquid above a specific temperature and return to a solid state when cooling down. The most common technique used by the current consumer 3D printers is called fused deposition modeling (FDM), also known as fused filament fabrication (FFF). The thermoplastic filament (the consumable – like the ink with your old ink jet) is extruded from a heated print head, a process that is called thermoplastic extrusion. This basically means that the hot print head literally dribbles small drops of molten plastic to form the layers of the object you are printing. Adding layer upon layer, you will see your new object come together on the printing bed of your 3D printer.To get a very quick overview on how this works and how it looks like, check out the following video
3D Printing Beginner Tips
Let's be honest, 3D printing can be quite tricky. Home 3D printing technology is still immature and 3D printing beginners who just bought their first machine are faced with a multitude of challenges when it comes to getting reliable and repeatable 3D print results.
It is clear that a bit of expert guidance won't hurt! That's why we reached out to some of the top 3D printing experts and asked them the following question:
- First, make sure that you understand that 3D printing at home is still not yet "ready for the average Joe", despite the hype that many brands brag about. Understanding how it works is (still) a must, as much as a natural tendency to be curiosity and to like tinkering. Only a few reliable printers may work out of the box (kits are often tricky). And even if you are lucky and if it works out of the box, you will have to solve complex problems soon or later, that are time and nerve consuming. Be patient and inventive!
- Do not print with a badly calibrated printer! Some printers are even delivered while not properly tuned, and price is not always a safe indicator! Check that everything is square, that the pulleys or belts are not lose, that the bed is level. Keep it clean. Right now, the forums are filled with years of ideas, problem solving and interesting experiences. So 99% of your own are probably already discussed in length. The hard part is to recognize it in the first place, which is often not obvious! Experience and practice are a must, and you will eventually know enough that something goes wrong by the sound it makes!
- Never focus too much on one single issue. These machines are complex, and a trouble often arise from multiple reasons. A slipping filament may not only be caused by a "bad" hobbed bolt or driving system, but also by an obstructed nozzle, a wrong feed value, a too low (or too high) temperature...or a combination of all these! As a general rule, do not expect things to go better if you have to abuse any parameter (e.g. by raising the temperature or flow rate). Start printing with low temperature and low speed, and only then drift slightly around the settings so you learn the combined effects: each filament has its own best set of values. Knowing how to diagnose the printer is a huge win for a full experience.
- when you first get a 3D printer up and
running, print out lots of 20mm cubes. It's quite a boring
object, but it can help ensure you have a well setup and calibrated
machine. You can print these solid to test for over extrusion and size
calibration. You can also print hollow to test for accurate perimeter
width settings in your slicing program. This will also ensure better and
more accurate hole size, model features and improved strength of parts
when you have the perimeter width setting and extruder flow rates correctly defined.
- My next tip, which really follows on from the above, would be to get comfortable with nozzle to print bed adjustment - This sounds obvious but it's still the main thing people don't spend enough time on when getting started. And it's so important for successful printing.
Really don't ignore this aspect even if you have a 3D
printer that automatically adjusts for a bed that's not vertically straight /
level / tram / flat - these are all names used to describe a printing surface
that is setup correctly. The more time you spend with your particular 3D
printer, the more you will learn on how best to adjust it, and hopefully then
keep it calibrated so you don't need to tweak it all the time.
The auto-level compensation in some 3D printers can add
adjustments that make some prints look of a lower print quality or due to the
compensation it may emphasize the layering especially on vertical surfaces.
So try to get everything vertically straight. The X,Y and Z
axis should all be at a 90 degree angle to each other. This is actually still
quite hard to do and prove. Printing cubes and testing them (measuring and
checking it they are straight) after printing with a set square is still the
best way to check it's all setup correctly.
Believe me, getting this setup and calibrated will save you
so many print problems and adjustments later on.
- Then the same thing goes for print size calibration. When you print a 20mm cube, is it 20mm when measured? - if not check if it's a calibration issue with the machine. This can also be tricky to track down. Sometimes it may require an adjustment in the steps per millimeter settings in the firmware (more likely if you have built up a 3D printer yourself or from a kit) and very often it's just down to over extrusion of material causing an over-stuffed object. Experiment with extrusion rates, In my experience it's often better to be 10% under extruding than any level of over extruding. And a surprising amount of people are over-extruding without even realizing it.
- Win if you can, lose if you must, but always cheat. Your goal is to get a completed object off the print bed, not to have a magical machine that runs without human intervention. Use whatever tricks and cheats you can think of to make sure the print sticks to the bed. I've been known to pause the printer and super glue the first layer to make sure it doesn't go anywhere, especially on large, flat prints. A little post-processing with sandpaper, filler, and paint goes a long way towards making nice objects you'll be proud to show off.
- Eat
the elephant one bite at a time. Don't try to print too many discrete
objects at once. One little widget getting dragged around by your tool
head will quickly ruin the rest of an extensive multi-part print. If
you're designing a model from scratch, test-print the tricky bits first by
carving them off the main model. Autodesk Meshmixer is great for slicing a
complicated model up into pieces.
- In
theory, theory and practice are the same but in practice, they're
different. Digital models change when they're birthed into the analog
world. Cooling plastic will shrink an otherwise perfectly designed
dovetail joint. Your printer might lay down a slightly wider first layer,
throwing off your design by a few microns. Your haste to pull a warm print
off the bed might warp it into unusablity. Resist the temptation to print
a scale model of a variable-speed transmission your first time out. Start
with something simple and fast like Robber Rex instead
until you gain experience with your printer's quirks and foibles. And
please, for the love of whatever powers you hold dear, please don't print
any more Yoda heads.
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