3D Printing Processes - 2014 Video Lecture | What is 3D Printing: Basic Knowledge - IT & Software

how's it going guys anga seen from
makers Muse so first I don't know my day
job is working as lead designer at 3d
printing Studios in Perth and a question
I get asked all the time is which 3d
printing process is best so there's
pretty literally hundreds of processes
in the 3d printing theme but working out
which one is best for your project can
be really tricky so what I want to do in
this video is go through some core
processes and demonstrate what the
benefits of them are and what some of
the drawbacks of each process might be
so the first process to consider would
be f DM so f DM stands for fused
deposition modeling parts produced on F
GM are really strong and great for
functional prototypes but the part
quality finish is not that good players
are always quite obvious and visible so
if game is essentially a glorified glue
gun the plastic is melted out line by
line layer by layer and it's one of the
few processes that lets you let you
print hollow parts so you can print with
a honeycomb structure inside for less
weight and almost equal strength so f DM
machines are probably the most
affordable printers you can buy at the
moment I mean my up minis net DM it was
originally 1305 bought it and now you
can get them for six hundred ninety five
bucks ready to run out of the box and
they're a great way to get started in 3d
printing but as I said the part finished
quality is not that good you can smooth
over parts using the acetone backbar
process that i've demonstrated before
and you can check it up yeah but you do
start to lose a bit of a detail if you
do that so yeah f DM is very good but if
you want high detail it's not the way to
go the next process to consider is SL s
so SL s stands for selective laser
sintering and it's essentially nala
powder that's centered together with a
laser perhaps are very strong very
detailed and you can create moving
interlocking parts very easily because
the unscented pattern essentially
provides support for the part as it's
being built s less machines are really
expensive they're you know upwards of
few thousand dollars and even though the
patterns run out there's still not any
bit of drop down to anywhere near
consumer levels of cost so SS machines
will be owned by large companies and
they will batch your parts together into
a single bill to make it most economical
so with SLS that it can be quite elite
between sending apart and getting it
back that's because the unscented powder
actually degrades each time machines run
and you can reuse it to two or so times
before it's too fluffy essentially to
reuse so I need to watch out with it
with SLS is the parts will degrade and
discolor over time so the nylons very
porous as it's been scented not melted
together so you by you touching it the
oils and your fingers and any dirt will
rub into it you can dye it very easily
because it is porous it's using clothes
dye and that works quite well and helps
to stop any nastiness coloring being so
obvious but over time SLS parts will
start to look pretty rubbish another
thing to watch out for an SLS is the
parts will shrink and a technician will
account for this by scaling the puffy
port central machine but if it has very
thin walls or very thin features you may
notice things that are slightly
incorrect compared to your CAD so that's
one thing to be careful with a lot of
companies will stop this from happening
with some poor companies will do a less
lucrative that's FDM and SLS both very
good processes for large functional and
decorative parts but if you want
something really really detailed what do
you do well you go with SLA SLA stands
for stereo lithography it's essentially
a liquid bath of UV sensitive resin
which is selectively cured with a laser
or a projector DLP is a variation on the
sort of thing with stereo lithography so
SLA is still one of the highest detail
processes available you get machines
that go down to the micron layer Heights
and the parts just look flawless you
cannot see the layers that are being
used to construct it this also has its
downsides though SLA often is very
expensive and the parts that they
produce are often quite small mixed
except for a very select few gigantic
SLA machines that do exist very big
downside of SLA is the parts are very
very brittle so because they're UV cured
they also quite UV sensitive so if you
leave your parts in the Sun or god
forbid the boot of your car you're
looking at parts destroyed in a matter
of hours whereas ABS plastic and fdn
processes
we'll sit in the Sun all day and just be
fine with it
so SLA if you really need the detail go
with it and also another very cool thing
about SLA is they have now developed wax
like resins so you can produce jewelry
masters using SLA and burn it away in an
investment cast and then cuts directly
from that so there's quite a few jewelry
companies that now own isolate printers
for that sole purpose but what if you
need a full color print well there is
processes that will do it but they have
quite significant drawbacks the oldest
one is the Z core process this is
essentially a inkjet head like interest
in your inkjet printer at home but it's
printing ink and a binder into a plaster
like it's not plaster its proprietary
powder but it's very brittle so you get
parts out of the zeeco process that are
very fragile you don't have to infuse
them with a glue or an epoxy or
something to give them some more
strength and a gloss but if you drop
your z-corp prep it will intend tears I
don't have any examples of zancor prints
because it's the process I would never
use but it's often used for
architectural models and small details
where they have to have color although
in architecture modeling sls is starting
to replace the zeeco process because you
can get such higher detail into SLS
despite it only having one color the
last process I'll talk about is don't
use 3d printing at all and the reason
I'm saying that is 3d printing is being
hugely hyped up so often people think
it's the best way to go but for example
if your parts quite flat or very flat
and having as a few cutouts you know why
not go with laser cutting laser cutting
the very cheap very fast process which
can produce very accurate part
really nice finishes you can't do this
with 3d printing I mean you could may do
it with a large SLA or a probably cost
you 500 bucks which is ten dollars worth
of clothes are coming so if we're going
to this project the fasteners for any
printed but the base was laser-cut and
likewise if you have a block of material
it has a few holes in it you know really
printing that's completely pointless
it's going to cost you a huge amount of
material and it won't be as good as
getting a block of actual material like
metal and just going through a manual
process of drilling the holes out or
even CNC if you have to so always keep
in mind what's the best way to go about
getting the object don't just think I
will use 3d printing there's a lot of
things that need 3d printing to be
reduced load geometries that are only
possible with it there's also a lot of
things that don't really need it so
there you have a hope a major decision a
little bit easier any decent 3d printing
company will offer these core processes
they might just call them something
slightly different
for example Shapeways calls SLS white
strong and flexible we call it high
strength plastic but it's all the same
stuff it all comes out of the same
machines and has the same properties so
next I'll be addressing the other very
important question how long does 3d
printing take so this is another
question I get asked on an almost daily
basis so be sure to click the sexy
subscribe button so you don't miss that
one thanks for watching guys and see you
next time hear me bye