What is 3D printing?
It’s now time to stop limiting your ideas and thinking about the impossibilities. With digitalization at its peak, it has something more to offer. 3D printing can change the game and is currently turning tables in the market, where there are endless needs and demands to meet.
Why choose 3D printing? Why not?
It’s good for the environment and renewable. Some of the materials are biodegradable. This explains why it’s a great choice.
We need technology that meets the demands of our fast-growing world. It should be quick, reliable, affordable, and environmentally friendly to better serve our needs.
Let’s understand the concept of what exactly is 3D printing. Imagine something in your mind, like a picture, model, or decoration. It can be anything you want.
Now what 3D printing does is make that idea come to reality by printing it into a complete 3D model. It is not very convincing until we understand how it works.
Think of how architecture works or how engineers build houses. They first have a plan, then a model, and then the implementation of the plan in a real-life model. 3D printing is quite similar to that. While building a house, the builders stack bricks on bricks, and in that sort of manner, a house can be built, and in the sort of same manner, 3D printing works.
Additive Manufacturing involves stacking materials on top of each other until the model is finished. This process allows anyone to easily create complex structures that are usually difficult to build with traditional methods. Let’s understand some important steps to follow during the printing process.
Designing: It is the initial step. An idea or a design is what drives the idea of printing. Someone creates this using CAD (Computer-Aided Design) software.
With the help of these software or tools, you can make designs on your computer and save your design as a file that a 3D slicer can read. Such files can be STL or OBJ files too. Some models already appear online, and users can download them for free or purchase them for printing.
Slicing: It is the step that follows next. This is the process where the design will print into a 3D model. This phase makes the printer easily read the 3D model by segmenting it into layers.
Different software also plays a role in the slicing process.
Some of the software used are “Cura,” “Prusa Slicer,” “Chitubox,” etc. These tools break the design into horizontal layers and create a file called “G-code.”
These tools divide the design into horizontal layers. They create a file called “G-code.” This file tells the printer how to print the model. It includes instructions on speed, any necessary support, and the direction for placing the material
Printing Methods: We can find various ways of printing our 3D model, and each kind uses different technologies. Some of the most commonly used technologies are as follows:
- FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling): This is the most common type of 3D printing. In this type of printing, the process heats the plastic filament first, and then layers the softened plastic to build the 3D model. People find them very affordable and, at the same time, easy to use.
- SLA stands for Stereolithography. It is a method that uses liquid resin. A UV laser or UV screen hardens the resin. This creates the shape of the models. This method gives a smooth and detailed finish to the 3D models.
- SLS (Selective Laser Sintering) is a method that uses a laser. It fuses powdered materials like metals or nylons. This process turns them into solid materials or specific shapes.
- MJF (Multi Jet Fusion): MJF uses a fine powder and a binding agent to build parts layer by layer, followed by a fusing process. It’s known for producing durable, high-quality parts with excellent detail and strength, making it ideal for functional prototypes and end-use parts.
3D Printing: After the model has been sliced into G-code, which can be read by the printer. The next step is to print the model. The machine, or more specifically, the printer, will read the G-code and print accordingly. The printing period depends on the sizes of the models, respectively. The larger the size of the model, the greater the time is to be taken, and vice versa.
Post-Processing: It is the last step. After the model has been printed, there needs to be a step where the quality or any defect needs to be checked. This is the step where any excess material is cut off and the product is cleaned so as to be presented at its best. Some of the important ways used in this step or process are support removal, sanding, painting or coating, and curing.
It’s quite fascinating to see how technologies have risen and how ideas have worked out and implemented in the most sustainable ways. 3D printing can be grouped as one of those sustainable ways to produce raw materials or products that can be used widely in many different fields. Sustainable because of the choice of the raw materials 3D printing requires. Let’s talk about the kinds of materials used to print these models.
- PLA (Polylactic Acid): A biodegradable product made from cornstarch. This material can be printed effortlessly.
- ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene): A heat-resistant, durable material. They can sometimes be tricky to print with.
- Nylon: A strong and flexible material. This is often used in parts where it needs to bear wear and tear or stress and force.
- Metal powders: These materials are used in printing to meet industrial demands and applications. Some of the metal powders that are used can be steel, titanium, or even aluminium for the production of functional parts in industry demands.
3D printing can serve various fields of demand in today’s time and in a short amount of time. Many industries demand various types of models for either functional needs, decorative needs, or even education. To shed light on why 3D printing can be a big hit and how it is turning games in the market, we must understand how it is being used. 3D printing serves as a support to all the engineers and designers by helping them create an effective prototype. Not only this, but also in the field of medicine and dentistry, 3D printing can be used for creating custom prosthetics, dental implants, and models for surgical planning. The education field requires models for the purpose of a better and more detailed understanding of complex subjects like human anatomy or parts, geometries, design, and engineering. The automobile and aerospace industries also now demand 3D-printed parts, as it is lightweight, durable, and also have detailed complex structures that would most probably be difficult if they were produced in the traditional ways.
3D printing works for almost anything and any design. Whether it be a functional product or be it a new business idea create and bring your limitless and unique idea to life for the world to see.
