Solidware I like: 3-D printing
General
A 2015
article in IEEE Spectrum notes that plastic 3-D printing took off
after a key patent expired in 2009, and predicts a similar path for
metal 3-D printing after a key patent expired in 2014.
Printing techniques
(Originally based on this.)
- Stereolithography (SL):
uses a UV laser to polymerize material within
a volume of liquid plastic (photopolymer);
acronym SLA = ‘stereolithograph apparatus’
(refs: 1,
2).
In the Stratasys PolyJet printers, the liquid photopolymer
is jetted onto the build surface and then polymerized with UV light
(ref.).
- Fused filament fabrication (FFF)
refers to the same thing as ‘fused deposition modelling’ (FDM),
which is a Stratasys trademark:
involves heating, extrusion and fusion of a thermoplastic
(ref.).
- Selective laser sintering (SLS):
uses a laser to fuse a powder without fully melting it.
(Ref: sintering)
- Selective laser melting (SLM):
uses a laser to fully melt and fuse a powder.
Electronic beam melting (EBM)
uses an electron beam instead of a laser.
-
Laminated object manufacturing (LOM):
layers of material are superimposed and then cut to the desired shape.
Materials
- Filament types, an overview
-
Materials at Shapeways, including design parameters
-
|
| TangoPlus
| Agilus30
|
| Tensile strength (Mpa)
| 0.8-1.5
| 2.4-3.1
|
| Elongation at break (%)
| 170-220
| 220-240
|
| Tensile tear resistance (kg/cm)
| 2-4
| 5-7
|
| Shore hardness (scale A)
| 26-28
| 30-35
|
| Ref
|
Rubber-like materials from Stratasys: Agilus30 is supposed
to provide more elongation and tear-resistance than TangoPlus.
- Soluble support materials
- PVA (polyvinyl alcohol) is soluble in water,
prints at 170–190 C
- HIPS (high-impact polystyrene) is soluble in
limonene;
prints at 220–230 C, similar to ABS
- In addition to the waxy insoluble SUP705 material,
Stratasys has 2 soluble support materials:
SUP707 for the Objet Eden260VS printer
and
SUP706 for ‘all Stratasys PolyJet Triple-Jetting’ printers
(ref).
They are both described as ‘water-soluble’ in the
Stratasys on-line store (refs
1,
2), but
SUP707 is intended to be removed in a 1% solution of caustic soda (NaOH)
and
SUP706 is intended to be
removed in a 2% solution of caustic soda (NaOH) and
sodium metasilicate (Na2SiO3)
(see user manuals for printers).
- 3D-Fuel (was 3DOM USA)
emphasize the ecological friendliness of PLA; they also have
specialty materials like
Biome3D (plant-based,
like PLA, but said to be less brittle and more flexible,
similar to oil-based materials) and filled PLA filaments
based on coffee, beer, glass, hemp and garbage.
- paste, wood, …
Printers
-
Price comparison, includes country, envelope, lead time,
nozzle diameter, layer thickness, etc.,
as well as price (US$249 to US$846,000, excluding
US$140 for LIX pen).
- Top Ten Reviews
of printers < $3000, and of
budget printers (< $1000).
- 2 ‘open source kits’ that I've seen recommended:
MendelMax 3, Lulzbot Taz 4
- Stratasys acquired MakerBot in 2013
- Low-end multihead filament printers
- Mosaic Manufacturing
make a filament splicer, the Palette, for allowing multimaterial
printing with a single print head; scheduled to ship seriously
in 2016 June
Software
See
20 Best 3D Printing Software Tools by Franz Grieser, 2016 Mar 21:
software for 3-D design & CAD; slicing; printer hosting; and
STL viewing, checking, repair & editing.
Slicer software
- Slic3r:
latest version dated 2015 Jun 17 as of 2016 Mar 29.
When I loaded a model that was much too large, Slic3r immediately
started processing it and was taking a very long time to compute
the infill. I was able to rescale the model while the processing
was going on and after a further long delay the resized model
appeared. The rescale parameter must be an integer percentage.
- Cura
from Ultimaker: latest version dated 2016 Mar 17 as of 2016 Mar 29.
When I ran Cura, a splash image appeared but nothing else appeared to
happen; clicking on the splash image just made it disappear.
In
.cura/ under my home directory a file called
output_log.txt appeared, which ended with the error
message TypeError: 'NoneType' object is not callable
related to the glut library. Based on information
found on the Web, I looked for and found a copy of
glut32.dll belonging to another application.
After I renamed it, Cura started properly.
When I loaded my very large model, Cura automatically scaled it down
and gave a warning message.
- Skeinforge:
latest version dated 2013 Feb 18 as of 2016 Mar 29.
- KISSlicer:
latest version dated 2014 Sep 3 as of 2016 Mar 29.
- …
3-D printing at McGill
- The Cube includes
- the Additive Manufacturing Lab, located in MD264
(the Cube's primary hub), supported by the EUS and
the Department of Mechanical Engineering
- Form2 (4 different resins)
- MakerBot Z18 (PLA)
- Mark One (nylon, fibre composites (carbon, kevlar, glass))
- Ultimaker 2 Extended + (PLA, ABS, CPE)
- Zortrax M200 (ABS, Ultra-T, HIPS, PETG, ‘glass’)
- the IEEE McNaughton Centre, located in MC543,
run by the McGill IEEE Student Branch.
- MakerBot Replicator 2 (PLA)
- MAMSS – workshops,
printing (through The Cube), model database
- LIPHE:
printing service with Objet500 Connex PolyJet
-
Research Commons: printing service with
2 Tinkerine DittoPro 3D printers and 1 AirWolf AxiomE 3D printer,
plus a Matter and Form 3D scanner
- MUHC RI Centre for Innovative Medicine (at the Glen):
Stratasys Objet500 Connex3
3-D printing in Canada
R. Funnell
Last modified: 2017-11-09 11:43:49