Principle Of 3D Printing

Principle
The main principle of 3D printing is stereolithography, proposed by Charles Hull in a 1984 as “a system for generating three-dimensional objects by making a cross-sectional pattern of the object to be formed”[1]. The actual meaning of this statement is that if a 3D object generated using a 3D drawing software , it is initially split into layers and these layers are then successively printed by the machine on top one another.
3D printer has its 3 principal axes and they are linear. This means that their axes are at right angles to each other and that they move in straight lines . Machines which use this principle are known as linear robots or cartesian coordinate robots[2]. Examples of linear robots are 3D printers, but also computer…show more content…
A simple 3D printer has three axes, X, Y, Z, each controlled by a stepper motor, plus the extruder mounted on Z axis.
Stepper motors are relatively small motors and move in extremely small movements, often in millimeter. Cheap stepper motors are less accurate as compared to expensive models. They are an important part of any printer, as they are responsible for the quality of the print . During working time, they tend to make quite some noise and cheap stepper motors can be especially noisy [2].
The extruder is the part that thrusts out and feeds the plastic filament into the ‘hot-end’. Extruders are typically incorporated into the hot-end, however in some types it can be remote, pushing the filament through a tube, called a Bowden cable, into the hot-end. In some types a dual extruder is also used, which provides the ability to print two different materials at the same time[4]. This result in increased price, as it requires an extra extruder, and hot…show more content…
These machines used lasers to cure light-sensitive materials into specific designs. The slicing process first appeared during this time and designers used computer programs to split 3D designs into connected layers in series[1].
In 1992, first stereolithographic apparatus (SLA) machine was made by 3D Systems Charles Hull’s company , which made it possible to fabricate complex parts, layer by layer, in a fraction of the time it would normally take. In the same year, startup DTM produced the world’s first selective laser sintering (SLS) machine—which shoots a laser at a powder instead of a liquid[2]. Throughout the 1990’s and early stage of 2000’s a host of new technologies continued to be introduced, still focused widely on industrial applications and while they were still largely processes for prototyping applications. Research and Developnent was also being conducted by the more advanced technology providers for specific tooling, casting and direct manufacturing applications. This saw the emergence of new terminology, namely Rapid Tooling (RT), Rapid Casting and Rapid Manufacturing (RM)