What is 3D Printing? An Overview.

Share
50 7 8

Youve heard of 3D printing from newscasters and journalists, astonished at what theyve witnessed. A machine reminiscent of the Star Trek Replicator, something magical that can create objects out of thin air. It can print in plastic, metal, nylon, and over a hundred other materials. It can be used for making nonsensical little models like the over-printed Yoda, yet it can also print manufacturing prototypes, end user products, quasi-legal guns, aircraft engine parts and even human organs using a persons own cells. 3 Printing merupakan mesin yang dapat "mencetak" dalam plastik, logam, nilon, dan lebih dari seratus bahan lainnya. Hal ini dapat digunakan untuk membuat model sedikit tidak masuk akal seperti over-dicetak Yoda, namun juga dapat mencetak prototipe manufaktur, produk pengguna akhir, senjata semi-legal, bagian-bagian mesin pesawat dan bahkan organ tubuh manusia menggunakan sel sendiri seseorang. Fantastical? Yes. True? Yes. Here now? Yes. We live in an age that is witness to what many are calling the Third Industrial Revolution. 3D printing, more professionally called additive manufacturing, moves us away from the Henry Ford era mass production line, and will bring us to a new reality of customizable, one-off production. Pencetakan 3D, lebih profesional disebut manufaktur tambahan, yang mengubah era produksi jauh dari era produksi 2D atau garis.dan akan membawa kita ke realitas baru yang lebih sesuai , satu-off produksi Need a part for your washing machine? As it is now, youd order from your repairman who gets it from a distributer, who got it shipped from China, where they mass-produced thousands of them at once, probably injection-molded from a very

expensive mold. In the future, the beginning of which is already here now, you will simply 3D print the part right in your home, from a CAD file you downloaded. If you dont have the right printer, just print it at your local fab (think Kinkos). 3D printers use a variety of very different types of additive manufacturing technologies, but they all share one core thing in common: they create a three dimensional object by building it layer by successive layer, until the entire object is complete. Its much like printing in two dimensions on a sheet of paper, but with an added third dimension: UP. The Z-axis. Printer 3D menggunakan berbagai jenis tipe dari teknologi manufaktur tambahan yang berbeda, tetapi mereka semua berbagi satu inti yang sama: mereka membuat objek tiga dimensi dengan membangun lapis demi lapis berturut-turut, sampai seluruh objek selesai. Ini jauh seperti pencetakan dalam dua dimensi pada selembar kertas, tetapiada tambahan 3 dimensi yaitu kearah sumbu-Z. Each of these printed layers is a thinly-sliced, horizontal cross-section of the eventual object. Imagine a multi-layer cake, with the baker laying down each layer one at a time until the entire cake is formed. 3D printing is somewhat similar, but just a bit more precise than 3D baking. Stick with us and well go through the various types of additive manufacturing. From FDM printing, where a material is melted and extruded in layers, one upon the other, to SLS printing, where a bed of powder or liquid material such as resin is sintered (hardened) layer upon thin layer within it until a model is pulled out of it, its a fascinating and quickly advancing world that will change our lives as we know it.

It Begins with a Digital File

In the 2D world, a sheet of printed paper output from a printer was designed on the computer in a program such as Microsoft Word. The file the Word document contains that instructions that tell what the printer to do. In the 3D world, a 3D printer also needs to have instructions for what to print. It needs a file as well. The file a Computer Aided Design (CAD) file is created with the use of a 3D modeling program, either from scratch or beginning with a 3D model created by a 3D scanner. Either way, the program creates a file that is sent to the 3D printer. Along the way, software slices the design into hundreds, or more likely thousands, of horizontal layers. These layers will be printed one atop the other until the 3D object is done. Dalam dunia 2D, untuk mencetak selembar kertas dari sebuah printer harus "dirancang" pada komputer dalam program seperti Microsoft Word. File - dokumen Word - berisi instruksi yang memberitahu printer apa yang harus dilakukan. Dalam dunia 3D, printer 3D juga perlu memiliki petunjuk untuk apa yang harus dicetak. Sehingga membutuhkan file juga.File - Computer Aided Design CAD) File dibuat untuk kegunaan program dalam pemodelan 3D. dengan ini program menciptakan sebuah file yang dikirim ke printer 3D.dalam prosesnya, software memotong desain menjadi ratusan, atau bahkan ribuan lapisan horisontal. Lapisan ini akan dicetak satu demi satu diatasnya hingga obyek 3D terbentuk..

Is it 3D Printing or Additive Manufacturing?

The term 3D printing is the common term for the correct manufacturing term of additive manufacturing. But 3D printing will remain the term of choice as who really

is going to run around saying things like, Im going to go additive manufacture my a new iPhone case. No, they are going to 3D print it. It just sounds so much cooler to, doesnt it?

Theres no way subtractive manufacturing is going to make something like this in one clean run.

So what the heck is additive manufacturing? Someday soon enough in the future, people will look back and view our current manufacturing processes as we today view something such as blacksmithing. Whats interesting about that last sentence is that much of todays manufacturing processes are actually very similar to blacksmithing. They both are whats called subtractive manufacturing. Subtractive manufacturing relies upon the removal of material to create something. The blacksmith hammered away at heated metal to create a product. Today, a CNC machine cuts and drills and otherwise removes material from a larger initial block of material to create a product. Its inefficient and wasteful. Other manufacturing techniques abound but essentially whittle down raw material into a product. As youve already surmised, additive manufacturing creates something by adding material to the object. Some here, some there, and no where its not needed. No waste. Very efficient. Youll read about many types of 3D printers, but no matter the technology involved, its additive.

Enough talking, can I see one in action already?

Lets take a look at one in action, before we get deeper into what is 3D printing. In the video below Bre Petris, CEO of Makerbot, demonstrates the Makerbot Replicator 2. This printer uses Fused Deposition Material (FDM) technology, which well get into later.

Commercial 3D printers
While most people have yet to even hear the term 3D printing, the process has been in use for decades. Manufacturers have long used the printers in the design process

to create prototypes for traditional manufacturing. But until the last few years, the equipment has been expensive and slow. Printer 3D komersial Ketika kebanyakan orang sudah mendengar pencetakan 3D, proses telah tersebut sudah digunakan selama beberapa dekade. Produsen telah lama menggunakan printer dalam proses desain untuk menciptakan prototipe untuk manufaktur sederhana. Tapi sampai beberapa tahun terakhir, peralatan telah mahal dan lambat. Now, fast 3D printers can be had for tens of thousands of dollars, and end up saving the companies many times that amount in the prototyping process. For example, Nike uses 3D printers to create multi-colored prototypes of shoes. They used to spend thousands of dollars on a prototype and wait weeks for it. Now, the cost is only in the hundreds of dollars, and changes can be made instantly on the computer and the prototype reprinted on the same day. Sekarang, printer 3D dengan cepat dapat dimiliki hanya dengan puluhan ribu dolar, dan mampu menyelamatkan perusahaan dalam proses prototyping dalam jumlah yang besar. Sebagai contoh, Nike menggunakan printer 3D untuk membuat prototipe multi-warna sepatu. Mereka biasanya menghabiskan ribuan dolar untuk satu prototipe dan menunggu mingguan untuk itu. Sekarang, biaya hanya ratusan dolar, dan perubahan dapat dibuat langsung pada komputer dan prototipe dapat dicetak ulang pada hari yang sama. Some companies are using 3D printers for short run or custom manufacturing, where the printed objects are not prototypes, but the actual end user product. As the speeds of 3D printing go up and the prices come down, look for more and more of this. And expect more availability of personally customized products. Beberapa perusahaan menggunakan printer 3D untuk jangka pendek atau manufaktur yang biasa, di mana objek yang dicetak bukan prototipe, tapi produk akhir yang sebenarnya. Sebagai kecepatan proses cetakan 3D cepat dan harga turun. Dan kedepannya lebih berguna untuk memproduksi produk secara individu.

Personal 3D Printers

A Huxley RepRap 3D printer that has printed out its own parts.

So far weve only talked about commercial 3D printers. There is a whole other world of 3D printers: personal and DIY hobbyist models. And they are getting cheap, with prices typically in the range of $300 $2,000. The RepRap open source project really ignited this hobbyist market in the same way the Apple I microcomputer ignited the hobbyist desktop computer market in the late 1970s. For about a thousand dollars, people have been able to buy the RepRap kit and put together their own personal 3D printer, complete with any customizations they were capable of making. And whats more, these printers print most of the parts for more printers. RepRap is short for replicating rapid prototyper, so complete selfreplication, including electronic circuit boards, is the goal. The interest in RepRap spawned scores of other low-cost 3D printers, both DIY and fully-assembled, and as the prices keep coming down, it puts 3D printers into more and more and more hands. But do you have to be an engineer or a 3D modeling expert to create 3D models on your own 3D printer? No, not at all. While complex and expensive CAD software like AutoCAD and Solidworks have a steep learning curve, there are a number of other programs, many free, that are very easy to learn. The free version of Google SketchUp, for example, is very popular for its ease of use; and the free Blender program is popular for its advanced features. If you dont have your very own 3D printer, not to worry, there are 3D printing service bureaus like Shapeways and Ponoko that can very inexpensively print and deliver an object from a digital file that you simply upload to their user-friendly website. Its almost as easy as ordering a custom t-shirt from Cafepress or Zazzle. Even if you dont design your own 3D model, you can still print some very cool pieces. There are model repositories such as Thingiverse, 3D Parts Database, and 3D Warehouse that have model files you can download for free.

What do all these people print? Its limitless. Some print things like jewelry, some print replacement parts for appliances such as their dishwasher, some invent all sorts of original things, some create art, and some make toys for their kids. With the many types of metal, plastic, glass, and other materials available (even gold and silver), just about anything can be printed.

3D Printing Methods
Stereolithography (SLA)
3D Systems explains the process of Stereolithography

The first commercially available 3D printer (not called a 3D printer back then) used the stereolithography (SLA) method. This was invented in 1986 by Charles Hull, who also at the time founded the company, 3D Systems. A SLA 3D printer works by concentrating a beam of ultraviolet light focused onto the surface of a vat filled with liquid photocurable photopolymer (resin). The UV laser beam draws out the 3D model one thin layer at a time, hardening that slice of the eventual 3D model as the light hits the resin. Slice after slice is created, with each one bonded to the other, and next thing you know you have a full, extremely high-resolution three dimensional model lifted out of the vat. Unused resin is reusable for the next job. Metode Cetak 3D Stereolithography (SLA) Tersedianya penggunaan printer 3D komersial pertamakali (dulu belum dikenal printer 3D) menggunakan metode stereolithography (SLA). Ini diciptakan pada tahun 1986 oleh Charles Hull, yang juga pada waktu yang sama mendirikan perusahaan, Sistem 3D. Sebuah SLA printer 3D bekerja dengan mengekonsentrasikan seberkas cahaya ultraviolet difokuskan ke permukaan tong yang berisi cairan photopolymer photocurable (resin). Sinar laser UV menarik keluar model 3D satu lapisan tipis pada satu waktu, mengeraskan potongan yang membentuk model 3D saat cahaya menumbuk resin. Potongan demi potongan dibuat, dengan masing-masing diikatkan pada yang lain, setelah itu kamu akan memiliki model 3D dari tong yang penuh dan beresolusi sangat tinggi. Resin yang tidak terpakai dapat digunakan kembali untuk pekerjaan berikutnya.

Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM)

Stratasys explains Fused Deposition Modeling at a trade show

Also invented in the late 1980s, by Scott Crump, was Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) technology. With patent in hand, he and his wife founded Stratasys in 1988. With FDM, the object is produced by extruding a stream of melted thermoplastic material to form layers. Each layer stacks on top of and fuses with the previous layer as the material hardens almost immediately after leaving the extrusion nozzle. It is one of the less expensive 3D printing methods. Most FDM printers print with ABS plastic (think Lego), as well as PLA (Polylactic acid), a biodegradable polymer, which is produced from organic material. The actual term Fused Deposition Modeling and its abbreviation FDM are trademarked by Stratasys. RepRap uses a similar process, but has called it Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF), so as to not step on the trademark. With FFF, the material is fed via filament from a spool of the material. Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) Pada akhir 1980-an, Scott Crump menemukan sebuah teknologi yang dikenal dengan Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM). Dengan hak paten, ia dan istrinya mendirikan Stratasys pada tahun 1988. Dengan FDM, objeknya dihasilkan dengan ekstrusi lelehan bahan termoplastik untuk membentuk lapisan. Setiap lapisan di atas ditumpuk dengan lapisan sebelumnya hingga bahan mengeras secara cepat setelah meninggalkan nosel ekstrusi. Ini adalah salah satu metode cetak 3D yang lebih murah. Kebanyakan printer FDM mencetak menggunakan plastik ABS serta PLA (Polylactic acid), polimer biodegradable, yang dihasilkan dari bahan organik. Istilah sebenarnya "Fused Deposition Modeling" dan singkatan "FDM" adalah merek dagang oleh Stratasys. Kompleks RepRap menggunakan proses yang sama, tetapi menyebutnya "Fused Filament Fabrication" (FFF), sehingga tidak menginjak merek dagang. Dengan FFF, bahan dimasukkan melalui filamen dari spool material.

Selective Laser Sintering (SLS)

3D Systems demonstrates the SinterStation Pro SLS 3D printer

The 1980s were big for inventing 3D printing technologies. Not only were SLA and FDM invented and patented then, but so was Selective Laser Sintering (SLS), by Carl Deckard and colleagues at the University of Texas in Austin. SLS works similarly to SLA, but instead of liquid photopolymer in a vat, youll find powdered materials, such as polystyrene, ceramics, glass, nylon, and metals including steel, titanium, aluminum, and silver. When the laser hits the powder, the powder is fused at that point (sintered). All unsintered powder remains as is, and becomes a support structure for the object. The lack of necessity for any support structure with SLS is an advantage over FDM/FFF and SLA theres none to remove after the model is complete, and no extra waste was created. All unused powder can be used for the next printing. Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) Tahun 1980-an merupakan tahun yang besar dalam penciptaan teknologi cetak 3D. Tidak hanya SLA dan FDM ditemukan dan dipatenkan, tapi begitu juga Selective Laser Sintering (SLS), yang ditemukan oleh Carl Deckard dan koleganya di University of Texas di Austin. SLS bekerja mirip dengan SLA, tapi bukan photopolymer cair di dalam tong, Anda akan menemukan bahan-bahan bubuk, seperti polistiren, keramik, kaca, nilon, dan logam termasuk baja, titanium, aluminium, dan perak. Ketika laser menyentuh bubuk , bubuk berfusi pada saat yang sama (sinter). Semua bubuk unsintered tetap tertinggal sebagaimana adanya, dan menjadi pendukung untuk struktur objek. Kurangnya pentingnya untuk struktur tambahan dengan SLS adalah keuntungan lebih dibandingkan FDM / FFF dan SLA tidak ada yang perlu diilangkan setelah model selesai, dan tidak ada sisa limbah yang dihasilkan. Semua bubuk yang tidak terpakai dapat digunakan untuk pencetakan berikutnya. Syringe Extrusion Almost any material that has a creamy viscosity can be used in 3D printers equipped with syringe extruders. This includes materials like clay, cement, silicone, and PlayDoh. Certain foods like chocolate, frosting, and cheese can also be printed with these systems. The syringe may or may not need to be heated, depending on the material; chocolate may need to be kept warm while silicone can be kept at room temperature. Syringe Ekstrusi Hampir semua material yang memiliki viskositas tinggi dapat digunakan dalam peralatan printer 3D dengan syringe extruders. Contohnya bahan-bahan seperti tanah liat, semen, silikon, dan Play-Doh. Makanan tertentu seperti coklat, frosting,

dan keju juga dapat dicetak dengan sistem ini. Jarum suntik boleh atau tidak perlu dipanaskan, tergantung pada materialnya, coklat mungkin perlu tetap dihangatkan sedangkan silikon dapat disimpan pada suhu kamar saja. Other Methods There are other variants of these technologies. For example there is Selective Laser Melting (SLM), which is like SLS but it fully melts the powder rather than just fusing the powder granules at a lower temperature. This is similar to Electron Beam Melting (EBM) which uses an electron beam instead of a UV laser. And then there is a completely different technology called Laminated Object Manufacturing (LOM), where layers of adhesive-coated paper, plastic, or metal laminates are successively glued together and cut to shape with a knife or laser cutter. Metode lain Ada varian lain dari teknologi ini. Misalnya ada Selective Laser Melting(SLM), yang seperti SLS tetapi sepenuhnya mencairkan bubuk daripada hanya memfusikan butiran bubuk pada suhu yang lebih rendah. Hal ini mirip dengan Electron Beam Melting (EBM) yang menggunakan berkas elektron bukan laser UV. kemudian ada penggunaan teknologi yang sama sekali berbeda yang disebut Laminated Object Manufacturing (LOM), di mana lapisan kertas perekat berlapis, plastik, atau laminasi logam berturut-turut direkatkan dan dipotong menjadi bentuk dengan pisau atau cutter laser.

3D Printing is a Game Changer

Instantly printing parts and entire products, anywhere in the world, is a game changer. But it doesnt stop there. 3D printing will affect almost every aspect of industry and our personal lives. Medicine will forever be changed as new bioprinters actually print human tissue for both pharmaceutical testing and eventually entire organs and bones. Architecture and construction are changing as well. Now, 3D-printed models of complex architectural drawings are created quickly and inexpensively, rather than the expensive and time-consuming process of handcrafting models out of cardboard. And experimental, massive 3D printers are printing concrete structures, with the goal of someday creating entire buildings with a 3D printer. Art is already forever changed. Digital artists are creating magnificent pieces that seem almost impossible to have been made by traditional methods. From sculptures to light fixtures, beautiful objects no longer need to be handcrafted, just designed on a computer. And there are developments where you least expect them: for example, archeologists can 3D scan priceless and delicate artifacts, and then print copies of

them so they can handle them without fear of breakage. Replicas can be easily made and distributed to other research facilities or museums. It has been used to create a full-size reproduction of King Tutankhamuns mummy and to repair Rodins sculpture, The Thinker.

The Future of 3D Printing

This is a disruptive technology of mammoth proportions, with effects on energy use, waste, customization, product availability, art, medicine, construction, the sciences, and of course manufacturing. It will change the world as we know it. Before you know it.

http://www.3dprinter.net/reference/what-is-3d-printing

3D PRINTING CONCEPTS
3D Printing can be incredibly versatile once you get beyond the basics, but getting there is daunting. Here's some information on the 3D printing process that will help you as you move forward.

SLICING
Slicing is the process of turning your 3D model into a toolpath for your 3D printer. We call it slicing because the first thing the slicing engine does is cut your 3D model into thin horizontal layers. MakerBot uses a few different slicing engines in our software, and all of them let you change settings that affect the way they generate a toolpath for your model. If you're having trouble getting your objects to come out the way you want them, the answer may be somewhere in these settings. Here's an overview of some common concepts in 3D printing and what your options are.

SLICERS
MakerBot Slicer. The MakerBot Slicer is MakerBot's own slicing engine. Its super fast, and were adding improvements all the time. MakerBot Slicer is the slicer used for the three default profiles in MakerWare, and it's also available in ReplicatorG 0037 and later. Skeinforge. Skeinforge is an extremely customizable slicing engine that has given most of us our best prints but it's also slow and has a steep learning curve. Skeinforge is the primary slicer in ReplicatorG, and its also available as a base for custom profiles in MakerWare.

Slic3r. Slic3r is a slicing engine created by the open source community. It's never been optimized for use with MakerBots, but we've made it available for experimentation in the most recent versions of ReplicatorG.

LAYER HEIGHT
Layer height is basically equivalent to vertical resolution in 3D printed objects. It's like pixels in a digital image, or thread count in sheets. The thinner the layer, the more layers per millimeter and the smoother the texture of your built object. The only problem with small layers is that they make you build take longer -- for every layer you print at a layer height of .3 mm, you have to print three layers, each one taking just as much time, at a layer height of .1 mm. The standard nozzle size on recent MakerBots is .4 mm. That's about the diameter of the plastic noodle that emerges from your extruder, and, theoretically, .4 mm is the highest layer height you can print with this nozzle. But at that layer height, each extruded noodle of plastic would just barely touch the top of the previous layer, making for a weak object. We generally don't try to build things with layer heights higher than .34 mm with a .4 mm nozzle. The other end of the layer height spectrum is also complicated. By making adjustments to slicing settings, some MakerBot users have achieved layer heights well under .1 mm, but fairly low layer heights should be achievable out of the box. Start with a .15 mm layer height on The Replicator or Replicator 2X, or .1 mm on Replicator 2 and work your way down from there.

BUILD SPEED
Build speed is a combination of a couple of different things: The feed rate is the speed at which your extruder is moving. The flow rate is the rate at which plastic is extruding. With stepper motor extruders -- a category that includes all MakerBot extruders since the MK6 Stepstruder -- it's generally best to set these both to the same speed, so when you set your Feedrate in ReplicatorG or your Speed While Extruding in MakerWare, you are editing both of those rates. The tradeoff with build speed is between fast build times and high object quality. Very fast build times can cause rough textures and breaks in the extruded noodle of plastic.

TEMPERATURE
Extrusion temperature is the temperature the extruder heats to during your build. It depends on a few other variables, mainly the properties of the plastic filament and your build speed. Different plastics melt at different temperatures -- and in different ways. PLA makes a solid to liquid transition, like that of ice to water, and melts at extrusion temperatures from about 180C up. It also gets shinier and, with translucent colors, clearer when it's extruded at higher temperatures. ABS makes a more gradual transition, and softens enough to be extruded somewhere around 215C. Higher build speeds require higher extrusion temperatures. That's because our plastics take time to melt, as well as high temperatures. The faster the plastic is being pulled through the extruder, the higher the extrusion temperature

needs to be to melt it quickly enough. We use a temperature of 220C for ABS and PLA at speeds of 40 mm/s and lower, and 230C at speeds up to about 100 mm/s. These temperatures are optimized for use with both kinds of plastic, but PLA can often extrude at much lower temperatures. You can also adjust your build plate temperature if you're using a bot with a heated build plate. ABS really needs to be printed on a heated surface, and should stick well to Kapton tape over heated aluminum between temperatures of 100C and 120C. PLA sticks to non-heated surfaces, but larger PLA objects print well on plates heated to between 40C and 60C.

SHELLS AND INFILL

Each layer of a given object is going to be divided into two parts: shells and infill. The shells, also known as perimeters, are extruded outlines defining the shape of the layer. Extra shells strengthen objects. Infill is what happens in the space left over. It's usually extruded in some kind of pattern -- the MakerBot Slicer and Skeinforge both use a hexagonal pattern for infill by default. The main setting you're dealing with here, though, is infill percentage. More infill will make an object stronger. Less will make it lighter and quicker to build. Before you build something, think about how much infill it will actually need. Objects for display often won't need more than 10% infill, while even objects that are going to see hard use rarely need more than 80% infill. Not using more infill than necessary will help you save time and plastic.

http://www.makerbot.com/support/guides/printing/#top

3D Printing
Imagine a future in which a device connected to a computer can print a solid object. A future in which we can have tangible goods as well as intangible services delivered to our desktops or highstreet shops over the Internet. And a future in which the everyday "atomization" of virtual objects into hard reality has turned the mass pre-production and stock-holding of a wide range of goods and spare parts into no more than an historical legacy. Such a future may sound like it is being plucked from the worlds of Star Trek. However, while transporter devices that can instantaneously deliver us to remote locations may remain a fantasy, 3D printers capable of outputting physical objects have been in both development and application for over three decades, and are now starting to present a whole host of new digital manufacturing capabilities. 3D printing may therefore soon do for manufacturing what computers and the Internet have already done for the creation, processing and storage of information. Such a possibility has also started to capture mainstream media attention. The Economist, for example, has now published several articles on 3D printing, including The Printed World (February 2011), and most recently the superb 3D Printing Scales Up (September 2013).

The following provides an overview of 3D printing technologies and their present and likely future application. For a full list of 3D printer manufacturers, as well as initiatives and organizations pioneering their application, please see my 3D Printing Directory. Or for a six minute overview, just watch my video below. Oh, and for 70,000 words on the subject, you may be interested in my book 3D Printing: The Next Industrial Revolution.

Current Technologies
3D printing is an additive technology in which objects are built up in a great many very thin layers. The first commercial 3D printer was based on a technique called stereolithography. This was invented by Charles Hull in 1984. Stereolithographic 3D printers (known as SLAs orstereolithography apparatus) position a perforated platform just below the surface of a vat of liquid photopolymer. A UV laser beam then traces the first slice of an object on the surface of this liquid, causing a very thin layer of photopolymer to harden. The perforated platform is then lowered very slightly and another slice is traced out and hardened by the laser. Another slice is then created, and then another, until a complete object has been printed and can be removed from the vat of photopolymer, drained of excess liquid, and cured. Stereolithographic printers remain one of the most accurate types of hardware for fabricating 3D output, with a minimum build layer thickness of only 0.06mm (0.0025 of an inch). Another 3D printing technology based on the selective solidification of a tank of liquid -- or 'vat polymerization' -- is DLP projection. This uses a projector to solidify object layers one complete cross-section at a time, rather than using a laser to trace them out. One of the leading manufactuters of this kind of printer is envisionTEC with its Perfactory range of 3D printer hardware. A final 3D printing technology that creates objects by using a light source to solidify a liquid photopolymer is known generically as 'material jetting', or commercially as 'polyjet matrix'. This was pioneered by a company called Objet (now a part of Stratasys), and forms object layers by emitting liquid photopolymer from an inkjet-style, multi-nozzel print head. After each layer is printed a powerful UV light is then used to set it solid before the next layer is printed. The really clever thing is that the Connecx range of 3D printers created by Objet can jet several different materials from their print head, and in varying combination. This allows up to 14 of 120 potential materials to be printed at the same time. This means that objects can be printed with, for example, both hard plastic and rubber-like parts. You can learn more about this very impressive technology in this video. Rather than solidifying a photopolymer, another category of 3D printer hardware is based onmaterial extrusion. Here a semi-liquid material -- and most usually a hot thermoplastic -- is deposited from a computer-controlled print head. This process was invented by Scott Crump in 1988, who set up a company called Stratasys to commercialize his invention.

Crump chose to name the technology 'fused deposition modelling' or 'FDM', and patented and trademarked these terms. Hence, while many people use the phrase 'FDM' to refer to this kind of 3D printing, only Stratasys actually makes FDM 3D printers. Others manufacturers refer to the same process as 'thermoplastic extrusion', 'plastic jet printing' (PJP), the 'fused filament method' (FFM) or 'fused filament fabrication' (FFF). If you are getting the idea that the terminology used in 3D printing is a bit of a nightmare then you are right. You can find a great article reporting attempts to standardize terms here. Whatever it is called, one of the key benefits of FDM is that objects can be made of out of exactly the same thermoplastics used in traditional injection moulding. Most FMD 3D printers can print with both ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene), as well as a biodegradable bioplastic called PLA (polylactic acid) that is produced from organic alternatives to oil. Within a decade developments in synthetic biology are likely to make the direct production of PLA from a range of biomass materials quite common, hence allowing 3D printing supplies to be grown in many a back yard. In addition to being used to output plastic objects, material extrusion printers have also been developed that can output other semi-liquid materials. The applications are already quite diverse, and range from 3D printers that can print in cheese or chocolate, to concrete printersthat may in future allow entire buildings (or large parts thereof) to be 3D printed. DShape have even created an enormous 3D printer that can build objects in a form of synthetic stone. A third broad category of 3D printer hardware creates object layers by selectively sticking together successive layers of a powdered build material. This can also be achieved in two ways. Firstly, there are printers based on binder jetting (also sometimes known as 'inkjet powder printing'). Here a glue or 'binder' is jetted from an inkjet style print head to stick together successive powder layers. Most commonly the powder used is gypsum-based composite that needs to have its surface coated after printout if a robust object is required. Some binder jetting printers -- such as the ZPrinter 850 from 3D Systems -- jet both a binder and coloured inks from five print heads, so allowing full-colour 3D objects to be created at up to 600x540dpi. Other binder jetting printers can build objects by sticking together plastic powders, sand or even metals. Where a binder is sprayed onto sand, the final object is used as a mould in ' 3D sandcasting', with molten liquid metal poured into it. Once the metal has cooled solid, the sand is then broken away. Binder jetting metal printing has been developed by a company called ExOne (who also make 3D sandcasting printers). Here a layer of bronze or stainless steel metal powder is laid down and a print head moves across it to selectively spray on a binder solution. A heating lamp then dries the layer, and a fresh layer of powder is rolled over it, and the process repeats. Once all layers have been output, the object is then placed in an oven to fully cure the binder. At this stage the object is still very fragile, but is put in a kiln where it is infused with additional bronze powder. The final result is a very solid object that is a least 99.9 per

cent solid metal. You can see the results of this amazing process in my "Online 3D Printing" video embedded further down this page. Rather than spraying on a binder, an alternative method to stick powder granules together is to apply heat. A well established 3D printing technology that works in this manner is selective laser sintering (SLS). This builds objects by laying down a fine layer of powder and then using a laser to selectively fuse some of its granules together. At present, SLS 3D printers can output objects using a wide range of powdered materials. These include wax, polystyrene, nylon, glass, ceramics, stainless steel, titanium, aluminium and various alloys including cobalt chrome. During printing, non-bonded powder granules support the object as it is constructed. Once printing is complete, almost all excess power is able to be recycled. When SLS is used to directly produce metal objects the process is also called direct metal laser sintering (DMLS). Metal objects created by a DMLS 3D printer are about 99.99 per cent dense, and hence can be used in place of traditional metal parts in the vast majority of applications. (There are some good pages on DMLS here). While DMLS 3D prints metal objects directly, it is also common to use laser sintering to produce wax objects that are then sacrificed in a traditional lost-wax casting process. Here, once the wax object has been 3D printed a plaster mould is poured around it. When heated, the wax then melts and is poured away, after which a liquid metal can be poured in. Once this cools the plaster is removed, leaving a metal object that -- in some senses -- began its life on a 3D printer. A closely related 3D printing technique to SLS is known as selective laser melting (SLM). This uses a laser to fully melt the powder granules that form a final object, rather then just heating them enough to fuse them together. As yet another variant, a technique called selective heat sintering (SHS) uses a thermal print head -- rather than a laser -- to apply heat to successive layers of a thermoplastic powder, and as explained in depth here. There is also a very similar processes that uses an electron beam to fuse together metal powers, and which is known as 'electron beam melting'. I discuss this technology in more depth in this article on Engineering.com. Finally, as yet another variant of powder solidification, there is a 3D printing technology called 'directed energy deposition' (also known as 'laser powder forming'). Here a powder of stainless steel, copper, nickel, cobalt, aluminium or titanium is blown into a highpower laser beam for deposition as a molten build material.

Commercial 3D Printers and Online Services

A wide range of commercial 3D printers for industrial application are now available from a range of manufactuers, the two largest of whom are 3D Systems (which works with most technologies and is rapidly acquiring many smaller manufacturers) and Stratasys (which offers FDM and polyjet matrix harware, as well as special 'drop on demand' wax 3D printers

for dental work). Both of these companies had a market capitalization at the end of 2012 of over $3 billion. Other large 3D printer manufactuers that are publically traded are Archam (which produces electron beam melting (EMB) machines), the aforementioned ExOne with their metal and sand binder jetting 3D printers, and Organovo, who specialize in bioprinting. Other large but private 3D printer manufacturers of note include EnvisionTEC (who specialize in DLP projection hardware but also make a 'bioplotter' for tissue engineering), EOS (who make selective laser sintering devices for producing objects in metals or sand), Voxeljet (who make really large printers for binder jetting in sand or plastic powders), SLM Solutions (who specialize in selective laser melting), and Optomec (who produce directed energy deposition printers using their own 'laser engineered net shaping' (LENS) technology). You can find information on these and other industrial 3D printing manufactuers in my 3D Printing Directory. Prices for most commercial/industrial 3D printers tend to start in the ten-to-twenty thousand dollar bracket and spiral upwards into the hundreds of thousands of dollars for very-high-end machines that can build fully-dense metal parts. Although some desktop models are on the market, most commercial 3D printers are usually fairly bulky and often floor-standing. The above prices noted, it is already possible for lone designers and private individuals to obtain quality 3D printouts from high-end 3D printing hardware by using an online bureau. For example,Shapeways, iMaterialize and Sculpteo allow anybody to upload their 3D computers models to have their designs 3D printed and marketed online. More information on a wider range of 3D printing services can also be obtained from my 3D Printing Directory. The following video shows how I used the iMaterialize online service to 3D print a metal object using ExOne binder jetting metal printing:

Personal 3D Printing
For home enthusiasts and lone inventors who want to start 3D printing themselves, a growing range of personal 3D printing initiatives, kits and printers are also now available. For those seriously into real DIY, there are two open source 3D printing initiatives called RepRap -- which stands for the Replicating Rapid-prototyper -- and Fab@Home. These initiatives are both based around online communities that use the web to share all designs and other information required to build a printer based on materials extrusion technology. For those not keen or able to scratch build, several companies now sell 3D printer kits, often based on the above RepRap designs. For example, BitsfromBytes.com sells its RapMan 3.1

3D printer kit from 795, and its pre-assembled BFB-3000 3D printer starting at under 2,000.RepRap Central is also a great supplier of 3D printer kits costing from 599 upwards. In addition to several RepRap models, these include the MakerBot Thing-O-Matic. For those who do not want to build their own 3D printer, pre-assembled personal hardware is now also available. These include the BotMill Glider 3.0 (which is also available as a kit), and the excellent UP! Personal Portable 3D Printer. The latter is a truly plug-and-play FDM 3D printer that can be up-and-running 15 minutes after being unpacked, and does not require any calibration by its user. There is a fantastic video about the Up! 3D printer here. Most recently, 3D Systems has launched a number of Cube Personal 3D Printers as part of itsCubify undertaking to bring 3D printing to the masses. These wi-fi enabled devices are designed to be very easy to use, and sell from $1,199 upwards. The higher-end models even print in three different colours of thermoplastic at the same time.

Current 3D Printing Applications

Most current 3D printers are not used to create final consumer products. Rather, they are generally employed for rapid product prototyping, or to produce moulds or mould masters that will in turn allow the production of final items. Such printing of 3D objects already enables engineers to check the fit of different parts long before they commit to costly production, architects to show detailed and relatively low-cost scale models to their clients, and medical professionals or archaeologists to handle full-size, 3D copies of bones printed from 3D scan data. There are also a wide range of educational uses. Saat Percetakan Aplikasi 3D Printer 3D terbaru tidak digunakan untuk membuat produk konsumen akhir. Sebaliknya, pada umumnya digunakan untuk prototipe produk yang cepat, atau untuk menghasilkan cetakan atau master cetakan yang pada penggunaannya akan memungkinkan produksi barang akhir. Pencetakan seperti objek 3D sudah memungkinkan para insinyur untuk memeriksa pas tidaknya bagian yang berbeda jauh sebelum mereka berkomitmen untuk produksi yang mahal, arsitek untuk menunjukkan rinci dan skala model yang lebih murah untuk klien mereka, dan profesional medis atau arkeolog untuk menangani ukuran penuh, copian 3D cetakan tulang dari data scan 3D. Ada juga berbagai keperluan pendidikan. The range of products that have employed 3D printers in their design process or to produce final moulds or mould masters is constantly growing. To date such products include automobiles, trainers, jewellery, plastic toys, coffee makers, and all sorts of plastic bottles, packaging and containers. You can even now purchase a 3D printed Sad Keanu Reeves. More usefully, some dental labs have for some years been using 3D printers to help create appliances, with envisionTEC selling its Perfactory Digital Dental Printer for use in the creation of crowns, bridges and temporaries by dental technicians. Using this technology, even long-term temporaries can now be created, meaning that 3D printers can quite literally already print you new teeth! envisionTEC 3D printers are now also widely used by many major hearing aid manufacturers to produce ear moulds and shells for final consumer use.

Rentang produk yang telah menggunakan printer 3D dalam proses desain mereka atau untuk menghasilkan cetakan akhir atau master cetakan terus bertambah. Sampai saat ini produk tersebut seperti automobil, pelatih, perhiasan, mainan plastik, pembuat kopi, dan segala macam botol plastik, kemasan dan kontainer. Bahkan sekarang Anda dapat membeli cetakan 3D Sad Keanu Reeves. Lebih berguna, beberapa laboratorium gigi ,selama beberapa tahun telah menggunakan printer 3D untuk membantu menciptakan peralatan, dengan Envisiontec menjual Perfactory Digital Dental Printeruntuk digunakan dalam penciptaan mahkota, jembatan dan temporaries oleh teknisi gigi. Dengan teknologi ini, bahkan temporaries jangka panjang kini dapat dibuat, yang berarti bahwa printer 3D mampu secara harfiah mencetak gigi baru Anda! Envisiontec printer 3D sekarang juga banyak digunakan oleh banyak produsen alat bantu dengar untuk memproduksi cetakan telinga dan kerangka untuk digunakan konsumen akhir

Direct Digital Manufacturing

Whilst most 3D printers are currently used for prototyping and in pre-production mould making processes, the use of 3D printing to manufacture end-use parts is also now occurring. This is becoming known as direct digital manufacturing (DDM). As Fortus explain, for low-volume manufacturing DDM is more cost-effective and simpler than having to pay and wait for machining or tooling, with on-the-fly design changes and just-in-time inventory being possible. For example their customer Klock Werks Kustom Cycles has built one-of-a-kind motorcycles using a Fortus 3D printer to directly digitally manufacture some of the required custom parts.

Another company using 3D printing to create final products is Freedom of Creation (and which was recently acquired by 3D Systems). Their range of incredible, designer 3D printed products includes lighting, furniture, trays, bags and jewellery. In a similar vein, two companies -- Make Eyewear and Protos Eyewear -- are now manufacturing designer sunglasses using 3D printers. Many believe that 3D printers have a great future in the creation of fashion items including jewellery and shoes. For example, Forebes recently reported on a Shoes from a 3D Printer that Smell Like Bubblegum, with injection moulding set to give way to 3D printing to allow maufacture-on-demand and higher levels of customization. You can see even more 3D printed shoes here. It is also already not just a few specialist plastic items that are being made using a 3D printer. For example, engineers at the University of Southampton recently 3D printed a flyable aircraft(well, aside from its electric motor). Rolls Royce is also currently running a project calledMERLIN with the goal of using 3D printing in the manufacture of civil aircraft engines. A driveable prototype of a new electric car called the Urbee has also been 3D printed. Mainstream automobile makes are also already in on the DDM act, with Audi now 3D printing parts of its cars using Objet Polyjet 3D printers. Some artists are now also using DDM to create their masterpieces. For example, sculptorBathsheba Grossman already uses 3D printers to create her works. In the future, museums could also print out exhibits as required from their own digital collection -something that theSmithsonian is already working on -- or indeed from a global archive of artworks scanned from long-lost or too-delicate-to-display originals. You can find out more about 3D artworks, including a great video, on the Singularity Hub. Those wishing to create 3D printed artworks or other objects, but who lack 3D software design skills, can now use services such as those provided by Tri Axis Art.

Future 3D Printing Applications

Whether or not they arrive en-mass in the home, 3D printers have many promising areas of potential future application. They may, for example, be used to output spare parts for all manner of products, and which could not possibly be stocked as part of the inventory of even the best physical store. Hence, rather than throwing away a broken item (something unlikely to be justified a decade or two hence due to resource depletion and enforced recycling), faulty goods will be able to be taken to a local facility that will call up the appropriate spare parts online and simply print them out. NASA has already tested a 3D printer on the International Space Station, and recently announced its requirement for a high resolution 3D printer to produce spacecraft parts during deep space missions. The US Army has also experimented with a truck-mounted 3D printer capable of outputting spare tank and other vehicle components in the battlefield. As noted above, 3D printers may also be used to make future buildings. To this end, a team at Loughborough University is working on a 3D concrete printing project that could allow large building components to be 3D printed on-site to any design, and with improved thermal properties. Masa Depan Aplikasi 3D Percetakan Apakah atau tidak mereka tiba en-massa di rumah, printer 3D memiliki banyak daerah yang menjanjikan aplikasi potensial di masa depan. Mereka mungkin, misalnya, akan digunakan untuk output suku cadang untuk segala macam produk, dan yang tak mungkin ditebar sebagai bagian dari persediaan bahkan toko fisik terbaik. Oleh karena itu, daripada membuang item rusak (sesuatu yang tidak mungkin dibenarkan satu atau dua dekade maka akibat penipisan sumber daya dan ditegakkan daur ulang), barang yang rusak akan dapat dibawa ke fasilitas lokal yang akan memanggil suku cadang yang sesuai secara online dan hanya mencetaknya. NASA telah menguji printer 3D di Stasiun Luar Angkasa Internasional, dan baru-baru ini mengumumkan kebutuhannya untuk printer 3D resolusi tinggi untuk memproduksi komponen pesawat ruang angkasa selama misi ruang angkasa. Tentara AS juga telah bereksperimen dengan truk-mount printer 3D mampu mengeluarkan tangki cadangan dan komponen kendaraan lain di medan perang. Seperti disebutkan di atas, printer 3D juga dapat digunakan untuk membuat bangunan masa depan. Untuk tujuan ini, tim di Loughborough University bekerja pada sebuah proyek pencetakan beton 3D yang dapat memungkinkan komponen bangunan besar untuk dicetak 3D di tempat dengan desain apapun, dan dengan peningkatan sifat termal. Another possible future application is in the use of 3D printers to create replacement organs for the human body. This is known as bioprinting, and is an area of rapid development. You can learn more on the bioprinting page, or see more in my bioprinting video or the Future Visionsgallery.

Aplikasi masa depan lain yang mungkin dalam penggunaan printer 3D adalah untuk menciptakan organ pengganti bagi tubuh manusia. Hal ini dikenal sebagai bioprinting, dan merupakan hal yang berkembang pesat.

Anda dapat mempelajari lebih lanjut pada halaman bioprinting, atau melihat lebih dalam bioprinting video saya atau Visionsgallery Masa Depan.

A Solid Tomorrow
In an age in which the news, books, music, video and even our communities are all the subjects of digital dematerialization, the development and application of 3D printing reminds us that human beings have both a physical and a psychological need to keep at least one foot in the real world. 3D printing has a bright future, not least in rapid prototyping (where its impact is already highly significant), but also in the manufacture of many kinds of plastic and metal objects, in medicine, in the arts, and in outer space. Desktop 3D printers for the home are already a reality, and should cost no more than a few hundred dollars by 2015. 3D printers capable of outputting in colour and multiple materials also exist and will continue to improve to a point where functional products will be able to be output. As devices that will provide a solid bridge between cyberspace and the physical world -- and as an important manifestation of theSecond Digital Revolution -- 3D printing is therefore likely to play some part in all of our futures. For a fascinating glimpse at a wide range of amazing and unusual printers -- including concrete printers, glass printers, bioprinters, and printers that print on toast! -- click here. You may also find interesting the great websites 3DPrinter.net, 3DPrinting.com and 3ders.org. Finally(!), please see my 3D Printing Directory for a whole host of information on 3D printer manufacturers, suppliers, bureau, pioneers and other stuff! Far more information on 3D printing can also be found in my book 3D Printing: The Next Industrial Revolution.

http://www.explainingthefuture.com/3dprinting.html