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Prototype

We all know how important prototyping is in any business. It is easy for


anyone to make generalizations and blanket explanations of how
prototypes work that help the common engineer. But what if we took it
a step further and actually engaged the engineers themselves in their
perspective fields and asked them why prototyping is so important?
Engineers who use prototypes on a regular basis and have needs that
cant be covered by generalizations. Engineers that yearn for
understanding, acceptance, and just a bit of respect. What if we
allowedthem to compile a list of things you can learn from a prototype?
Its a whole lot better than having some half-wit, Wikipedia-driven Tumblr
expert with no engineering background or experience try to pinpoint what
is actually needed in the field right now.
Well folks, thats exactly what we did. We interviewed three engineers
from three different engineering fields: mechanical, electrical, and
industrial, and asked them about prototyping and what specifically gets
them off or just plain pisses them off. From these interviews, we
compiled our list. No, I mean, an actual legitimate list from legitimate
working engineers. Thrilled yet? We thought you might be.

1) Prototypes test FIT AND FUNCTION.


Take, for example, a company like Case-Mate. Phone cases are made
even before the new phone is released. A project engineer needs to
know everything about a potential case, such as the comfort of the case
in a persons hand, how it covers and protects the phone, and how to
package the phone case once it is ready to be shipped to stores. Without
good quality prototypes, it would be impossible to produce a viable
product. A project engineer at Case-Mate uses prototypes daily (yes,

daily) to answer these questions. No one likes running blind, and


prototypes help shed light on questions that have to be answered. Now.

2) Prototypes show ACTUAL WEAR AND TEAR.


If time permits, prototypes have the ability to show how the finished
product will withstand the test of time. This is why it is so important to
have the prototype produced from the actual materials used to make the
finished product. An EE developing cores for thermal imagers needs to
know that a casing prototype works with the electronic equipment. Does
it stand up to extreme environments like the ones firefighters face every
day? If it doesnt, firefighters cant find victims through the smoke in a
burning building. This means people die. Thats right, engineers are
freaking HEROES. And these engineers deserve prototypes that can be
put through the ringer and still come out in one, preferably working,
piece. Run it over, throw it against the wall, or shoot it with a bazooka. Is
it still working afterwards?

3) Prototypes test if the design is AFFORDABLE.


What is the point of having the most epic design in the history of epic
designs if the cost of production makes it impossible to produce? No one
wants to pay $350 for a phone case (unless that phone case also makes
you breakfast in the morning. Bacon. We like bacon.) If a prototype can
be produced that is cost effective for the company without sacrificing
quality, then chances are that the finished product will sell as long as
there is a market interest. And that company will make a nice little profit
in the process.

4) Prototypes raise CONSUMER INTEREST.

Conventions and design conferences are great ways to get your product
out there, but carting around a CAD drawing does little for investors and
consumers who need tangible examples of the product on which they
wish to spend their money. Thats like ordering a pizza and having the
empty box delivered to your door. Prototypes need to emulate every
aspect of the actual product within the specified tolerances. Suppliers
are key here because you want someone who will create the very best
prototype for the occasion. Visiting suppliers before utilizing their
services helps weed out those that are sloppy and those that are
superior, just like sampling pizza parlors. Mmmm, knowledge.

5) Prototypes INSPIRE FUTURE IDEAS.


Industrial designers love prototypes because they help flush out
mistakes in current designs and pave the way for new designs.
Prototypes have the ability to show how todays big thing is actually not
that big and can be improved upon. Even though a designer may not
know exactly how to improve a rendering by looking at the CAD drawing,
a prototype may be able to show improvements clearly and even inspire
the designer to try something new that he or she would not have known
was possible without seeing the physical prototype.

And since prototype is usually another word for the phrase, I need it
yesterday! Quickparts is a great resource for engineers who are
constantly under a time crunch. Simply create an account online, submit
your 3D design, get a quote, and have it printed. Fast. Each customer is
assigned a project manager to ensure production goes smoothly, so you
never lose that personal touch.

FDM

Advantages of FDM technology

Low cost, easy availability, low cost maintenance.


Disadvantages of FDM technology

Mechanical Strength, Surface Finish


Best Use Case

FDM can be used for one-off, single use low cost, non structural parts
SLA
Stereolithography (SLA)

SLA stands for stereolithography. In Stereolithography, UV light pattern is


used to cure full layer of resin. The photo polymers are cured layer by
layer to create the final object. SLA produces higher resolution objects
and is more accurate than FDM as the resolution is primarily determined
from the optical spot size which is very small. Also, much less force is
applied in SLA than in FDM during layer formation and so the surface
finish is much smoother and objects printed using SLA look much more
professional than FDM printed objects.
Advantages of SLA technology

Good quality finish, mechanical strength


Disadvantages of SLA technology

Expensive when compared to FDM. As these parts are UV cured, longterm exposure to sunlight can reduce mechanical strength.
Best Use Case

SLA can be used when parts have intricate details or need a very
smooth surface finish.

What is 3D printing?
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What is 3D printing?

How does 3D printing work?

Processes and technologies

Examples & applications of 3D printing

3D printing industry

Industrial printing

Personal printing

Services

History

Future

Infographic

What is 3D printing?
3D printing or additive manufacturing is a process of making three
dimensional solid objects from a digital file. The creation of a 3D printed
object is achieved using additive processes. In an additive process an
object is created by laying down successive layers of material until the
entire object is created. Each of these layers can be seen as a thinly sliced
horizontal cross-section of the eventual object.

How does 3D printing work?


It all starts with making a virtual design of the object you want to create. This virtual design is
made in a CAD (Computer Aided Design) file using a3D modeling program (for the creation of a
totally new object) or with the use of a 3D scanner (to copy an existing object). A 3D scanner
makes a 3D digital copy of an object.
3d scanners use different technologies to generate a 3d model such as time-of-flight, structured /
modulated light, volumetric scanning and many more.
Recently, many IT companies like Microsoft and Google enabled their hardware to perform 3d
scanning, a great example is Microsofts Kinect. This is a clear sign that future hand-held devices
like smartphones will have integrated 3d scanners. Digitizing real objects into 3d models will
become as easy as taking a picture. Prices of 3d scanners range from very expensive professional
industrial devices to 30 USD DIY devices anyone can make at home.
Below youll find a short demonstration of the process of 3D scanning with a professional HDI
3D scanner that uses structured light:

To prepare a digital file for printing, the 3D modeling software slices the final model into
hundreds or thousands of horizontal layers. When the sliced file is uploaded in a 3D printer, the
object can be created layer by layer. The 3D printer reads every slice (or 2D image) and creates
the object, blending each layer with hardly any visible sign of the layers, with as a result
the three dimensional object.

Processes and technologies


Not all 3D printers use the same technology. There are several ways to print and all those
available are additive, differing mainly in the way layers are build to create the final object.
Some methods use melting or softening material to produce the layers. Selective laser sintering
(SLS) and fused deposition modeling (FDM) are the most common technologies using this way
of printing. Another method of printing is when we talk about curing a photo-reactive resin with
a UV laser or another similar power source one layer at a time. The most common technology
using this method is called stereolithography (SLA).
To be more precise: since 2010, the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM)
group ASTM F42 Additive Manufacturing, developed a set of standards that classify the

Additive Manufacturing processes into 7 categories according to Standard Terminology for


Additive Manufacturing Technologies. These seven processes are:

1. Vat Photopolymerisation
2. Material Jetting
3. Binder Jetting
4. Material Extrusion
5. Powder Bed Fusion
6. Sheet Lamination
7. Directed Energy Deposition
Below youll find a short explanation of all of seven processes for 3d printing:

Vat Photopolymerisation
A 3D printer based on the Vat Photopolymerisation method has a container filled with
photopolymer resin which is then hardened with UV light source.

Vat photopolymerisation schematics. Image source: lboro.ac.uk


The most commonly used technology in this processes isStereolithography (SLA). This
technology employs a vat of liquid ultraviolet curable photopolymer resin and an ultraviolet laser
to build the objects layers one at a time. For each layer, the laser beam traces a cross-section of
the part pattern on the surface of the liquid resin. Exposure to the ultraviolet laser light cures and
solidifies the pattern traced on the resin and joins it to the layer below.
After the pattern has been traced, the SLAs elevator platform descends by a distance equal to the
thickness of a single layer, typically 0.05 mm to 0.15 mm (0.002 to 0.006). Then, a resin-filled
blade sweeps across the cross section of the part, re-coating it with fresh material. On this new
liquid surface, the subsequent layer pattern is traced, joining the previous layer. The complete
three dimensional object is formed by this project. Stereolithography requires the use of
supporting structures which serve to attach the part to the elevator platform and to hold the object
because it floats in the basin filled with liquid resin. These are removed manually after the
object is finished.
This technique was invented in 1986 by Charles Hull, who also at the time founded the
company, 3D Systems.

Animation of the SLA process

Other technologies using Vat Photopolymerisation are the new ultrafastContinuous Liquid
Interface Production or CLIP and marginally used older Film Transfer Imaging and Solid
Ground Curing.

Material Jetting
In this process, material is applied in droplets through a small diameter nozzle, similar to the
way a common inkjet paper printer works, but it is applied layer-by-layer to a build platform
making a 3D object and then hardened by UV light.

Material Jetting schematics. Image source: CustomPartNet


Here you can see presentation of Stratasys Objet500 Connex 3D printers that use their
proprietary Triple-Jetting technology where you can clearly see the printheads and UV light:

Binder Jetting
With binder jetting two materials are used: powder base material and a liquid binder. In the build
chamber, powder is spread in equal layers and binder is applied through jet nozzles that glue
the powder particles in the shape of a programmed 3D object. The finished object is glued
together by binder remains in the container with the powder base material. After the print is
finished, the remaining powder is cleaned off and used for 3D printing the next object. This
technology was first developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1993 and in 1995
Z Corporation obtained an exclusive license.

Binder jetting 3D printing technology overview. Image source: additively.com


The following video shows a high-end binder jetting based 3D printer, the ExOne M-Flex. This
3D printer uses metal powder and curing after the binding material is applied.

Material Extrusion
The most commonly used technology in this process is Fused deposition modeling (FDM)

Fused deposition modelling (FDM), a method of rapid prototyping: 1 nozzle ejecting


molten material (plastic), 2 deposited material (modelled part), 3 controlled movable
table. Image source: Wikipedia, made by user Zureks under CC Attribution-Share Alike
4.0 International license.
The FDM technology works using a plastic filament or metal wire which is unwound from a coil
and supplying material to an extrusion nozzle which can turn the flow on and off. The nozzle is

heated to melt the material and can be moved in both horizontal and vertical directions by a
numerically controlled mechanism, directly controlled by a computer-aided manufacturing
(CAM) software package. The object is produced by extruding melted material to form layers as
the material hardens immediately after extrusion from the nozzle. This technology is most widely
used with two plastic filament material types: ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene)
and PLA (Polylactic acid) but many other materials are available ranging in properties from
wood filed, conductive, flexible etc.
FDM was invented by Scott Crump in the late 80s. After patenting this technology he started the
company Stratasys in 1988. The software that comes with this technology automatically
generates support structures if required. The machine dispenses two materials, one for the model
and one for a disposable support structure.
The term fused deposition modeling and its abbreviation to FDM are trademarked by Stratasys
Inc. The exactly equivalent term, fused filament fabrication (FFF), was coined by the members
of the RepRap project to give a phrase that would be legally unconstrained in its use.
Animation of the FDM process

Powder Bed Fusion


The most commonly used technology in this processes is Selective laser sintering (SLS)

SLS system schematic. Image source: Wikipedia from user Materialgeeza under Creative
Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

This technology uses a high power laser to fuse small particles of plastic, metal, ceramic or glass
powders into a mass that has the desired three dimensional shape. The laser selectively fuses the
powdered material by scanning the cross-sections (or layers) generated by the 3D modeling
program on the surface of a powder bed. After each cross-section is scanned, the powder bed is
lowered by one layer thickness. Then a new layer of material is applied on top and the process is
repeated until the object is completed.
All untouched powder remains as it is and becomes a support structure for the object. Therefore
there is no need for any support structure which is an advantage over SLS and SLA. All unused
powder can be used for the next print. SLS was developed and patented by Dr. Carl Deckard at
the University of Texas in the mid-1980s, under sponsorship of DARPA.
Animation of the SLS process

Sheet Lamination
Sheet lamination involves material in sheets which is bound together with external force. Sheets
can be metal, paper or a form of polymer. Metal sheets are welded together by ultrasonic welding
in layers and then CNC milled into a proper shape. Paper sheets can be used also, but they are
glued by adhesive glue and cut in shape by precise blades. A leading company in this field
is Mcor Technologies.

Simplified model of ultrasonic sheet metal 3D printing. Image source: Wikipedia from user
Mmrjf3 shared under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.

Here is a video with a metal sheet 3D printer by Fabrisonic that uses additive manufacturing
paired with CNC milling:

and here is an overview of Mcor 3D printers that use standard A4 paper sheets:

Directed Energy Deposition


This process is mostly used in the high-tech metal industry and in rapid manufacturing
applications. The 3D printing apparatus is usually attached to a multi-axis robotic arm and
consists of a nozzle that deposits metal powder or wire on a surface and an energy source (laser,
electron beam or plasma arc) that melts it, forming a solid object.

Direct Energy Deposition with metal powder and laser melting. Image source: Merlin
project
Sciaky is a major tech company in this area and here is their video presentation showing electron
beam additive manufacturing:

Examples & applications of 3D printing


Applications include rapid prototyping, architectural scale models & maquettes, healthcare (3d
printed prosthetics and printing with human tissue) and entertainment (e.g. film props).
Other examples of 3D printing would include reconstructing fossils in paleontology, replicating
ancient artifacts in archaeology, reconstructing bones and body parts in forensic pathology and
reconstructing heavily damaged evidence acquired from crime scene investigations.

3D printing industry
The worldwide 3D printing industry is expected to grow from $3.07B in revenue in 2013 to
$12.8B by 2018, and exceed $21B in worldwide revenue by 2020. As it evolves, 3D printing
technology is destined to transform almost every major industry and change the way we live,
work, and play in the future.
Medical industry

The outlook for medical use of 3D printing is evolving at an extremely rapid pace as specialists
are beginning to utilize 3D printing in more advanced ways. Patients around the world are
experiencing improved quality of care through 3D printed implants and prosthetics never before
seen.
Bio-printing
As of the early two-thousands 3D printing technology has been studied by biotech firms and
academia for possible use in tissue engineering applications where organs and body parts are
built using inkjet techniques. Layers of living cells are deposited onto a gel medium and slowly
built up to form three dimensional structures. We refer to this field of research with the term: bioprinting.
Aerospace & aviation industries
The growth in utilisation of 3D printing in the aerospace and aviation industries can, for a large
part, be derived from the developments in the metal additive manufacturing sector.
NASA for instance prints combustion chamber liners using selective laser melting and as of
march 2015 the FAA cleared GE Aviations first 3D printed jet engine part to fly: a laser sintered
housing for a compressor inlet temperature sensor.
Automotive industry
Although the automotive industry was among the earliest adopters of 3D printing it has for
decades relegated 3d printing technology to low volume prototyping applications.
Nowadays the use of 3D printing in automotive is evolving from relatively simple concept
models for fit and finish checks and design verification, to functional parts that are used in test
vehicles, engines, and platforms. The expectations are that 3D printing in the automotive
industry will generate a combined $1.1 billion dollars by 2019.

Industrial printing
In the last couple of years the term 3D printing has become more known and the technology has
reached a broader public. Still, most people havent even heard of the term while the technology
has been in use for decades. Especially manufacturers have long used these printers in their

design process to create prototypes for traditional manufacturing and research purposes. Using
3D printers for these purposes is called rapid prototyping.
Why use 3D printers in this process you might ask yourself. Now, fast 3D printers can be bought
for tens of thousands of dollars and end up saving the companies many times that amount of
money 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.
Besides rapid prototyping, 3D printing is also used for rapid manufacturing. Rapid
manufacturing is a new method of manufacturing where companies are using 3D printers for
short run custom manufacturing. In this way of manufacturing the printed objects are not
prototypes but the actual end user product. Here you can expect more availability of personally
customized products.

Personal printing
Personal 3D printing or domestic 3D printing is mainly for hobbyists and enthusiasts and really
started growing in 2011. Because of rapid development within this new market printers are
getting cheaper and cheaper, with prices typically in the range of $250 $2,500. This puts 3D
printers into more and more hands.
The RepRap open source project really ignited this hobbyist market. For about a thousand dollars
people could buy the RepRap kit and assemble their own desktop 3D printer. Everybody working
on the RepRap shares their knowledge so other people can use it and improve it again.

Services
Not everybody can afford or is willing to buy their own 3D printer. Does this mean you cannot
enjoy the possibilities of 3D printing? No, not to worry. There are 3D printing service
bureaus like Shapeways, Ponoko andSculpteo that can very inexpensively print and deliver an
object from a digital file that you simply upload to their user-friendly website. You can even sell
your 3D designs on their website and make a little money out of it!

If you dont design your own 3D models, you can still print some very nice objects. There are
model repositories such as Thingiverse, 3D Warehouse and 3D Parts Database that have model
files you can download for free.
There are also companies who offer their services business-to-business. When, for instance, you
have an architecture practice and you need to build model scales, it is very time consuming doing
this the old fashioned way. There are services where you can send your digital model to and they
print the building on scale for you to use in client presentations. These kind of services can
already be found in a lot of different industries like dental, medical, entertainment and art.

History
In the history of manufacturing, subtractive methods have often come first. The province of
machining (generating exact shapes with high precision) was generally a subtractive affair, from
filing and turning through milling and grinding.
Additive manufacturings earliest applications have been on the toolroom end of the
manufacturing spectrum. For example, rapid prototyping was one of the earliest additive variants
and its mission was to reduce the lead time and cost of developing prototypes of new parts and
devices, which was earlier only done with subtractive toolroom methods (typically slowly and
expensively). However, as the years go by and technology continually advances, additive
methods are moving ever further into the production end of manufacturing. Parts that formerly
were the sole province of subtractive methods can now in some cases be made more profitably
via additive ones.
However, the real integration of the newer additive technologies into commercial production is
essentially a matter of complementing subtractive methods rather than displacing them entirely.
Predictions for the future of commercial manufacturing, starting from todays already- begun
infancy period, are that manufacturing firms will need to be flexible, ever-improving users of all
available technologies in order to remain competitive.

Future

It is predicted by some additive manufacturing advocates that this technological development


will change the nature of commerce, because end users will be able to do much of their own
manufacturing rather than engaging in trade to buy products from other people and corporations.
3D printers capable of outputting in colour and multiple materials already exist and will continue
to improve to a point where functional products will be able to be output. With effects on energy
use, waste reduction, customization, product availability, medicine, art, construction and
sciences, 3D printing will change the manufacturing world as we know it.
If youre interested in more future predictions regarding 3D printing, check out The Future Of
Open Fabrication.
So what is 3d printing?

Applications beyond concept modeling and general prototyping have stringent demands
for qualifying a process capabilities. For advanced prototyping, analysis and the
growing number of direct digital manufacturing (DDM) projects, accuracy assessments
must be comprehensive studies based on sound quality control practices. To quantify

the capabilities of the Fortus 900mc, Stratasys performed an in-depth analysis of


accuracy, precision, and repeatability. Following the procedures set forth in the accuracy
assessment of the Fortus 400mc, the Fortus 900mc (Figure 1) was evaluated through
the same comprehensive dimensional inspection. The study of the Fortus 900mcs
process capabilities confirms that the system satisfies published tolerance specifications
and shows that it outperforms all other Fortus machines. The study also reveals that the
Fortus 900mc offers consistent part quality with a high degree of repeatability across
machines, builds, and platform locations.
REAL-WORLD TESTING
The assessment of dimensional accuracy was based on 144 sample parts and 3,888
measurements, which ranged from 0.375 inch (9.5 mm) to 5.0 inches (127 mm). The
test parts were constructed on three Fortus 900mc machines. There were three builds
on each machine, and each build contained 16 parts spread evenly across the extents
of the build platform. The test part (p/n 206376-001) measured 5.0 X 3.0 X 0.55 inches
(127 X 76 X 14 mm). It was constructed in ABS-M30 with standard parameters (Figure
2). Other than support removal, there was no secondary finishing. There were no
adjustments made prior to, or during, the study that would improve the overall accuracy
or the quality of a feature. Additionally, all test parts and all measurements were
included in the data analysis; rebuilds and measurement exclusions were not permitted.
Using a CMM, QC Inspection Services, Inc. (Burnsville, Minn.) measured each test part
in 27 locations.
REAL RESULTS
The results of the accuracy study confirm that the Fortus 900mc produces parts within
the published tolerance specification: the greater of 0.0035 inch (0.09 mm) or 0.0015
inch/inch (0.04 mm/mm). This conclusion is based on a 95 percent certainty level (two
sigma). Of the 3,888 measurements, 99.5 percent are within 0.005 inch (0.13 mm),
and 49.9% are within a narrow tolerance band of 0.001 inch (0.03 mm). Throughout
the extensive analysis, only 197 measurements (5.1 percent) exceed the tolerance
specification. The histogram (Figure 3, page 2) reports the deviation from nominal
dimensions for all parts on the three Fortus 900mc machines used for the analysis. It
shows both the number of occurrences by deviation range and the resulting normal

distribution curve. This normal distribution has a very small standard deviation of 0.0017
inch (0.043 mm). Additionally, the deviation spread is nicely centered on a mean of
-0.0003 inch (0.008 mm). The normal distribution shows a two-sigma capability, which
gives a 95.4 percent certainty, of -0.0038 to +0.0031 inch (-0.10 to +0.08 mm). Included
in the two-sigma calculation are 720 measurements (18.5 percent) with allowable
tolerance of up to +/- 0.0075 inch (0.191 mm). Figure 4 (page 2) is an alternative
representation of the tolerance expectations for the Fortus 900mc. This probability curve
reports the percentage of measurements by their absolute deviations. It shows that
nearly 94.6 percent of the measurements are within 0.0035 inch (0.09 mm) and 99.5
percent are within 0.005 inch (0.13 mm). Figure 5 (page 2) plots the dimensional
deviations, by location on the test part, for a single Fortus 900mc. The red, dashed lines
indicate the acceptable tolerance band per the published specification. As shown, all
locations have a two-sigma value between 0.0006 and 0.0027 inch (0.015 to 0.069
mm), which is well within the tolerance range. Although a few locations have a bias to
the upper limit, the small standard deviation suggests that minor machine and software
adjustments, following a sampling run, could be used to further improve the dimensional
quality of manufactured parts. A common objection to direct digital manufacturing (DDM)
is that additive fabrication technologies have unacceptable variances from part-to-part,
build-to-build and machine-to-machine. While true of earlier technologies, a goal of the
Fortus 900mc is to improve output consistency. To confirm that the goal has

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