UEME3223 Computer Aided Design and

Manufacture

Laboratory 3 Report:
3D Printing

Name: Khoo Sin Yau

ID: 1903765
Lecture: L1
Lab Group: P5
Programme: MH
Objectives
To observe, record and write down how 3D printing works.
To conduct a discussion about 3D printings after the printing process observation.

Introduction
3D printing is an additive technique that is used to create parts. It is 'additive' in
the sense that it does not require a block of material or a mould to produce physical
things; instead, it stacks and fuses layers of material. It's usually quick, has cheap fixed
setup costs, and can build more complicated geometries than 'conventional'
technologies, with an ever-expanding array of materials. It is widely utilised in the
engineering sector, especially for prototyping and the creation of lightweight
geometries. 3D printing use a layering process of computer-aided design (CAD) to
build three-dimensional things. 3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing,
involves stacking materials such as plastics, composites, or bio-materials to make items
that vary in shape, size, stiffness, and colour.
Discussion
Firstly, students are required to design and draw a pendant with a maximum
dimension of 30 x 60 x 3 mm, has to be one sided, and must not insert too small details
such as circle with a diameter of 2mm by using SolidWorks and then convert the
prototype into a STL format. Next, lecturer will be inputting the necessary infomation
and student’s prototype design data (in STL format) into the computer which connected
to the 3D printer, then, the 3D printer will starts to print the pendant out. From the
observation, the 3D printing is an additive manufacturing which is the following 3D
printer uses a filament to build up the pendant layer by layer from bottomost to top
according to prototype design.

Figure 1.0: 3D Printing concept; Additive manufacturing.

Figure 2.0: 3D Printing observation 1.

Figure 3.0: 3D Printing observation 2.

Figure 4.0: 3D Printing observation 3.

 However, after the submission of prototype design and receiving the completed
printing of pendant, when comparing both the prototype design and the printed pendant,
although both of them look similar, somehow the printed pendant is seems to be
imperfect and a minor difference is found out when compared to the originally designed
pendant. The difference between two of them is that the corners of the star of the printed
pendant are seems to be less sharp and more blunt while the corners of the star of
original design are more sharpened and razor-edged.

The part resolution in the XY direction is determined by the set nozzle size in
most 3D printers. The most common nozzle diameters are 0.4mm and 0.5mm. While
this works fine for most components, it may run into problems if tried to print extremely
thin features that are smaller than the nozzle size. For example, if attempted to print a
0.2mm thick sharp corner or sharp edge with a 0.4mm diameter nozzle, it may discover
that the product printed out will be skipped out sharp corners part and providing a blunt
corners. If it is necessary to print incredibly thin features on a regular basis, then the
best solutions is to consider for these micro-sized prints.

So, the first possible solution is to redesign the part to have thicker features, if
it is still having trouble printing these thin features, then rebuilding the component
should be considered such that it only includes features that are larger than the diameter
of the nozzle used. Typically, this entails modifying the 3D model in the original CAD
software to change the size of the minor elements. After thickening the minor features,
re-import the model into Simplify3D to ensure that the printer can reproduce the 3D
shape that is made.

The second possible solution is to install a nozzle with a smaller tip size. In
many circumstances, it won't be able to change the original 3D model. It might be a
part that someone else developed or one that is acquired from the internet, for example.
In this scenario, the person might want to think about getting a second nozzle for the
3D printer so that it can produce smaller features. Many printers have a detachable
nozzle tip, making these aftermarket changes simple. Many customers, for example,
acquire a 0.3mm nozzle as well as a 0.5mm nozzle to give two alternatives. For specific
information on how to install a lower nozzle tip size, contact the manufacturer of the
printer.

Figure 5.0: Prototype design.

Figure 6.0: Printed pendant.

Figure 7.0: Prototype design (Zoomed in).

Figure 8.0: Printed pendant (Zoomed in).

Conclusion
The 3D printers usually can’t print out very small and detailed parts in most cases.
However, the following issue is fixable with various options such as redesign the
prototype or install a smaller nozzle for the 3D printer.