Educational Resources-3D Printing
What is 3D Printing?
3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, is the automated process of adding material to build up a 3D shape. This can be done through many different techniques.
Types of 3D Printing
3D printing can come in many forms and can be complted using a variety of materials ranging from plastic to metal to chocolate! There are also different types of printers that use a variety of techniques to achieve a 3D printing process.
Some of the techniques include fused depostion modeling, stereolithography and laser sintering. Fused deposition modeling is the technique used by most desktop 3D printers. It extrudes material one layer at a time out of a nozzle onto a platform in order to form a defined shape. To do this the material is heated to extremely high temperatures (190-250 degrees C) requiring the user to be cautious while the printer is running.
3D Printing at Sci Chic
Check out how we use 3D printing to make our jewelry and accessories here at Sci Chic!
What does 3D Printing look like?
Check out our below timelapses to see what it looks like to 3D print some of our pieces!
3D Printing Materials
The materials for desktop 3D printers come in spools. The material wrapped around the spool is called filament.
The most common type of desktop 3D printer is a plastic printer. These machines can print a variety of plastics ranging from ABS to PLA.
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ABS is also the material that LEGOs are made from. This is a faster printing plastic, but also releases some fumes during the print.
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PLA is made from renewable resources and is therefore biodegradable. This does not release fumes like ABS does.
However, desktop printers are moving beyond these plastic filaments. New options are coming about ranging from wood to carbon fiber, to flexible materials. Some speciality printers can even print food or body parts!
Once you move beyond desktop printers, they are many material possibilities. 3D printed metal parts are being used in everything from the automotive to the space industry.
Parts of a 3D Printer
3D printers are made up of many parts, but these are the essential 4:
Filament Spool-The material used for printing is loaded onto the printer. This is where the material and color are selected.
Extruder-The part of the 3D printer that the filament feeds into. Inside here the filament is prepared into a form that can be used to print.
Hotend-The material comes out of the hotend and is transfered onto the print surface.
Printbed-This is where the item is formed. Some print beds are heated making it possible to print additional materials.
Future of 3D Printing
Every day brings new advances in 3D printing ranging from 3D printing glass to entire cars. 3D printing is changing every industry from medicine to costuming. Here are some articles showing its future:
Want to try out 3D printing for yourself?
Even if you do not have access to a 3D printer, you can still try out 3D printing! Shapeways will print any .stl file (Standard Tesselation Language, the most common 3D printing file format) you upload, or you can choose from a selection of models designers have already uploaded. You can check out Sci Chic's Shapeway's designs here!
Don't know what to print? Print our Pi Binary Necklace! The model is avaliable for free download here!
Free File Download!