3D printer@lab

3D Printing

3D Printing is a technology which makes it possible to reproduce digital objects in physical space

Technology

• FDM / Fused Deposition Modelling:

It´s the kind of Printer you find sitting in the Lab on the Workbench. This Type of Printer works with a Roll of thin Plastic Filament which is pressed into the heated Printhead. The head moves around the 3D Geometry while extruding the Plastic throug a thin nozzle to the shape of the Object. This happens in single vertical slices or so called layers. The normally used Nozzle has a size of 0.4mm. The smaller the slices are the finer will the detail of the printed object be, but it will take way more time. The slice thicknes reaches from 0.05mm to 0.3mm. And talkin about Dimensions: Usually you´ll encounter two different diameters of Filament: Thick 2.75mm and thin 1.75mm ones. For the Printer in the Lab you will need 2.75mm size.

• Resin Based:

A UV-Curable Resin is exposed to a UV Light source which is modulated via an LCD Screen or on DLP Chip.

• 3DP - Powder Based.

the following usable because of hackable Inkjet Printheads are consindered: XAAR128 HP45 Links: https://www.instructables.com/id/Plan-B-an-open-source-3DP-powder-and-inkjet-3D-pri/ https://hackaday.io/project/21447-printing-bones-on-a-diy-powder-bed-3d-printer https://ytec3d.com/oasis-3dp/

• manual/basics

Software

For 3D Printing apart from software for manipulating and repairing 3D Files itself you will need a so called "Slicer". It is a piece of software which takes your 3D Model, slices it into single layers and calculates the necessary machine code to print out the layers on the machine. The finished machine code is then transferred to the printer to print it out, which could happen via an SD Card, USB Cable or over Network.

Cura Simplify 3D Meshmixer

Materials

• FDM:

The most commonly used Material is called PLA.

DLP/LCD Materials UV Curing Resin;

• safety issues
• projects and experiments
• resources