Tips for designing models for 3D printing

It’s clear that 3D printing is not just another curiosity that will generate a hype and then fall into oblivion – the uses of this cutting-edge production method are multiple and varied, so it’s definitely here to stay. As you can imagine, designing objects to be printed in 3D requires a lot of care and experience. Here are some tips to help you successfully design for the purpose of 3D printing.

1. Know your printer and its limitations

To make sure your model is printable, you should not only know its details, but also the potential limitations of your printer. Some desktop 3D printers cannot print models or elements that are too small – have a look at your printer’s thread width to determine how far you can go in your design.

Thread width is generally determined by the diameter of your printer’s nozzle – most have one of 0.4 or 0.5mm. If you decide to design a circle, such a model will be two thread widths deep – created with a nozzle of 0.4mm, the circle will be 0.8mm thick. The common rule of 3D design is that the smallest features in your model should be of double thread width.

2. Follow the 45 degree rule

The famous 45 degree rule is there to be followed, so if you design overhangs that are greater than 45 degrees, you can be sure that they will need some support material. If you want to avoid that, there are some design tricks that can help you to get the model right to print. One way to do this is by deigning your own bringing or supporting objects and incorporating them to your model. Using cones and other supports, you can effectively deal with the 45 degree rule.

3. Avoid support materials

Support materials generate many problems – they can leave undesirable marks on your prints and are generally time-consuming to remove from your model. That’s why it’s best to design your models without printable support – support algorithms may be constantly improving, but following the 45 degree rule to avoid support materials is simply less complicated.

4. Orient for optimum resolution

It’s worth to orient your model for the best resolution available to that particular model. Remember that if you find it problematic, you can always slice your model and then reassemble it. If you use a Fused-Filament Fabrication printer, you’ll only be able to control the Z resolution of your model. What about X and Y then? They’re determined by thread width, so if your model has small features make sure to print it with the right orientation.

5. Design to fit tolerance when facing interlocking parts

So, your object has many interlocking parts and you’re at loss as to your next step? Make sure to get your tolerance right – it’s not a piece of cake. To set the correct tolerance, you should use a 0.2mm offset for tight fit and 0.4mm for loose fit. The former is perfect for connecters and the latter for things like box lids or hinges. Always test the tolerance in your model to see whether it fits or not.

6. Keep stress in mind

When designing your model, make sure to minimize stress by orienting it so that print lines are perpendicular to points where pressure will be applied. This will help to keep your prints safe from breaking once force is applied to their parts in use.

Even though 3D printing is at its infancy, you can be sure that people working with such cutting-edge printers are busy developing new standards and practices that will be tested – and there’s nothing better you can do than keep up with them and learn more about great 3D design.

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3D Printing – A New Opportunity for Commercial Printers

In recent years, the concept of 3D printing has taken the world by storm, promising to change forever the process involved in manufacturing. The process is also often referred to as additive manufacturing because it adds on layers of materials rather than carving out something by cutting it up. The concept has excited all since for the very first time users got access to a technology that could design and produce prototypes extremely quickly without having to go through the conventional melting, molding, casting, and fabricating route involved in conventional manufacturing.

However with the technology becoming more accessible and inexpensive as well as more capable, a host of options has opened up for businesses that offer low volume but custom-built products. Visit jakprinters.com for more information on how this process is changing the manufacturing landscape.

Why Is 3D Printing So Attractive for Business?

As 3D printing becomes more commercialized by the day with both price and technology barriers collapsing, it has become extremely attractive for businesses, especially small outfits to offer branded goods in very small order quantities and that too at a fraction of the cost of conventional manufacturing. 3D printing thus has carved out a new business model for businesses to offer completely customized products relevant to the needs and aspirations of the target audience. These could be as simple as custom-built guitar picks, dice with custom branding, tile racks for scrabble that have names of each player or fashion jewelry designed by the wearer herself. Under normal circumstances, offering these goods to retailers in the gaming industry, suppliers of handcrafted apparel or music shops would have been prohibitive and practically impossible.

Why Has 3D Printing Become Competitive?

According to experts, 3D printing receivedpositive response from businesses because it eases the pressure to make investments in supply chain and inventory management. Because the quantities are small and customized for the buyer, the logistic costs, the warehousing and cost of storage can be almost completely eliminated. Further, as a manufacturing process, it has become cost-effective because of a number of factors such as the requirement of lesser steps of processing, little assembly and lesser use of energy, while minimizing waste. The process of additive manufacturing also means that it is no longer necessary for manufacturers to produce large quantities of products and parts. The technology of 3D printing permits manufacturers to adopt a direct path from design to production without the intermediary tooling requirement, so not only it saves time but also allows manufacturers to be more agile in meeting customer demands.

The additive technology process also means that parts can be manufactured on demand making inventory and storage a thing of the past. 3D manufacturing also comes in extremely handy for maintaining legacy systems as the required parts can now be manufactured on demand without the necessity of maintaining stock. Learn more on how you can become an economical supplier of custom maintenance parts and services. It needs to be appreciated that additive manufacturing does not compete with traditional manufacturing for replacing it but instead complements it and creates completely new markets, hitherto untapped. The strength of additive manufacturing lies in being able to produce parts that are not possible by conventional manufacturing processes.

Success Stories in Additive Manufacturing

One company that has successfully adopted rapid prototype manufacturing has already become a key supplier to large OEMs in the defense and aerospace domains. It manufactures a variety of products like air ducts and parts of CT scanners using stainless steel and tungsten, among others. Apart from defense and aerospace, tremendous headway has also been made by companies involved in the medical, tooling, petroleum, consumer products, automotive and electronics industries. All these industries have taken additive manufacturing from the rapid prototyping stage to direct digital manufacturing.

The application of 3D printing is constrained only by imagination; you have implants being made by the medical industry while the electronic industry is successfully using it to embed electronic so that you end up with more functionality in less space. Though even now the cost of additive manufacturing is higher than manufacturing by the conventional process, returns are more than assured due to better performance and increased low volume customization.

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