As biologists are busy working on cloning living organisms, engineers are working on a mechanical counterpart – creating non-living things that can replicate themselves.
Recently, more than 100 researchers from around the world have been working on a project called RepRap (Replicating Rapid-prototyper), which started in 2004. At the Cheltenham Science Festival in the UK, the team displayed their creation: the world’s first 3D printer than can print pieces which can be assembled by hand to make an exact copy of the original printer.
The replica is no mule, either – it can also print another copy of itself.
So far, RepRap can only reproduce its plastic parts, and not its metal or electronics. It takes a human a few hours to assemble the copied pieces into another printer.
Nevertheless, RepRap is the first 3D printer that can reproduce its own components. And, with its pieces costing around $600, the printer is much less expensive than other 3D printers (which cost around $50,000). Besides replicating itself, it can also print plastic 3D objects including coat hooks, water-filter insects, children’s sandals, and much more.
The RepRap collaborators hope that the printer can be useful for reproducing plastic objects of just about any shape, especially for hobbyists and communities in the developing world.
People already “run their own CD burners, printing presses and photographic laboratories”, said Adrian Bowyer, the University of Bath mechanical engineer who launched the RepRap project. “There’s no reason they shouldn’t run their own factories as well.”
At RepRap.org , you can find more information, including instructions for building your own replicating RepRap printer.
In the 1990’s the advent of fast prototyping permit these costs to be
so companies can develops 3d prototypes fast and successfully. However just in modern days have 3d printing technology been monetarily available to miniature and intermediate sized business, in that way taking manufacturing out of the deep engineering and into the workplace surroundings . It is nowadays also viable to simultaneously put down different types of resources.
3d printing process suggest creation developers the ability to make parts and assemblies made of few resources with unusual mechanical and substantial properties in a single build practice. Progressive 3d printing process techniques yield prototypes that closely emulate the look, feel and functions of manufactured goods prototypes. Discover more tech details at the Printing 3D
Advantages of 3d printing process
On the fly model creation allow the formation of prototypes that intimately imitate the perfunctory properties of the target design. Some technologies allow the mixture of black and white rigid resources in organize to develops a choice of grayscales suitable for end user electronics also other applications.
Save time and fee by removing the necessitate to design, print and ‘stick together’ divided model parts completed with diverse materials in arrange to build a complete model.
A large quantity of competing techniques are available in the market. As all are rapid methods, their major differences are established in the way layers are built to produce parts. Some technologies use melting or softening material to make the layers (SLS, FDM) where others lay liquid materials thermodynamics sets that are cured with different techniques.
North Technical High School’s Precision Machining Program recently received a modern Dimension 1200es 3D printer System. In today’s field of engineering, architecture, and design, prototyping a three dimensional drawing is an essential step in the design process.
A 3D printer combines or fuses successive layers of material in a form of “additive manufacturing” to yield a functional three dimensional object that can be tested under real-world conditions. The Dimension 1200es 3D printer accomplishes this task by creating a durable ABS plastic model from a Computer Assisted Drawing (CAD) file, thus yielding a solid model prototype that closely imitates the look, feel, and functionality of the desired end product. Previous methods of producing a typical prototype took many man-hours, numerous tools, and highly skilled labor. This older research and development process would cost companies enormous amounts of money.
3D printing gives research and development teams a cheaper and faster process for producing prototypes. This technology is not only used in industrial design, but also has applications in other areas such as jewelry, footwear, architecture, automotive, aerospace.
Products should have a minimal wall thickness of 1mm Take care when scaling models that the wall thickness is not reduced to below 1mm
Circular shapes acquire ‘flats’. This is may be useful where holes are required in which things must fit
Make sure you select the correct printer type when outputting
The selection of an appropriate chord length when exporting from Pro/DESKTOP to STL effects facet or step details. In Pro/ENGINEER set 0.00 in the dialogue box and the software will select the most suitable chord length
Grain direction (the way the product is printed) will effect whether it is stiff, or more springy
Just because Pro/DESKTOP can create a 3D model does not mean CatalystEX can create the correct slices – sometimes exporting as a STEP file and re-importing to Pro/DESKTOP corrects the model
Rounding of features cannot be done where material changes direction and has a radius of 0.5mm.
You cannot send whole assemblies to the 3D printer - send separate parts or it will create one fused product.
Wear on the platen effects adhesion of builds. The plastic gets shiny during the removal of parts.
Clearing out support material is very hard or impossible in complex parts, for example internal threads.
The build orientation effects the amount of support material and the build time.
Hollow objects may be better built with the hollow upwards, otherwise it will be filled with support material
The propeller blade-span is over 10 feet in this project that demonstrates how far 3D modeling has advanced.
MINNEAPOLIS, Dec. 2, 2009 — At Autodesk University 2009, Stratasys (NASDAQ: SSYS) and Autodesk unveiled the world’s first full-scale turbo-prop aircraft engine model. It was produced using Stratasys FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling) technology.
The engine’s design was created using Autodesk Inventor 2010 mechanical design and engineering software, and it was produced on both Fortus 3D Production Systems and Dimension 3D Printers from Stratasys.
The engine model sets a new precedence in scale, and it showcases the potential of 3D printing.
“Our Inventor software with FDM technology takes design innovation to an entirely new level of sophistication,” says Autodesk’s Gonzalo Martinez, office of the CTO. “Today at Autodesk University we’ve shown that with FDM, you can create realistic 3D models of nearly any design. We believe that Stratasys FDM technology is the future of 3D printing and production.”
The engine’s gear box includes two sets of gears, which operate two sets of propellers that move in counter rotation to each other.
With an engine length of over 10 feet, a blade-span of 10.5 feet, and 188 components, the engine model is massive in size. It includes several large parts, such as six propeller blades, each measuring 4.5 feet.
Building this physical model with FDM helped improve its design by identifying four opportunities to make components fit or operate with better precision. Assembling a physical model helps design engineers be certain of component form, fit, and function.
The turbo-prop engine was designed by Nino Caldarola, a freelance designer for Autodesk.
He shared his concept with Autodesk who wanted to bring a full-scale model to life using Inventor software and FDM technology.
Caldarola’s design is a hybrid of newer engine and classic engine design and was partially inspired by the Piaggio Avanti II aircraft engine, the TP 500.
Caldarola worked with engineers at RedEye On Demand prototyping and production service, a business unit of Stratasys, to make adjustments that would ensure an accurate physical model.
