Prototypes and 3D Printing Technology

In the creative professions, 3D Printing Technology is the closest to the reality of any design or manufacturing process. It is the closest to the actualization of the designer's dreams and the client's expectation. It also gives the closest reality to the end-product of the design process. 

Below is an Expert Article on the subject of Prototypes and 3D Printing Technology:

The Basics About 3D Printing Technology

By Istimam Akib

3D Printing Technology is undoubtedly among the most remarkable facts in the industrial design and marketing arena. The technology enables us to build a solid part from scratch within a few hours. This technology is a process of building a solid object of any shape from a digital model. The printing is done employing an additive approach, where layers of materials are laid down in various shapes and that's why other name of 3D printing is additive manufacturing or rapid prototyping. A 3D printer is actually a limited form of industrial robot that is able to carry out an additive process under digital approach. Through allowing a machine to create objects of any shape, undoubtedly 3D printing is ushering in a new era.

The way a 3D Printer Works:

The printer uses the digital 3D model as a guide and deposits microscopically flat layers of the raw materials ( these are often metal, glass, synthetic resin, ceramic powder etc. ) step by step and progressively builds up the 3D object.

Uses of 3D Printing:

In addition to the industrial applications, since the costs for raw materials and 3D printers have fallen, the door to non-industrial applications is also opening up. Here are a few current uses of 3D printers: jewelry production, sculpture making, toys making, making architectural visualization to pre-visualize prior to making the main architectural copy etc.

Benefits of 3D Printing

Innovative Structures and Shapes:

Typical manufacturing relies on moulding and cutting methods to build structures and shapes. 3D printing technology alters this process - 3D printer can easily create lots of complicated figures. This process provides higher physical integrity and much more durability. It's really a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) technology in which the virtual model and the physical copy are nearly the same.

New Combinations of Materials:

Mixing various raw materials is not always possible using the mass manufacturing methods. 3D printing has eliminated most of these limitations. As a result, a lot of companies today provide various materials producing the texture and appearance of metal, ceramics or even glass with a range of strengths and heat resistance.

Significantly Less Waste:

Manufacturing plastic and metal objects generally is a wasteful process. For many aircraft building firms, approximately 90 % of the materials are usually wasted! Making a similar object using 3D printing reduces waste dramatically. Big cost savings can be accomplished this way and a smaller amount of waste does mean a lesser effect on the environment.

Inexpensive Manufacturing:

3D printing allows companies save up to 70 % of the manufacturing cost due to cheaper raw materials and lesser workforce required. As a result the technology makes companies more profitable.

Fast Manufacturing:

The speed of 3D printing is faster than the traditional process. With industrial 3D printing...

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Istimam_Akib OR - http://EzineArticles.com/8217860

Prototypes And Prototyping - The Basics

Whenever the issues of Prototypes and Prototyping is being researched or discussed, we often forget that not every participant or listener is adept with the series of information that informed minds assume to be known. Here, we are going to hear the basics of how the concepts of Prototypes and Prototyping came to be in the words of an Expert Author - Dennis Baxter...

An Intro to 3D Printing and Rapid Prototyping

By Dennis Baxter

Three-dimensional printers are being called one of the greatest inventions of the 21st century. Experts say that 3D printers will lead to a third industrial revolution and a flurry of innovative products and applications.

These high-tech printers have already received a lot of press for their ability to create architectural models, medical implants, bone grafts and artificial organs, but very few people understand how they work.

How Do 3D Printers Work?

The revolutionary concept of 3D printing or rapid prototyping starts with a CAD drawing. This detailed plan is input into an advanced inkjet-style printer that can build 3D objects and models using thousands of stratified layers. The printer translates the image into instructions and creates a visible pattern that replicates the CAD design. Rapid prototyping simplifies and streamlines the process for creating physical models and industrial prototypes.

There are more than 50,000 3D printers in service today. These high-tech wonders are already becoming cheaper and smaller. One company manufactures a 3D printer for home offices that retails for just under $10,000. This compact model is roughly the size of a standard office printer, but it can produce high-quality industrial prototypes. Another manufacturer is offering a 3D desktop printer for less than $2,500. This proves that 3D printers are already accessible design and production tools that will become standard accessories in architectural offices and engineering firms. The basic desktop model is capable of producing individual layers that are as thin as a standard piece of copy paper. Because each layer is roughly 100 microns thick, the process for creating a complete prototype can take a significant amount of time. However, it is still much faster and more efficient than traditional model-making methods.

Currently, 3D printers can construct objects using layers of glue, sawdust, ceramic, metal, plastic, carbon fiber, resin and other substances. Three-dimensional printers that use resin require UV or other light-based systems to cure the material. Experts are also developing ways to print cloth and substitutes for human tissue. These materials are housed in a printer cartridge and expelled or extruded using tightly focused nozzles.

The Benefits of Rapid Prototyping.

Three-dimensional printers are already being used by architects, engineers, designers and medical professionals. The streamlined production process makes 3D printing a time-saving and affordable alternative to traditional modeling and molding methods that require complex manual processes. Multi-process prototyping technology and artistic modeling techniques are now being replaced by printers that can interpret and recreate a digital design in moments.

Many industry experts believe that 3D printers have the potential to bring skilled manufacturing and prototyping jobs back to the United States and other first-world countries. These high-tech devices have the power to save companies time and money by eliminating the need to create models manually. The prototypes produced by 3D printers also have a higher degree of accuracy than handmade models. This is a valuable feature when presenting an architectural model to clients. Three-dimensional printers and rapid prototyping tools produce amazingly accurate and precise representations of CAD drawings in a short amount of time.

The fast production time and the accuracy of the finished prototype are the two primary benefits of 3D printers. In the past, creating a one-off model was a tedious and time-consuming process. Today, 3D printers allow anyone to create a one-of-a-kind prototype or an architectural model in moments using a pre-made CAD drawing. Architectural models can be recreated or updated quickly by...

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dennis_Baxter - OR - http://EzineArticles.com/7347807

Prototyping: 3D Engraving vs 3D Printing

In the dynamic world of increasing advancement in technology and innovation, there is bound to be a confusion or semantic overlap between common terms in Prototypes and 3d Printing environment. In order not to fall a victim of such a linguistic flaw, I have brought an Expert view on the subject of comparing 3D Engraving vs 3D Printing. Read the views of George Berdichevsky: 

3D Engraving vs 3D Printing - Don't Get Confused

By George Berdichevsky

A recent news report proclaimed, with a significant degree of excitement, that the aviation industry will shortly be making increasing use of parts "manufactured by 3D engraving techniques" In the near future.

Well, that's very interesting but it might have come as something of a surprise to specialists in such techniques! It seems much more likely that the author of the piece had simply become confused between 3D engraving and printing.

Let's have a quick refresher as to the basic principles involved.

What is three-dimensional printing?

Broadly speaking, this technique involves a machine printing using some sort of resin-like substance in order to create a solid object. That object is something that can be very precisely defined and, eventually, potentially put to practical and functional use. For example, there have been some press articles recently relating to the dangers of guns being made by these printing techniques and some demonstrations that the result is a perfectly workable weapon. In a sense, new terminology is required to accurately describe the technique, as it is perhaps closer in concept to things such as injection moulding than it is conventional printing.

At the moment, three-dimensional printing machines are typically extremely expensive, though that cost is falling as the technology matures and becomes targeted rather more at the consumer as opposed to academic market place.

What is three-dimensional engraving?

This is an entirely different technology. It usually involves the construction of a 3D image in a computer, using sophisticated design techniques. That image is then used as the import file of an extremely high-tech laser device that is usually referred to as an engraver but sometimes, admittedly rather confusingly, also as a 3D laser printer.

The classic application for 3D engraving of this type is that associated with placing a three-dimensional image, apparently magically, into an otherwise solid block of crystal or similar substance. These images are very popular in business areas such as corporate gifts, corporate hospitality, trophies, retirement presents and so on.

Once again, 3D engraving was originally an extremely expensive process; though over recent decades the technology has matured and it is now well within the reach of even small organisations or individuals.

Commonalities

Although the technologies are fundamentally different and products are typically targeted at very different marketplaces, they do share certain things in common notably:

• For the highest quality results, it is usually necessary to go to a specialist. The techniques are still largely those of a scientific or industrial process rather than a domestic household one.

• Both manufacturing processes depend upon a very high-quality...

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=George_Berdichevsky - OR - http://EzineArticles.com/8252602

Prototyping - 3D Prinitng Materials and Support

In this rapidly changing economic world, Prototyping and 3D Printing is a very important element in the manufacturing and design industry. This is more-so because in human perspectives, to appreciate something that is being created before the actualisation of the end product requires some form of visualisation. This is where 3D Printing and Prototyping comes in handy. I am able to come across an Expert Article on the subject and it is listed below in part - Enjoy...

3D Printing And Support Materials

By Chris Waldo

3D printing is a seriously cool technology that exists to help us manufacture the very odd things in the design world. CNC cutting and various machining methods can't make anything. Mold manufacturing methods can't make anything. I'm not going to say that 3D printing can make everything either, however it can make quite a bit more. When it comes down to using 3D printing for manufacturing purposes, there are so many more possibilities. In other articles, I've discussed the benefits to powder based 3D printing. Today, I want to cover the magic about support materials within the world of 3D printing.

If you don't know already, 3D printing is the layer by layer creation of pretty much whatever you're interested in making. A machine will lay down layers of material in accordance to a 3D design. A designer, artist, architect, product developer, engineer, or whatever you'd like to call him or her will have to design a file on the computer. This file will then serve as the blueprint for 3d printing processes. The extruders within the actual 3D printers themselves will work with this design to create a final piece. A hot glue gun-like head will then begin laying down layers of material. When an extruder lays down layers of material, it can only do so much. For example, it isn't easy for a hollowed out center to be manufactured. Grooves, curves, and intricate centers are very difficult to manufacture. However, within various forms of 3D printing are support materials. This material is the key to creating very intricate pieces and designs.

How do these materials help when it comes down to manufacturing complex parts? Well, essentially - material is laid down like it normally would be. When there is a hollow space or a groove to where material couldn't have been previously, a layer of support material will be laid down. There are various forms of support material out there. Some support material may be a slightly hard gel. Others may be made out of the actual material itself. Other types of support material will simply be dissolved away when exposed to a chemical, leaving the final product.

The capabilities of these supports are endless! There are so many options when it comes down to actually producing complex pieces that have the capabilities of intricate centers, hollowed spaces, floating pieces, and other advanced designs. There are so many benefits to having the capabilities of support materials. There is just so much to gain from this!

By having support materials in the arsenal of materials and manufacturing, complex pieces...

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Chris_Waldo - OR - http://EzineArticles.com/7317293