3D printing is one technology area that is booming in India! Many product design companies are seeing benefits in making early prototype model of their products using 3D printing and even some companies are using it for small scale production as there are numerous benefits associated with it. This technology is not new as it is existent for last 25 years or so, but owing to the high cost of hardware, it was only restricted to a few niche areas (industries). But in last few years the prices of 3D printer have dropped drastically and now low cost printers are available for even INR 25,000 as a result it is not only limited to niche areas anymore. Moreover there are many companies that are making 3D printers for home use today.

What is 3D printing Technology?

3D printer is nothing but a robot that comprises of various stepper motors, gears & mechanical assemblies that move in X, Y, & Z directions under the control of microcontroller/microprocessor that gives instructions to the motors (these instructions are called G-codes or Machine codes). 3D printers make use of the thermoplastic material for printing. Thermoplastic material melts by heating element present in the printer, and extrude out of the nozzle to form successive layers on a flat surface (generally glass). Thus the printing is done by forming successive layers of thermoplastic material on a flat surface and the technique is called FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling). Heating element & extrusion of material are also controlled by microcontroller.

3Dprinter -RepRapPro Ormerod             Fused Deposition Modeling
(source www.reprappro.com )

3D Printing Process

The 3D printing process starts with a CAD design (i.e. 3D software design) of a product or a model to be printed. This 3D model is generally in .STL file format on your PC. This STL design file is then converted into G-codes or machine codes (it is notepad file on with .G extension) using printer specific software on your PC. These g-codes or machine codes are fed into the microcontroller/microprocessor that gives the instructions to various motors & other assemblies of the printer to move in various directions for printing. The process is completely automated.

3D design on a PC, 3D printer and Sample 3D prints (Source www.3dsystems.com )

Advantages of 3D printing & its utilities

• It is easy, convenient, less time consuming and fully automated process and hence this is the reason why many companies are using it for printing their early prototypes of products before going for mass production using traditional product manufacturing techniques.
• It gives you highly detailed and accurate prints and hence is used for small scale production especially for the printing of complex geometries in medical industry (for making prosthetic limbs) and for making decorative products that are aesthetically pleasing.
• It is low cost & small in size (just like your ordinary printer) this is a reason today there are many 3D printing services available in India. If you have a 3D model or a design that you want to get 3D printed, just go to a shop and get it done (it is similar to taking a print-out from a tuck shop)
• Today many research organizations & students are making use of 3D printing technologies and thus giving new dimensions to their projects. With 3D printing, they are getting made the product enclosure and casing for their projects and giving them a complete product feel.
• With open source 3D printing movement there are many communities that are encouraging engineers to build their own 3D printers (reprap.org is one such community). Today many electronic enthusiasts & engineers who are interested in robotics are making use of these communities and are building their own 3D printers and have become entrepreneurs!

Have you seen iconic Aston Martin 1960 car in James Bond latest movie Skyfall? Well it was actually a 3D printed version of the actual Aston Martin!

Aston Martin 3D Printed

By Sagar Juneja, Research Associate, Chitkara University.