Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Understanding The Concept Of Three Dimensional Printers

By Marion Peters


The three dimensional printer is an apparatus that produces real objects out of a digital file.It follows the same technology as normal office printers. The only difference is that it employs a different technology called additive manufacturing.

This whole process starts by making the digital design by using the appropriate computer program. Another program later slices the design into microscopic horizontal layers. This final image is then uploaded into the printer and the creation begins layer by layer.

Two additive manufacturing techniques are broadly used in this advanced printing. The most effective is fused deposition modeling and it uses heat and support elements to create the final product. The technique starts by melting plastic inputs while inside an expulsion nozzle. The nozzle is moved in X and Y axis and thereby forming the object each layer at a time. A computer program directs the nozzle movement so that it completely matches the electronic drawing.

The other technique is referred to as selective laser sintering. It uses various forms of light rays to join the input powders into a compact mass. It does this by injecting the constituent powder as per the scanned cross section on the powdered plate. Each cross section undergoes the same step until the whole product is formed.

The use of three dimensional printing is extensive and it has found its way into many industries. It has been used to design concept models so that it can be communicated to others. In this regard, its main applicability has been in the creation of architectural and engineering pre visualization models.

As new developments were achieved, it was further used for the production of functional products that rivaled those made by traditional manufacturing. Objects that are produced range from plastic containers up to aircraft body parts. Plans are in an advance stage to develop low gravity printers to be used in space explorations. This is aimed at saving fuel consumption, as several equipments will be made in space thus reducing cargo load.

In the manufacturing industry, this printing has been used in rapid production of prototypes. It has provided a time and cost saving platform for various design departments. This has shortened the interval for the formation of successive prototype designs.

This technology can be used in all industries that deal with any physical good. When these printers and their inputs become easily available, the course of business is bound to change. It is only a matter of time before this happens.




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