3d printing: History, culture, future

http://www.slideshare.net/dbgerhard/3dprint-66700445

Tea. Earl Grey. Hot

What is 3d printing?

• Using a general-purpose machine to create a physical object, where the design of the structure is provided to the machine at build-time.

• Usually, the object is created additively, in a layer-by-layer process.

• Compare to "CNC" (computerized numerical control) which usually refers to a subtractive process like carving, routing, turning or cutting.

Fab Lab• Collection of machines to build anything

• 3d printing is one of them

• laser cutters arguably have higher utility and usability

• Circuit miller is arguably more important for making high tech things

• Price of these machines are prohibitive, but dropping

• as patents expire

Fab lab machines• 3d printer • 2d CNC router (shopbot) • bench top 3d mill • laser cutter • vinyl cutter • circuit etcher • engraver • CNC lathe • paper printer • water jet

Why do we care about 3d printing?

• Personalization and customization

• you can make a single copy of a thing, which is prohibitive with traditional manufacturing

• Complexity

• you can make objects with complicated internal structures, which is difficult with traditional manufacturing

Why do we care about 3d printing?• Rapid prototyping

• Can make a physical instance of a design, and quickly tell if it's the right size and shape for a job

• Can iteratively refine a design based on real-world performance

• Modelling for traditional manufacturing

• Build a complex shape, and use it as a mold for a more traditional material process like metalwork

Why do we care about 3d printing?• NRE (Non-recurring engineering) costs

• eg: $100,000 to set up a production line, each copy after than costs $0 (and a few seconds of time)

• (idealized, for a small simple part)

• 3d-printing a copy costs $5 (and a half hour of time)

• Once you are making more than 20,000 copies, traditional manufacturing is cheaper.

• Traditional manufacturing is also far higher quality and far faster.

$0.00

$2.50

$5.00

$7.50

$10.00

Units (thousands)10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

cost/unit (traditional)cost/unit (3d print)

BONUS ROUND: time to completion

0

12,500

25,000

37,500

50,000

Units (thousands)10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

hours to complete (traditional)hours to complete (3d print)

• assume 100 hours to set up a production line, and seconds to make each device afterward

How did we make things before 3d printing?

• Carve the part out of wood or plaster

• Also, carve the internal structure of the part separately

• Cast a series of molds of stronger materials until you have a steel form for the inside, and a separate steel form for the outside

• Pour molten plastic (metal, whatever), and let cool

• eject the part from the mold

• Alternatives: cornstarch molds for food gels like gummies

Injection molding and cornstarch molding

What are the limits of 3d printing• a 3d printed part is not as good as a manufactured part.

• more fragile, lower resolution, more expensive and takes longer to produce

• 3d printing requires specialized equipment and materials

• a 3d printed part requires a 3d design file

• expert knowledge required to produce a design

• but, designs can be shared and modified

• Consumer 3d printing is limited to thermoplastics, and ~10cm3 build area

Different kinds of 3d printing

• Selective Laser Sintering (SLS)

• Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM) or Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF)

• Stereolithography (SLA)

• Powerbed gluejet printing (3d printing proper)

➡ laser-melted nylon power

➡ melted thermoplastic filament

➡ Photo-cured acrylic resin

➡ metal power and glue, later annealed with copper

most consumer printers

Know your material• FDM/FFF printing can use a few different thermoplastic materials

• Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) : Strong, food-safe, lego plastic; awesome.

• Polylactic acid (PLA): biodegradable; derived from corn, tapioca or other plants. more brittle, higher melting temperature, harder to work with, not as strong. more properly called a polyester.

• Specialized thermoplastic materials: ninjaflex, conductive plastic, chocolate etc.

• All have specific properties that will influence your print

Know your printer

• Each printer is different, and fail in different ways

• Know your printer and model custom supports and modifications

• Fit tolerances for connecting parts and external parts

Selective Laser Sintering

SLS• PROS

• Precision limited only by confinement of laser beam

• Non-cintered laser power supports the rest of the model

• non-flat base, no support needed, can print movable parts

• Can be coloured by precision dying of the material layer by layer

• CONS

• Can't print solids with empty space inside

• you must be able to remove the excess powder

• Very costly machine

• Very dirty extraction process

Selective Laser Sintering

$1,000,000

SLA

• PROS

• Precision limited only by confinement of laser beam

• Acrylic is a very high quality food-safe end-product

• Colouring is possible but difficult

• CONS

• Can't print solids with empty space inside

• you must be able to remove the excess liquid

• Expensive (but getting cheaper)

• Requires base to build the model to

Consumer SLA$3500

Really cheap consumer SLA• Peachy printer: $100

• Very clever solution

• open source

• $600,000 on kickstarter

• Yorkton!

• ... WHERE ARE THEY NOW

FDM

• PROS

• Cheap

• ABS plastic is pretty good. PLA is not great

• Can print complex internal structures

• Can print in colour, with multiple print heads

• CONS

• Resolution limited to thickness of material bead

• requires base to build model on

• Model should have a flat side

• requires support material

• unstable as models get large

• Print heads can clog causing build failure

Consumer FDM$500-$5000

Model Replication

• To replicate a physical model on a 3d printer, there are two ways

• 3d scanning

• Model Measurement

• (third way: find someone online who’s already made one)

3d scanning

• Many commercial products and maker plans

• Microsoft kinect, makerbot digitizer, etc

3d scanning

• 3d scanner is expensive

• (but getting cheaper)

• Many layers of postprocessing required

• (but getting easier)

Model Measurement• Use the right tools

• Calliper, protractor etc

• be precise

• Model as you Measure

• Aim for easy replication

• think construction process

• Find inspiration from existing models

Virtual Reality Sculpting

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnqFdSa5p7w

Rendering Data

3d modelling software

• Tinkercad

• Blender

• Sketchup

• Zbrush

• Meshmixer, Meshlab, Netfabb

Scale

• Consider the smallest discernible element your printer can generate

• Simplify your model to match characteristics of the printer

• Don’t try to print (or even model) anything smaller than 2 mm

• Use the right tool for the job: metal pins and screws are better at providing mechanical structure than 3d printed plastic

Support

• FDM printers layer melted plastic on each previous layer

• Some things are impossible

• Aim for, at most, 45 degree overhang, 2.5 cm bridge

• otherwise, add your own removable support, or tell the software to calculate support

Print Orientation

• Consider the way in which your model will be printed

• You may choose to separate your model into more than one piece, to make support-less printing possible

• The bottom layer of a FDM print is always flat. Model accordingly

not as good good

Model Segmentation

3D printing and social change

3d printing and social change

• traditional NRE means it’s only feasible to make a thing if you can sell tens of thousands of them, or if you can charge a lot for them

• commodity versus luxury; walmart versus bespoke

• 3d printing means things can exist that are both inexpensive and non-commodity

• 3d printing has limits, so how does this extend to other things?

3d printing controversies• Guns or other restricted things

• 3d printer means anyone can make anything whether or not the government likes it

• as long as it’s made of plastic and the size of a loaf of bread

• 3d printed guns are not very good guns, and people make bombs out of pots and pipes

3d printing controversies

• Printing Bioproducts

• Printing organs for transplant

• Printing biotoxins and chemical weapons

3d printing controversies• Information Ownership

• Many corporations are identifiable by their physical products

• Coke bottles, toys associated with movies, nike shoes

• Design patents prevent consumer confusion by disallowing one company from manufacturing a product with similar or the same “trade dressing”

3d printing controversies

• Economics, industry

• What happens to the world economy when people can print whatever they need at home?

3D printing and the way forward

Space Pizza• Space is a terrible place

• No Walmart to buy tools or supplies or pizza

• Raw materials are easier to transport than manufactured goods

• tools, parts, etc

• 3d printing food makes it more interesting if you're 6 months to mars

Colonization

• Remote Stereolunagraphy

• Autonomous robot that mines lunar regolith and 3d-prints a base

• Takes a while, but no people or additional funds necessary

printing housing

• 3d printing concrete is slower and more expensive than building a house with traditional framing, but can be fully automated

Metamaterials

• Microstructure means solid materials can have specific and targeted flexibility

Metamaterials

• Flexable materials with rigid structure

• Solid materials with flexible structure

• Materials that change shape after printing, re-folding into specific patterns like proteins

• Micrometamaterials that can manipulate energy to bend light, be different colours, be invisible

foldable 3d prints and CNC

• Special modelling techniques: flexible and bendable joints, hinges etc

• flexible materials: ninjaflex

• Thermoformable / hydroformable materials (also called 4d printing: 3d plus time)

Biomaterials• Custom drug combinations

• 3d print exact dosages

• 2016 licensed by FDA

• Structural today, tomorrow compositional

• 3d print bioweapons?

Replicating Rapid Prototyper

• 3d printer that prints 3d printers

• Again, probably needs a fab lab instead of only a 3d printer

• Once we can print motors, circuit boards etc, this is possible

Replicantors

• Common sci fi trope

• Always evil

• Always consume all resources

Aside: type III civilization

• Able to harness the power of a galaxy

• Easiest way to do this is to launch space-faring self replicating probes

• Smaller is easier, possibly even molecular self-replicators

• DNA????

Replicants + Biotech = Nanobots

• Self replicating cell-sized robots

• Cure Cancer?

• Destroy Humanity?

Luckily, our ineptitude will save us