3D Printing with David Dillworth
Wednesday, 24th June 2015
The group were able to get a glimpse into the future of manufacturing. Until now manufacturing consisted of machining, sawing and filing etc the desired product from a lump of a chosen material. This has always generated a great deal of waste material which is scrap or has to be recycled. Now for the first time (with the exception of weaving) products are manufactured rapidly with virtually no waste. It is rather like using an ink jet printer but going over and over the same image. This would build up a shape in layers. In 3D printing the ink is replaced by the selected material as a filament. The printing head can be moved in 3 dimensions laying down a fine layer of material for each pass.
Before printing can be carried out the image is prepared in a computer. Using software such as Google sketch-up or shapes selected from a programme such as ‘Thingyverse’, the virtual product is ”drawn”. A second programme, ‘Carra’, breaks this image down into slices. The more slices used the smoother the surface of the final product will be. However, a fine surface may take hours to print. This data is then transferred to the printer using a standard digital memory card.
This process was patented in the USA about 30 years ago and was very expensive. It was used in industry for rapid prototyping. Now the patent has expired many machines have been produced to do the same thing – only at a greatly reduced cost. In fact we heard that the latest machine, which has been produced in kit form, costs about £400. David is pushing it hard into schools where the maxim is “if you can think it, you can print it”. In fact within 10 years it will be as common in homes as the microwave oven. An ideal Christmas present for the grandchildren in fact (boys and girls).
The ever growing range of materials that can be printed is making the range product wider. Examples of material are corn starch in many colours, copper, stainless steel, and even wood. The filaments contain 80% of the material and 20% resin. The printer head melts a tiny amount at 240⁰ as it passes over the image building up a 3D shape. Products produced range from: Architectural models (railway modellers note!), dentistry, household products, medical devices, woodcarvings, airliners (the Dream Liner has many parts that have been 3D printed) and school design products, etc.
It is hoped that as schools use these machines Design and Technology will inspire more students to become engineers and to have exiting careers. UK Ltd certainly needs them!
Colin
Before printing can be carried out the image is prepared in a computer. Using software such as Google sketch-up or shapes selected from a programme such as ‘Thingyverse’, the virtual product is ”drawn”. A second programme, ‘Carra’, breaks this image down into slices. The more slices used the smoother the surface of the final product will be. However, a fine surface may take hours to print. This data is then transferred to the printer using a standard digital memory card.
This process was patented in the USA about 30 years ago and was very expensive. It was used in industry for rapid prototyping. Now the patent has expired many machines have been produced to do the same thing – only at a greatly reduced cost. In fact we heard that the latest machine, which has been produced in kit form, costs about £400. David is pushing it hard into schools where the maxim is “if you can think it, you can print it”. In fact within 10 years it will be as common in homes as the microwave oven. An ideal Christmas present for the grandchildren in fact (boys and girls).
The ever growing range of materials that can be printed is making the range product wider. Examples of material are corn starch in many colours, copper, stainless steel, and even wood. The filaments contain 80% of the material and 20% resin. The printer head melts a tiny amount at 240⁰ as it passes over the image building up a 3D shape. Products produced range from: Architectural models (railway modellers note!), dentistry, household products, medical devices, woodcarvings, airliners (the Dream Liner has many parts that have been 3D printed) and school design products, etc.
It is hoped that as schools use these machines Design and Technology will inspire more students to become engineers and to have exiting careers. UK Ltd certainly needs them!
Colin