Download the data online and print it out with a 3D printer. It will be possible in the future.
3D printer is a machine of rapid prototyping technology. It is based on a digital model file and uses adhesive materials such as powdered metal or plastic to construct objects by printing layer by layer. technology. In the past, it was often used to make models in fields such as mold manufacturing and industrial design. Now it is gradually used in the direct manufacturing of some products, which means that this technology is becoming popular.
Now food can also be printed through 3D printers. This is also the future development direction of 3D printers that most foodies are concerned about.
Edit the working principle of this paragraph
3D printing is not a new technology. This idea originated in the United States at the end of the 19th century and was developed and promoted in the 1980s. The China Internet of Things School-Enterprise Alliance calls it “the ideas of the last century, the technology of the last century, and the market of this century.” Three-dimensional printing is usually achieved using digital technology material printers. The output and sales of this kind of printer have grown tremendously since the 21st century, and their prices are also declining year by year.
Using a printer is like printing a letter: [1] Click the "Print" button on the computer screen, and a digital file is transferred to an inkjet printer, which prints a layer of ink Spray onto the surface of the paper to create a two-dimensional image. During 3D printing, the software completes a series of digital slices through computer-aided design technology (CAD) and transmits the information of these slices to the 3D printer, which stacks successive thin layers until a solid object is formed. The biggest difference between 3D printers and traditional printers is that the "ink" they use is real raw materials.
There are many different forms of stacking thin layers. Some 3D printers use the "inkjet" method. For example, an Israeli 3D printer company called Objet uses a printer nozzle to spray an extremely thin layer of liquid plastic substance onto a mold tray. This coating is then placed under ultraviolet light. The mold pallet is then lowered a very small distance to allow the next layer to be stacked up. Stratasys, another company headquartered in Minneapolis, USA, uses a technology called "fusion deposition molding". The entire process is to melt plastic in the nozzle and then form a thin layer by depositing plastic fibers.
There are also systems that use powder particles as the printing media. Powder particles are sprayed onto the mold tray to form an extremely thin layer of powder, which is then solidified by a spray of liquid adhesive. It can also be cast into specified shapes using a technology called laser sintering. This is exactly the technology used by the German EOS company on its superposition manufacturing machines. The Swiss company Arcam uses electron flow in a vacuum to melt powder particles. The above mentioned are just some of the many molding methods.
3D printers and printed objects (19 photos)
When encountering complex structures including holes and cantilevers, gelling agents or other substances need to be added to the medium to provide support Or used to occupy space. This part of the powder will not be cast, and the pores will be formed by simply flushing away the support with water or airflow. The variety of media available for printing today ranges from a wide range of plastics to metals, ceramics and rubber-like substances. Some printers can also combine different media, making the printed object hard on one end and soft on the other.
Edit this paragraph’s smallest 3D printer
The world’s smallest 3D printer comes from the Technical University of Vienna and was developed by its chemical researchers and mechanical engineers. This mini 3D printer is only the size of a large milk carton, weighs about 3.3 pounds (about 1.5 kilograms), and costs 1,200 euros (about 11,000 yuan). Compared with other printing technologies, the cost of this 3D printer is greatly reduced. R&D personnel are still conducting further experiments on materials and technologies for the printer, hoping to make it available as soon as possible.
Edit this paragraph's largest 3D printer
After more than ten years of hard work, Shi Yusheng's scientific research team at Huazhong University of Science and Technology achieved a major breakthrough and developed the world's largest "3D printer". This "3D printer" can process parts with a maximum length and width of 1.2 meters.
Theoretically, any part with a length and width less than 1.2 meters (no height limit) can be "printed" by this machine.
According to reports, because this technology turns complex parts manufacturing into simple bottom-up two-dimensional superposition, it greatly reduces the complexity of design and manufacturing, allowing some bizarre structures that cannot be processed by traditional methods. Manufacturing has become faster, and the production of some complex castings has been shortened from the traditional 3 months to about 10 days.
At the same time, for new products developed, samples can be quickly made based on drawings, greatly shortening the research and development cycle.
Today, the equipment has been purchased and used by more than 200 users at home and abroad, with the price of each unit ranging from hundreds of thousands of yuan to more than 2 million yuan.
Edit this paragraph to print music
A 3D printer to print music
In order to explore more applications of 3D printers, Rickard Dahlstrand used a Lulzbot 3D printer to create a unique Art. At the 2013 Stockholm Art Hacking Festival, the Lulzbot 3D printer not only printed the festival's logo for participating artists and hackers, but as a performance project, it also printed out visual musical works while playing classical music. The principle of Lulzbot 3D printer printing visual music is: the movement of the stepper motor can be controlled to run at different speeds, and the pitch of the sound determines the speed, so the music controls the printing process. Each of the three motors represents a track, and they move using unique patterns. Two motors control Z-axis movement.
Edit the working steps of this paragraph
The working steps of the 3D printer are as follows: first use computer modeling software to model, if you have ready-made models, you can also do it, such as animal models, characters ,
The actual process (6 photos)
or miniature buildings, etc. Then copy it to the 3D printer through the SD card or USB flash drive. After setting the printing settings, the printer can print them out. The working structure breakdown diagram is as follows. The working principle of 3D printers is basically the same as that of traditional printers. They are composed of control components, mechanical components, print heads, consumables and media. The printing principles are the same. The 3D printer mainly designs a complete three-dimensional model on the computer before printing, and then prints it out.
3D printing, like laser molding technology, uses layered processing and superimposed molding to complete 3D solid printing. The printing process of each layer is divided into two steps. First, a layer of special glue is sprayed on the area that needs to be formed. The glue droplets themselves are very small and difficult to spread. Then spray a uniform layer of powder. When the powder encounters glue, it will quickly solidify and bond, while the areas without glue will remain loose. In this way, with the alternation of one layer of glue and one layer of powder, the physical model will be "printed". After printing, the loose powder can be "planed" out by sweeping away the loose powder, and the remaining powder can be recycled.
Three-dimensional design
The design process of 3D printing is: first model through computer modeling software, and then "partition" the built 3D model into layer-by-layer sections, that is, slices. This instructs the printer to print layer by layer.
The standard file format for collaboration between design software and printers is the STL file format. An STL file uses triangular faces to approximate the surface of an object. The smaller the triangle, the higher the resolution of the generated surface. PLY is a scanner that generates three-dimensional files by scanning. The VRML or WRL files generated by it are often used as input files for full-color printing.
Printing process
The printer reads the cross-section information in the file, prints these sections layer by layer using liquid, powder or sheet materials, and then prints each section. Layer sections are glued together in various ways to create a solid body. The special feature of this technology is that it can create objects of almost any shape.
The thickness of the cross-section produced by the printer (i.e., Z direction) and the resolution in the plane direction, i.e., X-Y direction, are calculated in dpi (pixels per inch) or microns. The general thickness is 100 microns, or 0.1 millimeters, but some printers such as the Objet Connex series and 3D Systems' ProJet series can print a layer as thin as 16 microns. In the flat direction, it can print with a resolution similar to that of a laser printer. The diameter of the printed "ink droplets" is usually 50 to 100 microns.
Manufacturing a model using traditional methods usually takes hours to days, depending on the size and complexity of the model. Using 3D printing technology can shorten the time to a few hours, which of course depends on the performance of the printer and the size and complexity of the model.
Traditional manufacturing techniques such as injection molding can produce polymer products in large quantities at a lower cost, while 3D printing technology can produce relatively small quantities in a faster, more flexible and lower-cost manner. products. A desktop-sized 3D printer can meet the needs of designers or concept development teams to produce models.
Complete
The current resolution of 3D printers is sufficient for most applications (it may be rough on curved surfaces, like jagged edges on the image). To obtain better High-resolution items can be obtained by the following method: first use the current 3D printer to print a slightly larger object, and then slightly polish the surface to obtain a "high-resolution" item with a smooth surface.
Some technologies can print with multiple materials at the same time. Some technologies also use supports during the printing process. For example, when printing some upside-down objects, something easy to remove (such as soluble things) needs to be used as a support.
Edit the application fields of this paragraph
The application objects of 3D printers can be any industry, as long as these industries require models and prototypes. Israel's Objet (renamed Stratasys in 2012) believes that industries with greater demand for 3D printers include government, aerospace and defense, medical equipment, high technology, education and manufacturing.
Medical industry. An 83-year-old man suffering from chronic bone infection had a mandible "printed" by a 3D printer. This was the first case in the world of using 3D printing products to create human bones.
Bone printing According to foreign media reports, in the near future, surgeons may be able to use printing equipment to print bones of various sizes on-site during surgery for clinical use. This amazing 3D printer has been built, and printing materials used to replace real human bones are being tested intensively.
In laboratory tests, the bone-replacement printing material has been shown to support the growth of human bone cells within it, and its effectiveness has also been demonstrated in mice and rabbits. In the coming years, better-quality printed bone substitutes may help surgeons repair bone damage, be used in dental offices, and even help osteoporosis patients regain their health.
3D printing technology has emerged rapidly and has become a hot new industry. The types of three-dimensional products it can print are increasing rapidly. To print bone materials, Boss and her colleagues used a commercially available ProMetal 3D printer for testing. This 3D printer was originally designed to print metal parts. It sprays plastic particles layer by layer on a powder base and forms them layer by layer. Each layer is only half the width of a human hair.
The main material component of this bone scaffold is calcium phosphate, with additional silicon and zinc added to enhance its strength. When it is implanted into the human body, it can temporarily support the bones, and in the process help normal bone cells grow and develop and repair previous damage, and then the material can naturally dissolve in the human body.
It took scientists 4 years to find the appropriate formula for this material, which involved many disciplines of chemistry, materials science, biology and process science.
Scientific research. Researchers at Drexel University in the United States 3D scanned the fossils and used 3D printing technology to create a 3D model suitable for research. Not only did it retain all the external characteristics of the original fossil, it also reduced the scale, making it more suitable for research. .
Product prototype. For example, Microsoft's 3D model printing workshop, after the product is designed, prints the model through a 3D printer, which allows the design and manufacturing department to better improve the product and create better products.
Cultural relic protection. Museums often use complex replacements to protect original works from the environment or accidents, while replicas can also convey the impact of art or artifacts to more and more distant people.
Because the original Thomas Jefferson was to be put on display in Virginia, the Smithsonian Museum used a giant 3D printed replacement to place it in the place of the original sculpture.
Architectural design. In the construction industry, engineers and designers have embraced building models printed with 3D printers, a method that is fast, cost-effective, environmentally friendly, and beautifully produced. It fully meets the designer's requirements while saving a lot of materials.
Manufacturing. The manufacturing industry also needs many 3D printed products, because 3D printing is much better than traditional manufacturing in terms of cost, speed and accuracy. 3D printing technology itself is very suitable for mass production, so the use of 3D technology in the manufacturing industry can bring many benefits, and even quality control is no longer a problem.
Food industry. That’s right, “printed” food. Researchers are already trying to print chocolate. Perhaps in the near future, many foods that look exactly the same will be "printed" with food 3D printers. Of course, artificially prepared food may be many times more expensive by then.
Automobile manufacturing industry. It’s not that your car was printed by a 3D printer (of course, this may be possible one day), but that the automotive industry will replace some non-critical parts with 3D printed products when conducting safety testing and other work. In the pursuit of efficiency while reducing costs.
Accessories and jewelry. This is the broadest market. In the future, whether it is your personalized pen holder, a mobile phone case with your bust embossed, or a unique ring in the world owned by you and your lover, it may all be printed by a 3D printer. You don’t even have to wait until the future to achieve it.
Beauty and skin care. 3D printing technology may also help beauty lovers perform plastic surgery in the future. Maybe the most effective treatment for acne in the future will be achieved through 3D printing technology! Not only acne, but also freckle removal, whitening and other fields are expected to use 3D printing technology!
Edit this invention history
Origin
The core manufacturing ideas of 3D printing technology first originated in the United States at the end of the 19th century. By the late 1980s, 3D printing The technology is mature and widely used. 3D printing is one of the latest high-dimensional manifestations of technological fusion models.
It is reported that American scientists have invented a printer that can print three-dimensional effects and have successfully launched it on the market. Ordinary printers can print some reports and other flat paper materials. This newly invented printer not only reduces the cost of making three-dimensional objects, but also stimulates people's imagination. The application of 3D printers will be more widespread in the future.
A collection of different 3D printers
Prior to this, there were only a small number of 3D printers, mostly concentrated in the hands of "Frankensteins" and electronics enthusiasts. They are mainly used to print things like jewelry, toys, tools, kitchen items and the like. There are even car experts who print car parts and then customize parts based on plastic models that are not available on the market.
People can buy such printers in some electronics stores, and factories are also selling them directly. However, things are rare and expensive, and the price of a 3D printer ranges from $750 for an ordinary one to $27,000 for a high-quality one.
Scientists say that the scope of use of 3D printers is still very limited, but one day in the future people will definitely be able to print more practical items through 3D printers.
Development process
3D printing originated from the photographic sculpture and landform shaping technology studied in the United States more than 100 years ago. It took shape in the 1980s, and its scientific name is "rapid prototyping". Its
the earliest 3D printer
principle is: put the data and raw materials into the 3D printer, and the machine will create the product layer by layer according to the program. Printed products can be used immediately.
In the mid-1980s, SLS was developed and patented by Dr. Carl Deckard at the University of Texas at Austin, in a project sponsored by DARPA. A similar process was patented by RF Housholder in 1979, but was not commercialized.
In 1995, MIT coined the term "3D printing" when graduates Jim Bredt and Tim Anderson modified the inkjet printer solution to a solution of squeezing a constrained solvent into a powder bed. scheme, rather than squeezing ink onto paper.
When it comes to 3D printing, we have to mention 3D printers:
3D printers, also known as three-dimensional printers, are a cumulative manufacturing technology that prints layers of adhesive materials. Make three-dimensional objects. At this stage, 3D printers are used to create samples. Since 2003, the sales of 3D printers have gradually expanded and prices have begun to fall.
The technology can be used in jewelry, footwear, industrial design, architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC), automotive, aerospace, dental and medical industries, education, geographic information systems, civil engineering, and many others field.
The earliest 3D printing appeared in the 1980s. It was extremely expensive and the number of products that could be printed was pitiful.
Edit this paragraph: Current status of the industry
Development of 3D printers
1. Price factors:
The selling price of most desktop 3D printers At about 20,000 yuan, the price of some domestic imitations can be as low as 6,000 yuan. However, according to 3D printer agents, although domestic 3D printers are cheap, their quality is difficult to guarantee.
For desktop 3D printers, since they can only print plastic products, their scope of use is very limited, and for home users, the cost of using 3D printers is still high. Because before printing an object, people must understand 3D modeling, then convert the data into a format that the 3D printer can read, and finally print it.
2. Raw materials
3D printing is not a sophisticated and difficult technology. The difference between it and ordinary printing lies in the printing material.
Israel’s Object is the company with the largest number of printing materials. It can already use 14 basic materials and mix and match 107 materials on this basis. The mixing, matching and coloring of two materials are also a reality. However, these types of materials are still far from the materials in the world where people live. Not only that, the prices of these materials are as cheap as a few hundred yuan per kilogram, and the most expensive ones are about 40,000 yuan.
3. Social risk cost
Just like nuclear reactions can both generate electricity and destroy. 3D printing technology has caused people to see a series of hidden worries in its early days, and its future development will also worry many people. If everything could be completely copied and anything thought of could be created, it sounds beautiful but also really scary.
4. The famous 3D printing paradox
3D printing is to make objects layer by layer. If you want to make the object more precise, you need to reduce the thickness of each layer; if If you want to increase the printing speed, you need to increase the layer thickness, which will inevitably affect the accuracy and quality of the product. If we produce products with the same precision, there is no cost advantage compared with traditional large-scale industrial production, especially after taking into account the time cost and scale cost.
5. The entire industry has no standards and it is difficult to form an industrial chain
In the 21st century, 3D printer manufacturers are blooming like a hundred flowers, just like the Warring States Period. 3D printers lack standards. The same 3D model is printed by different printers, and the results obtained are very different. In addition, there is also a lack of standards for printing raw materials. In 2012-2013, 3D printer manufacturers wanted consumers to buy the printing raw materials they provided so that they could earn stable income. Although this is understandable, after all, ordinary printers also follow this model, but the consistency of the raw materials used by 3D printer manufacturers is too poor, ranging from form to content, which makes it difficult for material manufacturers to enter, and the research and development costs and supply risks are both It is very large and it is difficult to form an industrial chain. On the surface, the 3D printer is bundled with 3D printing materials, but in fact, the materials are bundled with the printer, which is very detrimental to reducing costs and resisting risks.
6. Unexpected processes: the preparation process required before 3D printing, and the processing process after printing
Many people may think that 3D printing is just designing a model on the computer, no matter No matter how complicated the inner surface and structure are, a 3D printer can print a finished product at the touch of a button. This impression is actually incorrect.
Really designing a model, especially a complex model, requires a lot of engineering, structural knowledge, fine skills, and adjustments to the specific situation. Taking plastic fusion printing as an example, if there is no properly designed support inside a complex part, the printing result is likely to be deformed. Later processes are usually unavoidable. The media describes 3D printing as an artifact that can be used directly after printing. But in fact, after the production is completed, some subsequent processes are required: polishing, sintering, assembly, or cutting. These processes usually require a lot of manual work.
7. Lack of killer products and designs
It is said that 3D printing can give people huge production freedom and can produce unprecedented things. But until 2012, there were very few such "killer" products, almost none. It is possible to make small-scale ornaments and artworks, and it is also possible to do reverse engineering, but when it comes to large-scale industrial production, 3D printing cannot replace traditional production methods. If 3D printing can produce products that cannot be produced by other processes, and this product can greatly improve certain properties, or can greatly improve the quality of life, this may promote the popularity of 3D printers faster. But in 2012-2013, 3D printers were not satisfactory in this regard.