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3D Printing Books
Richard Horne
Kalani Kirk Hausman
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Published:
May 22, 2017

3D Printing For Dummies

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Overview

Print out whatever you can dream up

3D Printing For Dummies is an easy reference for anyone new to the process of taking a digital file and turning it into an object in the real world. (Pretty amazing stuff, right?) It’s also a handy guide for more experienced users looking to learn the latest and greatest in additive manufacturing. Updated for the latest generation of machines and materials, this book walks you through creating models and printing 3D objects. You’ll get the scoop on the impact of these versatile machines in production and manufacturing, reuse and recycling, intellectual property design controls, and more. It’s an exciting time to get into 3D printing, and this friendly Dummies guide is here to help you do it.

  • Wrap your mind around the technology of 3D printing
  • Understand how 3D printing is transforming industries
  • Get an intro to making your own digital models
  • Consider the pros and cons of 3D printing for your hobby or business needs

3D Printing For Dummies is a perfect resource for anyone interested in learning about and taking advantage of 3D printing technology.

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About The Author

Richard Horne is an electronics engineer, product designer, technical salesman, and problem solver with more than 30 years of experience and innovation across industries. Known in the community as RichRap, his blog makes 3D printing easier for everyone to understand.

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3d printing for dummies

CHEAT SHEET

Unlike traditional manufacturing, which involves injecting material into a pre-formed mold or removing material from base material objects, 3D printing starts with a virtual 3D model that is transformed into solid form one layer at a time. Each layer is built on top of the layer before, creating a solid form representing the virtual 3D model in all of its complexity and detail without requiring additional forms of machining and treatment necessary in traditional forms of manufacturing.
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When your 3D printer's hot-end gets blocked or your extruder's filament drive fails, the warning signs are usually obvious. The stream of plastic starts to lessen and then stops; the printer keeps trying to print but extrudes layer after layer of nothing.The first things to do are stop the printer and ensure that the heater block on the hot-end is still at the expected temperature.
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Many software packages for designing 3D models are available. Many are open-source or free and include export options that support the STL model format used by RepRap 3D printers.One popular option for RepRap developers is OpenSCAD. This free and open-source 3D modeling program is built and maintained by individuals.
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The entire 3D-printing process starts with a 3D model. To achieve successful 3D printing of models is not a click-and-print process. You need to have the correct format of model and choose settings that will process that model within the limitations of the 3D-printing process.Objects designed for home 3D printing are ready-made models.
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Unlike traditional manufacturing, which involves injecting material into a pre-formed mold or removing material from base material objects, 3D printing starts with a virtual 3D model that is transformed into solid form one layer at a time. Each layer is built on top of the layer before, creating a solid form representing the virtual 3D model in all of its complexity and detail without requiring additional forms of machining and treatment necessary in traditional forms of manufacturing.
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For thermoplastic printing on a 3D printer, it's a good idea to have two or more extruders of the same type, but with different nozzle sizes and maybe a choice of 3mm or 1.75mm filament. Some materials — especially experimental materials — tend to come in 3mm and less often in 1.75mm. Depending on the manufacturer, 3mm filament may cost less than 1.
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Once the framework for a 3D printer has been assembled and the electronics selected, the final component needed is the extruder and hot-end that melt and deposit plastic to create your object. The extruder slides the plastic filament incrementally into the heated hot-end, where it pushes a small amount of the molten plastic out with each step.
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3D printing is more accessible to more people, but being accessible isn't the same as being usable or user-friendly. As the fundamental technology matures and also reaches speed and material limitations, more innovative processes will be developed to be safer, quicker, and easier for the average user to manage.
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Here's an important tip for using 3D printing extruders: Use fans. Use a small fan to keep the cold-end insulator of your hot-end below the glass-transition point of your plastic. When you start experimenting with printing ultratiny objects with fine details or printing objects at great speed, you quickly discover an interesting problem in 3D-printing thermoplastic materials: controlling layer temperature.
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When it comes to 3D printing, selecting a RepRap printer for personal use begins with an analysis of your particular need in terms of the type, size and other qualities such as turnkey off-the-shelf or build-it-yourself creation. Total cost is also a factor, along with source licensing preference such as the determination of open vs.
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3D-printed parts intended for practical use need to be designed for both the application and the printing process you're using. Here, you look at the design aspects and print settings of an example spool mounting bracket. You also look at what materials are appropriate to use for this bracket and similar objects.
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You should work out whether you want just any 3D printer or specifically a RepRap. This distinction is important. Due to the demand for 3D printers, many companies have used the RepRap technology to produce machine designs that can be traditionally mass-manufactured.It's ironic that the success of a low-cost self-replicating machine now makes it so hard for manufacturers to keep up with demand that some companies choose to mass-produce parts.
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When your 3D printer's firmware is set up and the RepRap printer's mechanical movement is mostly calibrated, final preparation for 3D printing encompasses these procedures: Making final calibrations of the extruder and hot-end Entering these details into the firmware Compiling and downloading the firmware again Correct calibration of the extruder and hot-end makes all the difference between an awful-looking print and a stunningly good one.
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As a general rule, slowing print speed on your 3D printer improves print quality. Fast travel speed can affect print quality because the print head gets to a new point quickly, and the high acceleration and deceleration sometimes cause unwanted shadows and artifacts on the print. Experiment with machine travel speed before changing other settings.
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Many 3D models are intended to be printed as hollow objects (for example, you want a finished cup, but it's designed as a cylinder). Such models are sealed at both ends and usually have details or patterns on the outside. They look solid but are intended to be printed as a single-wall-outline pot or vase. Such designs often produce the best surface quality but can be used only for single-walled objects.
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Printing certain objects — especially large single parts — on a 3D printer can be tricky, because the edges of a big part often curl during printing. Some parts are more likely to suffer from this problem than others.If you're printing parts larger than 100mm, even when using PLA on a heated bed (which doesn't allow much warping), you may still have some problems.
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When printing 3D objects with molten thermoplastic, you require a minimum layer time for the material to be extruded and then cool enough to allow the next layer to be added. If you print each layer too quickly you end up with a soft blob somewhat in the shape you intended, but without accurate features. If you choose to print tiny objects, consider printing many of them together.
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After Slic3r is installed and configured, you can use it to process your valid 3D printing model. Slic3r processes your model to create an output G-code file, ready for printing.Note: The example here runs Slic3r in Simple mode. When you become more familiar with your 3D printer and its capabilities, you can switch to Expert mode, which offers many more options.
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It is possible to capture existing objects into the computer so they can be modified or simply re-created using a 3D printer. This is particularly useful in the case of artwork or other unique formations that could not otherwise be designed easily in a computer model.The Glen Rose dinosaur track, for example, came from a laser scan of the original fossilized impression, which was used to create an electronic copy of the track that can be shared without risk to the original.
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The software chain for a RepRap 3D printer begins with the products used to create and prepare the virtual 3D model for printing. However, once an object model has been created or obtained, the model must be processed through several steps before the solid object is created by the RepRap printer: Support: Unlike granular binding systems, fused plastic extruders cannot deposit plastic in mid-air and have it remain there.
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A RepRap development goal for home 3D printing is to print objects in many colors and even mix, on demand, the color of your choice from a set five or six master materials. Full-color home 3D printing is still a little way into the future, but you can use several current methods to brighten your 3D-printed objects.
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After completing a 3D print, you have some further options to add strength and a fine or smooth finish. In this section, we discuss some postprocessing and finishing options, along with exciting materials that are now available for desktop 3D printers. Manual finishing 3D objects Sanding, filing, cutting, and polishing are ways to manually refine many 3D-printed plastic materials.
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Occasionally, you may want to print 3D objects or models that are bigger than your 3D printer's build area. If the model isn't made of smaller parts, you can print oversize objects by cutting the model into sections sized for your 3D printer.This process is much easier than you may think. You can use several free or open-source applications to split a model into smaller sections.
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As you get more confident with 3D printing, you'll want to set up a plate of parts and print them at the same time. This approach rarely causes problems, but you may want to use the nozzle-lift function (Lift Z setting) in the printer settings tab in Slic3r.Raising the print nozzle a fraction before a travel move is a good idea when you have a lot of parts on a build surface.
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One of the most common assumptions people make about 3D printing is that plastic must be recycled and reused over and over again. Unfortunately, it's not. When you get a failed print, you have no simple way to get that material back into a filament strand that you could use again. Some companies, however, are looking at ways to reuse failed prints and other types of plastic waste, from beverage bottles to doors that may otherwise end up in landfills or the oceans.
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After you've bought or built a desktop 3D printer, what more do you need to do before you dive into 3D printing? You can take some further steps to ensure that your 3D printer is correctly set up and calibrated, including some simple models you can use to refine the material deposition system so that parts fit and are accurately reproduced.
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The extruder is one of the most important parts of a 3D printer, so the quality and reliability of parts are critical. The filament drive mechanism almost always takes the form of a round bolt or rod with concave teeth that grip around the plastic. Typical filament drives used in thermoplastic extruders. Filament drive mechanisms can be machined in a variety of ways.
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Any standard 3D printer's single-grip extruder also needs an idler wheel to push the filament into the teeth of the drive wheel. An idler wheel usually is a round bearing pushed by a spring or a rubber bushing.The following figure shows an idler bearing/wheel fitted to a printed lever; the spring on the left causes the bearing on the right of the image to be pushed into the drive wheel (middle), gripping the filament tightly.
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Here are some tips to keep your extruder and 3D printer happy. Keeping your extruder in tip-top condition is important, because the extruder is the device that takes the most wear and tear in your 3D printer. Follow this advice to make your 3D printing go smoothly, prevent failed prints, and keep your new 3D printer in action: Check the accuracy of your software and firmware.
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A RepRap 3D printer is an example of a purpose-built robot, using the popular open-source Arduino microcontroller at its heart together with stepper motor controllers, motors, and sensors to control its movements. Some custom 3D printer boards have been created to integrate an Arduino's functions and the related items typically found on a 3D printing "shield" that attaches to the basic format.
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As the electronics used in desktop 3D printers become more powerful, more web-based user interfaces are cropping up. These interfaces often allow a 3D printer to be connected, set up, and controlled via a wireless network. Here, you look at two of the most popular web-based 3D-printing user interfaces. OctoPrint If you need to remotely control and monitor your 3D printer or want to network it, take a look at OctoPrint.
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If you have an STL model file for your 3D printer, you have to verify the model before you can print it. Software programs and slicing tools for 3D printing see all 3D models, including solids, as a series of triangles that join to create a hollow mesh surface. The triangles in your model must not intersect other triangles; if they do, they create an invalid mesh that causes problems if you try to 3D-print the model.
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