Thursday 19 April 2018

FDM - 3D Printing by 3D Prototyperz


FDM - Fused deposition modelling is commonly used for prototyping of new designs, figurines, decors, etc. FDM is fairly easy to use and maintain. Also a large variety of materials and color options are available. FDM is one of the best method when one needs a fast single part to test the design. The figurines in the cover page shows the color options and design accuracy in the 3D printed momentos of Indian politicians.

The most compelling reasons that companies use FDM are durability and very good finishing, also it is very affordable to bring the technology in house compared to other additive manufacturing processes like SLA, SLS. FDM 3D printers are most suitable for home and office use, because of the potentially explosive nature of powdered-filaments used in other types of 3D printers.

Protomould using FDM

A few weeks ago we (3D Prototyperz) had a customer who wanted to check the design of the metal mould required for injection moulding. The cost of tooling and machining for metal mould is very high to have any errors. As a manufacturer and service provider of 3D printers we thought to make a 3D printed pattern and eventually a mould just to check the mould design.

Industrial Prototyping

The industrial 3D printing which is used here is best for prototypes, complex designs and for small batch production of cast products (50 - 200 units) using injection moulding. Product quality is the most important objective that we maintain.
Almost any thing that can be designed on a CAD application can be manufactured by FDM. The figure below shows a 3D printed engine cover prototype using FDM.

Medical Preoperative Model

FDM also offers manufacturing a product of complex 3D objects with fine details in shorter time-frame. We were approached by orthopaedic surgeons from a reputed hospital; St. Philomena's Hospital in Bangalore, regarding patient from Uganda who was unable to walk since birth due to pelvis joint dislocation.
She was also anemic hence the operation was to be conducted in tight time limit. The doctors wanted to have a look of her defected pelvic joint. Hence, we printed a pelvic joint model using the CT scanned image. The doctors were very happy because we reduced operation time substantially. They studied the model in order execute to the operation as quickly as possible with perfect tools required for it.

Total NPD (New Product Development)

3D Prototyperz commits to the customer for the total product development. We provide high quality new product process by fostering innovation and making necessary resources available to the customer.
Figure below shows a GPS enclosure. A customer needs detailing in the design and creating engineering drawings and documents of the design for his products.


Architectural Models

With a 3D printer one can save hours of work that creep into creating a scale model. Once a job is placed in an order for a 3D print, one can work simultaneously on other important tasks – the 3D printer will do the job autonomously. The architectural model below is one of the many examples.

Although we have made advancements, and will continue to make advancements in this area, FDM - 3D Printing has some drawbacks.

1) The layering on FDM parts is one of FDM’s largest flaws. When the parts are printed, the layering has the potential to cause a weak bond in the Z axis. Sometimes one might notice that the filament is extruded in a way that leaves lines between the printed layers.

2) Carefully removing the support material is one of the most delicate of 3D printing operations. There is no 100% guarantee you remove the support material without scratching the object.

Please find our product catalog HERE.

We are always delighted to share with you our experience and are always enthusiastic to help you out in your business. For any questions please feel free to contact.

Please at our other blogs on http://3dprototyperz.blogspot.de/2018/03/3d-printing-creating-job-market.html