3d printing history, culture, future

1. 3d printing: History, culture,
future

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

3. Tea.
Earl Grey.
Hot

4. 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.

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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)

10. 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

11. 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

12. Injection molding and cornstarch molding

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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

17. Selective Laser Sintering

18. 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

19. Selective Laser
Sintering
$1,000,000

21. 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

22. Consumer SLA
$3500

23. Really cheap consumer SLA
• Peachy printer: $100
• Very clever solution
• open source
• $600,000 on kickstarter
• Yorkton!
• ... WHERE ARE THEY NOW

26. 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

27. Consumer FDM
$500-$5000

28. 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)

29. 3d scanning
• Many commercial products and
maker plans
• Microsoft kinect, makerbot
digitizer, etc

30. 3d scanning
• 3d scanner is expensive
• (but getting cheaper)
• Many layers of postprocessing
required
• (but getting easier)

31. 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

32. Virtual Reality Sculpting
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnqFdSa5p7w

33. Rendering Data

35. 3d modelling software
• Tinkercad
• Blender
• Sketchup
• Zbrush
• Meshmixer, Meshlab, Netfabb

36. 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

37. 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

38. 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

39. Model Segmentation

40. 3D printing and social change

41. 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?

42. 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

43. 3d printing controversies
• Printing Bioproducts
• Printing organs for transplant
• Printing biotoxins and chemical weapons

44. 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”

45. 3d printing controversies
• Economics, industry
• What happens to the world
economy when people can print
whatever they need at home?

46. 3D printing and the way forward

47. 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

48. Colonization
• Remote Stereolunagraphy
• Autonomous robot that mines lunar
regolith and 3d-prints a base
• Takes a while, but no people or
additional funds necessary

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

50. Metamaterials
• Microstructure
means solid
materials can
have specific
and targeted
flexibility

51. 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

52. 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)

53. Biomaterials
• Custom drug combinations
• 3d print exact dosages
• 2016 licensed by FDA
• Structural today, tomorrow
compositional
• 3d print bioweapons?

54. 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

55. Replicantors
• Common sci fi trope
• Always evil
• Always consume all resources

56. 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????

57. Replicants + Biotech = Nanobots
• Self replicating cell-sized robots
• Cure Cancer?
• Destroy Humanity?

58. Luckily, our ineptitude will save us