So, what exactly is 3D printing?
By now, most people will be comfortable with the idea of printing out electronic documents at home on an inkjet or laser printer.
The images are printed, row by row, onto the paper as it moves through the printer. This is two-dimensional printing – the inkjet head (or the laser) moves rapidly left and right (the X direction) whilst the paper moves along a path at 90° to the print head (the Y direction).
3D printing is very similar but with the addition of a third dimension, the Z direction, or straight up.
The printer draws an image using a thick liquid plastic, pressing it onto the heated base of the printer. This is the first layer. Once this is complete, the printhead moves up by a small amount, equal to the thickness of the first layer, and starts to draw a second layer which rests on top of the first layer and bonds firmly to it. This process continues upwards adding more and more thin layers, usually for minutes or hours, as the printer builds up a solid plastic part.
When it reaches the top of the object the bed is allowed to cool down and the part can then be removed from the printer and used immediately.
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What sorts of things can be printed and what are they good for?
Consider how inkjet printers can be used for printing photos to display at home and share with other people, or they can be used to print out important documents for business purposes. Both are common use cases and are equally valid uses of this technology.
In a similar way, most 3D printer owners often start out by printing small, fun objects to play with or put on display. But 3D printers also have a more serious purpose because the parts they produce can be very strong and have a multitude of practical uses.
- Parts can be as small as a few millimetres or as large as a 30 – 40 cm cube.
- Display items are usually printed hollow, with a thin skin.
- Toys and games are often printed medium density with a slightly thicker skin that can withstand handling or dropping.
- More functional items such as shelving brackets, tools and replacement vehicle parts are normally printed more solid and with a thicker skin that can hold several kilograms of weight.
How can I get something printed?
The 3D printer needs a digital file to print, so the first thing we have to do is either find one or make one ourselves.
The standard file format for 3D printing is called an STL file (short for ‘stereo lithography’) and there are whole libraries of freely available STL files that can be downloaded from the internet.
STLfinder and Thingiverse are good places to start.
If you can find exactly what you need on an STL download site then the next step is easy – just send me a link to the STL file and I can quickly 3D print a copy and send it to you.
But what if the thing you need doesn’t exist as a digital STL file yet?
Then we can use Computer Aided Design software (CAD programs) to make the STL file from scratch. There are many different programs available and they all take some time and patience to learn to use, but I am equally happy if you want to create the file yourself or have me design it for you.
If you want to go down the DIY route, I would recommend using a Constructive Solid Geometry based program because they are easier to learn and produce the ‘cleanest’ files. ‘TinkerCAD’ is a good place for beginners to start, whereas ‘Fusion360’ and ‘Onshape’ are more advanced and powerful examples.