What 3D printing technologies are available?
3D printing - layer-by-layer growth of a part. It is synonymous with additive technology. Compared to traditional technologies, material is added in the process, not removed (if you compare it to CNC machines). There are three popular types of printing in 3D world - printing is done with metal and resin (FDM, SLM, and SLA), all three have fundamentally different operating principles. These three are the most basic, but there are other acronyms, many of them denoting similar processes. The difference in names is due to patents.
What range of materials are available for 3D printing?
The choice is large: PLA, ABS, PETG, polycarbonate, etc. Key selection factors: strength, flexibility or stiffness, detailing, roughness, resistance to aggressive media. We know the assortment of stores and will help you to choose polymers for printing any functional objects, tell you about printing analogues of injection-molded polymers for thermoplastics.
How long does the 3d printing process take?
Almost anything that fits in the working area of the 3D printer can be made in 1-2 days. The time per print at standard speed settings is 4-12 hours.
It is a process of selective melting of powder by laser, abbreviated as SLM, DLMS or LMF. Not to be confused with sls, which uses polymer powder. A laser with 100-500 watts of power completely melts the particles before they become liquid, making the density of the part comparable to a cast (>99.5%). Three metal alloys are available, 30 types of supported materials, including stainless steel, alsi12, inconel, bronze, cobalt-chrome are available on order. Layer height 0,02 mm, fraction - 15-45. The price of manufacturing parts using this technology is usually higher, due to the high price of the equipment. It is used mainly for medical, automotive, military and defense purposes.
A liquid that turns into a solid under the influence of ultraviolet light. 3d printers using this method (stereolithography) may be referred to as LCD, DLP or new M-SLA. The market of such desktop and professional 3d-printers is wide, common manufacturers: phrozen sonic, anycubic, creality, flashforge, formlabs. In the industrial segment of AM: stratasys objet, polyjet and 3dsystems MJM projet. In contrast to desktop, they do not use a bath of photopolymer, and the head, filing it in droplets, in which case the layers are applied much thinner. The application of these technologies found in a high-precision 3d-printing, there are already printers with matrix resolution 4k. After printing, 3d-model is subjected to drying by means of led UV-camera for complete curing of the polymer. It is also amenable to refinement, easy to paint, retains properties for a long time.
What are the supports for?
The printout is placed on the print bed, and if there are overhanging elements with an angle of less than 45 degrees, lattice structures are built under them. We place them ourselves where required, if it is necessary to avoid the installation of scaffolding - we can turn the model, put it on the edge, to reduce its number. For the best results and complex 3D designs we use other ways: soluble PVA for interface layers which are directly touching the surface of the part.
What are the advantages of printing with composites?
Yes, PA6 Nylon with carbon fiber (Ultran) or fiberglass, and polyurethane (Total-pro GF-30). They are temperature resistant, used for small batch production, and shock resistant. We widely use engineering ABS-GF4 (Formax), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene with 4% fibers, which provide a nice look, rough texture of the outer walls without post processing.
What is the fill inside the object?
As a rule, it is enough to set the 3D printer 20% of the filling inside with 2-3 contours. This wall thickness is enough to get a rigid shell. When building the strongest products, we increase the number of "perimeters". The technique allows to make both cast objects (as an example - gears), or hollow objects for designers.
What file format do I need to calculate?
We use the STL format. If necessary, we can request designs in stp, STEP files if you need to make changes in the CAD design program before printing. Export files from CAD to STL, optimal file size is up to 20 Mb. Formats sldprt, m3d, iges and prt are acceptable. Also suitable file from 3D scanner, but when scanning need to make a specialist glue three-dimensional mesh, and the polygons were no holes. If there is only a drawing and sketch, then the design is required beforehand.
It is possible to create slices that are smaller than the printable area. The maximum geometric dimensions are limited: 350*350 mm for thermoplastics, 260*170*190 mm for photopolymers, and 100*100 mm for fusion printing. If the scale of model is big - it is cut into parts and glued. Acetone or dichloroethane is used for chemical bonding.
The post-processing process
We can offer hand finishing of surfaces, removal of chips, sandblasting, deburring, grinding, polishing. Post-treatment work can be added by agreement. Our fabrication department also perform painting and varnishing.
What are the terms of delivery and pickup?
We offer to send orders by transport company through UAE and Gulf countries. Self-collection from the office of our company in Dubai is possible. Parts are dispatched according to the delivery note
We offer options: ABS plastic, PET-g, PP, with polypropylene being preferred. They are resistant to various alkalis, gasoline, mineral oils, acids, hydrocarbons, water, alcohols. Please refer to the technical descriptions and catalogs for details.
Are the printouts susceptible to UV?
We can offer UV-resistant ASA. It is one of the few that is UV resistant. Black is more durable than translucent and whites. Some advanced materials like TPU, PC also provide UV resistance. Other ones are suitable only for indoors or home applications.
How is shrinkage compensated?
Our 3D machines have a compensation factor in their software for shrinkage and other errors. This is important for architectural, interior design, aerospace, customized awards and trophies printing and other industries.
Models to print on a 3d printer
Usually, 3d modeling is engaged designer or artist, but you are interested in ready-made 3d-models can be found on the sites: pinshape, yeggi, 3dtoday, thingiverse, 3dminifactory. At these online services are a large number of models of spare parts, universal tools and fixtures, technical and decorative projects, ready for manufacture with 3d-printers in Dubai.
Our 3d printing studio can do modeling and design your project using both 3d scanning and 3d modeling. We also can offer creating designs based on images or renders of your project. We are based in Dubai providing innovative services for local market
