Printing The Future

Printing the Future.

Olaf Diegel

From A to Z

Life before academia

Design Today

Today almost everything is designed in CAD

Modern CAD packages are becoming easier to

use and more powerful

CAD shows your product from any angle,

distance, colour, simulates movement

CAD software is now at a level

where it can often replace the

sketchpad

CAD overcomes the brains 3D

limitations

But…

A design may look pretty on screen, but will it

meet the users’ needs and can it be efficiently

made?

Beautiful 3D computer models can result in

difficult to manufacture hardware that requires

expensive fabrication processes that add cost

and/or increase schedule.

Enter Prototyping…

AM for Prototyping

Because of the comparative speed it offers

(speed to market, speed to go through extra

iterations, etc.), AM is worth using for

prototyping the vast majority (but not all) of

components.

Prototyping is also absolutely essential to

avoid costly design or manufacturing

mistakes.

Why prototype?

Subtractive Manufacturing 101

The really old way: Take a block of material and carve it out

You want to make a bust of yourself...

The modern way

• Generate 3D model

• Generate CNC program

• Machine away unwanted material

• If possible, recycle waste

Additive Manufacturing 101

The 3D printing way...

• Generate a 3D CAD model

• Software slices the 3D model into thin slices

• Machine builds it layer by layer

• The thinner the slices, the better the quality of the model

AM for Manufacturing

The decision about whether a product should

be manufactured through AM comes down to

balancing Product Value vs Production

Quantity.

Extrusion

Sand/Investment Casting

Pressure Diecasting

Choice of manufacturing method

13

0 Hundreds Thousands Tens of thousands Hundreds of thousands

Injection Molding

Pa

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t

Milling & Turning

Rotational molding

Blow molding

Sheet metal

Additive

manufacturing

Laser or waterjet cutting

CNC turret punching

Manufacturing Quantity

Forging

Note: The part cost for most

manufacturing technologies

decreases as the quantity

increases!

Extrusion

Sand/Investment Casting

Pressure Diecasting

Choice of manufacturing method

14

0 Hundreds Thousands Tens of thousands Hundreds of thousands

Injection Molding

Se

tup

Co

sts

Milling & Turning

Rotational molding

Blow molding

Sheet metal

Additive

manufacturing

Laser or waterjet cutting

CNC turret punching

Manufacturing Quantity

Forging

3D Printing Processes

Solid Based

Plastic is extruded from a

filament and slice is traced

(hot glue gun)

Liquid Based

Photosensitive liquid

polymer is exposed to

laser/UV to cure

Powder Based

Layer of powdered

material is scanned with a

laser which selectively

melts the material

The Past

For most of its first 3 decades, Additive

Manufacturing was known as Rapid Prototyping,

and mostly used for prototyping parts.

In the last decade AM has begun to make

appearances in real, commercially available,

products, ie. moved beyond prototypes.

This has generated a lot of hype and a few myths

Myth

The vast majority of 3D printing entails a

large amount of post-processing.

This can range from removing support

material, to polishing, to machining, to

coating, to heat-treating, to colouring, to

sanding and painting, etc.

Just hit print and you are done!

Lionel T. Dean’s Icon design

Print time: 8.5 hoursPost-processing time: 6~8 hours

Myth

3D Printing will NOT replace conventional

manufacturing!

It is a complementary technology that, for

certain products, and if used the right way,

gives huge advantages over conventional

manufacturing

3D Printing will kill traditional manufacturing!

Advantage: Complexity for Free

The more complex the part, the better it is

suited to Additive Manufacturing (AM).

Many simple parts can often be consolidated

into one much more complex parts as no

assembly is required (so less assembly

labour).

Art & Design Objects

Freedom of Creation

Joshua Harker

Textile & Fashion Applications

Continuum Design

Freedom of Creation

Francis Bitonti & Michael Schmidt Studios

Joshua DeMonte

Marketing

Designing for Additive Manufacturing

Topology Optimized, Nylon: 0.56gms

Myth

In the context of manufacturing (rather

than prototyping) only parts of a suitable

level of complexity and value are

economically viable for 3D printing.

Just because you can, doesn’t mean you

should!

Anything can be 3D printed!

To print or not to print: Complexity Filter

NO! These parts will be both

better quality and more

economical to make using a

variety of other

manufacturing methods

(laser cutting, CNC

machining, etc.

YES! These parts are reaching

a level of complexity where

they MAY be worth 3D printing

(assuming they are designed

that way on purpose)

Advantage: Mass customisation

A small production run of parts can be

undertaken in which each part is uniquely

customized to suit the user

It costs no more to do 100 different

components than 100 of the same

component

This opens up a whole new area of business

for products that are mass-custom-made for

the user

Medical Applications

Dental aligners, Invisalign

Hip socket, Ala Ortho, Italy, made on

Arcam machineLaser Sintered Hearing Aids,

EOS/Materialise

Dental Crowns and Bridges, EOS

3D printed Dog Jawbone

Lighting

MGX Design

Mass-Customisation

Know your baby before its born…

Tomohiro Kinoshita , of FASOTEC, the company

offering the 'Shape of an Angel' model, even offers

parents a miniature version which could be a 'nice

adornment to a mobile phone strap or key chain.'

Indirect AM Manufacturing Methods

Advantage: Complete Products

Additive manufacturing allows the production

of complete products with moving parts. This

can greatly reduce the amount of assembly

(ergo labour) required to make products.

AM allows many simple parts to be

consolidated into a single more complex part

3D printed airplane

University of South Hampton

UAV Pitot Tube

32 piece original

1 piece Nylon test part

2 piece titanium final

Advantage: Try Ideas at No Risk

Testing the market with an idea, using

traditional manufacturing methods, can often

be extremely expensive. AM allows small

production runs of product to be taken to

market with very little capital risk.

This allows many more inventors to realize

their inventions and test their market validity.

The potential for new businesses in this area

is enormous!

Innovative transport solutions?

Jenna Makgill, AUT University

Galantai Soap Dispenser

Short production run of

100 units undertaken for

Australian market.

Cost ~US$2000

Oceania Defence Rifle Suppressors

3D Printed in titanium on EOSM270

Complex internal baffles and cavities

Reduces dB to below that required for ear protection

Americas Cup, Team New Zealand

3D Printed Titanium Knives

• 3D Printed in titanium on EOSM270 (now SLM280)

• gas nitride treated for hardness

• Argon Ion Beam cleaned

• PVD coated

Design team: Victory knives, Page & Macrae and Tida. 3D printing & Gas intruding : Tida. Blade shape and grind: Victory knives. Ion beam clean & pvd coating: Page & Macrae

Jewellery & Bling

3D Printed Robots

3D Printed Guitars…

3d Printed Keyboard

3D Printed Drum Kit

Coming soon to a theatre near you…

Advantage: Encouraging Innovation

The relatively low-cost ability to easily try out

ideas generates many innovations that would

just not have seen the light of day with

conventional manufacturing.

AM has seen children returning to making

things. Where, over the past 20 years, they

have slowly drifted into a digital entertainment

age, 3D printing is now allowing them to move

back from digital into reality.

Beauty and the beak

Miles Lightwood

Innovative Applications

3D Printed Car

Urbee by Kor EcoLogic, Printed by Stratasys

Skyfa

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3D Printed Car

3D printed DB4Ivan Sentch, Printed on Solidoodle

Innovative use of power sources

Markus Kayser’s “Solar Sinter” 3D printer

Virginia tech’s 3D printing vending machine

The DreamVendor is an interactive 3D printing vending machine for Virginia Tech

students to enable them to quickly make prototypes for their academic, or personal,

design projects. Insert an SD card with the 3D model into the machine; the

DreamVendor then prints your 3D part and dispenses it into a bin when it's finished.

And, of course, it was only a matter of time…

The Justin Bieber

E-nable: community for low-cost prosthetics

e-nable hand, Volunteer organisation founded by Jon Schull,

www.enablingthefuture.org

Inspired by RoboHand work of Ivan Owen and Richard Van As in 2012,

www.robohand.net

Advantage: On-Demand Manufacturing

Parts can be manufactured as, and when,

needed, rather than having to keep a large

stock of parts on-hand

Parts can be manufactured locally, rather

than abroad, thus greatly reducing the supply

chain, and the environmental footprint of the

parts

3D printing is often referred to as the next

industrial revolution

Supply Chain Yesterday

Today

Tomorrow

The day after tomorrow???

(Misunderstood) Myth

Yes! Every home will have a 3D printer, but

these will be used for hobbies and toys.

It is unlikely that 3D printers will every be

used in a home setting to manufacture

everything we need.

Many of us have sewing machines, but few

of us are wearing homemade clothes.

Every home will have a 3D printer!

Myth

≠

≠

Desktop 3D printers are like industrial ones!

Myth

The vast majority of ‘3D printed’ products only

use 3D printing for those features that get

advantage from the technologies. The rest of

the product is made using conventional

manufacturing technologies.

Most 3D printed products aren’t 3D printed!

Designing for metal AM

The Truth about Metal AM

Because of post-processing, a really good

reason is needed to make a metal AM part!

Typically, parts that are not specifically

designed for metal AM are not worth doing

with AM

Most metal AM requires support structures

for heat transfer and these, in most cases,

need to be machined off. This can be hard!

Part orientation is of critical importance with

metal AM

Rule 1: the part MUST be complex

A gas emissions rake developed using AM optmised design (Courtesy

RSC Engineering GmbH)

To use AM, parts need to be AM designed

GE/Morris Technologies Leap jet fuel

nozzle

VBN Sweden: Hollow gear hobs offer high

abrasion resistance and reduced weight

Existing multi-part bracket to a single piece AM part (Airbus Defence and Space)

Sometimes complexity is not geometric

These models of a cannular combustor have been manufactured to demonstrate

the possibility to include effusion holes and a swirler in the manufacturing

process (Courtesy Concept Laser GmbH)

Rule 2: Mesh structures are your friend

This model of a wing demonstrates AM’s ability to combine differently oriented

lightweight structures within one part. The model has been produced in one step

(Courtesy Concept Laser GmbH)

Rule 3: Always think of angles and supports

This cross section of an emission gas rake shows the angle limitation in the AM

process. (Courtesy RSC Engineering GmbH)

Rule 4: Part Orientation is Critical

Rule 5: Beware of gimmicks

Many fancy metal AM parts are made to demonstrate the

features of AM, but would not work as real components!

This example of a universal joint with

moveable parts (Courtesy Concept

Laser GmbH)

model engine prototype made in one step,

including rotating shaft. (Courtesy RSC

Engineering GmbH)

Future RP Technologies

Printing houses Prof. Behrockh Khoshnevis, University of Southern California

Nano-Technology rapid prototyping Prof.

Satoshi Kawata, Japan, Koji Ikuta, Japan

Bio-printing: Printing body partsProf. Anthony Atala, Wake Forrest University

Food Printers MIT Media Lab, Fluid Interfaces Group, Marcelo Coelho and

Amit Zoran

Printing Houses

www.contourcrafting.com University of Southern California

www.contourcrafting.com University of Southern California

Some recent developments in China

Nano-Printing

10µm (1/10th of a hair)

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S. Kawata, Japan

BioPrinting

CBS Evening News

Food Printers

MIT Media Lab

FabCafe in the Shibuya, Tokyo offers

custom-printed chocolate, that

resemble a customer’s face. It’s

done with 3D printing technology

“Eat Your Face Machine” (EYFM)

is a 3D printer developed by David

Carr and the MIT Media Lab

Some Trends

Prices of machines are coming down

Prices for materials are coming down

CAD is improving (but still has a long way to go)

Some companies have realized that the printer

ink material pricing model will not work if AM is

to be used for rapid manufacturing

An awareness of mass-customisation is growing

Industry Growth

= P

rod

ucts

= S

erv

ices

So what’s missing?

The technology is around the corner.

What’s missing are the design tools that will

allow anyone, anywhere, to design what they

want, and to share that with the rest of the world.

Could this be the first time that hardware is

ahead of software?

Not a myth

3D Printing is Great!

Use it!!!