Richard Horne - 3D Printing For Dummies

3D Printing For Dummies, 2nd Edition

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Copyright 2017 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2017938751

ISBN: 978-1-119-38631-5 (pbk); 978-1-119-38632-2 (ebk); 978-1-119-38630-8 (ebk)

1. Table of Contents

3D printing has been around for more than 30 years. Recently, the core technology for 3D printers has become available at prices many individuals and smaller companies can afford.

Three key things make 3D printing stand out from almost any other manufacturing process:

• Printed parts are grown in layers. Many complex objects that have internal structures or comprised of subassemblies can be manufactured in a single run, whereas previously, they could not be made by traditional means. This process often improves the performance of the finished part.
• Material is added rather than subtracted. This method of manufacturing adds raw materials to build an object rather than removing material. Machining away 90 percent of a metal block to make a cooling system for a race car is far less efficient than adding the 10 percent or so of metal powder needed to make a more compact and efficient design that couldnt have been machined in the first place.
• 3D printing often eliminates the need for complex or expensive production tooling. This benefit is becoming significant as 3D printers are being used for mass manufacturing runs in which individual tooling or hand-crafting would make customized products far too expensive (such as solid gold jewelry).

In short, 3D printing turns a digital model in a computer data file into a physical representation of the object or product. The term 3D printing is actually disliked in the wider industry, as its a poor representation of what this technology can achieve. A more professional name is additive manufacturing, which covers a vast array of sectors, materials, and processes used to produce physical objects from data.

Since the first edition of this book was released in 2013, desktop 3D printing and various forms of industrial additive manufacturing have been through the rise and fall of a technology hype cycle. Reports about 3D printing applied to biomedical research anticipated the leap from lab to patient too soon, rather than focusing on the possibility of printing tissue samples for medical research. Researchers and individuals are still working out appropriate uses of 3D-printing technology. There are often still vastly better ways to produce many things without 3D printing.

Much of the media hype surrounding 3D printing was exactly that: hype. But the end of the hype cycle is near, and 3D printing is stronger than ever. Some 3D-printing equipment vendors realize that not everyone needs or wants a home 3D printer. The desktop 3D-printing market has returned its focus to people who need and want to explore this technology.

3D Printing For Dummies, 2nd Edition, was written with the average reader in mind. Its a survey of the existing capabilities of additive manufacturing for both private and commercial purposes and a consideration of the possibilities of its future.

In this book, we review many current additive manufacturing technologies. Some are early uses of a technology or process with numerous limitations and caveats regarding their use. We also explore the process by which you can build your own 3D printer, using the open-source self-replicating rapid-prototyper (RepRap) family of designs. This book wont make you an expert in all aspects of 3D printing, but it will give you an opportunity to explore additive manufacturing systems. We hope that youll be excited by the amazing potential of 3D printers excited enough to build your own printer and start sharing your creativity with friends and family!

As we updated this book for the second edition, we were pleased by the number of times we could change a statement from something like NASA is planning to take 3D printers into space to NASA has now successfully tested and 3D-printed spare parts in space.