An Introduction to

3D Printing
Travis Ripley

What is 3D Printing?
3D printing is also known as Additive Manufacturing. It is the process of
producing three-dimensional objects, in which successive layers of varied
material are extruded under computer-controlled equipment that is fed
information from 3D models. These models are derived from a data source that
processes the information into machine language.

What are the Benefits

of 3D Printing?
The technology allows you to produce rapid prototypes - excellent for personal
and professional use alike. Ideas can go from conception to reality in a fraction
of the time that they would do using traditional methods of manufacture.
If youre dealing with clients, they will undoubtedly feel more reassured if they
have tangible and solid objects throughout the design process, and therefore
they are more likely to trust you as a result, allowing you to complete jobs more
smoothly and with shorter turnaround times. As 3D printing allows you to
provide physical updates on your project progress, it means you can address
design amendments quickly and easily, in order to minimise flaws and failures
further down the line.
The potential application of 3D printing techniques across a huge variety
of sectors is endless. From toys to healthcare, 3D printing can provide quick
solutions and make previous practice better and simpler.
The technology has also made it easy to produce obsolete as well as new
items, great for repairing damaged objects by printing parts that are no longer
manufactured.

What are the Obstacles

to 3D Printing?
Unfortunately you cant simply just start using a 3D printer - you need to
have some basic understanding of the manufacturing process, such as an
understanding that layers of material need to be successfully laid down in order
to move on to the next stage in the process. This can be the most difficult part
for beginners, who are eager to engage in this new world.

Types of 3D Printing
Technology
The plastic extrusion technology that is now becoming slowly more popular
in 3D printing is known as Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM). This process
was developed in the early 1990s for the application of job production,
mass production, rapid prototyping, product development, and distributed
manufacturing. The principle of FDM is that material is laid down in layers. There
are many other processes such as Selective Heat Sintering (SHS), Selective Laser
Sintering (SLS), Stereolithography (SLA), and Plaster-Based 3D Printing (PP) to
name a few. I will keep it simple here and just go over the FDM process, as most
of the printers at the hobbyist level use this process.
The FDM process has significantly affected roles within the production and
manufacturing industries. As it is able to wear multiple hats as an engineer,
designer and operator, it has made the technology more affordable to an array
of industrial fields.
In contrast, CNC Machining, which is a Subtractive Manufacturing process,
has been incorporated naturally to work together in this development. The
influence of this technology in the industrial and manufacturing industries,

such as automation, has created exposure to new methods of production at

exponential rates.
The FDM Process
The FDM process can be done with a multitude of materials; the two most popular
options at this time are PLA (Polylactic acid) and ABS (Acrylonitrile butadiene
styrene). Both PLA and ABS have pros and cons, depending upon your model
structure. The future use of the print and client requests and understanding the
fundamental differences between the two can help you determine your choice
of one over the other, or in the case of owning a printer with two extruders, how
they can be combined. In some cases, PVA (Polyvinyl Acetate) is also used as
support material (in the case of two extruders) unlike PLA or ABS, which if used
as a support material will require cleanup when finishing a print. PVA is water
soluble, so you can soak your print in warm water and the support structures
will dissolve away.
PLA (Polylactic Acid) is a strong biodegradable plastic that is derived from
renewable resources: cornstarch and sugarcane. It is more resistant to UV rays
than ABS (so you will not see fading with your prints). Also, it sticks better than
any other material to the surface of your hotplate (minimal warping), which is a
huge advantage. It prints at -180o C, and it can create an ooze, and if your nozzle
is loaded it will drip, which also means that leaving a print in your car on a hot
day may cause damage.

ABS (Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) is stronger than PLA, but is nonbiodegradable; it is a synthetic monomer produced from propylene and
ammonia. This means it has more rigidity than PLA, but is also more flexible.
It is a colorfast material (which means it will hold its color for years). It prints at
-220oC, and is amorphous and therefore has no true melting point, so a heated
bed is needed as warping can and will occur (usually because the bed is not hot
enoughat least 80oC or the Z axis is not calibrated correctly).

Choosing Your Printer

There are literally dozens of 3D printer designs available on the market. The
designs range from high-end printers that can print plastic with embedded
carbon fiber, to popular designs from MakerBot and DIY kits on eBay.
For the home-use and hobbyist market, the 3D printers produced by the open
source/open hardware initiative can be stemmed directly or indirectly from the
Reprap.org project, which is a free to low-cost desktop 3D printer that is selfreplicating, so the parts for the machine can be fabricated by the machine itself.
Most people who build RepRap printers start with a kit and then assemble the
printer themselves. Once you assemble your printer you can make changes and
upgrades to the machine by printing yourself new parts. RepRap is now more
of a philosophy and community than any specific printer. By getting involved
in this community you are benefiting everyone by spreading the spark that
will continue to create new developments in manufacturing and consumer
technology.
For the hobbyist maker, there are a few 3D printer options to consider. Depending
upon your skill level, your needs, budget and commitments, there is a printer
out there for you.

The least expensive, smallest, and most straightforward printer available on

the market is Printrbot Simple Makers 3D Printer. Retailing at $349.99, this
printer comes in a kit that includes the bare necessities you need to get started.
It is capable of printing a 4 cube. You can also purchase it already assembled for
a little extra. The kit and PLA filament are available at Maker Shed.
The 3D printer I personally recommend is the Afina H480 3D printer. Retailing
at $1299.99, this printer provides the easiest setup right out of the box. Its fully
assembled, comes with a heated platform for the aid of adhesion and for less
chance of warping, and can print up to a 5 cube. It also comes loaded with
its own native 3D software, where you can manipulate your .STL files. It has an
automated utility to calibrate the printers build platform with the printhead,
and also automatically generates any support setup material and the raft, which
is the base support for your prints. There is so much more to it, but as I said I
recommend this for beginners, and it is also available through Maker Shed.
For those who want to print, and are at the hobbyist and semi-professional
level, consider the next generation in 3D printing, the MAKERBOT Replicator.
It is quick and efficient. Retailing at $2899, this machine has an extremely high
layer resolution, LCD display, and if you run out of filament (ABS/PLA), there is
no need to start over; this machine will alert you via computer or smartphone
that a replacement is needed.

There are many types of 3D printer available, with options including open source,
open hardware, filament types, delta style mechanics, single/double extruders,
and the list goes on. My main suggestion is to try before you buy, either at a
local hackerspace or a local maker faire. Its a worthwhile investment that pays
for itself.

Off the Shelf vs. Open

Source 3D Printers
If youre wondering whether to go for an open source printer, or a pre-packaged
version, here are some things to consider:
Off the Shelf
Advantages
Should print right out of the box
Less tinkering needed to get good prints
Each printer of a particular model is the same, making it easier to get support

Disadvantages
Making changes may void your warranty
Typically more expensive
May be locked into specific software or filament

Open Source (i.e RepRap)

Advantages
Typically cheaper than pre-built
Allows you to learn more about how the printer works
Easier to make changes to the machine, and complete plans are available
Easier to experiment with, for example using different printing materials

Disadvantages
Can take a lot of work to get good prints
Potentially lots of decisions to make
You may spend as much time working on the machine as actually printing

A pre-packaged printer makes a lot of sense if youre just interested in making

things. The learning process for building your own printer can either be
interesting or a frustrating obstacle, depending on your point of view. However,
when you look at the RepRap printer, its incredible to consider that it is the
product of contributions and the sharing of knowledge from a large community.
If youre not just interested in making things, but making things that make things,
then a RepRap printer might be for you.

Building an Open
Source Printer
Before you begin, its also important to choose your design tools. There are a
multitude of cost effective and free tools out there to get you started.The first
important thing to learn is that the 3D printing process has a required toolchain that must be followed, this chain can roughly be broken down into three
parts:
1. CAD (Computer Aided Design): Tools used to design 3D parts for printing.
There are very few interchangeable CAD file formats that are sometimes referred
to as parametric files. The most widely used interchangeable mesh file format
is .STL (Stereolithography). This format is the most important as it used by CAM
tools.
Known as FLOSS (free/libre/open source software), FLOSS CAD tools, for example
OpenSCAD, FreeCAD, and HeeksCAD, for the most part create these parametric
files that usually represent parts or assemblies in terms of CSG (Constructive
Solid Geometry), which basically represent a tree of Boolean operations
performed on primitive shapes such as cubes, spheres, cylinders, and pyramids.
These are modified numerically and with great precision and the geometry is a
mathematical representation of such, no matter how much you zoom in or out.

Another category of CAD tool, that represents the parts as 3D polygon mesh, is
for the most part used for special effects in movies or video games (CG). They
are also a little more user friendly, and examples would be Autodesk Maya and
Autodesk 3ds Max (these choices are subscription/retail-based), but there are
also open source and free versions of this tool such as Autodesk 123D, Google
Sketchup, and Blender; I suggest the latter options, since they are free, user
friendly, and they are much easier to learn, since their options are narrowed
down strictly to producing 3D meshes. If you need more precision you should
look at OpenSCAD, as it was created directly for making physical objects rather
than game design or animation. OpenSCAD is easy to learn, with a simple
interface. It is powerful and cross-platform, and there are many examples you
can use along with strong community support.

2. CAM (Computer Aided Manufacturing): Tools handling the intermediate step

of translating CAD files into a machine-friendly format.
Next, youll need to convert your 3D masterpiece (.stl) into a machine friendly
format known as G-Code. This process is also known as slicing. Youre going
to need some CAM software to produce the tool paths, which is the next stop
in the tool chain. Most of the slicing software available is open source. Some
examples are Slic3r (the most popular, with an ease of use recommended for
beginners), Skeinforge (dated, but still one of the best), Cura, and MatterSlice.

There is also great closed source slicing software out there. One in particular is
KISSlicer, which is a pro version that supports multi-extruder printing.
The next stop after slicing is using software known as:
A G-Code interpreter, which breaks down each line of the code into electronic
signals.
A G-Code sender, which sends the signals to the motors on the printer to tell
them how to move.
This software is usually directly linked to an EMC (Electronic Machine Controller),
which controls the printer directly. It can also be linked to an integrated hardware
interface that has a G-Code interpreter built in, which loads the G-Code directly
from a memory card (SD card/USB).

3. Firmware for electronics: This is what runs the onboard electronics of the
printer, and is the closest to actual programming - a process known as cross
compiling.
The last stop is the firmware, which controls the electronics onboard the
printer. For the most part, the CPUs that control these machines are simple
microcontrollers that are usually Arduino-based, and they are compiled using
the Arduino IDE.

This process may sound time consuming, but once you go through the tool
chain process a few times, it becomes second nature, just like driving a manual
transmission in a car.

More Than Just Printing

When I finished my first hackerspace workshop, I had been assimilated into a
culture that I was not only benefiting from personally, but a culture that I could
share my knowledge with and contribute to. I have received far more in my
journey as a maker than any previous endeavor.
To anyone who is curious, and mechanically inclined, who believes they have an
answer to a solution, I challenge you. I challenge you to make the leap into this
culturejoin a hackerspace, attend a maker faire, and enrich your life and the
lives of others.

We hope youve found this white paper useful. If youd like to learn more
about 3D printing, you may be interested in one of these titles:

3D Printing Blueprints
Joe Larson

Blender 3D Printing Essentials

Gordon Fisher

3D Printing with SketchUp

Marcus Ritland

3D Printing with RepRap Cookbook

Richard Salinas

3D Printing for Architects with MakerBot

Matthew B. Stokes

Please visit www.packtpub.com to view our full range of e-books, or

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About the Author

Travis Ripley is a designer and developer. He enjoys developing

products with composites, woods, steel, and aluminum, and has
been immersed in the Maker community for over two years. He
also teaches game development at the University of California,
Los Angeles. He can be found on Twitter @travezripley.

Published November 2014 by Packt Publishing Ltd.