Digital Manufacturing

Module 3

Concept Modelers

Concept Modelers are often called as office modelers are a class of Rapid prototyping system
designed specifically to make models quickly and inexpensively, without a great deal of effort.
The systems are usually small, inexpensive, quiet, and require very little or no training to operate.

For these reasons, the systems are targeted to reside in design office environments, where they can
ideally be operated much like a standard printer, only the prints from these systems are in three
dimensions.

Concept Modelers

Advantages

 Helps to develop and refine product ideas while saving significant time and money
 Iterate more freely
 Gain feedback by actually touching and feeling
 Keep your intellectual property in house
Haseebuddin M R Dept. of Mechanical Engg., DSCE
 Digital Manufacturing

 Get a head-start on marketing activities

 More effectively present ideas to colleagues, clients, and leadership.

Thermo jet Printer

Ink jet printing comes from the printer and plotter industry where the technique involves
shooting tiny droplets of ink on paper to produce graphic images. RP ink jet techniques utilize
ink jet technology to shoot droplets of liquid- to-solid compound and form a layer of an RP
model.

Principle: The additive fabrication technique of inkjet printing is based on the 2D printer
technique of using a jet to deposit tiny drops of ink onto paper. In the additive process, the ink is
replaced with thermoplastic and wax materials, which are held in a melted state. When printed,
liquid drops of these materials instantly cool and solidify to form a layer of the part. For this
reason, the process if often referred to as thermal phase change inkjet printing •Inkjet printing
offers the advantages of excellent accuracy and surface finishes.

The additive fabrication technique of inkjet printing is based on the 2D printer technique of using
a jet to deposit tiny drops of ink onto paper. In the additive process, the ink is replaced with
thermoplastic and wax materials, which are held in a melted state. When printed, liquid drops of
Haseebuddin M R Dept. of Mechanical Engg., DSCE
 Digital Manufacturing

these materials instantly cool and solidify to form a layer of the part. For this reason, the process
if often referred to as thermal phase change inkjet printing. Inkjet printing offers the advantages
of excellent accuracy and surface finishes. However, the limitations include slow build speeds,
few material options, and fragile parts. As a result, the most common application of inkjet
printing is prototypes used for form and fit testing. Other applications include jewelry, medical
devices, and high-precisions products. Several manufactures have developed different inkjet
printing devices that use the basic technique described above. Inkjet printers from Solidscape
Inc., such as the ModelMaker (MM), use a single jet for the build material and another jet for
support material. 3D Systems has implemented their MultiJet Moldeling (MJM) technology into
their ThermoJet Modeler machines that utilize several hundred nozzles to enable faster build
times.

The inkjet printing process, as implemented by Solidscape Inc., begins with the build material
(thermoplastic) and support material (wax) being held in a melted state inside two heated
reservoirs. These materials are each fed to an inkjet print head which moves in the X-Y plane
and shoots tiny droplets to the required locations to form one layer of the part. Both the build
material and support material instantly cool and solidify. After a layer has been completed, a
milling head moves across the layer to smooth the surface. The particles resulting from this
cutting operation are vacuumed away by the particle collector. The elevator then lowers the build
platform and part so that the next layer can be built. After this process is repeated for each layer
and the part is complete, the part can be removed and the wax support material can be melted
away.

Limitations: However, the limitations include slow build speeds, few material options, and
fragile parts.

Application : As a result, the most common application of inkjet printing is prototypes used for
form and fit testing . Other applications include jewellery, medical devices, and high-precisions
products.

Haseebuddin M R Dept. of Mechanical Engg., DSCE

 Digital Manufacturing

Sander’s Model Maker

The Sanders Model Maker (MM) series captures the essence of the ink-jet printing technology,
and builds in a layer-by-layer fashion, similar to other rapid prototyping (RP) systems
The MM uses several different types of data file formats but has only one base type for the
build and support materials, wax. The MM was developed by Sanders Prototype, Inc. (SPI), a
subsidiary of Sanders Design in Wilton, NH, in the early 1990s with the intention of
revolutionizing the industry as it pertains to accuracy and precision

The MM system has evolved through three "models," Model •Maker (original model), Model
Maker II (MMII, second generation), and recently Rapid Tool Maker (RTM)

The original modeller has a build envelope of 7" x 7" and the MMII has an envelope size of 13"
x 7", whereas the RTM has a 12" x 12" working area. While both MMs are desktop models, the
RTM is a self contained unit with an on-board computer

Software for MM - Both modellers utilize MW (MW) software, manufactured by SPI, to prepare
and manipulate the incoming file for use in the MM machine. The software can be operated
through a variety of workstations, from UNIX to PC , and the current modeller has an on-board
computer that can function alone after it receives the prepared file from a "dummy" PC whose
sole purpose is for file slicing and preparation

Build materials - Both models use a build and support material to produce a 3-D model. These
materials are wax based with the support having a lower melting point than the build. So, the
Postprocessing becomes easier. The support material can be removed easily

The print-head assembly consist of the print-head, print-head cap, purge spout, purge spout cap,
cable, and saddle.

There are two print-heads, one for building the part and the other for generating the necessary
support •The jets sit on a carriage that enables them to move in the X and Y direction (left to
right), while the stage moves in the Z direction (up and down)

Model maker operation 1.CAD file preparation 2.Slicing 3.Sending the data to the model maker
4.Building a part 5.Post processing

Haseebuddin M R Dept. of Mechanical Engg., DSCE

 Digital Manufacturing

Both the thermoplastic material (Protobuild™) and the wax support material (Protosupport™)
are proprietary materials of Sanders.

The Sander ModelMaker™ product is produced and distributed by Sanders Prototype, Inc. of
Wilton, NH, USA. Smooth cosmetic surface quality can be achieved by pre-tracing the perimeter
of a layer prior to filling in the interior. The supporting wax material is deposited at the same
time as the thermoplastic. A schematic is shown:

Advantages and disadvantages:

•The power of the MM family of systems lies primarily with the production of small, intricately
detailed wax patterns
•The jewellery and medical industries have capitalized on this advantage due to their needs for
highly accurate, small parts
•Perhaps the most apparent drawback of these systems are the slow build speed when it comes to
fabricating parts larger than a 3- inch working cube

Haseebuddin M R Dept. of Mechanical Engg., DSCE

 Digital Manufacturing

3-D printer

Schematic representation of the 3D printing technique known as Fused Filament Fabrication; a filament
a) of plastic material is fed through a heated moving head b) that melts and extrudes it depositing it, layer
after layer, in the desired shape c). A moving platform e) lowers after each layer is deposited. For this
kind of technology additional vertical support structures d) are needed to sustain overhanging parts.

3D printing refers to processes in which material is joined or solidified under computer control
to create a three-dimensional object, with material being added together (such as liquid
molecules or powder grains being fused together). 3D printing is used in both rapid prototyping
and additive manufacturing (AM). Objects can be of almost any shape or geometry and
typically are produced using digital model data from a 3D model or another electronic data
source such as an Additive Manufacturing File (AMF) file (usually in sequential layers).
Stereolithography (STL) is one of the most common file types that is used for 3D printing.
Thus, unlike material removed from a stock in the conventional machining process, 3D printing
or AM builds a three-dimensional object from computer-aided design (CAD) model or AMF file,
usually by successively adding material layer by layer.

Haseebuddin M R Dept. of Mechanical Engg., DSCE

 Digital Manufacturing

The term "3D printing" originally referred to a process that deposits a binder material onto a
powder bed with inkjet printer heads layer by layer. More recently, the term is being used in
popular vernacular to encompass a wider variety of additive manufacturing techniques. United
States and global technical standards use the official term additive manufacturing for this
broader sense, since the final goal of additive manufacturing is to achieve mass-production,
which greatly differs from 3D printing for Rapid prototyping.

The JP System 5 Rapid Prototyping System

The JP system 5 is patented by Schroff Development Corporation. it is an inexpensive RP system that

requires only a personal RP system that requires only a personal computer and a cutting device.The
system produces prototypes using paper sheets and so the material cost is very low sheets and so the
material cost is very lowcutting device

In the layer slicing and gluing operation, the solid model is sliced by software into cross
sections of desired thickness. The cross section data are output to a sign making plotter that
cuts the slices and automatically adds registration holes to each slice. The slices are assembled
manually on a registration table and backing paper is removed to expose the adhesive material
which glues the slices to form the solid object. The final solid object's surface can then be
coated if desired.

The JP System 5 is a desktop rapid prototyping system by Schroff Development Corporation. It

Haseebuddin M R Dept. of Mechanical Engg., DSCE

 Digital Manufacturing

uses a Roland Digital PNC 900 cutting machine, registration board, all needed software, and a
supply of startup material (label paper and plastic foam board). The model is sliced into layers
at a given thickness, the layers are registered manually, and one-on-one adhered to each other.
The typical build time for a nominal model of 60 slices is 2-3 hours. Once the model is
completed, it can be held for physical inspection and compared to the rendered computer
model. While the resolution of 60 slices may seem rough for real engineering applications, it
may be adequate for some purposes. Indeed, the models built with the JP System 5 compares
favorably with the real models (see Figure). Hence, this simple and economical approach to
rapid prototyping, which in many ways manually mimics what the "big" systems do, may be an
acceptable candidate for small firms and model makers. It also functions nicely in an
educational environment.

PROCESS

A proprietary software package is used to slice the model into a series of cross sections the model into
a series. The software then converts the slices to a HPGL plot file format which is sent to a plotter HPGL plot

The sheets are layered by aligning specially cut orientation holes and the sheets are positioned on a
registration board. An adhesive is sprayed on the first sheet. The support backing is removed exposing
the adhesive layer. Each subsequent sheet adheres to adhesive layer. Each subsequent sheet adheres
to the exposed adhesive surfaces of the previousthe exposed adhesive surfaces of the previous sheet
Sections formed by the nesting operations are cut. The final model is assembled

OBJECT QUADRA SYSTEM

Haseebuddin M R Dept. of Mechanical Engg., DSCE

 Digital Manufacturing

Introduction:

The Quadra process is based on the state of art Ink Jet Printing Technology. The printer which
uses 1536 nozzles jets a proprietary photo polymer developed in house by the object. Because it
requires no post processing, Quadra touts fastest start to finish process of any RP machine.

Build Technique:

Objects will initially offer one grade of material with properties similar to multipurpose resins
correctly offered with competitive RP systems. Additional materials with varying properties are
under development. Material is delivered by a sealed cartridge that is easily installed and
replaced. Jetting of different resins once they become available will not require costly
investments in materials or hardware upgrades. A new cartridge is dropped into place without
any complicated procedures or specially trained staff.

Quadra deposits a second material that is jetted to support models containing complicated
geometry such as oven hanks and undercuts. The support material is easily removed by hand
after building model. The support material easily separates from the model body without leaving
any contact points or blemishes to the model. No special staff or training are required.

Further, more models built on the system don’t require sanding or smoothing where supports are
attached.

Advantages:

 Better material properties.

 600DPI resolution.
 Layer thickness of 20 microns.
 Builds parts up to a maximum size of 11x12x8 inches.
 Maintenance costs are low.
 UV Lamps are used which are cheaper.

Haseebuddin M R Dept. of Mechanical Engg., DSCE

 Digital Manufacturing

GENISYS XS
In particular, we will be using an FDM system named The Genisys Xs. The Genisys 3-D
accepts its file in the same fashion as a regular FDM printer. The process begins with an .STL
file. Then the AutoGen software included performs functions on the file to prepare the part for
building. These functions include making sure the model has no errors, fixing any errors that
are present, part positioning, file slicing and support generation. AutoGen can also scale the part
by either of two methods, first by choosing a percentage of the file size, or by fitting the part
within a pre-determined volume up to 8 x 8 x 8 inches.

The Genisys 3D printer operates in an office environment, as a piece of equipment connected to

a network device accommodating multiple-user access. It is easy to use, fully automated and
operates unattended.

A line of cassettes supplies the system with our polyester compound. Each cassette holds 50
rectangular wafers. The wafers are fed into a pressurized, heated channel that supplies the
material to a viscosity pump. To ensure accuracy, the material is extruded through a .013"
diameter orifice at a controlled rate. Thin perimeter walls are created are created first, and then
the pump head fills in the area, creating a flat surface between the walls. This technique speeds
build time and maintains a good surface finish. The machine also calibrates itself each time it is
turned on to compensate for any deviations in angular position of the build table and gantry
alignments.

Supports created by AutoGen are built from the same polyester material. The system creates
perforations where supports adjoin the model, making it easy to snap off any required supports.
The Genisys printed models often require fewer supports than other systems' models due to
precise pump control.

Haseebuddin M R Dept. of Mechanical Engg., DSCE