Make Parts Fast

What you need to know about Subtractive Prototyping

Not everyone thinks that subtractive prototyping has a place in the Additive Manufacturing arena. After all, subtractive is really CNC machining—a process that removes material from a larger piece of material through standard machining processes such as milling, turning/lathing or drilling until the prototype part is created. Subtractive prototyping gives you the opportunity to... Read More

Tips on selecting 3D printers

This feature is part of a series of features for the 2011 Make Parts Fast Handbook. A 3D printer can be used to analyze form, fit, feel, function, or some combination of these features. But it can do more. Today’s printers also function as manufacturing equipment, producing one of a kind parts, like hearing aids, medical instruments, orthodontic parts, and prosthetics, as well... Read More

Fused Deposition Modeling and Material Advances

Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) technology was developed by S. Scott Crump in the late 1980s and was commercialized in 1990. The build material is usually a filament or wire of thermoplastic material but can also be plastic pellets fed from a hopper. Many materials for FDM are industrial grade thermoplastics, which suit today’s consumer and commercial products. If the material... Read More

A Multitude of Materials for Additive Manufacturing

Hundreds of materials are available for additive manufacturing systems. Each offers different capabilities to meet your form, fit, and function needs. For the most part, each vendor of an AM machine offers materials that function best with that machine. There are good technical reasons for such proprietary arrangements—it ensures that parts will deliver the features claimed by... Read More

Stereolithography – Shaping Resins

In 1986, inventor Charles W. Hull developed a “solid imaging process” known as stereolithography, which initiated the rapid prototyping revolution. Stereolithography (SLA) builds three-dimensional models out of liquid photosensitive polymers that solidify when exposed to ultraviolet light. The process begins with the CAD data of a part. These data are translated into cross section... Read More

Selective Laser Sintering

Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) technology can truly be called an additive manufacturing technology. Long used to build prototype parts early in the design cycle, increasingly it is used in limited-run manufacturing to produce end-use parts. It was developed and patented by Dr. Carl Deckard at the University of Texas in the mid-1980s under sponsorship of DARPA and patented in 1989. SLS... Read More

3D Scanners Reproduce Reality

A 3D scanner is used to convert a three-dimensional object into digital bits (or a point cloud of information), which are used for many processes, such as: • Ensure proper fit and form of medically implantable devices, such as orthotics, prostheses, and hearing aids. In some medical applications, physicians use scanners in diagnosis and patient follow-up visits. • Archive and... Read More