HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Fused filament fabrication (FFF), also known as fused deposition modeling (with the trademarked acronym FDM), or called ''filament freeform fabrication'', is a
3D printing 3D printing or additive manufacturing is the Manufacturing, construction of a three-dimensional object from a computer-aided design, CAD model or a digital 3D modeling, 3D model. It can be done in a variety of processes in which material is ...
process that uses a continuous filament of a
thermoplastic A thermoplastic, or thermosoft plastic, is any plastic polymer material that becomes pliable or moldable at a certain elevated temperature and solidifies upon cooling. Most thermoplastics have a high molecular weight. The polymer chains associate ...
material. Filament is fed from a large spool through a moving, heated printer extruder head, and is deposited on the growing work. The print head is moved under computer control to define the printed shape. Usually the head moves in two dimensions to deposit one horizontal plane, or layer, at a time; the work or the print head is then moved vertically by a small amount to begin a new layer. The speed of the extruder head may also be controlled to stop and start deposition and form an interrupted plane without stringing or dribbling between sections. "Fused filament fabrication" was coined by the members of the RepRap project to give an acronym (FFF) that would be legally unconstrained in its use. Fused filament printing is now the most popular process (by number of machines) for hobbyist-grade 3D printing. Other techniques such as
photopolymerisation In polymer chemistry, polymerization (American English), or polymerisation (British English), is a process of reacting monomer molecules together in a chemical reaction to form polymer chains or three-dimensional networks. There are many for ...
and powder sintering may offer better results, but they are much more costly. The 3D printer head or 3D printer extruder is a part in material extrusion additive manufacturing responsible for raw material melting or softening and forming it into a continuous profile. A wide variety of filament materials are extruded, including thermoplastics such as ''acrylonitrile butadiene styrene'' (ABS), ''polylactic acid'' (PLA), ''polyethylene terephthalate glycol'' (PETG), ''polyethylene terephtathalate'' (PET), high-impact ''polystyrene'' (HIPS), ''thermoplastic polyurethane'' (TPU) and ''aliphatic polyamides'' (nylon).


History

Fused deposition modeling was developed by
S. Scott Crump S. Scott Crump (born Steven Scott Crump) is the inventor of fused deposition modeling (FDM) and co-founder of Stratasys, Ltd. Crump invented and patented FDM technology in 1989 with his wife and Stratasys co-founder Lisa Crump. He is currently th ...
, co-founder of Stratasys, in 1988. With the 2009 expiration of the patent on this technology, people could use this type of printing without paying Stratasys for the right to do so, opening up commercial, DIY, and open-source ( RepRap) 3D printer applications. This has led to a two-orders-of-magnitude price drop since this technology's creation. Stratasys still owns the trademark on the term "FDM".


Process

3D printing, also referred to as additive manufacturing (AM), involves manufacturing a part by depositing material layer by layer. There is a wide array of different AM technologies that can do this, including material extrusion, binder jetting, material jetting and directed energy deposition. These processes have varied types of extruders and extrude different materials to achieve the final product.


Material extrusion

Fused filament fabrication uses material
extrusion Extrusion is a process used to create objects of a fixed cross-sectional profile by pushing material through a die of the desired cross-section. Its two main advantages over other manufacturing processes are its ability to create very complex c ...
to print items, where a feedstock material is pushed through an extruder. In most fused filament fabrication 3D printing machines, the feedstock material comes in the form of a filament wound onto a spool. The 3D printer liquefier is the component predominantly used in this type of printing. Extruders for these printers have a cold end and a hot end. The cold end pulls material from the spool, using gear- or roller-based torque to the material and controlling the feed rate by means of a stepper motor. The cold end pushes feedstock into the hot end. The hot end consists of a heating chamber and a nozzle. The heating chamber hosts the liquefier, which melts the feedstock to transform it into a liquid. It allows the molten material to exit from the small
nozzle A nozzle is a device designed to control the direction or characteristics of a fluid flow (specially to increase velocity) as it exits (or enters) an enclosed chamber or pipe. A nozzle is often a pipe or tube of varying cross sectional area, a ...
to form a thin, tacky bead of plastic that will adhere to the material it is laid on. The nozzle will usually have a diameter of between 0.3 mm and 1.0 mm. Different types of nozzles and heating methods are used depending upon the material to be printed. Different types of nozzles have different ways of replacing them. The most common used nozzles are the V6 nozzles made popular by E3D and MK8 nozzles. Changing the nozzle must be done while hot, to avoid plastic leaks.


Variants of the process

* ''Hot extrusion of rods'' - In these types of 3d printing machines, the feedstock is in form of a rod instead of a filament. Since the rod is thicker than the filament, it can be pushed towards the hot end by means of a piston or rollers, applying a greater force and/or velocity compared to conventional FFF. *''Cold extrusion of slurries'' - In these types of 3D printing machines, the feedstock comes in form of a
slurry A slurry is a mixture of denser solids suspended in liquid, usually water. The most common use of slurry is as a means of transporting solids or separating minerals, the liquid being a carrier that is pumped on a device such as a centrifugal pu ...
, a paste or a
clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...
—all of which are viscous suspension of solid powder particles in a liquid medium, which is dried after deposition. In this case, the material is generally pushed towards the nozzle by the action of a piston, and the nozzle is not heated. Paste-like materials such as ceramics and chocolate can be extruded using the fused filament process and a specialized paste extruder. *''Hot extrusion of pellets'' - In these types of 3d printing machines the feedstock comes in form of pellets, i.e. small granules of thermoplastic material or mixtures of thermoplastic binder with powder fillers. The material is pushed towards the nozzle by the action of a piston or a rotating screw, which are contained by an extrusion barrel. In this case the whole extrusion barrel is heated, along with the nozzle.


Printing

FFF begins with a software process which processes an STL file (STereoLithography file format), orienting the model for the build process and mathematically slicing the model according to the processing parameters selected. If required, support structures may be generated. The nozzle can be moved in both horizontal and vertical directions, and is mounted to a mechanical stage, which can be moved in the xy plane. As the nozzle is moved over the table in a prescribed geometry, it deposits a thin bead of extruded plastic, called a ‘‘road’’ which solidifies quickly upon contact with the substrate and/or roads deposited earlier. Solid layers are generated by following a rasterizing motion where the roads are deposited side by side within an enveloping domain boundary. Stepper motors or servo motors are typically employed to move the extrusion head. The mechanism used is often an X-Y-Z rectilinear design, although other mechanical designs such as deltabot have been employed. Once a layer is completed, the platform is lowered in the z direction in order to start the next layer. This process continues until the fabrication of the object is completed. For successful bonding of the roads in the process, thermal control of the deposited material is necessary. The system can be kept inside a chamber, maintained at a temperature below the melting point of the material being deposited. Although as a printing technology FFF is very flexible, and it is capable of dealing with small overhangs by the support from lower layers, FFF generally has some restrictions on the slope of the overhang, and cannot produce unsupported
stalactite A stalactite (, ; from the Greek 'stalaktos' ('dripping') via ''stalassein'' ('to drip') is a mineral formation that hangs from the ceiling of caves, hot springs, or man-made structures such as bridges and mines. Any material that is soluble an ...
s. Myriad materials are available, such as
Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) (chemical formula (C8H8)''x''·(C4H6)''y''·(C3H3N)''z'' is a common thermoplastic polymer. Its glass transition temperature is approximately . ABS is amorphous and therefore has no true melting point. A ...
(ABS),
Polylactic acid Polylactic acid, also known as poly(lactic acid) or polylactide (PLA), is a thermoplastic polyester with backbone formula or , formally obtained by condensation of lactic acid with loss of water (hence its name). It can also be prepared by rin ...
(PLA),
Polycarbonate Polycarbonates (PC) are a group of thermoplastic polymers containing carbonate groups in their chemical structures. Polycarbonates used in engineering are strong, tough materials, and some grades are optically transparent. They are easily work ...
(PC),
Polyamide A polyamide is a polymer with repeating units linked by amide bonds. Polyamides occur both naturally and artificially. Examples of naturally occurring polyamides are proteins, such as wool and silk. Artificially made polyamides can be made through ...
(PA),
Polystyrene Polystyrene (PS) is a synthetic polymer made from monomers of the aromatic hydrocarbon styrene. Polystyrene can be solid or foamed. General-purpose polystyrene is clear, hard, and brittle. It is an inexpensive resin per unit weight. It is a ...
(PS),
lignin Lignin is a class of complex organic polymers that form key structural materials in the support tissues of most plants. Lignins are particularly important in the formation of cell walls, especially in wood and bark, because they lend rigidity ...
,
rubber Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Thailand, Malaysia, and ...
, among many others, with different trade-offs between strength and temperature properties. In addition, even the color of a given
thermoplastic A thermoplastic, or thermosoft plastic, is any plastic polymer material that becomes pliable or moldable at a certain elevated temperature and solidifies upon cooling. Most thermoplastics have a high molecular weight. The polymer chains associate ...
material may affect the strength of the printed object. Recently a German company demonstrated for the first time the technical possibility of processing granular
PEEK Polyether ether ketone (PEEK) is a colourless organic thermoplastic polymer in the polyaryletherketone (PAEK) family, used in engineering applications. The polymer was first developed in November 1978, later being introduced to the market by Vic ...
into filament form and 3D printing parts from the filament material using FFF technology. During FFF, the hot molten polymer is exposed to air. Operating the FFF process within an
inert gas An inert gas is a gas that does not readily undergo chemical reactions with other chemical substances and therefore does not readily form chemical compounds. The noble gases often do not react with many substances and were historically referred to ...
atmosphere such as
nitrogen Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a nonmetal and the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at se ...
or
argon Argon is a chemical element with the symbol Ar and atomic number 18. It is in group 18 of the periodic table and is a noble gas. Argon is the third-most abundant gas in Earth's atmosphere, at 0.934% (9340 ppmv). It is more than twice as abu ...
can significantly increase the layer adhesion and leads to improved mechanical properties of the 3D printed objects. An inert gas is routinely used to prevent oxidation during
selective laser sintering Selective laser sintering (SLS) is an additive manufacturing (AM) technique that uses a laser as the power and heat source to sinter powdered material (typically nylon or polyamide), aiming the laser automatically at points in space defined b ...
.


Physics of the process

During extrusion the thermoplastic filament is introduced by mechanical pressure from rollers, into the liquefier, where it melts and is then extruded. Flow geometry of the extruder, heating method and the melt flow behavior of a non-Newtonian fluid are of main consideration in the part. The rollers are the only drive mechanism in the material delivery system, therefore filament is under tensile stress upstream to the roller and under compression at the downstream side acting as a plunger. Therefore, compressive stress is the driving force behind the extrusion process. The force required to extrude the melt must be sufficient to overcome the pressure drop across the system, which strictly depends on the viscous properties of the melted material and the flow geometry of the liquefier and nozzle. The melted material is subjected to shear deformation during the flow. Shear thinning behavior is observed in most of the materials used in this type of 3-D printing. This is modeled using power law for generalized Newtonian fluids. The temperature is regulated by heat input from electrical coil heaters. The system continuously adjusts the power supplied to the coils according to the temperature difference between the desired value and the value detected by the thermocouple, forming a
negative feedback Negative feedback (or balancing feedback) occurs when some function (Mathematics), function of the output of a system, process, or mechanism is feedback, fed back in a manner that tends to reduce the fluctuations in the output, whether caused by ...
loop. This is similar to ambient heating of a room.


Applications


Commercial applications

FFF and the other technologies of additive manufacturing by material extrusion (EAM) techniques are commonly used for prototyping and rapid manufacturing. Rapid prototyping facilitates iterative testing, and for very short runs, rapid manufacturing can be a relatively inexpensive alternative. EAM is also used in prototyping scaffolds for medical tissue engineering applications. Moreover, EAM with multi extrusion have become very popular to fabricate biomimetic composites. FFF is also applied in manufacturing within other sectors, including aerospace, automotive, construction, electronics, energy, pharmaceuticals, sports, textiles, and toys.


Free applications

There are multiple projects in the open-sourced community aimed at processing post-consumer plastic waste into filament. These involve machines used to shred and extrude the plastic material into filament such as
recyclebots A recyclebot (or RecycleBot) is an open-source hardware device for converting waste plastic into filament for open-source 3D printers like the RepRap. Making DIY 3D printer filament at home is both less costly and better for the environment tha ...
. Several projects and companies are making efforts to develop affordable 3D printers for home desktop use. Much of this work has been driven by and targeted at DIY/enthusiast/
early adopter An early adopter or lighthouse customer is an early customer of a given company, product, or technology. The term originates from Everett M. Rogers' ''Diffusion of Innovations'' (1962). History Typically, early adopters are customers who, in ad ...
communities, with additional ties to the academic and hacker communities. RepRap is one of the longest running projects in the desktop category. The RepRap project aims to produce a
free and open source hardware Open-source hardware (OSH) consists of physical artifacts of technology designed and offered by the open-design movement. Both free and open-source software (FOSS) and open-source hardware are created by this open-source culture movement and a ...
(FOSH) 3D printer, whose full specifications are released under the
GNU General Public License The GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or simply GPL) is a series of widely used free software licenses that guarantee end users the Four Freedoms (Free software), four freedoms to run, study, share, and modify the software. The license was th ...
, and which is capable of replicating itself by printing many of its own (plastic) parts to create more machines. RepRaps have already been shown to be able to print circuit boards and metal parts.
Fab@Home Fab@Home is a multi-material 3D printer, launched in 2006. It was one of the first two open-source DIY 3D printers in the world, at a time when all other additive manufacturing machines were still proprietary. The Fab@Home and the RepRap are credi ...
is the other opensource hardware project for DIY 3D printers. Because of the FOSH aims of RepRap, many related projects have used their design for inspiration, creating an ecosystem of related or derivative 3D printers, most of which are also open source designs. The availability of these open source designs means that variants of 3D printers are easy to invent. The quality and complexity of printer designs, however, as well as the quality of kit or finished products, varies greatly from project to project. This rapid development of open source 3D printers is gaining interest in many spheres as it enables hyper-customization and the use of
public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...
designs to fabricate open source appropriate technology. This technology can also assist initiatives in
sustainable development Sustainable development is an organizing principle for meeting human development goals while also sustaining the ability of natural systems to provide the natural resources and ecosystem services on which the economy and society depend. The des ...
since technologies are easily and economically made from resources available to local communities.


Development

Customer-driven product customization and demand for cost and time savings have increased interest in agility of manufacturing process. This has led to improvements in rapid prototyping technologies. The development of extruders is going rapidly because of the open source 3-D printer movement caused by products like RepRap. E3D and BondTech are the most known extruder manufacturers currently on the market. Consistent improvements are seen in the form of increased heating temperature of liquefiers, better control and precision of prints, and improved support for a wide variety of materials. Besides the improved hardware, the ability to calibrate the extruder according to the hardware setup has come a long way.


Cost of 3D printer

The cost of 3D printers has decreased dramatically since about 2010, with machines that used to cost now costing less than . For instance, as of 2017, several companies and individuals are selling parts to build various RepRap designs, with prices starting at about / . The open source
Fab@Home Fab@Home is a multi-material 3D printer, launched in 2006. It was one of the first two open-source DIY 3D printers in the world, at a time when all other additive manufacturing machines were still proprietary. The Fab@Home and the RepRap are credi ...
project has developed printers for general use with anything that can be extruded through a nozzle, from chocolate to silicone sealant and chemical reactants. Printers following the project's designs have been available from suppliers in kits or in pre-assembled form since 2012 at prices in the range. The
LulzBot Aleph Objects, Inc. was a small manufacturing company based in Loveland, Colorado. Their business model focused around the development of Open-source hardware for 3D printing with full support for Free and open-source software. LulzBot The com ...
3D printers manufactured by
Aleph Objects Aleph Objects, Inc. was a small manufacturing company based in Loveland, Colorado. Their business model focused around the development of Open-source hardware for 3D printing with full support for Free and open-source software. LulzBot The c ...
are another example of an open-source application of fused deposition modeling technology. The flagship model in the LulzBot line, the TAZ printer takes inspiration for its design from the RepRap Mendel90 and
Prusa i3 The Prusa i3 series consists of open-source fused deposition modeling 3D printers, manufactured by Czech company Prusa Research under the trademarked name Original Prusa i3. Part of the RepRap project, Prusa i3 printers were named the most use ...
models. The LulzBot 3D printer is currently the only printer on the market to have received the "Respects Your Freedom" certification from the
Free Software Foundation The Free Software Foundation (FSF) is a 501(c)#501(c)(3), 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded by Richard Stallman on October 4, 1985, to support the free software movement, with the organization's preference for software being distributed ...
. As of September 2018 RepRap style printers are readily available in kit form through online retailers. These kits come complete with all parts needed to make a functioning printer, often including electronic files for test printing as well as a small quantity of PLA filament. FIlaments used for printing with FDM printers are also substantially more cost-effective than their SLA resin counterparts. If we use 3DBenchy as a benchmark for comparing both technologies, it would cost roughly $0.20 to print such a model with an FDM machine, whereas the same object would cost almost $1.00 if created with resin.


Materials

Plastic is the most common material for 3d printing via FFF and other EAM variants. Various polymers may be used, including
acrylonitrile butadiene styrene Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) (chemical formula (C8H8)''x''·(C4H6)''y''·(C3H3N)''z'' is a common thermoplastic polymer. Its glass transition temperature is approximately . ABS is amorphous and therefore has no true melting point. A ...
(ABS),
polycarbonate Polycarbonates (PC) are a group of thermoplastic polymers containing carbonate groups in their chemical structures. Polycarbonates used in engineering are strong, tough materials, and some grades are optically transparent. They are easily work ...
(PC),
polylactic acid Polylactic acid, also known as poly(lactic acid) or polylactide (PLA), is a thermoplastic polyester with backbone formula or , formally obtained by condensation of lactic acid with loss of water (hence its name). It can also be prepared by rin ...
(PLA),
high-density polyethylene High-density polyethylene (HDPE) or polyethylene high-density (PEHD) is a thermoplastic polymer produced from the monomer ethylene. It is sometimes called "alkathene" or "polythene" when used for HDPE pipes. With a high strength-to-density ratio, ...
(HDPE), PC/ABS,
polyethylene terephthalate Polyethylene terephthalate (or poly(ethylene terephthalate), PET, PETE, or the obsolete PETP or PET-P), is the most common thermoplastic polymer resin of the polyester family and is used in fibres for clothing, containers for liquids and foods ...
(PETG),
polyphenylsulfone Polyphenylsulfone (PPSF or PPSU) is a high performance polymer made of aromatic rings linked by sulfone (SO2) groups. Production Commercially important polysulfones are prepared by condensation of 4,4'-bis(chlorophenyl)sulfone with various bisphe ...
(PPSU) and
high impact polystyrene Polystyrene (PS) is a synthetic polymer made from monomers of the aromatic hydrocarbon styrene. Polystyrene can be solid or foamed. General-purpose polystyrene is clear, hard, and brittle. It is an inexpensive resin per unit weight. It is a ...
(HIPS). In general, the polymer is in the form of a filament fabricated from virgin resins. Additionally, fluoropolymers such as
PTFE Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) is a synthetic fluoropolymer of tetrafluoroethylene that has numerous applications. It is one of the best-known and widely applied PFAS. The commonly known brand name of PTFE-based composition is Teflon by Chemour ...
tubing are used in the process due to the material's ability to withstand high temperatures. This ability is especially useful in transferring filaments. The many different variants of EAM, i.e. of material Extrusion based Additive Manufacturing allow dealing with many additional material types, summarised in the table below. Several material classes can be extruded and 3d printed: * Thermoplastic polymers, it is the most typical application of FDM; * Composite materials with polymeric matrix and short or long hard fibers; * Ceramic slurries and clays, often used in combination with the robocasting technique; * Green mixtures of ceramic or metal powders and polymeric binders, used in EAM of metals and ceramics; * Food pastes; * Biological pastes, used in bioprinting.


Print head kinematics

The majority of fused filament printers follow the same basic design. A flat bed is used as the starting point for the print workpiece. A gantry above this carries the moving print head. The gantry design is optimized for movement mostly in the horizontal X & Y directions, with a slow climb in the Z direction as the piece is printed. Stepper motors drive the movement through either
leadscrew A leadscrew (or lead screw), also known as a power screw or translation screw,Bhandari, p. 202. is a screw (simple machine), screw used as a linkage (mechanical), linkage in a machine, to translate Rotation, turning motion into linear motion. ...
s or
toothed belt A toothed belt; timing belt; cogged belt; cog belt; or synchronous belt is a flexible belt with teeth moulded onto its inner surface. Toothed belts are usually designed to run over matching toothed pulleys or sprockets. Toothed belts are used in ...
drives. It is common, owing to the differences in movement speed, to use toothed belts for the X,Y drives and a leadscrew for Z. Some machines also have X axis movement on the gantry, but move the bed (and print job) for Y. As, unlike laser cutters, head movement speeds are low, stepper motors are universally used and there is no need to use servomotors instead. Many printers, originally those influenced by the RepRap project, make extensive use of 3D printed components in their own construction. These are typically printed connector blocks with a variety of angled holes, joined by cheap steel
threaded rod A threaded rod, also known as a stud, is a relatively long rod that is threaded on both ends; the thread may extend along the complete length of the rod. They are designed to be used in tension. Threaded rod in bar stock form is often called all ...
. This makes a construction that is cheap and easy to assemble, easily allows non-perpendicular framing joints, but does require access to a 3D printer. The notion of ' bootstrapping' 3D printers like this has been something of a dogmatic theme within the RepRap designs. The lack of stiffness in the rod also requires either
triangulation In trigonometry and geometry, triangulation is the process of determining the location of a point by forming triangles to the point from known points. Applications In surveying Specifically in surveying, triangulation involves only angle me ...
, or gives the risk of a gantry structure that flexes and vibrates in service, reducing print quality. Many machines now use box-like semi-enclosed frames of either laser-cut plywood, plastic, pressed steel sheet and more recently aluminum extrusions. These are cheap, rigid and can also be used as the basis for an enclosed print volume, allowing temperature control within it to control warping of the print job. A handful of machines use polar coordinates instead, usually machines optimized to print objects with circular symmetry. These have a radial gantry movement and a rotating bed. Although there are some potential mechanical advantages to this design for printing hollow cylinders, their different geometry and the resulting non-mainstream approach to print planning still keeps them from being popular as yet. Although it is an easy task for a robot's motion planning to convert from Cartesian to polar coordinates, gaining any advantage from this design also requires the print slicing algorithms to be aware of the rotational symmetry from the outset.


Extruder mount to rest of machine

The ways extruders are mounted on the rest of the machine have evolved over time into informal mounting standards. Such factor standards allows new extruder designs to be tested on existing printer frames, and new printer frame designs to use existing extruders. These informal standards include: *
Vertical X Axis Standard Vertical is a geometric term of location which may refer to: * Vertical direction, the direction aligned with the direction of the force of gravity, up or down * Vertical (angles), a pair of angles opposite each other, formed by two intersecting s ...
* Quick-fit extruder mount * OpenX mount


Delta robot printers

A different approach is taken with 'Rostock' or 'Kossel' pattern printers, based on a delta robot mechanism. These have a large open print volume with a three-armed delta robot mounted at the top. This design of robot is noted for its low inertia and ability for fast movement over a large volume. Stability and freedom from vibration when moving a heavy print head on the end of spindly arms is a technical challenge though. This design has mostly been favored as a means of gaining a large print volume without a large and heavy gantry. As the print head moves the distance of its filament from storage coil to head also changes, the tension created on the filament is another technical challenge to overcome to avoid affecting the print quality.


See also

*
3D printing 3D printing or additive manufacturing is the Manufacturing, construction of a three-dimensional object from a computer-aided design, CAD model or a digital 3D modeling, 3D model. It can be done in a variety of processes in which material is ...
*
3D printer extruder A 3D printer extruder is a filament feeding mechanism used in many fused filament fabrication (FFF) 3D printers. There are several types of 3D printer extruders. A Bowden extruder is a type of extruder that pushes filament though a long and flex ...
*
Ball bearing A ball bearing is a type of rolling-element bearing that uses balls to maintain the separation between the bearing races. The purpose of a ball bearing is to reduce rotational friction and support radial and axial loads. It achieves this ...
*
Bowden extruder A 3D printer extruder is a filament feeding mechanism used in many fused filament fabrication (FFF) 3D printers. There are several types of 3D printer extruders. A Bowden extruder is a type of extruder that pushes filament though a long and flex ...
* Direct metal laser sintering * Fab lab *
Fab@Home Fab@Home is a multi-material 3D printer, launched in 2006. It was one of the first two open-source DIY 3D printers in the world, at a time when all other additive manufacturing machines were still proprietary. The Fab@Home and the RepRap are credi ...
* G-code * Hyrel 3D *
MakerBot Industries MakerBot Industries, LLC is an American desktop 3D printer manufacturer company headquartered in New York City. It was founded in January 2009 by Bre Pettis, Adam Mayer, and Zach "Hoeken" Smith to build on the early progress of the RepRap Proje ...
*
Marlin (firmware) Marlin is open source firmware originally designed for RepRap project FDM (fused deposition modeling) 3D printers using the Arduino platform. Once the firmware has been compiled from C++ source code; it is installed and runs on a mainboard wi ...
*
Methacrylate Methacrylates are derivatives of methacrylic acid. * Methyl methacrylate * Ethyl methacrylate * Butyl methacrylate * Hydroxyethyl methacrylate * Glycidyl methacrylate Glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) is an ester of methacrylic acid and glycidol. Co ...
* Plastics extrusion *
Printrbot Printrbot is a 3D printer company created by Brook Drumm in 2011 and originally funded through Kickstarter. Printrbot printers use fused deposition modelling to manufacture 3-dimensional artifacts. Printrbot closed shop in 2018, noting "low sal ...
*
Prusa i3 The Prusa i3 series consists of open-source fused deposition modeling 3D printers, manufactured by Czech company Prusa Research under the trademarked name Original Prusa i3. Part of the RepRap project, Prusa i3 printers were named the most use ...
*
RAMPS An inclined plane, also known as a ramp, is a flat supporting surface tilted at an angle from the vertical direction, with one end higher than the other, used as an aid for raising or lowering a load. The inclined plane is one of the six clas ...
*
Rapid prototyping Rapid prototyping is a group of techniques used to quickly fabricate a scale model of a physical part or assembly using three-dimensional computer aided design (CAD) data. Construction of the part or assembly is usually done using 3D printin ...
*
RepRap Project The RepRap project started in England in 2005 as a University of Bath initiative to develop a low-cost 3D printer that can print most of its own components, but it is now made up of hundreds of collaborators worldwide. RepRap is short for rep''lic ...
*
Robo 3D ROBO 3D is an American 3D printer manufacturer located in San Diego, San Diego, California and traded in Australian Securities Exchange under symbol . Founded in 2012, Robo 3D is a company that started on Kickstarter with their first product th ...
*
Selective laser sintering Selective laser sintering (SLS) is an additive manufacturing (AM) technique that uses a laser as the power and heat source to sinter powdered material (typically nylon or polyamide), aiming the laser automatically at points in space defined b ...
*
Sindoh Sindoh (Korean: 신도), formerly Sindoricoh (Korean: 신도리코), is a South Korean company that makes multi-function printers, fax machines, Thermal paper and 3D printers. Headquartered in Seoul, South Korea, Sindoh's main market for 2D prin ...
*
Spindle Spindle may refer to: Textiles and manufacturing * Spindle (textiles), a straight spike to spin fibers into yarn * Spindle (tool), a rotating axis of a machine tool Biology * Common spindle and other species of shrubs and trees in genus ''Euony ...
* Stepper motor * Stereolithography *
Thermistor A thermistor is a type of resistor whose resistance is strongly dependent on temperature, more so than in standard resistors. The word thermistor is a portmanteau of ''thermal'' and ''resistor''. Thermistors are divided based on their conduction ...
*
Thermocouple A thermocouple, also known as a "thermoelectrical thermometer", is an electrical device consisting of two dissimilar electrical conductors forming an electrical junction. A thermocouple produces a temperature-dependent voltage as a result of the ...
*
Ultimaker Ultimaker is a 3D printer-manufacturing company based in the Netherlands, with offices and assembly line in the US. They make fused filament fabrication 3D printers, develop 3D printing software, and sell branded 3D printing materials. Their pr ...
* Von Neumann universal constructor


References


Further reading

* * * * * * * {{cite web, title=FDM Technology Made Simple , url=https://www.chizel.io/blogs/fdm-technology-3d-printing/ , publisher=chizel.io , access-date=10 July 2019, date=2018-07-16 3D printing 3D printing processes