3D Printing (Article)

Making a perfect 3D object takes far too much skill and patience for most people. With computers it’s much nicer to be able to create a file in a 3D program and have it be made automatically. These machines do exist, they’re called 3D printers, and in the past few years they’ve gotten better and more accessible for everyone. If you want something 3D and custom they’re the way to go.

This article is one in a series of Instructables articles about DIY technology. The full list can be seen here.

Step 1: Sand Castles

3D printers make objects one layer at a time. There are a few different techniques, but essentially each one prints one thin layer of material on top of the previous one until the whole object is made. One company, Z Corp, makes a 3D printer that builds objects with powder and a binding agent.

Imagine you have a tray and coat the bottom with a fine layer of sand. You then took some glue and drew a circle in the middle, creating a ring of glued sand. Now take some more sand, spread it evenly on top, and draw another circle with the glue, gluing a new ring of sand to the previous one. Keep repeating this process off adding a layer of sand and gluing circles and eventually there will be a glued sand cylinder inside the tray of sand.

Now, if you reach in to the tray of sand, you can pull out a hollow cylinder of sand. By choosing the radius of the circle and the number of layers you can get the exact dimensions that you want. If you made each circle a little bit smaller you would get a cone. Get creative and you can make any shape you want.

Comments

[bakermiro]

what is that powder ?

[dscott4]

Hey there,

I would love to see it added to the 3D print group I have just started

http://www.instructables.com/group/3Dprint/

Thanks

[showup]

Can you post a link to the page that shows MakerBot is $650? Thanks.

[TheTeslaWarrior]

cool, but i think ill stick with the dimension bst1200 :)

[dkop1]

I'm in a mechanical drafting course at my high-school, and we have a 3-D printer. Ours is like a CNC machine that writes its own programs based on drawings done in AutoDesk Inventor. That one prints in plastic. Architectural Drafting (right down the hall) has one that prints things out of ceramic. Not quite sure how that one works though.

[PS118]

Small, but very informative instructible.

You might also want to mention:
RepRap -- http://reprap.org
Fab@Home -- http://fabathome.org
and
Thningiverse - http://www.thingiverse.com

Also, even though it's not 3d printing, shopbots might also be worth a hat-tip.

[howitgoes]

Yes, I was planning to update with links. Those are all good places to go. Shopbot is CNC, however, and should have an article of its own.