3D design and 3D printing

That engineer is a special and great profession needs no further explanation. All objects around us were once developed by an engineer. For years we all produced mainly with the well-known techniques such as mill-turning or injection molding. Meanwhile, the 3D printer has made its appearance in the manufacturing industry and this also requires a change in development: designing for a 3D print requires a new way of thinking.

With traditional techniques, development usually starts with a piece of material from which parts are removed until the desired product is achieved. With 3D printing, development begins with an empty space. This empty space is the engineer’s new starting point, as the 3D model is built from layers. What does this mean for the design and printing process?

First of all, we require a 3D drawing of the product or part. There are several 3D CAD software packages available for creating the 3D design, like SOLIDWORKS. You can learn how to draw simple models relatively quick, there are various trainings available that teach the basics.

When the 3D drawing is ready, it needs to be converted into a printable 3D file: a so-called .STL file. Several software packages, like Simplify3D, convert 3D drawings into a layer-based model. You basically don’t need to do anything about it, but of course it is possible to adjust some settings to tailor it to -for instance- the material (filament) you’ll be using.

Important aspects to take into account during the design and printing process are:

Tip: always scale in the CAD program (instead of the slicing software) for the best result.

When printing two parts that need to fit together, like a bolt/nut construction, you need to take the shrinking of the material into account. It’s usually enough to use a tolerance of ±0.1mm, but this can differ per model.