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3D Printer

There are five identical 3D printers of the 'fused-filament' type in use within the D&T department. They are located in classrooms 1G2, 1G3 and the D&T 'back office'. They operate using unheated beds and use PLA filament which is non-toxic and biodegradable.

These are freely available for students to use in Key Stage 4 under supervision (not for safety reasons, for reasons of avoiding wastage of expensive materials!).

These machines present minimal hazards to operators other than the heat produced by the extrusion nozzle which reaches up to 190 degrees centigrade. For this reason the inspection lid must be closed during operation.

Students are to be shown via whole-class demonstration how to load and unload PLA filament from the machine and how to export .stl files, slice them, apply supports and send them to the machine for printing. Individual students will require advice due to the bespoke nature of 3D printing CAD models.

How does a 3D printer work?

The basics.

Strands of plastic (or other materials) are fed into a print head, which is heated up to melt the material. The print head moves around very precisely in three dimensions and lays lines of plastic (or other materials) onto the print bed ,the table on which it prints. The printer does this over and over, building up layers of plastic until it forms a 3D part.

How does 3D printing work?

A brief overview of 3D printing and how it works

What is 3D printing?

A brief overview of 3D printing and how it works

What are the advantages and disadvantages of 3D printers?

Advantages

Some advantages are:

Greater design freedom, as changes can be incorporated easily at any stage
Increased productivity, as machines can run constantly and accurately on repetitive tasks
Good for mass or flow production, as the same design can be replicated many times
Less material wastage, as the machines are precise and efficient
Large selection of materials, plastics, metals, ceramics, wood, concrete, chocolate, skin tissue, etc.
Very fast and efficient.
Excellent accuracy.