You may have noticed an explosion in rapid prototyping lately; namely, in three-dimensional printers invading the desks and workshops of many designers and hobbyists as the technology develops and becomes less expensive. But what exactly is 3D printing, and how does it work?

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In essence, 3D printing can be distilled down to one basic principle: stacking layers. If you were to take a hot glue gun and draw a square with it, followed by another square on top of that, and so on, eventually you would end up with a rectangular tube of solidified hot glue standing up from the surface you started on. All 3D printers work under the same concept, only with different materials, more precise equipment, and a computer controlling the "glue gun." At the typicl consumer level, there exist three distinct types of printers, though DeadEye Design currently only has use of the former two: Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF), Stereolithography (SLA), and Selective Laser Sintering (SLS).

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• FFF printing resembles the "glue gun model" most, wherein a plastic filament is fed through a nozzle and extruded by layers to form a solid. This process actually often uses the same base code as CNC Mills!

• SLA printing, instead of extruding plastic, uses specialized light sources (lasers or LED projectors) to cure a layer of resin one by one to build up a stronger, more precise solid.

• SLS printing somewhat mimics SLA printing, except it uses a laser to fuse dry material particles together by melting powder in layers, instead of curing liquid resin.

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Each method of printing has its own advantages and drawbacks: FFF is cheap and easy to tweak, but is slower and less accurate than SLA and SLS. SLA is fast and incredibly accurate, but relatively expensive and consumes a lot of material, both in waste and in post-processing the printed objects. SLS uses stronger materials and can recycle its own excesses, but is prohibitively expensive and easy to ruin, in addition to being the most hazardous method.

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As mentioned prior, DeadEye Design currently only has possession of FFF and SLA printers, with only select materials on-hand due to the shelf life of most commonly used filaments and resins. If you would like to discuss which method or material would suit your needs best, feel free to reach out via our Contact page!

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For additional resources explaining 3D printing terminology, processes, and more, please feel free to refer to the external sites listed below:

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HP Tech Takes: 3D Printing Glossary (added in recommendation by the Lyndhurst STEM Club)

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3DHubs: "What is Additive Manufacturing?" (a more comprehensive look at processes)

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G-Code Wiki: Explanation and Commands (used to control CNC machines, and most FFF printers)

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Simplify3D: Print Quality Troubleshooting (to determine the causes of print irregularities)