Practical 3D Printing: Printing

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Printing

06.20

00:00	As we'll be outsourcing the manufacture of our design for SLM 3D printing, this module will be focused on the considerations around arranging this, rather than the practical steps of using the printer.
00:11	After we finished our 3D model at the end of the previous module, we exported a file which we'll be sending to the manufacturer.
00:18	The process here is much the same as we covered in the SLS section, but we'll purposely look at an alternative service provider to see a slightly different approach.
00:27	More specifically, we'll use CraftCloud for this example.
00:31	CraftCloud is a self-titled 3D printing service marketplace, connecting us to an international network of manufacturers.
00:38	Let's dive straight into their site and get set up.
00:41	We can create an account to manage our projects, or keep things simple and use the instant quote feature.
00:48	Here it's just a matter of uploading our file and selecting the units that it was designed in, millimetres in our case.
00:54	The site will then analyse our design, and we should click the image of the part to open the viewer and ensure everything looks as it should, without any missing faces or features.
01:04	Then we'll click through to see materials and price.
01:08	You might notice here that things are very similar to what we saw with Prototech, and I'd go as far to say that most of these companies are using a very similar system as it's easy and intuitive to follow.
01:20	From here we can select the material group, in this case steels, and the production technology for which we're going to be choosing DMLS and SLM.
01:30	We could filter by the material properties in some cases as well, I personally find this more useful when printing thermoplastics as there are so many options that aren't as well known as metals.
01:41	Check back to the SLM material modules in the previous section of the course if you need a refresher here, but 316L stainless steel is a good budget option that's well suited for exhaust applications and will be our choice for this merge collector.
01:55	There's also some information around this option like properties, accuracy, minimum wall thicknesses and finishing options, most of which we've already covered and considered in the previous module.
02:06	With the materials selected we have our first price indication, although this likely won't be the final value yet.
02:14	So, what we need to do is click select material, and then we're given a list of finishing options.
02:19	We'll discuss these more in the next module, but the options basically come down to how smooth we want the part to be finished.
02:26	This could be all the way up to a mirror finish, but realistically for this part though, all we really require is a sandblasted matte finish.
02:35	We'll go with satin glossy which essentially just adds glass bead blasting process after sandblasting.
02:41	It is slightly more expensive, but it will be worth it for a part that'll have a few cameras pointed at it.
02:46	From here we're shown that we have multiple offers available, which just means that there's a range of supplies we can choose from to print our part.
02:55	Reviewing out the options we can see the different prices, delivery dates, where the part will be produced, and by which company, as well as the reviews left by previous customers.
03:05	I'd really recommend checking out these reviews based on the quality lead time, value for money, and communication before making your choice.
03:14	These are your best indication of the results that you can expect.
03:18	There's a fairly big price range here, and for this project we're going to go with the cheapest option at around 330 US dollars including the post processing and shipping.
03:28	The reviews from this supplier indicate potential risk of warped parts, but this is likely down to the geometry of their parts design, and ours should be relatively resistant to this.
03:39	Other than that the reviews are generally very positive.
03:42	It is possible to add a production note after selecting the manufacturer in case we have any critical features or concerns that we want to highlight.
03:50	The next step is going through the checkout and payment process, as is typical for buying something online.
03:56	Following this the supplier contacted us through the craftcloud website with images showing where the support material would be and how it braced from the outside of the collector to the outer angled face of the v-band flange.
04:09	They indicated that this surface would have polishing traces from post processes after the supports were removed and asked if we had any preference about the support area.
04:20	The reality is, even though this is on somewhat of a critical surface, the amount of support and the result is relatively small.
04:28	Any other orientation would result in more compromises to the surface of the rest of the part.
04:33	So, accepting the risk, we asked them to proceed and the part entered production.
04:38	In this case, since we're working through a marketplace to a third party manufacturer, we weren't able to get footage of the printing process for this particular part.
04:47	But if you're hazy on the details of how this printing process works, then check back to the SLM Fundamental Knowledge Module.
04:55	With our part in hand, now's time to thoroughly review it and ensure that we're happy with the results.
05:00	This includes surface finish, geometry and dimensional accuracy.
05:04	For our part, we can take some physical measurements of the internal diameters with verniers, as well as test fit our 1.75 inch primary tubes and the mating V -band flange.
05:15	For now, we'll summarise what we've covered using Craft Cloud, which is fairly representative of an intuitive 3D printing process.
05:22	The process starts by uploading our model file and choosing the correct units that the part was designed in to ensure the scale is correct.
05:31	We can then choose the type of material we desire and corresponding 3D printing technology before selecting the specific material grade and any finishing processes.
05:42	In most cases, we'll be presented with a range of manufacturers we can choose between based on their price, lead time and all important reviews from previous customers.
05:52	After rounding out the ordering process, the supplier should contact us to discuss any potential areas of concern, which are often related to the placement of support structures and resulting impact on the surface finish.
06:04	As soon as we receive the printed part, it's important we inspect it carefully for quality surface finish and accuracy and if we aren't happy with the results, we need to raise this as soon as possible with the manufacturer.