Design for additive manufacture

00:02

Designed for additive manufacture.

00:05

After completing this video,

00:06

you'll be able to

00:08

identify the various types of additive machines,

00:10

use fusion inspection tools to validate a model,

00:13

and understand the principles of

00:15

additive manufacturing and support requirements.

00:21

To get started in this video,

00:22

we're gonna take a look at 3 different data sets,

00:24

the FFF quadcopter assembly,

00:27

the FFF quadcopter arm,

00:29

and the SLS quadcopter.

00:32

We're gonna be focusing on 3D printing,

00:34

and we're gonna talk about a couple of different types of 3D printers.

00:38

But remember,

00:39

as you're preparing for the certification,

00:40

it will be important that you have your own

00:43

research and knowledge on different types of 3D printing available.

00:47

There are many different types of machines on the market,

00:49

and we won't be able to cover them all.

00:51

So we're going to focus a little bit on some basics and common types of machines

00:56

and the geometry that we think about when we're thinking about 3D printing.

01:00

So,

01:00

to get started,

01:01

first we've got the FFF quadcopter assembly.

01:05

Now,

01:05

FFF stands for fused filament fabrication.

01:09

And this is also the same as an FDM machine.

01:13

FDM or FFF are typically the desktop type machines that you see.

01:17

They use a spool of material that gets fed into an extruder,

01:20

melted and laid down onto a build plate.

01:23

With this type of fabrication,

01:25

what we're generally doing is we're building the part

01:28

up layer by layer in a vertical fashion.

01:31

This means that the orientation of your part is going to

01:34

be imperative to the build strength as well as the quality.

01:38

There are many different types of 3D printers,

01:40

filaments available,

01:41

and configurations of those filaments.

01:44

So it is important to have a basic understanding of

01:46

some of the types of materials that are available.

01:49

In most cases,

01:50

a standard PLA material is going to be used,

01:53

but oftentimes a PETG or an ABS type material,

01:57

or on the softer spectrum,

01:58

a TPU material can be used for different types of parts.

02:02

But the main thing that we want to focus on here is the build orientation.

02:06

When we think about an FDM or FFF machine,

02:09

these oftentimes have breakaway supports that are used.

02:13

But parts that can be designed without supports needed at all,

02:16

oftentimes are printed at higher quality,

02:19

less chance of imperfection or breaking during the

02:21

removal process of all of the different supports.

02:24

So looking at a part like this,

02:26

the FFF quadcopter arm,

02:28

this part was designed as a single portion of a larger

02:31

assembly to be printed on an FFF machine without any supports.

02:36

This means that at the very bottom,

02:38

we've got a large flat face that'll give us good adhesion to the build plate.

02:42

And all of the other geometry is oriented that it

02:44

can be printed in that vertical orientation without support material.

02:49

This is meant to have a quadcopter motor attached to it,

02:52

and there's a small channel that's used for routing the cables and a couple

02:56

of slots that can be used for zip ties to hold those cables down.

02:60

All the geometry is in that vertical orientation,

03:02

again,

03:03

meaning we don't need to have any support material in order to print this part.

03:07

Now,

03:07

if we happen to change the orientation of the print,

03:10

for example,

03:11

if we placed it in this orientation,

03:13

this means all of the holes,

03:15

any horizontal overhangs,

03:17

and geometry like this rounded or fileted section down here

03:20

would have to have some sort of support structure,

03:24

because the 3D printer can't build out in open air.

03:27

It also means that we would have poor adhesion

03:29

to the build plate because we've got rounded sections.

03:33

This print could be made on other types of 3D printers,

03:36

of course.

03:37

And there are several other common types of 3D printers,

03:40

things like SLS,

03:42

which is a powder-based printer,

03:44

SLA or Polyjet machines which use a liquid,

03:47

and there are even metal type machines that use a metal powder and

03:50

it uses some sort of adhesive and lasers to help cure the metal.

03:55

So when we think about the part,

03:57

we always have to think about the

03:59

dedicated manufacturing method that we're planning for,

04:02

because the way in which we build certain parts may require supports on one machine,

04:07

but maybe not supports on another.

04:09

Let's take a look at another example.

04:11

The SLS quadcopter file is a part that was designed to be 3D printed as one piece,

04:17

and it was done using SLS nylon.

04:20

I'm going to go ahead and go into our bodies

04:22

folder because there are several different bodies in this design.

04:25

Body 60 is the component tray that isn't needed.

04:28

When we look at the geometry of this part,

04:30

there's some venting that was used to help

04:32

airflow get through this area of the design,

04:35

but still add some support structure to it.

04:38

This geometry could not be printed with other types of machines.

04:42

Uh FFF machine generally couldn't do this without the supports.

04:46

An SLA liquid type machine would still need a support structure,

04:50

and the part is generally going to be too large for that type of process.

04:54

However,

04:54

in the SLS type of printing,

04:57

where we have a powder bed that gets cured,

04:59

that powder bed is a self-supporting structure.

05:02

This means we can get away with certain types of geometry

05:05

that wouldn't be available on many other types of printers.

05:08

So again,

05:09

a basic understanding on the differences between.

05:12

Let's say an SLS printer,

05:14

an FDM or FFF printer,

05:16

and some of the other printers that are available on the market.

05:19

When we look at the vast majority of 3D printers,

05:23

it is going to be a bit overwhelming.

05:25

So make sure that you at least focus on the FFF style of desktop 3D printers,

05:31

the SLS powder bed style printers,

05:34

the SLA or Polyjet style printers which are using a liquid sort of substrate.

05:40

And then also understand that there are metal printers,

05:43

there are other types like the HP Multijet fusion printers available

05:47

that are going to be a little bit less common for the average user.

05:51

Now,

05:51

when we are talking about 3D printing,

05:54

we also need to keep in mind that these parts need to be sent out to a

06:04

Depending on the requirements,

06:05

the part may be converted to a mesh directly from Fusion.

06:09

We can select the body or components in the browser,

06:12

right click and select save as mesh.

06:14

We also have a utilities option where we can select the Make 3D print button.

06:19

Now,

06:19

these are going to both give us the same options,

06:22

but they will default to certain settings.

06:25

In the same as mesh option,

06:27

we can prepare as a mesh,

06:29

as an export,

06:30

so an STL,

06:31

an OBJ,

06:32

or a 3MF file.

06:33

We can send it directly to a 3D print utility,

06:36

or we can create a new setup in our additive manufacturing workspace.

06:40

In this case,

06:41

if I select print utility,

06:42

I can send it to a bamboo print slicer.

06:45

I can send it to one of the other print slicers I have available.

06:48

Choose my format,

06:49

choose the units.

06:50

I can even preview the mesh that's going to be generated,

06:53

and I can go into other refinement settings.

06:56

For example,

06:56

maybe I want higher refinement because I have a lot of small rounded corners,

07:00

and I maybe want to have higher resolution,

07:03

so that way the screw holes are going to

07:05

be as good as possible for my manufacturing method.

07:09

Once we select OK,

07:10

this will automatically send it to the 3D print utility of my choice,

07:14

and it will not save an STL or a mesh file externally for me.

07:18

In other cases,

07:19

you may find that you want to send a different file type,

07:22

such as a step file.

07:23

You can do that from your file export menu.

07:26

And simply pick the file type you want.

07:29

By default,

07:29

it'll use a fusion archive file,

07:31

but we can export an STL,

07:33

an OBJ or a 3MF file from here,

07:35

or we can also scroll down and we can find a step file.

07:39

Most 3D print utilities now will accept a step file,

07:42

which is a solid body,

07:43

not a mesh.

07:45

And if you're sending it to a 3D print utility or if you're uploading it to a supplier,

07:50

they may allow you to upload a parasolid file,

07:52

a step file,

07:53

and I just file.

07:54

You simply just need to check what file types are available for them.

07:58

But just keep in mind that when you do export as a mesh file,

08:02

make sure you double check your refinement settings

08:04

because a low refinement setting is going to mean

08:07

that the resolution of your PAP is going

08:09

to be much lower than you originally intended.

08:11

If you export a step file or one of the other neutral CAD format files,

08:15

that'll include the solid geometry.

08:18

So for example,

08:19

this arc is still going to be a true arc,

08:22

and it's not going to be made up of a bunch of small triangles.

08:25

So at this point,

08:26

make sure you take a little bit of time to explore the different types of 3D printers

08:31

and make sure that you understand at least the basics around

08:34

the fused filament fabrication,

08:36

the SLS nylon or powder-based systems,

08:39

and the liquid systems that are available on the market for users today.

08:44

And also make sure that you spend a little

08:45

bit of time understanding things like print orientation,

08:49

and whether or not parts are going to need support material.

08:52

All those factors will come into play when

08:54

you're designing your own parts for 3D printing,

08:57

and it may just help you on the certification as well.