What do you do if you want to master 3D printing on your own terms?

When 3D printing is applied to actual products, we need to first choose the right material from the application scenario of the product. For example, whether it is necessary to resist high temperature, whether it is necessary to resist abrasion, whether it is necessary to give the product surface treatment and so on. It is crucial to use the raw material that suits the characteristics of the product according to different needs. Moreover, 3D printing technology can complete the product moulding of difficult and complex structures in a short time, which is great for designers. The application of 3D printing technology is getting wider and wider, and the variety of materials that can be printed is also getting more and more convenient

Acquiring a general understanding of each technology is a good start. It is crucial to learn from up-to-date sources, because 3D Printing is a relative new technology which is developing rapidly and intensely, in contrast with the good old settled machining manufacturing methods. Check out how companies use 3D Printing in their production and do your research on their use cases - this is a great guide to understanding why and how 3D Printing is used, its benefits and limitations.

Don‘t forget the PostProcess! With AM you have design freedom. So feel free to design whatever you want but rember that you have to clean the Part, remove support or to smooth it. Example: ?Smoothed SLS part“ you can either smooth it chemically or mechanically. Chemical Smoothing is a quite expensive process so if you don‘t need the additional benefits you can go for an mechenical smoothing process e.g. Massfinishing. This however could be limted by the geometry of your part. But you can design whatever you wan‘t! Change your part so you can use the cheap and esay way. So don‘t just think about the DfAM but also Desgin for PostProcessing.

The need of 3D Design Skill is proportional to your field of expertise. For a technician or a software engineer, 3D Design may not be the first priority, but realizing how models are constructed assists the understanding of errors that appear in the code (3D Printer Software), or issues on the model (technician problems) and lead to process optimization. For a 3D Designer understanding the difference between models made for conventional manufacturing and 3D Printing is of high importance. While you escape from the designing limits conventional manufacturing sets, 3D Printing introduces designing freedom but also different limitations for each technology, like accuracy, support generation marks etc.

You need to learn the basics first. Start from FDM. Then learn how to draw 3D design, try to design simple object. Afterwards practice printing your design by using small and affordable 3D printer

Start to Fail, Learn to Master! One thing i learned was to only to Minor changes to your printing settings. So if your print will fail, the possibities for this failure are limited and you can figure out faster what went wrong. And its not a new thing to learn but you have to think about it: Mantain your Printer. If the postion is just slightly of it can Break your printing quality quiet fast.

To master in 3D printing, regular practice or operating is one of the important factor. If you regularly print different shape of CAD parts with different filaments then only you will get appropriate idea about 3D printing and different challenges related to it how to tackle those or avoid those in future.

Explore different Additive Manufacturing Technologies: powder, filament, resin, metal powder, wax. It is interesting to see how different each technology is and how much a design can change based on the 3D Printer that manufactures it. Try printing the same model with different technologies to see and compare. Make it zero-waste & explore sustainability: Try recycling support structures or failed prints using a filament extruder (turns waste into filament). Optimize your design: Play with printing settings like infill (weight reduction), geometry (topology optimization) and material (mechanical properties), experiment with surface polishing and coating. Try materials with additives: Carbon Fiber, Bamboo or wood Fibers, Carbon Nanotubes.

Dont get locked down by your investment. As AM is a fast growing Market new Technologies appear left and right. So keep your eyes open! Because maybe your current process is not the one suited for you. If you want to sell 3d printed products remeber to check the market. Because maybe a new process creates new margins and will create new cashflow!

Checking what's happening online provides interesting tips and quick solutions, saving you lots of time in many cases. Internet is full of fresh ideas that can motivate you and ignite inspiration sparks. Although, there is a difference between Hobbyists and Companies that use 3D Printing. For individuals who work for a company, it is recommended to limit their sources to experienced colleagues, official documents and material guides for best practices provided by the company - mostly to protect the machines (and themselves). For Hobbyists, in order to avoid damaging their equipment and risk their health (materials, tools, coating spays etc.), it is important to try things with caution and ask professionals for advice if possible.

Stay in Touch! The AM Field is a high potenital fast growing Market with new changes everywhere. Keep an Eye on the next great idea! And btw. AM is a very friendly somewhat ?nerdy“ community. So just start talking to people, they will be happy to talk to you about their passion!