Online custom 3D printing service, for startups & enterprises.

The term “3D printing” refers to the process of manufacturing 3D objects using an additive process, but this can be done in numerous ways including fused deposition, selective sintering, and laser lithography.

The most common technology used in 3D printers is fused deposition manufacturing (FDM) which involves a material which is melted in an extruder and then placed down where it is needed. These printers build up 3D models in discrete layers and utilize support structures for areas that overhang (i.e., have no physical connection to the base of the printer). FDM printers predominantly use plastic materials such as PLA and ABS, but other materials do exist including wood and metal.

Selective laser sintering (SLS) uses a laser beam to sinter a powdered material which causes the molten material to stick to neighboring sintered material. Just like FDM, objects are made layer by layer, and each time a new layer is needed, the printer applies a thin layer of powder which effectively buries the part being manufactured. This presents a major advantage in that parts do not require support structures as the powder itself acts as the support. However, sintered parts require a heating cycle afterwards to properly fuse the powder together.

Resin printers (commonly known as SLA printers) utilize a UV-sensitive plastic liquid that submerges a tank, and either a laser beam attached to a series of rotatable mirrors or an LCD with a UV source underneath is placed at the underside of the tank (the bottom of the resin vat is transparent). With each layer, the desired pattern is exposed into the resin which causes it to harden, and then when the layer has fully cured, the printer extrudes the part out of the vat and then plunges the part back into the vat. From there, the next layer is imaged onto the part, and this cycle is repeated for each layer.

Compared to the vast majority of other manufacturing techniques, 3D printing is unique in that it offers customized manufacturing capabilities while using an additive process.

Even though numerous additive manufacturing technologies exist, these are mainly geared towards mass production which makes them unsuitable for prototyping. For example, plastic injection molding consists of an extruder that injects molten plastic into a mold, and these can operate at extremely high speeds (some can produce parts every two seconds). But the cost of a plastic injection mold can easily be several thousand dollars with high-precision molds being in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. As such, plastic injection molding only makes sense when manufacturing a product in larger numbers.

CNC milling is a subtractive process that can be used to create 3D parts from solid blocks of material. Cutting tools (such as router bits and drills) are used to remove unneeded material, and this makes CNCs somewhat wasteful. However, if a recyclable material is chosen, the resulting waste can be recycled which minimizes waste. Additionally, CNCs are very slow to operate due to the need for slow feed rates, but this comes with the advantage that CNCs offer high levels of precision. Due to the high costs involved, CNCs are either used for prototypes or for high-quality engineered parts (such as jet engines).

Laser cutting is a subtractive manufacturing process that is extremely fast, low cost, and offers a high level of precision. The use of CNC axis controls also allows laser cutters to cut any and all 2D parts, but the use of a 2D axis system and shallow cut depth means that laser cutters are only able to create 2D shapes. At the same time, the use of a laser beam also limits what materials can be used as some materials when vaporized can release toxic gasses and smoke.

Stamping is another common manufacturing process that involves a metal stamp punching through a sheet of material (typically metal). Stamping, like plastic injection molding, is an extremely fast process and ideal for producing millions of parts. But just like plastic injection molding, stamping requires custom-made stamps which are heavy and expensive to produce. Thus, stamping is rarely seen in the prototyping industry.

Vacuum forming is a popular manufacturing method for quickly producing 3D shapes using a 2D sheet of material, and is mostly used with plastics (thanks to their ability to become soft and malleable at low temperatures). Just like injection molding, vacuum forming relies on a mold that the heated plastic wraps around which enables for high speed manufacturing. At the same time, the need for a mold can make vacuum forming very expensive, but the molds used are nowhere near as precise as those found in plastic injection molding.

Compared to other manufacturing methods, 3D printing offers numerous advantages including its low cost, ability to print custom designs without the need for tooling, and high speed for individual prototypes.

The first advantage of 3D printing comes from the ability to create any custom 3D shape without the need for molds or specialized tooling. This allows 3D printers to switch between user designs instantly while also reducing the costs associated with designing molds and replacing tools. At the same time, 3D printers are also able to print complex shapes as well as internal structures to a part, and this enables them to be used in complex designs. For example, 3D printing is one of the few methods that can print a part inside another part with both parts being physically separated.

The second advantage of 3D printing is that entire structures can be printed and fused together which eliminates the need for bolts, bonding, and other fixtures. Of course, 3D-printed parts can be made to have mounting holes and other fixtures, but the ability to create an entire 3D part from a singular continuous piece of material greatly speeds up the manufacturing time of that part.

The third advantage of 3D printing is that it is entirely configurable, and this can help to increase the speed of a print or increase its quality. For example, the density of solid areas of an object can be adjusted by changing the wall fill percentage, and reducing this figure decreases the print time while also reducing the amount of material used (and therefore, reduces the cost). At the same time, the thickness of the layer can be reduced to improve the quality of the final print.

The fourth advantage of 3D printing is that it entirely eliminates the need for skilled workmanship. Instead of spending long hours trying to cut materials out by hand and then put those parts together, a single engineer with 3D CAD experience can design extraordinarily complex parts and then have them printed without needing to ever pick up a saw, screwdriver, or ruler.

Finally, 3D printing produces minimal amounts of waste as the material is only printed where it is needed. FDM printers that rely on the heating of a filament also have the added bonus that the parts they produce are fully recyclable. As such, the environmental impact of 3D printers is far better than other manufacturing methods.

The slow speed of 3D printing and the low resolution only makes 3D printing viable for prototyping and is rarely used, if ever, in mass production.

There is no doubt that 3D printing is an absolutely revolutionary technology as it has allowed engineers for the first time in history to be able to quickly manufacture 3D parts in a single process with no need for human intervention. However, 3D printing is excellent as a rapid prototyping technology, but is not suitable for mass production.

Compared to other prototyping methods, 3D printing is relatively fast as it can create 3D structures in a single machine cycle, but if compared to machines used in mass production, it becomes obvious that 3D printing is extremely slow.

Another challenge faced with 3D printers is resolution, precision, and accuracy. Simply put, individual layers of a 3D print are often around 0.2mm, and while this may seem small, it leads to visible defects on the 3D part. For example, printing a sphere will result in a part that has visible steps between each layer. The resolution can be increased to maximize the quality of the print, but this increases the time taken to print the part, and therefore drives up the cost.

Finally, plastic prints (such as those made using an FDM printer) will often be structurally weak, especially if the part has a low in-fill density. As such, 3D prints are great for non-load bearing parts that are being used in prototypes, but parts requiring high degrees of strength need to be careful when using 3D printed parts. In the case of sintered metal parts, the need for a final heat treatment cycle also drives up their cost, and these parts will not be as structurally strong as a part cut out from a block of metal.

When compared to other prototyping methods for producing 3D parts, 3D printing is an excellent low-cost option.

It is important to note that while individual 3D-printed parts may seem expensive, they are in fact cheaper when taking all factors into consideration. Firstly, getting a part 3D printed entirely eliminates the engineering time needed to build the part, and this allows designers to spend their time focused on other more important tasks (instead of manually laboring over tools and equipment).

Secondly, the cost of engineering-grade 3D printers can be extremely expensive, and these also require maintenance, material refills, and at times, configuration. Unless an engineering department is planning to produce 3D-printed parts on a daily basis then it is more cost-effective to use a third-party manufacturer (such as Ponoko).

Thirdly, the vast majority of the cost of a 3D printed part comes from the material used in the print, and the machine time. The combination of long print times (in excess of 24 hours depending), the cost of the machine, the electricity used to run the machine, and the space occupied by the machine, all add up to an expensive process. Even then, if 3D printing is compared to other manufacturing processes such as CNC milling, plastic injection molding, and manual labor, 3D printing still comes out as the cheapest by a large margin.

Ponoko’s years of experience in the field of manufacturing provide the expertise needed by engineers to create professional 3D-printed parts. Combined with our other services including laser cutting, laser engraving, and finishing, Ponoko offers an entire suite of manufacturing capabilities under one roof that is geared towards all engineering projects ranging from individual prototypes to first production runs.

The speed of 3D printers highly depends on the printing technology being used, but generally speaking, FDM printers are slow and SLA printers are fast, but either way, all 3D printers are faster than trying to manually build something by hand.

FDM printers are famous for their slow printing speed, and this is because FDM printers not only print 3D objects layer by layer, but line by line as well. When a 3D object is sliced into individual 0.2mm layers, those layers are then described as a series of lines with a typical width of 0.4mm. With print speeds of around 50 mm/sec, it can take an extraordinarily long time to print even just a single layer.

SLA printers, however, are significantly faster than FDM, especially if the SLA printer uses a display instead of a laser beam. This is because display-based SLA printers are able to image an entire layer in a single exposure, and each exposure lasts for 2 to 3 seconds. Thus, the time taken by modern SLA printers is a function of the number of layers, and not the complexity of each layer.

At the end of the day, the speed of a print highly depends on the final quality of the part, the wall density of the part, and the print speed being used. But even though high-quality 3D-printed parts take time to manufacture, it is still far faster than other rapid prototyping manufacturing methods.  

Materials that can be 3D printed depend on the 3D printing technology being used, but generally speaking, FDM printers print plastic and organics, SLA printers print resins, and DMLS typically print metal.

The most common 3D printing technology used is FDM, and these involve a heated extruder and a 3-axis system that moves the head over a heated build area. As such, only materials that can be melted down and fed into the extruder can be used, and this means that most material filaments used by 3D printers are thermoplastics such as PLA and ABS. However, it is also possible to print materials that do not melt (such as wood), and this is done by grinding down the material into a powder and then using a binder (such as PLA) that can be melted.

Furthermore, the way in which FDM printers rely on a filament means that materials being printed need to have some degree of flexibility (enough that they can be reeled and fed through a feed pipe). Additionally, materials that denature at high temperatures (such as thermosetting plastics) cannot be 3D printed.

SLA resin printers only require materials that remain in a liquid form until activated by UV light. While these materials have historically been petroleum products, new advances in material science now allow for plant-based bioplastics that help reduce the environmental impact of 3D SLA prints.

Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS) printers typically rely on finely powdered metal. Due to the intense heat of the laser, it is not possible to fuse flammable materials such as wood and plastics. Furthermore, powdered metals must be able to absorb the energy of the laser, which can introduce challenges when fusing highly reflective metal powders.

Even though 3D printing is by far one of the best rapid prototyping technologies, it needs to be used correctly if it is to be effective. This means that engineers need to take precautions in their designs to help reduce the price while maximizing the quality of the final print.

The first consideration that engineers need to take is that overhangs often require supports. This means that a part that has an overhang at the top will require support structures from the base. Fortunately, most 3D printing slicers will automatically add these overhangs, but the inclusion of overhangs also affects the quality of parts while also increasing the print time and thus the cost of the part.

Reducing the density of walls in a 3D print can reduce the cost of a part by using less material which also reduces the price of the final part. However, this also makes printed parts structurally weak as well as light which may not be appropriate for load-bearing parts.

Platforms are often needed to ensure adhesion between the build plate and the part being printed, but like supports, these are also added by the machine operator. However, the inclusion of platforms can affect the quality of the first layer as separating the platform from the part can be difficult (often leaving bumps of material behind).

The use of printed layers also results in a staircase appearance on curved edges. This effect can be reduced by using smaller layer sizes, but this increases the print time, and therefore increases the cost. One more unusual method to remove this stepped appearance on ABS parts is to leave the part inside a sealed container with a small open container of acetone. The vapors from the acetone partly dissolve the outer layer of the print, and this causes the print to become shiny and smooth.

Finally, engineers should pay extra attention to the fact that FDM prints are especially weak along layer lines. As such, mechanical forces acting parallel to layer lines should be avoided at all costs as this can easily separate the layers of a print. This issue is less prevalent in SLA and SLS prints.

While numerous 3D printing technologies exist, choosing the right one for your design can be challenging, but in essence the factors that matter are the quality, the price, and the environment.

FDM printers are a cost-effective solution due to the simplicity of the setup, the lack of harmful compounds, the low-cost nature of FDM filaments, and the lack of post-processing needed. As such, FDM is an excellent choice for those who require parts that are not dependent on structural strength, need to keep costs down, and want to utilize a recyclable material.

SLA printers are excellent for those looking for high-resolution prints that minimize layer lines, require mechanical strength, and need a fast print. However, the use of UV resin increases the cost of such parts, and the need for additional processing steps such as cleaning and additional UV exposure make SLA more expensive than FDM.

DMLS printers are ideal for those needing to 3D print metal parts, but the high cost of metal powders combined with the high-cost nature of DMLS printers make them the most expensive prints. Furthermore, DMLS-printed parts also require additional heat-treating stages to fully fuse the powdered structures together, but the final result is mechanically strong parts that closely resemble the final product.

Just like our laser cutting, 3D parts can be uploaded and ordered within minutes thanks to our software-powered services.

The first step in getting 3D printed parts from Ponoko is to design your part in your favorite 3D CAD software. For those still deciding on what software to use, there are numerous tools available including Autodesk and Alibre Design, but for those who want to start with CAD, FreeCAD makes an excellent choice too.

Once your part has been designed, the second step is to export your model in a format that we can accept. Two of the most common formats used in the 3D printing industry are STL and 3mf (which stands for 3D manufacturing format). It is important that you check your design is compatible with the 3D printing process, as well as making sure to check for overhangs and small features that may be difficult to manufacture.

Thirdly, upload your design file to our software-powered online service and choose your material as well as specifying the quality of the part. Remember that increased in-fill density and smaller layer heights will result in a more expensive part, but the final quality will be much greater. Also ensure that you have selected the right process for your part, and consider the differences between FDM, SLA, and DMLS printers.

Fourthly, pay for your part and wait until it arrives. While our engineers manufacture your 3D-printed parts, go ahead and learn a new skill, discuss new ideas with other engineers, or just take the time to enjoy life. Once your part arrives, enjoy your newly 3D printed part and get cracking with the rest of the project.

While desktop 3D printers can be an excellent addition to an engineering office, there are numerous challenges that they face which make custom 3D printing services more appropriate.

Desktop 3D printers have come extremely far since the first machines were demonstrated to the public. The quality of materials has become increasingly better, the cost of desktop printers has dramatically fallen, and their physical size has increased. However, while desktop printers have some advantages including the ability to quickly print parts in-house and operate overnight, they also face numerous challenges.

The first one is that cheaper desktop printers are good for rough work, but creating precision 3D-printed parts is very challenging. As such, those needing dimensionally accurate parts are only possible with the use of industrial 3D printers which Ponoko utilizes, and as such engineers needing high-quality parts will be better off using online 3D printing services.

It’s possible for an engineering department to purchase its own industrial printer, but the large cost involved and the need for maintenance can make them a difficult cost to justify. Furthermore, 3D printers also pose a fire risk that needs to be properly managed in a controlled industrial environment. Even though some 3D printer owners print parts overnight, any failure in the printer can see fires start, and this is especially problematic if used in office or residential environments.