The Efficiency of FDM Printing on Complex

Parts
By Alex Mikolajko

Rapid prototyping is growing exponentially in the industrial world. The convenience of

printing out any complex part in a reasonable time is what makes 3-D printing so appealing. Not
only is rapid prototyping to demonstrate the appearance of a part or and assembly but depending
on what the model material is composed of, the part can also be applied in field application. For
instance, if an individual wanted to 3-D print a cup to drink out of, they can do so using ABS
(Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene) plastic while not having to worry about the cup leaking.
Specifically looking at Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM) or an extrusion based 3-D
printer, how well would one form a complex part? FDM rapid prototype machines heats up an
appropriate plastic, such as ABS, and lays down the protruding plastic layer by layer onto a
pallet or platform until a part is formed. Due to the dissolvable or break away support material,
parts with wavy surfaces, overhanging ledges, many geometries, and tight tolerances can be
formed within a day or less depending on the size. With the combination of model material and
support material being laid down layer by layer the question is not how complex the part can be
but how tight of a tolerance can a FDM 3-D printer hold?
Tolerance of a FDM 3-D printer is correlated with the type or brand of the machine
which in turn is linked to the total cost of the machine itself. Its not a surprise that the more
expensive a machine is the tighter the tolerance it can achieve. For example, a Maker Bot
Replicator ($2500) which can hold tolerances to please any caliper-toting engineer, compared
to the Stratasys Fortus 900mc ($400,000) that can hold tolerances of 0.0015 inches are two
different FDM machines, one when looking at the specifications, is obviously better than the
other. The Fortus 900mc has tighter tolerances than a standard machine mill or lathe, and is also
capable of fabricating snap fit parts or running fit applications. Since the complexity or tolerance
of the part does not matter when using the best FDM 3-D printer how about the surface
roughness?

(CatalystEX Program)
The surface roughness can be regarded as a disadvantage of FDM rapid prototype
machines due to the layer stack up. Layer resolution is the thickness of one layer that a FDM
machine lays down, for the Fortus 900mc it would be 0.005 inches. The layer thickness can be
seen as a diameter since it was extruded from a hole in the printer head. Once layer on top of
layer starts to build up to form the part, a ripple effect begins to form which creates a moderately
rough surface. The image above is a picture of a thermal mold in the program CatalystEX
displaying each individual layer that a 3-D printer would travel in order to complete the part; red
being model material and white being support material. These ripples are bad for aerodynamic
applications and can alter a parts drag and lift. Although a FDM 3-D printer may strike out at
printing a smooth part, depending on the material being used a secondary process can be used to
polish out the ripples.
Acetone vapor smoothing is a new and upcoming secondary process that can be used on
ABS. Due to the level of acidity that acetone is at, ABS melts at a very slow rate when vapors
are applied to the surface of the part. Directly applying the acetone would deform the ABS or
PLA part rapidly, but with acetone vapors the chemical reaction is reduced. Under vapor
smoothing the part will soften and fuse the ridges together in order to make a polished and shiny
end product. Vapor smoothing is a dangerous method because acetone is flammable and should
be executed with care. Since vapor smoothing is still a new topic it is unclear how tight of a
tolerance it has on surface finish, but it is known to replicate the texture of glass.
Complex parts are no problem for EDM rapid prototype machines. EDM 3-D printers are
only one category of the rapid prototype industry. Other types of printers include
Stereolithography, DLP (Digital Light Processing), Laser Sintering, Inkjet and more still in
development, each having their own tolerance capabilities and secondary processes to achieve an
acceptable part.

References:
"3D Printing Industry: The Free Biginners Guide." 3D Printing Industry, 1 May 2014. Web.
<http://3dprintingindustry.com/3d-printing-basics-free-beginners-guide/>

"Maker Bot Replicator 2 Brochure." Maker Bot.

"Frequently Asked Questions." FDM Technology. Stratasys, 1 Jan. 2015. Web.

<http://www.stratasys.com/3d-printers/technologies/fdm-technology/faqs>.

Mikolajko, Alex. CatalystEX Picture. Digital image for RIT Rapid Prototype Lab. 18 Mar. 2015.

Kraft, Caleb. "Smoothing Out Your 3D Prints With Acetone Vapor." Makezine, 24 Sept. 2014.
Web. <http://makezine.com/2014/09/24/smoothing-out-your-3d-prints-with-acetone-vapor/>.