Analogue Processes,

Additive Manufacturing
and
RepRap
Adrian Bowyer
9 March 2012

5 ways to make things

1. Cut

5 ways to make things

2. Bend

5 ways to make things

3. Mould

5 ways to make things

4. Add

5 ways to make things

5. Grow

Additive Manufacturing Example

Fused Filament Fabrication

(Fused Deposition ModellingTM)

Comparison
Some
Advantages

Some
Disadvantages

Control

Cut

Quite fast,
Quick shape
change

Complicated
shapes difficult

Difficult

Bend

No waste

Limited shapes

Difficult

Mould

Very fast, no
waste

No shape
change

Not needed

Add

Any shape,
quick change,
no waste

Slow

Easy

Free(ish),

Materials, not
products

Grow

e fast

Not well
understood

Control - why is cutting hard and

adding easy?

Types of geometric complexity

Control - why is cutting hard and

adding easy?

5-D Path Planning

2-D Path Planning

Additive techniques

Stereolithography

Additive techniques

Laminated object manufacturing

Additive techniques

Selective Laser sintering

Additive techniques

Powder printing

Additive techniques

Inkjet 3D printing

Additive techniques

Microscopic stereolithography

Competitive subtractive
techniques

Machined features

Some things never

change

HSS + ion beam

Meso machining

STL Format
solid my_am_object
facet normal 0.000000 0.000000 1.000000
outer loop
vertex 2.394684 0.987658 1.491202
vertex 2.492724 0.705324 1.491200
vertex 13.910414 3.727284 1.491202
endloop
endfacet
facet normal 0.000000 0.000000 1.000000
outer loop
vertex 2.319906 1.151621 1.491200
vertex 13.910414 3.727284 1.491202
vertex 12.471736 7.200560 1.491202
endloop
endfacet
.
.
.

1. Established at the
start of the industry
2. Ubiquitous
3. Poorly designed
Much improved
version:
Hod Lipson et al.:
Additive Manufacturing
File (AMF)

Slicing at height Z
1. Compute line segments
from Z plane and STL
triangles
2. Join segments to make
polygons (!)
3. Offset polygons
4. Infill polygons with crosshatch
5. Record results in file
Tiresome (but not hard) with
STL, easy with bitmap or
CSG

Support calculation
1. Slice top down
2. Support at layer N for stuff
above:
SN = (SN+1 U LN+1) LN
3. Reverse layers bottom up
at the end.
Easy if model and layer are:
CSG/Boolean
Bitmap
Hard if they are B-rep:
Polyhedra
Polygons

Strengths and weaknesses

Fused Filament Fabrication
Easy to implement
Multiple materials
Needs support
Coarse

Strengths and weaknesses

Stereolithography
Quite easy to implement
Fine
Expensive resin
Single material
May need support

Strengths and weaknesses

Layered object
Cheap raw materials
Warping
Single material
Needs support

Strengths and weaknesses

Selective Laser Sintering
Polymers and metals
No support
Intrinsically expensive
Single material

Strengths and weaknesses

Powder printing
Easy to implement
No support
Colour
Weak products
Single material

Strengths and weaknesses

Inkjet 3D printing
Quite easy to implement
Multiple materials
Colour
Very slow
Needs support

Strengths and weaknesses

Microscopic stereolithography
Only one that works at this scale
Conceptually simple
No support
Needs exceptional precision
Single material

Additive Manufacturing
The most versatile
manufacturing technology we
have.
Can make shapes impossible
with any other technique.
Only been going 30 years.
Computationally simple.
Some AM machines very cheap.
Basis of RepRap the first
replicating production machine
in the World.

RepRap

RepRap is a self-replicating 3D printer

RepRap Facts
RepRap can copy about half its own parts.
The other half: hardware shops and on-line.
Cost of all the materials $500.
3

Working volume: 200 x 200 x 140 mm .

Material: most plastics.
Print rate: 19 ml/hour (one day to replicate).
Licence: GPL.

RepRap Makes

http://thingiverse.com

RepRap Makes

http://thingiverse.com

The biggest difference

Biology mutualist symbiosis

RepRap = flowers
People = insects
Goods = nectar

Anyone with a RepRap can make

another RepRap for a friend

29 May 2008

It's like MP3 music sharing, but

for real solid stuff...

...ultimately any stuff

Personal manufacturing:
destroyer of industry

London 1943

Destroying Things

London 2012
That way
never works

The Arrow of Time

Always
works

The Arrow of Time

The Arrow of Time

The Future?
Everyone in the
developed world
runs their own
CD pressing plant

The Future?
Everyone in the
developed world
runs their own
CD pressing plant
Photographic Lab

The Future?
Everyone in the
developed world
runs their own
CD pressing plant
Photographic Lab
And printing press

The Future?

Why not their

own factory...

The Future?

...that makes
more factories?