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The Cutting Edge of

FDM 3D Printing

Griffin van Horne

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What is 3D printing?

Additive manufacturing + CNC technology

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What are the different types of 3D printers?

SLS: selective laser sintering

SLA: stereolithography

FDM: fused deposition modeling

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A brief history of FDM 3D printing

  • Technology pioneered by Stratasys in the early 1990s
  • The RepRap project
    • Started by Adrian Bowyer in 2005
    • Affordable, open-source, self-replicating, rapid prototyping machines

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RepRap 1.0 “Darwin (2008)

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Original Prusa i3 Mk3 (2018)

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FDM 3D printing has come light years in the past decade.

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Has FDM 3D printing reached a plateau?

  • How does a FDM printer actually work?
  • What metrics are we assessing?
  • What are the factors that limit future advancement?

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Anatomy of a FDM 3D Printer

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Motion system

Tool head

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What metrics are we assessing?

  • Print quality
  • Speed
  • Variety of materials
  • Serviceability
  • Autonomy
  • Price

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What are the factors limiting future advancement?

  • Trade-off between quality and speed
  • Machine doesn’t know it’s failing
  • Difficulty of servicing parts
  • Switching between materials

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How do we move past this plateau?

  • Print faster without compromising quality
    • Incorporate sensors
    • Detect failures
  • Make printing more user friendly
    • Modular components

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Klipper firmware

  • Runs on external Raspberry Pi
  • Supports “Smooth Pressure Advance”
  • Supports “Input Shaping”

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Resonance compensation & input shaping

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#SpeedBoatRace

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BigTreeTech Smart Filament Sensor

  • Detects filament runout
  • Detects filament jams

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InFiDEL - Inline Filament Diameter Estimator

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  • Continuously measures diameter of filament
  • Potentially adjust extrusion multiplier

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BigTreeTech S42B Closed-loop stepper motors

@13:20

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Spaghetti Detective

@ 6:18

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Nozzle camera

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Prusa MMU2S

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E3D Toolchanger

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CR30 Beltprinter

@11:40

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Nonplanar slicing

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HevORT build surface leveling

@ 7:35