3D printingIn this 3D printing beginner’s guide, you’ll learn:
Watch the video below
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Applications for different types of 3D printing✓
How to design for 3D printing✓
What 3D printing is and how it worksWhat makes Sango different from other manufacturing platforms or
intermediaries?
intermediaries?
How fast can Sango deliver?
What surface finishes and colors are available?
Do you offer material certificates or test reports?
Do your materials and processes comply with RoHS, REACH, or other EU
standards?
standards?
What if my parts do not meet the required specifications
frequently Asked questions?
What Is 3D Printing?3D printing is an additive technology used to manufacture parts. It is ‘additive’ in that it doesn’t require a block of material or a mold to manufacture physical objects, it simply stacks and fuses layers of material. It’s typically fast, with low fixed setup costs, and can create more complex geometries than ‘traditional’ technologies, with an ever-expanding list of materials. It is used extensively in the engineering industry, particularly for prototyping and creating lightweight geometries.
3D printing and additive manufacturing‘3D printing’ is commonly associated with maker culture, hobbyists and amateurs, desktop printers, accessible printing technologies like FDM and low-cost materials such as ABS and PLA (we’ll explain all those acronyms below). This is largely attributable to the democratization of 3D printing through affordable desktop machines that sprung from the RepRap movement, like the original MakerBot and Ultimaker, which also led to the explosion of 3D printing in 2009.By contrast, additive manufacturing (AM) is almost always associated with commercial and industrial applications.
3D printing and rapid prototyping‘Rapid prototyping’ is another phrase that’s sometimes used to refer to 3D printing technologies. This dates back to the early history of 3D printing when the technology first emerged. In the 1980s, when 3D printing techniques were first invented, they were referred to as rapid prototyping technologies because back then the technology was only suitable for prototypes, not production parts.In recent years, 3D printing has matured into an excellent solution for many kinds of production parts, and other manufacturing technologies (like CNC machining) have become cheaper and more accessible for prototyping. So while some people still use ‘rapid prototyping’ to refer to 3D printing, the phrase is evolving to refer to all forms of very fast prototyping.
When was 3D printing invented?3D printing began as an idea for accelerating industrial product development through faster prototyping. Even though there were a few patents beforehand, Chuck Hull is typically credited with the invention of the 3D printer via his Stereolithography Apparatus (SLA), patented in 1984.Despite Chuck’s fame, multiple technologies were being developed in parallel in the late 1980s, and there were several companies founded in this period that was critical to the development of the technology.From the late 1980s to the early 1990s the industry underwent very rapid commercialization. The first machines were big and expensive and their makers competed for industrial prototyping contracts with mass-market manufacturers in the automotive, aerospace, health, and consumer goods industries.981 - the first patent for a device using UV light to cure photopolymers was awarded to Hideo Kodama in Japan. He designed it for ‘rapid prototyping’ as it was intended for making models and prototypes, but there was no interest and the patent was abandoned.
1984 - French inventors Alain Le Mehaute, Olivier de Witte, and Jean Claude André submitted a patent in which, like Hideo’s, UV light was used to cure photopolymers. General Electric abandoned the patent citing a lack of significant business potential.
1984 - only a few weeks after Le Mehaute, American Charles ‘Chuck’ Hull filed his own patent for an ‘Apparatus for Production of Three-Dimensional Objects by Stereolithography’, thus also coining the term ‘stereolithography’ (SLA).
1987 - Hull invented the STL file, and in the same year founded 3D Systems.
1987 - American Carl Deckard filed a patent for Selective Laser Sintering (SLS), and in the same year co-founded Desktop Manufacturing (DTM) Corp. (acquired by 3D Systems in 2001).
1989 - American S. Scott Crump submits a patent for Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), and in the same year founded Stratasys with his wife.1987 - 3D Systems released the first commercial SLA printer, the ‘SLA-1’.
1992 - The FDM patent was finally granted to Stratasys, which led them to release the first FDM printer, the ‘3D Modeler’.
1992 - DTM released the first commercial SLS printer, the ‘Sinterstation 2000’
1994 - German company Electro Optical Systems (EOS), founded in 1989, unveiled its ‘EOSINT M160’, the first commercial metal 3D printerFoundationsCommercialization
1984 - French inventors Alain Le Mehaute, Olivier de Witte, and Jean Claude André submitted a patent in which, like Hideo’s, UV light was used to cure photopolymers. General Electric abandoned the patent citing a lack of significant business potential.
1984 - only a few weeks after Le Mehaute, American Charles ‘Chuck’ Hull filed his own patent for an ‘Apparatus for Production of Three-Dimensional Objects by Stereolithography’, thus also coining the term ‘stereolithography’ (SLA).
1987 - Hull invented the STL file, and in the same year founded 3D Systems.
1987 - American Carl Deckard filed a patent for Selective Laser Sintering (SLS), and in the same year co-founded Desktop Manufacturing (DTM) Corp. (acquired by 3D Systems in 2001).
1989 - American S. Scott Crump submits a patent for Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), and in the same year founded Stratasys with his wife.1987 - 3D Systems released the first commercial SLA printer, the ‘SLA-1’.
1992 - The FDM patent was finally granted to Stratasys, which led them to release the first FDM printer, the ‘3D Modeler’.
1992 - DTM released the first commercial SLS printer, the ‘Sinterstation 2000’
1994 - German company Electro Optical Systems (EOS), founded in 1989, unveiled its ‘EOSINT M160’, the first commercial metal 3D printerFoundationsCommercialization
3D printing and additive manufacturing
3D printing and rapid prototyping
When was 3D printing invented?
What is 3D printing?
How does 3D printing work?
3D printing technology
3D printing materials
Post processing 3D prints
3D printing software
3D printing design guidelines
Health and safety
Legal and ethical considerations