3d printing

 

ITG has two identical Z406 3D printers for solid object creation. The one shown above is in the VMIL on the fourth floor of Beckman Institute. The printers are available for all University students, faculty, and staff. The ITG only charges its users for materials costs. The printers have lots of uses, like protoyping, making scientific models (like a rat's visual cortex or chemical structure), architecture models, and more.

How they work: The printers build each model layer by layer, starting at the base. For each iteration, a thin layer of powder is spread over the entire building area. Then, a print head similar to that of an inkjet printer prints a layer of binder onto the powder plane. The colorful binder bonds with the powder to create a solid layer of your object. You can think of the complete model as a stack of 2D images that were printed onto the powder. When the process is finally finished with the top layer, the model will be completely enclosed in a matrix of powder that will be removed during the excavation process.

The printing process: First, you must acquire a 3D model. You can create one using Maya, Rhino, Inventor, AutoCAD, ProE, and other 3D modeling software. The model file must be converted to a suitable format. These include .zbd, .stl, .bld, .ply, .zcp, .sfx, .zec, and .wrl. You will need to contact the VMIL to reserve time on the printer. Email Darren, the lab manager, at darrens@uiuc.edu to set up time. When you arrive at the lab, review the model with Darren or a VMIL consultant to make sure that printing the model is feasible (for example, you can't print something with paper-thin walls). If your model looks good, they will open the model using the software "ZPrint" where it can be resized and positioned before it is sent to the printer. Next, the printer prints the model. Printing can take less than an hour for very small parts up to many hours for large ones. After the print completion, a VMIL staff member will scoop and vaccuum away the powder matrix to reveal the model. After the model is removed from the printer, that person will blast it with a fine stream of air in the depowdering station. This process removes more loose powder, especially powder in holes or crevices. Finally, they will help you infiltrate your model with wax, epoxy, cyanoacrylate, or an elastomer. This provides neccessary structural integrity for the model; without infiltration the model is very easily chipped, scratched, and cracked.

Features:

Models may be printed with a clear binder or in full color.

The maximum model size is 8" x 10" x 10".

Models may have interlocking parts such as chains.

Thin models can be infiltrated with an elastomer to make flexible parts

 

Examples of objects created by ITG on the Z406:

Click for large size

 

   

   

 

 

Starch or Plaster? Typically, one of the printers is filled with starch and the other plaster (see chart below for medium comparison)

 

Plaster	Starch
Solids only	Solids or flexible shapes
May be infiltrated with wax, cyanoacrylate, or epoxy	May be infiltrated with wax, cyanoacrylate, epoxy, or elastomer (for flexibility)
Stays fresh and ready for printing in the build volume	Gets sticky if exposed to the air for too long. Starch left in the build volume shouldn’t be used for printing. Refresh the starch by doing 1 or 2 new spreads.
Spreads easily	Sometimes d oes not spread easily (small tears on surface sometimes appear)
Can be excavated at one’s leisure, but should be left in the printer for at least 30min	Must be excavated within 30min of print
Used with ZB56 Binder	Used with ZB51 Binder
Example (below): Polynomial	Example (below): Squeeze Bottle

 

For More Information on the Z406 3D Printing Process Click Here