3D Printing and Laser Cutting

3D Printing

3D printing is touted as the new revolution in manufacturing and will soon surpass all methods of product development. Unfortunately, this is not true. It is revolutionary, in the fact that it allows manufacturing to be placed in the hands of the common people, however, it will not surpass the manufacturing techniques in place.

3D printing, however, has the following advantages:

• it puts manufacturing in the hands of the public
• you are able to create almost anything with 3D printng
• it is ideal for rapid prototyping

For all its advantages, you must be aware of its disadvantages

• the process is very slow compared to manufacturing (at least 100 times slower)
• prototypes do not have the strength of actual products

The foremost advantage of 3D printing is the creation of prototypes. In any design process, the most critical is to produce an actual prototype in which you could test the product (although not for strength). Using digital fabrication and 3D printing we are able to create a prototype within hours which can show the direction in which we should take towards manufacturing. (Usually a prototype created using conventional methods would take days or weeks)

Laser Cutting

• Laser cutting is a process where material is placed in the X-Y plane and a LASER (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation) is moved across the profile to be cut out.
• A laser can be focused to a tight spot, which allows the beam to “cut” at the position.
• The high intensity of the beam causes the material to be vaporised (cut away).
• Since the light can be focused, a very thin cut is made. Electronics and machine control make the cut precise and repeatable.
• The laser can be programmed to have a continous wave or pulsed repeatedly to produce the cut.
• The process of laser cutting is controlled by the speed of the movement of the laser
  • Slow speeds allow the laser more time over the material and cuts deeper and more intensely.

  • Slow speeds also cause charring of the material.

  • The intensity of the laser
    • Higher intensities of the laser can cut deeper
    • Higher intensities are sometimes required as the material is more dense than others
  • The number of pulses per second.
    • Most lasers are pulsed. The higher the number of pulses per second give higher intensities and prolonged exposure to the laser.
    • Higher pulsing reates are required for dense material
  • Most lasers settings come with recommendations from the manufacturer or the Technicians and are dependent upon
    • The material (e.g. wood, acrylic, paper)
    • The thickness of the material
    • The color/coloration of the material.