Design, fabrication and testing of a 3D printer

Conventional manufacturing processes depend on the principle of removal of materials, which involves non-linear materials processing and have waste material left after the manufacturing is completed. However, there was always a desire to manufacture products in such a way that the wastage reduces to zero. The concept of additive manufacturing, in the form of 3D printing, made a breakthrough in this direction and has attracted the attention of researchers, engineers, and entrepreneurs. 3D printing has opened new opportunities in terms of manufacturing possibilities and shifted the manufacturing paradigms. This capstone design project aimed to in-house design, fabricate and test a 3D printer. A design was developed consisting of sets of screws, BLDC motors and one CNC controller controlled with Mach3 software. Our printer uses BLDC motors due to significantly higher levels of accuracy and efficiency as compared to the current practice of using stepper motor. Moreover, we used ball screws instead of the lead screws as they provide smoother, quieter, and efficient motion. These components make this design a novel one that has potential to compete with other 3D printers. Finally, the printer is tested to see if this creative combination can be used to advance this manufacturing process.