Ways to mitigating your 3D Printing Costs

Ways to mitigating your 3D Printing Costs makenica.com/ways-to-mitigating-your-3d-printing-costs February 18, 2021

There is no doubt that 3D printing in India provides a lot of advantages relative to conventional production processes. A few examples are design independence and versatility. But the most significant advantage of enterprises and individuals pressing for the introduction of this technology in diverse sectors is this technology's potential to minimize time and costs.

That being said, it cannot be overlooked that it does not come cheap with the commitment needed to use this technology. Although it's not as costly as it used to be, the whole procedure can require a high price tag, depending on various factors.

If the overall cost of personalized 3D printing in India appears to be more than you can handle, don't despair. You can do several modifications and plans to and the amount of money you need to pay out to access this technology. This blog will help you with all the necessary things you need to know about getting the biggest bang out of your 3D printing buck.

3D Printing In India - Costs As we have already mentioned, many aspects help decide how much 3D printing services will cost.

1. Materials Several 3D printing materials are available, and their prices vary from one another, depending on their process, consistency and properties. There are variations in price tags depending on their characteristics, such as colour, transparency, and certain unique properties, such as illumination in the dark.

2. The Model Scale The bigger your 3D-printed model, the more material you'll need. In comparison, the more time it takes to print it entirely, which increases the cost.

3. Layer thickness and resolution; 3D printing in India requires making up an object layer by layer. The thickness of the layer will decide how many layers are needed to print the item fully. It will also decide how fast the printing process will be and how long it will take. All of these would affect how much the project will cost. In short, the thinner the layers, the higher the cost.

4. Post-Process

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Often a 3D-printed model requires manual post-processing to produce the desired effects.

Some prototypes need to be separated from their support structure. Others can require washing or sanding to achieve a cleaner finish.

Additional treatments on the model may include dyeing, painting, plating, varnishing, colour contact, and colour resistance. Manual post-processing can raise the cost of your 3D printing project.

Tips for reducing costs of 3D printing in India Centred on the considerations mentioned above, there are already a few obvious things you can do to reduce the costs of 3D printing in India. Choose a more economical material, go with a smaller size, and, if you have to, choose a finish that takes less time.

But these aren't the only choices available to you if you want to be frugal for your 3D printing designs.

Here are a few more useful tips on how you can adhere to a smaller budget and still reap the advantages of using this technology.

1.Make a Hollow model If your model does not require you to print a solid object, you can lower your project's cost by printing a hollow model instead. This would minimize not only the amount of material used but also reduce printing time.

Please note that not all 3D printers will print hollow parts immediately because the design is already hollow. You can use an STL editor like Meshmixer to hollow out the inside of your design. Only make sure the "walls" are thick enough that the model's structural integrity is not affected.

The minimum thickness depends on the substance you pick. The range for plastics and ceramics ranges from 1mm to 3mm. The minimum thickness for titanium is 0.2mm.

2. Optimize the print settings You need to make sure that you use the best possible print, and material settings. Right configurations can guarantee that you get high-quality prints and reduce the potential to get clogged nozzles, print failures, and other defects that expensive materials can exploit.

Optimizing your print settings can entail trial and error on your part, but you may also search online forums for advice from more seasoned users.

3. Elimination of support structures Support structures will maximize the time and resources spent on 3D model printing.

They make you use more material and time to finish the printing process.

Besides, the object will need to undergo post-processing to eliminate support structures and smooth the finish. One way to exclude support structures completely from your model is to break your model into two or three sections that do not include these 2/5

structures. Then, bring them together (i.e. with glue) to create a complete 3D-printed model.

4. Reduction of the percentage of Infill Minimizing the amount of Infill used can increase the amount of material conserved, which means less waste and more resources. Not just that, you have reduced the amount of time it takes to finish printing. Please notice that the percentage of infill remaining can also satisfy structural or mechanical specifications of the object.

5. Choose Greater Layer Height & Resolution As we have already mentioned, the height of your layers would have a direct effect on printing speed, which, in turn, would have an impact on prices. Lower layer height would take longer to finish, costing more money. But it will provide a cleaner finish and a higher printing efficiency. This is suitable if the presentation and performance of the model are affected by a poorer print quality.

E.g., if you print a component that needs to match perfectly with other pieces. However, if the print quality is not high on your goals for a particular project, you can raise the layer's height to minimize the overall cost of the project.

6. Choose the mode of economy If you're using an online 3D printing services facility, one of the best ways to reduce your price tag by a large amount is to go for the economy mode. This is a bid made by several businesses to reduce the cost of 3D printing in India to their clients. Of course, to take advantage of the deal, you'll need to restrict yourself to those products, such as white plastic, and you wouldn't mind making the model a little later than usual.

7. Use or Edit Free Design There is no written guideline to build your design or employ someone to do it for you.

There are a lot of downloadable designs online that you can get at no cost. Thingiverse is one such resource, with over a million designs that you can select from. Only bear in mind that the design you downloaded can be changed and that the use of the design does not break copyright law.

8. Using the free 3D modelling and slicer software There is no need to waste money on software if you want to do your projects. There's a lot of 3D modelling and 3D slicer tools you can download for free. TinkerCAD is a strong option for beginners. Autodesk Fusion 360 is also open to those with more expert knowledge.

9. Get a 3D printer right now

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That sounds expensive, doesn't it? But still, you've got to pay the money to save the money. First of all, there are a lot of inexpensive 3D printers for you to select from.

Second, if you're planning on 3D printing a lot of models, getting your printer would save you a significant amount of money eventually. You're not going to have to pay service charges as well as shipping rates.

10. Using a comparison service If you want to stick to paying for an 3D printing online facility, that's cool. You will also reduce the project's expense by comparing the fees of the different suppliers and selecting the one that better fits the budget. Using a comparison service will let you see how much each company costs products, supplies, print quality and delivery.

Reducing Development Costs of 3D Printing in India Optimize the design Well-designed 3D print components follow many of the same guidelines as those made by injection moulding. Use incremental transitions between neighbouring surfaces.

Eliminate broad variations in cross-section and component length. Stop sharp corners that also generate residual tension in the finished workpiece.

Watch the thin, unsupported walls don't rise too tall, or else there might be buckling or warping. Often, surfaces with shallow angles appear to leave hideous stairs that make them unsuitable for aesthetic features—to flatten them out where possible.

Throw Out Tradition The most dramatic 3D-printed component designs exploit the power of 3D to construct "organic" forms, such as honeycombs and complex matrices. Don't be afraid to use these shapes, given that this produces a lighter, more robust component. Nor should you be afraid to put holes—many of them—in the design of your part.

For conventional processing, boring holes in a solid block of material raise the cost of part and waste. Not in the additive setting, where more holes mean less powder and less production time. Only note, the 3D printed holes don't have to be round. Sometimes, the shape of an elliptical, hexagonal or free-form hole will be best suited to the construction of the component and simpler to print.

Think the next phase of the design cycle However, just because you can print parts with many holes doesn't mean you should, mainly if the intention is to make a lot of those parts later. Since 3D printing in India provides incredible design versatility, it's easy to paint yourself in a corner without realizing how pieces would be manufactured after prototyping.

Based on our examples at the beginning of this design tip, a growing number of businesses are considering 3D printing in India ideal for end-use parts. However, many parts will switch from printing to machining, moulding or casting as production volumes 4/5

increase.

That's why it's critical to conduct a manufacturing analysis design early in the design cycle, ensuring cost-effective output during the part's life cycle.

Stop secondary operations SLS's plastic parts do not need support structures during the construction process, so post-processing is typically limited to bead blasting, painting, reaming and tapping of holes and machining essential component features. DMLS, on the other hand, also needs substantial scaffold-like systems to stabilize and control the movement of the metal workpiece—without them, the surfaces will curl and warp.

This is particularly true of overhanging geometries—wide T-shapes, for example, involving the installation of supports under the arms and needing to be machined or grounded down, thereby raising costs and lead time. The tale is similar but less drastic with SLA, where healed resin supports are quickly separated with a hand grinder and some sandpaper.

Look at the tolerances.

Designers and engineers should prevent "over-tolerance" of their components, which may require them to be fabricated using thinner layers (increased time and cost) and may in many cases call for secondary machining operations to conform with excessively zealous print measurements.

And because 3D printing in India provides too many ways to minimize component numbers, there is also less need for super-precise matches between mating surfaces, just one more example of how this technique lowers production costs.

Take a look at the big picture 3D printing components can cost more upfront, but don't let that intimidate you. With additive manufacturing, you have a fantastic ability to minimize component count, reduce weight and improve structural stability, lower assembly costs, internal cooling or wiring passages and other components functionality that are not feasible with conventional part designs.

Often, bear in mind that 3D printing in India does not include fixtures, moulds and other forms of tools, reducing costs that might not be explicitly related to the specific component's price. Focusing on the price tag of the part, rather than the functionality of the product and the "big picture," could encourage you to design the same components as you did yesterday, removing the potential to mitigate the overall production cost.

Read More : 9 Defects prevention tips for Problem-free injection molding

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