Exploring 3D Printing - Masters Thesis by Prateek Singh

EXPLORING 3D PRINTING Designing for 3D Construction Printing

Prateek Kumar Singh ID/340 Fourth Semester

THESIS REPORT

EXPLORING 3D PRINTING Designing for 3D Construction Printing

Prateek Kumar Singh SPA/ID/340 Fourth Semester

Department of Industrial Design School of Planning and Architecture New Delhi 110002 July 2020

Acknowledgment I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the front line ‘warriors’ who are spearheading the war with Covid-19. It is because of them that I am able to sit at home and work on my thesis while the we are undergoing a pandemic. I convey my gratitude to my project guides, Naveen Rampal, Rahul Tyagi and Vipul Maheshwari for their understanding and the relentless support through this unusual semester. I would also like to thank my family and friends who have kept me sane and grounded through tough times. Last, but not the least, I would like to thank all of the software makers who provide free and/or trial version of their software for students, without which this thesis wouldn’t have been the same.

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Abstract This report is an exploration of the field of 3D Printing aka Additive Manufacturing (AM). The field of 3D printing is expanding and branching at an unprecedented rate, making it a very fertile ground for design interventions. Finding the right area to intervene is as challenging as the intervention itself, if not more. Hence, multiple approaches are used to arrive at the final area of design Construction. Moreover, given the situation of pandemic and labor crisis in India, being witnessed at the time of writing this report, it makes all the more sense to explore this field. 3D printed construction, though seems alien, has the potential to be the norm in the coming decades. Being more economical, sustainable and capable of realizing wider ranges of design - the field is waiting for a design intervention to happen. The materials used in the Archbot are concrete and wax, coupled with an agile printer and novel printing solutions, the product aims to integrate (and in future, replace) traditional means of construction.

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सार यह रिपोर्ट 3D प्रिंटिं ग उर्फ एडिटिव मैन्युफैक्चरिं ग (AM) के क्षेत्र का अन्वेषण है । 3D प्रिंटिं ग का क्षेत्र एक अभूतपूर्व दर से विस्तार और शाखाकरण कर रहा है , जिससे यह डिजाइन के हस्तक्षेप के लिए एक बहुत उपजाऊ समय है । हस्तक्षेप करने के लिए सही क्षेत्र ढू ँ ढना उतना ही कठिन है जितना की डिज़ाइन को आकृति दे ना है । इसलिए, डिजाइन क्षेत्र निर्धारण करने के लिए विभिन्न तरीकों का उपयोग किया गया है । अंततः निर्माण कार्य में 3द प्रिंटिं ग का उपयोग का चयन किया गया। भारत में महामारी और श्रम संकट की स्थिति को दे खते हुए, यह हस्तछे प काफी लाभकारी जान पड़ता है । 3 डी प्रिंटेड निर्माण, हालांकि अजीब लगता है , आने वाले दशकों में आदर्श होने की क्षमता रखता है । अधिक किफायती, टिकाऊ और डिजाइन की व्यापक श्रेणियों को साकार करने में सक्षम होने के कारण - क्षेत्र एक डिजाइन हस्तक्षेप होने की प्रतीक्षा कर रहा है । आर्क बॉट में उपयोग की जाने वाली सामग्री कंक्रीट और मोम हैं , एक चुस्त प्रिंटर और उपन्यास मुद्रण समाधानों के साथ मिलकर, उत्पाद का उद्दे श्य निर्माण के पारं परिक तरीकों को एकीकृत करना (और भविष्य में, प्रतिस्थापित करना) है ।

Contents Aim �� 1 Objectives �� 1 Scope �� 1 Research Methodology �� 2 Initial Research Methodologies

SECTION I - Research 1. Introduction to 3D Printing �� 8 What is 3d Printing

Advantages of 3D Printing

Limitations of 3D Printing

Applications of 3D Printing

2. Time-line of 3D Printing �� 16 Trends of 3D Printing

3. Types of 3D Printing �� 24 Vat Polymerization

Material Jetting

Powdered bed Fusion

Direct Energy Deposition

Sheet Lamination

Binder Jetting

Material Extrusion

4. Narrowing area of research �� 29

SECTION II - Exploration 5. FDM Test-Prints �� 32 Analysis

6. Concept Exploration �� 35 Method

Method

Construction

Material

Stage 1 - Feedback by faculty

7. Heat Map Analysis �� 57 Briefs Generated

8. Finalized Design Brief �� 62 9. Existing 3D Construction Printing �� 63 Apis Cor (Robotic Arm)

COBOD (Gantry System)

WASP (Delta System)

SECTION III - Design Intervention 10. Limitations in existing 3D Construction printing �� 66 11. Interventions �� 67 12. Proposed systems for construction of a 3D Printed House �� 68

Materials

Fiber Reinforced Concrete (FRC)

Machinable Wax

Using wax to build conduits

Using wax to build water pipes

Wall Sections - Patterned fill

Generative Design

Integrated Slab-Beam System

Advantages of proposed system over Traditional

74 75

13. Construction of a 3D printed house �� 76 Design

Site Prep and bring equipment to site

Placing the Triangulation devices

Creating chasing on Plinth for wax exit

Wall Construction

Wax and lintel Supports

Roof and Beam Construction

Finishing up

Completed House

14. Design of 3D Printer �� 86 Features required in the printer

Iteration 1

Inferences & crits

Iteration 2

91 92

Product Dimensions

Inferences & crits

Final Design

Form Exploration

Product parts and details

Exploded view

Product Orthogonal Views

100

Product Dimensions

101

Product Range

102

Material flow

103

List of Figures �� 104 References �� 106

3D Printing

The project undertaken is an exploratory project. The area of exploration is 3D Printing or also called as Additive Manufacturing (AM).

Aim To understand the process of Additive Manufacturing holistically and find areas of design interventions.

Objectives To achieve the aim discussed above, the project is divided into manifold objectives as listed below. • Collect all available data on Additive Manufacturing by primary and secondary resources. • Synthesize the data to come up with fields of intervention. • Come up with a project brief within the area of intervention. • Design a product fulfilling the brief.

Scope The scope of the project is limited to designing a product using technologies that are available or are deemed to be available in the near future. The end product(s) will possess a nature of novelty in its use and application in their given domain but may not employ a novel technology per se.

3D Printing

Research Methodology To understand the process of Additive Manufacturing holistically and find areas of design interventions.

3D Printing

Initial Research Methodologies

It is to be noted that the project wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t conceived as an exploration project from the very beginning. Initially a different approach was adopted wherein briefs were designed and the project was then to be proceeded accordingly. However, in the absence of any justifiable brief, an exploratory approach was later adopted. The initial approaches/briefs were â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Brief 1: 3D printer as a household appliance A printer that would have the design language of a home appliance. The aim was to create an easy to operate 3D printer that is hassle free and allows one touch printing; connected to a printing service to buy 3D models.

3D Printing

Brief 2: Design thinking for Additive Manufacturing To create a literature of design around the world of additive manufacturing and exploring how AM â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a manufacturing process, would affect design thinking.

3D Printing

Preface It is often seen that the truly important milestones are wholly understood only when looked in retrospect. We seem to be passing by many such events that we lack the vision to appreciate in that moment. Having said that, I would like to claim that the field of 3d Printing aka Additive Manufacturing (AM) has all the potentials to become the technology of the century that will both literally and figuratively mold the future that awaits us. 3D printing has been present in some form or the other for the past six decades and has always seemed to be at the cusp of a breakthrough. However, it has not yet lived up-to the expectations that it was envisioned to begin with. Fortunately, this trend has been changing of late. With the restrictive patents expiring rapidly and complementary technology allowing more research and application of 3D Printing (to the extent of outer space!), The dawn of the Additive Manufacturing era is upon us. Flip through the pages to see the where the exploration leads to!

SECTION I - Research Introduction Time-line Types of 3D Printing

3D Printing

1. Introduction to 3D Printing What is 3d Printing 3d Printing or Additive Manufacturing (AM) is a process of making 3 Dimensional objects from a Computer-aided design (CAD) model. As the name suggests, the object is printed by adding material layer by layer until the required form is achieved. Additive Manufacturing encompasses a range of procedures that achieve the required result using different methods. The materials available also vary depending upon the process chosen, so does the time required. Generally, a longer print time generates a better print quality. The most common material printed are plastics. However, recent developments have made printing metal also very viable. Depending upon the process and material chosen, the end-product can have a wide range of specific properties as desired, ranging from brittle to rubbery and even optically clear. 3D Printing is envisioned to be a disruptive technology in almost all of the sectors know to human. It is also one of the main legs of the fourth industrial revolution. It has already been accepted by many major companies and the trend is on the rise. However, for many manufacturing needs, Traditional manufacturing techniques such as Subtractive Manufacturing and Injection molding are preferred as these technologies have been refined over multiple decades of use and hence are more economically viable. Listed ahead are the advantages and disadvantages of Additive Manufacturing as compared to Traditional Manufacturing.

Fig 1: A schematic showing FDM printing. Source : www.3dhubs.com

3D Printing

Advantages of 3D Printing Geometric complexity at no extra cost Comparing 3D printing to the traditional manufacturing techniques, the biggest advantage is the reduced number of constraints limiting the geometry of the desired product. Since 3D printing is additive in nature, complex geometries concur no extra cost. This bundled with generative design where parts posses organic geometries, make it a suitable candidate for manufacturing in the time ahead.

Fig 2: A complex 3D printed geometry. Source : www.leolane.com

Very low start-up costs Compared to traditional manufacturing, the initial tools cost in 3D printing is very low. 3D printing does not require product specific tooling, just the printer and required material are needed to print the model. Suitable post-processing procedures is followed thereafter.

Fig 3: A DIY 3D printer Source : www.ultimaker.com

Customization of each and every part Mass-production is both a boon and bane for industry. On one hand, it does allow for production of gigantic amount of goods quickly but they all look the same. Any change incurs a lot of time and money. However, customization is not a limiting factor in 3D printing. Allowing for highly customized goods.

Fig 4: Multiple material exploration. Source : www.3dhubs.com

3D Printing

Large range of (specialty) materials The ranges of materials that are printable in 3D printing is increasing rapidly. Though, the most used material, as of now, are plastics. However, technology has been created for printing a huge range of metals. Biodegradable material such as PLA(Polylactic Acid) are widely used. Other materials, such as resin, rubber, etc can also be printed.

Fig 5: Material Design Iteration. Source : www.3dprinting.com

Low-cost prototyping Prototyping is one of the first sector to integrate 3D printing in its work-flow and currently, a lot of manufacturers of Desktop 3D printers cater to this sector. The reason for this amount of compatibility is the reduction of time required to make prototypes. A prototype, that would earlier take up-to months, can now be printed in a dayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s time, that too locally.

Fig 6: A complex 3D printed geometry. Source : www.protoseyewear.com

3D Printing

Limitations of 3D Printing

Lower strength & anisotropic material properties Owing to the additive building process, the 3D printed parts are overall weaker than parts produced by subtractive manufacturing. They are also anisotropic in nature, making them 10% to 50% weaker and brittle in one of the directions

Fig 7: Anisotropic nature of FDM Prints. Source: www.3dhubs.com

Limited accuracy & tolerances Since this is an emerging field, the tolerances and accuracies are not comparable with that of Traditional manufacturing. The most commonly used, Desktop 3D printers, are more prone to inaccuracies to a degree of Âą 0.5 mm. This is bound to increase with use as calibration issues are pretty common. However, with time, these tolerances have been continually minimized and, though not at par with subtractive, are being used to make production ready prints.

Fig 8: Stringing and raft support in a print with PLA.

3D Printing

Post-processing & support removal The flip-side of being able to print complex geometry is the need to use supports as the printers canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t stick filaments in thin air. These supports are later removed. Moreover, depending upon the process employed, varying amount of post-processing maybe required. Minimal in SLA and Powder Jetting and maximum in FDM.

Fig 9: A schematic showing FDM printing. Source: www.3dhubs.com

Less cost-competitive at higher volumes Currently, as the adjoining graph suggests, 3D printing is feasible only for production in the order of 10s or 100s. This is because, the extra time and money that is expended initially in traditional manufacturing is balanced by the speed and quantity of production. Beyond this point, it is inadvisable to prefer 3D printing over traditional means.

Fig 10: Comparison of the three manufacturing technologies. Source: www.3dhubs.com

3D Printing

Applications of 3D Printing

Aerospace 3D printing allows to make parts extremely efficient strength to weight ratio. This is something that is always a priority when dealing with aerospace and outer space. Moreover, 3D Printing has additional advantage of making multiple parts in one without optimized geometry, hence, removing the need of joints.

Fig 11: A schematic showing FDM printing. Source: www.3dhubs.com

Automotive The automotive industry is usually a rapid moving one with newer models being pumped out in quick succession. 3D printing is used heavily by the luxury car makers, like Koenigsegg and Jaguar to make parts. The mass produced cars have a huge parts requirement, which can only be met by traditional manufacturing, but the jigs and fixtures of are printed using 3D printing, speeding up the overall process.

Fig 12: The 3D-printed Koenigsegg Agera RS Source: www.depronized.com

Healthcare What was visualized by the movies of yesteryear is now an exciting reality. The first breakthrough happened in 1990, when the scientists of Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine managed to 3D bio-print synthetic scaffolds of a human bladder. Additionally, combined with 3D scanning, it is now possible to make better, economical and customized prosthetics.

Fig 13: 3D printed bladder. Source: www.all3dp.com

3D Printing

Product design With the help of 3D printing, product designers can easily customize their products at no extra costs. They can also create high-quality functional prototypes for a new product concept. This accelerates the design cycle and proves that their product idea works before a larger investment is made.

Fig 14: An array of 3D printed products. Source: www.imakr.com

Entertainment 3D printing is one of the favorite tools of movie makers today, due to its ability to create believable props. The high design flexibility of 3D printing helps entertainment professionals bring to life objects of their imagination. This can now be done quickly and at a much lower cost than the past.

Fig 15: A dope-looking full scale 3d printed armor. Source: www.3dprintingindustry.com

Education The 3D printing technology has great potential in educational environments. With 3D printing, the course subjects can be brought to life through scaled replicas. This equips the students with practical (and very valuable) real-life experience.

Fig 16: FDM printer. Source: www.3dexter.com

Industrial tooling

As was mentioned earlier, Additive Manufacturing is being employed by Traditional Manufacturing to speed up production by quickly manufacturing tooling, jigs and fixtures. The development in metal 3D Printing has further polished this process.

Fig 17: 3D printed tooling. Source: www.makepartfast.com

3D Printing

Robotics Robotics is an industry with very customized requests and the advent of Additive Manufacturing has made it possible to generate these parts overnight. The vast array of materials, design freedom and local manufacturing has made 3D printing very suitable for this sector.

Fig 18: 3D printed robot exoskeleton. Source: www.shapeways.com

Makers For makers that constantly explore new ideas, 3D printing is the perfect tool. One of its key benefits is the ability to produce unlimited spare parts and new designs without relying on external vendors. They can develop and customize their designs enabling them to create new and better concepts.

Fig 19: Makerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s asylum 3D printing advertisement. Source: www.makersasylum.com

3D Printing

2. Time-line of 3D Printing

The sci-fi author, Arthur C. Clarke, was the first to describe the basic functions of a 3D printer back in 1964

Fig 20: Arthur C Clarke Source: www.all3dp.com

1964

Predicting the future!

David E. H. Jones laid out the concept of 3D printing in his regular column Ariadne in the journal New Scientist

Fig 21: David Jones Source: www.all3dp.com

1974

3D Printer theorized

1984

First patent on 3D printing

On July 2nd 1984, American Entrepreneur Bill Masters filed a patent for his Computer Automated Manufacturing.

Fig 22: Photo Hardening Source: www.all3dp.com

Methods for fabricating 3-dimensional plastic models with photo-hardening thermoset polymer.

Fig 23: A First patent on 3D printing Source: www.all3dp.com

1981

Early additive manufacturing

Filed his own patent for a stereolithography fabrication system, in which layers are added by curing photo-polymers

1986

First commercial 3D printer : SLA-1 Charles Hull was granted a patent for his system, and his company, 3D Systems Corporation released the first commercial 3D printer

Fig 25: First commercial : SLA-1 Source: www.sdsystems.com

1984

Father of 3D printing – Chuck Hull

Fig 24: Chuck Hull Source: www.sdsystems.com

3D Printing

The technology used by most 3D printers to date—especially hobbyist and consumer-oriented models

Fig 26: Stratasys Source: www.stratasys.com

1988

FDM Invented!

Stratasys releases its first 3D printer – the Stratasys 3d modeler.

Fig 27: Stratasys 3d modeler Source: www.stratasys.com

1992

First FDM Printer

3D Printing

Time-line of 3D Printing (contd.)

In 1993, MIT developed a 3D printing technique based on inkjet printers.

Fig 28: ZCorp Z402 Source: www.all3dp.com

1993

The ZCorp Z402

1995

Selective Laser Melting developed. In 1995 the Fraunhofer Society developed the selective laser melting process.

Fig 29: Wax models Source: www.solidscape.com

Royden Sanders founded Solidscape (originally called Sanders Prototype Inc.), Which created wax 3D printers.

Fig 30: Selective Laser Melting Source: www.all3dp.com

1993

Solidscape

Creation of Arcam, who specialize in metal 3D printer machines and who are the only manufacturer of Electron Beam Melting (EBM) 3D printers.

Fig 31: Arcam EBM Source: www.arcam.com

1997

Selective Laser Melting developed.

3D Printing

Objet Geometries established in 1998 in Israel, who would introduce their PolyJet 3D printing technology to the world.

Fig 32: Objet Polyjet Source: www.3dhubs.com

1998

PolyJet 3D printing

RepRap Movement – (replicating rapid prototyper) 3D printers that could selfreplicate – and build more versions of themselves.

Fig 33: 3D Printed Bladder Source: www.all3dp.com

Scientists at the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine managed to 3D bio print synthetic scaffolds of a human bladder.

Fig 34: RepRap Printer Source: www.3dhubs.com

2004

1999

Organ Printing

The 2008 release of the ‘Darwin’ RepRap 3D printer was huge – the printer could self-replicate

Fig 35: The Darwin printer Source: www.3dhubs.com

2008

Darwin commercially available

3D Printing

Time-line of 3D Printing (contd.)

Thingiverse allowed designers to upload their 3D printer models built on various 3D software for others to download

Fig 36: Thingiverse by Makerbot Source: www.makerbots.com

2008

Thingiverse

2009

The first affordable FDM 3D printer kit Released in January 2009. It was called the BfB RapMan printer.

2009

Makerbotâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first model, the Cupcake CNC.

Released in April 2009. Makerbot were supporters of the open source community, and their first printer, called Cupcake CNC.

Fig 37: 3D Printed Prosthetic Source: www.3dhubs.com Fig 38: BfB RapMan Printer Source: www.all3dp.com

This extraordinary achievement was compounded by the fact that this prosthetic leg did not need to be assembled, it was 3D printed to function immediately.

Fig 39: Makerbot Cupcake CNC Source: www.makerbot.com

2008

3D printed prosthetic

3D Printing

Organovo, a 3D bioprinting firm, managed to create the first 3D printed blood vessel.

Fig 40: 3D printed blood vessel Source: www.all3dp.com

2009

3D printed blood vessel

2011

3D Printed car Kor Ecologic produced the first 3D printed car. The car, called Urbee, uses electric motors and gets 71 kilometers per liter.

Fig 41: 3D printed in gold. Source: www.shapeways.com

Companies like Shapeways, Sculpteo, i.materialise, and later 3D Hubs, grew to print hundreds of thousands of parts on demand by the early 2010s.

Fig 42: Urbee, first 3D printed car Source: www.3dhubs.com

2010

On-Demand Print

The B9Creator utilized a similar technology to Stereolithography called Digital Light Processing (DLP), and could be pre-ordered for $2,375.

Fig 43: Resin 3D Printer Source: www.amazon.com

2012

The democratization of Stereolithography

3D Printing

The US Government ordered Defense Distributed to remove the designs three days later, but the gun had already been downloaded over 100,000 times.

2014

Patents expire for SLA and SLS First, the major SLS patent expired in 2014, meaning that cheaper alternatives could start being designed by individuals so inclined.

Fig 45: SLA and SLS technologies

2012

3d Printed Gun

Fig 44: Cody Wilsonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 3D printed gun Source: www.all3dp.com

Time-line of 3D Printing (contd.)

Carbon 3D was formed on July 11th 2014 in California by Joseph and Philip DeSimone. The main tech behind the company was named CLIP

Fig 46: Carbon3D using CLIP Source: www.carbon3d.com

2014

Birth of Carbon 3D

NASA announced they had used a 3D printer in space and created the first 3D printed object in space in 2014.

Fig 47: 3D printer in space Source: www.all3dp.com

2014

Made in Space

3D Printing

Trends of 3D Printing

Year 2014 onwards By this point, the world had not only accepted 3D printing as a technology not just for enthusiasts and makers but the major companies all across the globe started investing heavily in the field as it is clearly envisioned to be the technology of the coming age. Each year was making progress more than what was made in the previous decade. Every sector imaginable was using Additive Manufacturing to boost production/ research.

Fig 48: Changes in usages of Additive manufacturing Source: www.forbes.com

Fig 49: Global 3d printing revenues Source: www.deloitte.com/insights

3D Printing

3. Types of 3D Printing Vat Polymerization A vat of liquid photo-polymer resin is used. The resin is cured through a selective exposure to light (via a laser or projector). This exposure then initiates polymerization and converts the area that is exposed to light into a solid part.

Strengths • High level of accuracy and complexity • Smooth surface finish • Accommodates large build areas

3D Printing

Material Jetting Droplets of material are deposited layer by layer to make parts. Common varieties include jetting a photo-curable resin and curing it with UV light, as well as jetting thermally molten materials that then solidify in ambient temperatures.

Strengths â&#x20AC;˘ High level of accuracy â&#x20AC;˘ Allows for full color parts â&#x20AC;˘ Enables multiple materials in a single part

3D Printing

Powdered bed Fusion

Powdered materials are selectively consolidated by melting it together using a heat source such as a laser or electron beam. The powder surrounding the consolidated part acts as support material for overhanging features.

Strengths â&#x20AC;˘ High level of complexity â&#x20AC;˘ Powder acts as support material â&#x20AC;˘ Wide range of materials

3D Printing

Direct Energy Deposition

Sheet Lamination

Powder or wire is fed into a melt pool which has been generated by using an energy source such as a laser or electron beam. This is essentially a form of automated build-up welding.

Sheets of material are stacked and laminated together to form an object. Unneeded regions are cut out layer by layer and removed after the object is built.

Strengths

• Not limited by direction or axis

• High volumetric build rates

• Effective for repairs and adding features

• Relatively low cost (non-metals)

• Multiple materials in a single part

• Allows for combinations of metal foils, including embedding components.

3D Printing

Material Extrusion

Liquid bonding agents are selectively applied onto thin layers of powdered material to build up parts layer by layer. The binders include organic and inorganic materials.

Material is extruded through a nozzle or orifice in tracks or beads, which are then combined into multi-layer models. Common varieties include heated thermoplastic extrusion .

Strengths

• Allows for full color printing • High productivity • Uses a wide range of materials

•Inexpensive and economical • Allows for multiple colors • Parts have good structural properties

Fig 50: Types of 3D Printing Icons Source: www.3dhubs.com/

Binder Jetting

3D Printing

4. Narrowing area of research To come up with an effective means of project development, one of the seven branches of Additive Manufacturing was to be selected. The basis of selection included - availability of technology for

prototyping ; availability of raw material; Quantum of technical research available; Number of prohibiting patents. FDM was chosen to be studied further. The salient features of this mode of printing are :

FDM Fused

Deposition

Scalability The printers can be scaled at any limits following the basic concept of printing

Modeling

Wide range of Materials This method offers maximum amount of materials

Easy Assembly

Easy to use

The printer can be easily assembled and repaired on site.

Easy to operate and operable in any environment.

SECTION II - Exploration Test-Prints Method Construction Material Heat Map Analysis

3D Printing

5. FDM Test-Prints

Layer Height- 0.20 Infill- 20% Print time - 2.5 hours

Fig 51: 3D printed ABS

ABS

Printer – Flashforge Creator Pro

NYLON

TRANSPARENT PLA

Print time - 2 hours

Printer – Flashforge Finder Layer Height- 0.20 Infill- 20% Print time - 1.75 hours

Printer – Flashforge Guider2s Layer Height- 0.20 Infill- 20% Print time - 2 hours

Fig 52: 3D printed PETG

Infill- 20%

Fig 53: 3D printed Transparent PLA

Layer Height- 0.2

Fig 54: 3D printed Nylon

PETG

Printer – Flashforge Guider2s

Time – 5 hours

POLYLACTIC ACID (PLA)

Printer – Ender 3 Layer Height- 0.20 Infill- 50% Time – 2 hours 19 minutes

Printer – Ender 3 Layer Height- 0.28 Infill- 20% Time – 1.5 hours

Printer – Ender 3 Layer Height- 0.28 Infill- 0% Time – 55 minutes

Fig 56: 3D printed PLA (50% Infill)

Infill- 100%

Fig 57: 3D printed PLA (20% Infill)

Layer Height- 0.12

Fig 58: 3D printed PLA (0% Infill)

Printer – Ender 3

Fig 55: 3D printed PLA (100% Infill)

3D Printing

Analysis

Fig 59: Stringing in FDM prints.

FDM, without doubt, is one of the most consumer friendly method of 3D Printing. I carried out the abovementioned prints and it didn’t require any prior training.

Expensive

Slow

Quality

The inferences, apart from what is shown in Figure 60, are • A higher density doesn’t always guarantee a higher quality. Some vacant space is desirable to prevent warping. • A higher inclined angle of surface with respect to vertical plane will result in a lower print quality. • A higher print time will generate higher print quality. • The quality of print is dependent on both the printer and the material. 34

Cost

Speed

Low Quality Fig 60: The three variables of 3D Printing.

3D Printing

6. Concept Exploration

Method

Construction

Materials

As an outcome of research on 3D Printing, I was at a stage where I could now start with the exploratory aspect of the project. I looked at broadly three heads of exploration Materials: Using the FDM style of 3D printing, exploring various materials that can be used for making 3-dimensional object of functional or aesthetic value. Method: Employing, the base technology of FDM, innovating ways of printing. Construction: Having a background in the field of architecture, I have tried to explore how the technology can be employed to improve the construction industry.

3D Printing

Method

Fig 61: Printer on Wheels

The inspiration for the fundamental idea was a self balancing scooter. The wheels can move linearly, which carry the body.

infinitely long, as the wheels can move linearly without stopping unless they run out of bed.

The body consists of a frame, a rail and an extruder. The frame is such that it allows for movement of rail and extruder along its longer axis. The rail holds the extruder and allows for vertical (z-axis) movement.

The basic challenges of the said design were identified as:

The bed for printing is the surface onto which the printer moves.

Together the movement of the three axes allow for 3D printing. The additional advantage is that one of the axes is

â&#x20AC;˘ Bed Leveling â&#x20AC;˘ Adhesion of the filament to the surface of the bed. â&#x20AC;˘ Cable management - Filament, power and data.

3D Printing

Fig 62: Custom Color Crayon Printer

Since 3D printers allow for converting from digital to physical; the idea demonstrated in figure 62 - custom crayon printer, aims to convert digital colors to crayons.

selected, based on its RGB/CMYK value, the printer would mix required amount of the filaments from each cartridge and print the desired color.

The idea was to select custom colors using RGB or CMYK values and be able to print crayons or other coloring mediums using a 3D printer. Wax crayons seem to be the most doable of the lot. The printer would consist of a bed, an extruder and filament cartridges of either RGB or CMYK. Once a color is

3D Printing

Method

Fig 63: Object Overlay Printer

The aim of the printer is to be able to print directly over any object that is placed on the bed. To do so, the object is first scanned and as shown in the figure 63 then, using multiple extruder system, print over the object. The multiple extruder system is a continuous rail that flows in to 2 axes - z and y. The bed is made circular and can swivel along its center to allow reach to extruder. 38

Such a system will allow the printer to print at any given voxel (3D analog of

pixel) and hence, the printer would also be able to print in the undercuts of the placed object.

3D Printing

Fig 64: The Replicator X4000

Simply put, the above concept is a 3D analog of photocopy machines.

complete device is envisioned to be a desktop machine.

That is, the device can produce 3d copies of any desired object. There are two parts of the device - the scanner and the printer. The 3D scanner has stereoscopic cameras and a bed that can rotate the placed object. The generated 3D model can be exported and modified or be directly printed. The printer part is an FDM printer, that can make multiple copies of the object. The number of copies, however, is subject to the volume of the object. The

3D Printing

Fig 65: Polymer packaging

This particular idea revolves around the idea of photo-hardening thermo-set resins which are used in SLA printers.

with UV light.

The resin when exposed to a certain light solidifies. Controlled solidification, yields 3D objects of desired shape. However, I have proposed a similar technique for packaging. The steps are as follows -

4. The object can be un-packed by using alcohol solution.

1. The object is dipped in resin. The resin being viscous, sticks to the surface of the object. 40

2. The object is put on a conveyor belt which passes though a tunnel of flooded

3. The resin hardens around the object, packing it air-tight.

The above method, as illustrated in figure 65, has the potential to replace plastic used for packaging.

3D Printing

Fig 66: Minimal 3D Printer

Minimal 3D printer aims to reduce the amount of hardware to the bare minimum, allowing for easy portability. To accomplish the same, the printer is broken down to its constituent parts and reduced individually -

movement. Computation and Display - The frame extends as a holder for a phone. An android phone is used as a display to monitor progress and also as processor for the device.

Bed- The bed sits on the frame and is hinged at point such that it can move about an axis (Y-axis). Extruder- The extruder is attached to a rail that allows for an axial movement (X-axis). Frame- The frame combines every part and itself is a rail to allow Z-axis

3D Printing

Fig 67: Cracker Printer

The Cracker printer can print crackers of standard preset configurations. Varying the amount of flash powder, its density and layout within the body can create crackers of varying types. The printer has inlet for flash powder and paper and a conveyor belt underneath that allows for continuous production of crackers.

Currently crackers, that are available in the market and specially during the festival of Diwali, are hand-made or require varying amounts of manual of labor. This is a very hazardous workplace

and sometimes children are also employed in the production. The cracker printer aims to replace the same.

3D Printing

Fig 68: Nail Extension Printer

Demonstrated in figure 68, the nail extension printer, is the 3D analog of nail printers. While nail printers print any desired 2D image on the nails, this device can print custom extensions directly over the nail of the finger. The mechanism used is similar to the object overlay printer (figure 63). However, the scale is much smaller. The device is wirelessly connected to a phone. The choice of custom designs and colors is done on the phone and once finalised, is printed on the finger.

3D Printing

Construction

Fig 69: Wall Runner

The wall runner has two major parts The runner, that moves along the wall, depositing or printing material along the length of the wall. The container that moves in sync with the runner. The container moves along a rail that runs parallel to the wall being printed. The material in the container can be either poured in manually or via a pump.

Instead of printing layer by layer, as is done in FDM, the wall is printed in a helical manner. The runner doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have to stop to move up by a unit, rather

prints on a slight inclined path, gaining height gradually.

3D Printing

Fig 70: 3D Printed bricks

3D Printed custom bricks allow for designing bricks that, when assembled, make walls of unique forms as shown in figure 71.

Fig 71: Wall of 3D printed bricks.

Custom bricks with holes and perforations reduce the weight of the overall structure, without compromising much with the overall strength.

3D Printing

Fig 72: 3D Printed brick with switch board

Chasing in the walls is traditionally done after the brick work is done. However, the step can be avoided if the bricks have integrated conduits and switch boards. For a complete electrical layout solution as illustrated in figure 72, following kinds of bricks are neededFiller Brick - With no wires running through it. Horizontal connection- Brick with horizontal conduit running through it. Vertical connection- Brick with vertical conduit running through it. 46

Turn- Brick with curved conduit, allowing for changing vertical to horizontal and vice-versa. 3-way / 4-way connector - Brick with connector conduits. These have openings embedded in them to route wires. Switch Board- Brick with integrated switch boards. These bricks are assembled in the required manner to achieve the desired layout.

3D Printing

Fig 73: Metro pillar shuttering

India is rapidly welcoming more and more metro cities and at an unprecedented rate. Metros are either underground or overhead. Both require diverting traffic if the route coincides with a road, which often happens. This leads to congestions for months. In the case of overhead metro lines, one of the major chunk of work is building gigantic columns to support metro tracks. This is constructed by first placing reinforcement in place and then placing shutters and finally pouring in concrete. The concrete sits in for at-least a month before the shutters are removed.

The shutters require support and are supported by logs of timber that are inclined onto the shutters. This takes up huge land area. To counter this, metro pillar shuttering can be printed using 3D printing. A belt like device is placed that has multiple extruders. This prints helically and prints complete shuttering one go. Since, the shuttering is a single piece, also doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t require support.

3D Printing

Material

Fig 74: Food to cutlery printer

The device, as illustrated in figure 74, uses leftover food as filament for making cutlery. The printer exists of four parts Collector, Digester, Printer and a Conveyor belt. The collector collects the leftover food and slowly feeds to the digester. The digester churns all the ingredients into a slurry. An edible glue is added at this step to increase cohesion. This slurry is used for making cutlery. 48

The slurry is printed onto the conveyor belt, which moves continuously to

ensure a non-stop production. Scenario - A restaurant feeds all the food that was unused into the printer. The printer prints cutlery overnight, to be used the next day. Note - The design of the cutlery is such that nor supports are required i.e., one of the sides of the cutlery is completely flat.

3D Printing

Fig 75: Cake Icing Printer

The Icing of a cake is the most customisable part of the cake. With almost all of the cakes requiring at-least some amount of customisation. There are existing 2D printers that can print custom images onto a cake using edible ink. The device is designed to be the 3D analog of the same. Figure 75 shows two such printers of different sizes.

3D Printing

Fig 76: Food Cartridges

Food printing has been making buzz internationally for quite some time now. With the availability of food grade cartridges, food printing is now more common than ever.

two parts - The lunch box (the printer) and the food (the cartridges).

3D printed food allows for making fresh food, without actually making it. This provides for a unique opportunity to make food exactly when needed, wherever needed.

The printer can be preset to start printing at a set time so that the food is at just the right temperature when consumed.

The concept of Food cartridge is to replace lunch boxes where the food sits getting stale till it is time to eat. 50

The food cartridges system consists of

The cartridges contain specific filament to print a whole food item, say, a burger or an aaloo ka parantha.

3D Printing

Fig 77: Ice Printer

Ice 3D printing is rather a quite natural phenomenon. In colder climates, Icicles are created as tiny water droplets gradually freeze layer by layer.

limitation with custom design, however, is the inability of printing solids with cantilevers.

The device shown in figure 77, replicates the same, but in a freezer. The device can replace entire freezer section of a small to medium refrigerator and can be added as a plug in on bigger freezers. The device can print ice cubes of custom shapes. These shapes can either be selected from a set of per-downloaded shapes or be custom designed. The

3D Printing

Fig 78: Any Food Printer

The printer shown in Figure 78- Any food printer is designed to do exactly that. The printer is used to morph any food into desired shapes e.g., converting green veggies into the shape of a cookie. The printer will help many people who struggle with eating right, as often, the foods rich in nutrients are not very delicious to look at.

The printer itself consists of two part The digester and the printer. The digester converts the food into a slurry that can be printed.

The printer then converts this slurry into a desired shape that is more appeasing.

3D Printing

Fig 79: Cloth Printer

The cloth printer is a concept to reuse the same fabric over and over but in different forms and colors. Additive Manufacturing might produce just the right condition for such a device. The inspiration or rather the need arose from the rapidly changing trends in fashion. Clothes, which are otherwise fit to be used, are branded out-of-fashion and then never see the light of the day; doomed to spend the eternity in hardly ever looked corners of closets. The types of fabrics used are finite, what is not finite is the variety of colors and

forms that the fabrics can be morphed into. The clothes once deemed old, is fed int o the printer, which shreds the fabric and prints a desired clothing.

3D Printing

Fig 80: Waste Paper Printer

The waste paper printer is envisioned as an office product or a similar environment that generates a lot of paper waste that gets shredded. The waste paper printer, as illustrated in figure 80, consists of three parts Shredder - The shredder receives paper of a maximum size of an A3 and shreds and deposits it in the digester. Digester- the digester makes a pulp of the shredded paper and adds a glue to increase cohesion. 54

Printer- The printer sits below the digester and prints the slurry made in

the digester into paper products like pen holder, paper weights or even a lamp. Many more custom designs can be made.

3D Printing

Fig 81: Jewelery redesign Printer

Jewelery making is an age old craft that has been continuously evolving. The materials used for making jewelery constitute the bigger chunk of the price of the jewel, the other part is the craftsmanship.

Therefore, a person owning, say 15 grams of gold, can virtually posses all possible configuration of gold jewelery up-to a weight of 15 grams.

Additive Manufacturing opens up multiple opportunities to take it a step further. As pointed in the case of cloth printer, Fashion changes dramatically fast. Hence, the printer can melt jewelery and print it into another desired shape,with no loss of material.

3D Printing

Stage 1 - Feedback by faculty

Two projects were shortlisted after the discussion and feedback session

â&#x20AC;˘ Custom color crayon printer

â&#x20AC;˘ Printer on wheels

There was potential in each of the ideas, but these were to be tested and verified before being finalized as thesis topics. After several discussion, however, it deemed best to explore more before finalizing upon either. This time emphasis was put into selection of area where a design intervention using Additive Manufacturing could bring desirable results. The further development of the above mentioned products was put on hold.

Fig 82: Custom color crayon Printer

Fig 83: Printer on wheels

3D Printing

7. Heat Map Analysis For the purpose of objective analysis of possible fields where an intervention of Additive Manufacturing (AM) is suitable, a heat map of table was generated. The Rows are the possible fields of intervention and columns are the advantages and disadvantages of Additive manufacturing. Note: It is to be noted that the disadvantages are bound to reduce significantly by technological advancement in the near future or by high capital input in the present. Hence, a field that scores high on disadvantages but scores high on advantages as well could prove to be a good field for AM Intervention.

Highly Advantageous

Highly Dis-advantageous

Somewhat Advantageous

Somewhat Dis-advantageous

No Effect

Fig 84: Legend for figure 84.

Fields with highest Positive Score

Fields with highest Total Score

1) Jewelery

1) Students of Art

2) Artists

3) Students of Art

3) Dramas and theatrics

4) Printing Hubs

4) Jewelery

5) Movie Sets and Theaters

5) Lodging

6) Lodging

6) Make-up and Prosthetics

7) Remote Location Printer for Armed Forces

7) Printing Hubs

8) Dentistry

9) Prosthetics

9) Ophthalmology 10) Home appliance repair by authorised personnel 11) Architecture

8) Gourmet Food 10) Dentistry 11) Ophthalmology 12) Home appliance repair by authorised personnel 13) Fine Dining

3D Printing

Geometric Variabiliy

Form

Weight (density)

Form

Material

Aeronautics Automobile Manufacturing Two-wheelers Shipbuilding Cycles

Model Making Construction

Architecture

Shoes Clothing Make Up Art & Fashion Jewellery accessories Artists Students of Art

Gourmet Household Community

BioPriting Prosthetics Dentistry Ophthalmology Drugs

Maker Community

Printing Hubs Individual Scale

Repair & Maintenance

Home level Hub Level Industrial Level

Research & development On Site (Mainland) On Site ( Remote Location eg, ship/ siachen)

Dining Lodging

Food

Healthcare 5

Defence 8

Hospitality

Set Design Movie Industry Make-up & prosthetics 10 Dramas and theatrics

Advantages Quicker Lower t feedback to (mark loop usage

Indian Railways

Catering Maintenance

Fig 85: Heat Map Analysis

Quick Customizability

3D Printing

uick Customizability

orm

Material

Advantages Quicker Lower time feedback to (market / loop usage)

Decentraliesd Digital Production Inventory

Reduced material waste

Net Positive Score (max 45)

Feasible at low volume

Disadva Relatively lower Accuracy & Tolerance

-1

-5

-3

-5

-3

-1

-5

-3

-1

-3

-5

-1

-5

-1

-5

-3

-1

-3

-1

-3

-1

-3

-1

-3

-1

-5

-1

-3

-1

-3

-1

-3

-5

-1

-5

-1

-5

-1

-5

-1

-3

-1

-3

-1

-5

-1

-3

3D Printing

Reduced material waste

Net Positive Score (max 45)

Disadvantages Advantages Geometric Variabiliylower Quick Customizability Feasible Relatively Realtively Quicker low Net Negative Lower time Ansitropic Digital Decentraliesd feedbackScoreto(min Net at low Accuracy & production (market / Score properties Inventory Production 20) usage) (max 41) Form (density) Form Materialspeed loop volumeWeightTolerance

Aeronautics 31 Automobile 31 nufacturing Two-wheelers 3 31 Shipbuilding 3 21 Cycles 3 29

-1

-5

3-3

-14 3

17 3

-5

-3

3-3

-14 5

17 1

-5

-3

3-3

-14 5

17 1

-1

-5

1-3

-14 1

7 1

-3

3-3

-12 5

17 1

Model 29 Making Construction 31

-1

3-3

-6 5

23 3

-1

-3

-5

3-3

-12 5

19 5

rchitecture 3

Shoes 35 Clothing 29 Make 5 35 Up t & Fashion 5 Jewellery 43 accessories 5 37 Artists 3 41 Students of Art 3 41

-3

5-5

-14 5

21 1

-5

-1

5-5

-12 5

17 1

-5

-1

5-5

-12 5

23 5

-1

-5

-3

5-3

-12 5

31 5

-3

-1

5-5

-12 5

25 3

-1

-3

5-1

-8 5

33 5

-1

-3

-1

5-1

-6 5

35 5

-1

-3

-1

5-3

-8 5

29 5

-1

-3

-1

3-3

-8 3

25 5

-1

5-5

-8 3

21 5

Food 3 3

Gourmet 37 Household 33 Community 29

0 5

-1

-5

-3

5-3

-12 5

25 5

-1

-3

5-1

-8 5

29 5

-1

-3

5-3

-10 5

29 5

-3

-1

5-3

-10 5

29 5

BioPriting 37 Prosthetics 37 Dentistry 39 Ophthalmology 39 Drugs 31

-3

-1

5-5

-12 3

19 3

Maker 5 ommunity 3

Printing Hubs 41 Individual Scale 35

-3

-1

-3

5-3

-10 5

31 5

-1

3-3

-6 3

29 5

5 3

ealthcare 3 3

Repair & 3 aintenance 3

3 3

Defence 3 3

Hospitality 3

Home 37 level Hub 30Level Industrial Level 36 Research & development 33 On35 Site (Mainland) On Site ( Remote Location eg, ship/ siachen) 39 Dining 37 Lodging 39

0 5

-1

-3

3-1

-8 5

29 5

-3

5-3

-12 5

18 c

-3

-5

5-3

-16 5

20 c

0 5

-1

-5

3-3

-14 3

19 5

-1

-5

3-3

-14 5

21 5

-1

-5

3-3

-14 5

25 5

0 3

-1

-3

-1

5-3

-8 5

29 5

-1

-3

5-3

-8 5

31 5

Set41Design 3 vie Industry Make-up & prosthetics 3 41 Dramas and theatrics 3 41

-1

-3

-5

5-3

-12 5

29 5

-3

-1

5-3

-10 5

31 5

-3

-1

5-3

-8 5

33 5

Catering 25 an Railways Maintenance 3 60 33

-5

-1

1-5

-12 1

13 5

-3

3-3

-12 3

21 5

3D Printing

Briefs Generated Most of the fields that appear higher in the list are also the fields that have been worked upon the most. Hence, another filter was applied to identify novel fields of intervention: Novel Fields of Intervention: 1. Lodging

4. Movie Sets and Theaters

Possible Brief: A customized toiletry printers for high-end hotels

Possible Brief: A printer for a drama club which can print props; and after use, the props can be fed back into the printer to re-print and minimize waste.

2. Remote Location Printer for Armed Forces Possible Brief: A military grade 3d-printer that can be deployed on site 3. Home appliance repair by authorized personnel Possible Brief: A portable 3d printer that can be carried by repair personnel to print smaller parts required during repair and carrying a digital inventory of all possible parts that could be needed to repair, say, a LG washing machine.

Possible Brief: Pre-Fab make-up printer: A printer that prints make-up on a secondary skin that can be then applied on the face of actors. The face data of each actor is stored to custom print accurate make-up, reducing time and damage to skin. 5. Architecture Possible Brief: A complete solution printer that can used print a house autonomously.

3D Printing

8. Finalized Design Brief

â&#x20AC;&#x153;A 3D Printer that automatizes constructionâ&#x20AC;? 3D Construction Printing (3DCP) is an emerging field with very bright future prospects. From being high customizable to minimizing the risk the laborers put themselves to during a construction project, 3DCP is a technology that will replace many construction practices that exist today. Following are the major advantages (as compared to traditonal construction) that 3DCP offers with the technology that is available today -

Reduced Material Cost

Faster Construction

Increased Labor Safety

Real-time Quality check

Eliminates human error

3D Printing

9. Existing 3D Construction Printing Apis Cor (Robotic Arm) The Apis Cor Employs a robotic arm that moves using a telescopic movement. The central axle is fixed on the ground and can move up as the print progresses. The material used is concrete and reinforcements are added manually by pausing the printer at regular intervals. Similarly, roof and lintel beams are also added manually.

Fig 86: Apis-Cor Printer Source: www.apis-cor.com

COBOD (Gantry System) The COBOD is one of the many Concrete printers that run using the gantry system. This system replicates a desktop 3D Printer with a much larger scale. Though this setup provides high accuracy, but is highly bulky and also needs big offsets outside the print volume to be set up.

Fig 87: Printer with Gantry System Source: www.aniwaa.com

WASP (Delta System) The Wasp uses a Delta system, which is similar to the Gantry system but is slightly lighter and is also modular. Hence, multiple WASPs can work together. Though an slight improvement to the Gantry system, the WASP is still bulky and requires precision setting up.

Fig 88: Printer with Delta System Source: www.aniwaa.com

SECTION III - Design Intervention Interventions 3D Printed House 3D Printer

3D Printing

10. Limitations in existing 3D Construction printing After studying the various companies and groups that pioneer in the sphere of 3D Construction printing, the following limitations were observed In Printing System • Only the frame of the house is printed. Everything else is done manually. • Very bulky and requires human help to be built. • Isn’t aware of the building. Hence, can’t monitor the correctness of the build. • Interface with user is very native.

In Architectural System • No segregation of Structural and filler materials. • Non-optimized structural load transfers. • Electrical and Plumbing not integrated. Requires cutting walls. • Roof is required to be lifted by crane and put in place. • Lintels are manually put in place, no provision for automation. • Foundation and Plinth slab not integrated.

3D Printing

11. Interventions To come up with a design solution for the problems that currently exist in the sphere of 3D Construction printing (3DCP), a two branched approach is adopted. The first is to figure out ways of dealing with the limitations of current practices of 3DCP and expanding its scope to make it reach further towards fully automated. The second is to derive the requirements from the first and build a product out of it. The same is explained with a flowchart below:

Fig 89: Flowchart of executing the design brief

3D Printing

12. Proposed systems for construction of a 3D Printed House Materials Mimicking the print process flow in a desktop printer, where a support material is needed, a similar approach was adopted. The support material should have some very specific properties, like - Low melting point, good compressive strength, fast setting and low slump. The materials finally chosen are:

Fiber Reinforced Concrete (FRC) Structural Material (Fast Setting & low slump)

Coarse Aggregate

Cement

Fine Aggregate

Compressive Strength

Fibers

Tensile Strength

Machinable Wax Support Material (Fast Setting, Reusable, tune-able melting point)

Paraffin Wax

Polymers

Machinable Wax

3D Printing

Using wax to build conduits Mimicking the print process flow in a desktop printer, where a support material is needed, a similar approach was adopted. The support material should have some very specific properties, like - Low melting point, good compressive strength, fast setting and low slump. The materials finally chosen are: 1

Wax Conduits and openings printed in place layer by layer and left to set. Fig 90: Step 1 - Printing

The wax hardens much faster than concrete and is easily melt-able. Fig 91: Step 2 - Hardening

After application of heat, the wax printed oozes out of the opening provided. This wax is collected to be reused.

Leaving behind conduits for electrical wiring

Fig 92: Step 3 - Heating

Fig 93: Results - Conduits

3D Printing

Using wax to build water pipes

Following a similar fashion, wax is laid down, layer by layer. However, in this case, the desired cavities are non linear. This would ensure a natural flow of water from the tank to the pipes. This piping pattern is CAD-generated for most efficient configuration. Fig 94: Step 1- Printing

The wax hardens much faster than concrete and is easily melt-able. 70

Fig 95: Step 2 - Hardening

Leaving behind a desired organic cavity to be used as water pipes after finishing Fig 96: Step 3 - Cavity

3D Printing

All the outlet holes are plugged closed and Bitumen emulsion is poured from the top. After a stipulated amount of time, the excess of bitumen is collected from the holes below. Fig 97: Step 4 - Bitumen Emulsion

Since we now have a mold ready, a computed amount of plastic is inserted from the entry point of pipe. This is then blown, as is done in blow molding process, for it to take the shape of the pipe. Fig 98: Step 5 - Blow Molding

Leaving behind a desired organic shaped matrix of water pipes. Fig 99: Result - Water Pipes

3D Printing

Wall Sections - Patterned fill Sparse Used in places with little strength requirement.

Fig 100: Sparse Pattern fill

Moderately dense When transitioning from sparse to dense

Fig 101: Moderately Pattern fill

Super Dense Is an substitute for RCC

Fig 102: Super dense Pattern fill

3D Printing

Generative Design Structure System Structure is calculated for site and project specific requirements. Unique for each construction. The structure generated is compatible with the conduits and the waterpipes generated. Such a structure also has a higher resistance against damages from seismic activities. Traditional System Slab Beams

Columns Plinth

Proposed System

Slab Beams

Columns Plinth

Traditional System

Fig 103: Comparison between traditional and proposed structural systems

3D Printing

Integrated Slab-Beam System The integrated roof slab system is divided into parts and each part is provided with individual vertical supports.

Fig 104: Parts of integrated roof support sitting on the columns

Fig 105: Parts of integrated columns snapping into each other using glue.

3D Printing

Advantages of proposed system over Traditional As compared to a house built using traditional method, a house built using the proposed systems has the following advantages • Consumes lesser material • Structurally more sound • More Insulation • Quicker Construction

Fig 106: Proposed System

Fig 107: Traditional System

3D Printing

13. Construction of a 3D printed house Boundary To account for effective single point solution, the following prerequisite are needed. • Foundation • Plinth •

Waste water connection / Sewer connection

•

Road and electrical availability

These are prerequisite because the traditional methods are both economical and sustainable, any attempt to replace them at this stage will look forced upon. However, as we move onto better technological advancements, these will be fully automated as well.

Design The intervention starts right at the designing phase. Once the Architect has made the first set of designs, the design is fed into the software. The software does the following things. •

Recommends organic structural support options as per the drawing provided.

•

Recommends optimized conduit and electrical lay outing.

• Lists out clashes, if any, with the design and the Archbots mobility. E.g., too tight corridors •

Lists out positions for placing the triangulation devices.

•

Recommends the number of Archbots required.

• Simulates the time-line of construction and listing out amount of time, material needed. Also, shows the time reduction The recommendations are verified by the architect and process is repeated until a final design output is generated. Once the design is approved, the design can either be loaded directly on the Archbot’s disk or can be communicated to the Archbots present on site

3D Printing

S TA G E 0 1

Site Prep and bring equipment to site This is the basic prerequisite, wherein a site has had foundations put in place and a plinth built. The task of constructing the house over the plinth is carried by the Arch-bots. Equipment This is a one-time investment to bring the equipment to site. The minimum equipment that are needed are: •

2 Archbots

•

2 Material Pumps

•

1 Wax melting unit (WMU)

•

1 Cement truck / Cement Mixer

•

3 triangulation devices

The Archbot hoppers, pumps and WMU can fit in one truck. Hence, overall, two trucks are required to be transported to site.

3D Printing

S TA G E 0 2

Placing the Triangulation devices The triangulation devices are placed on a per-designated location as shown in the illustration below. An optional test can be performed to check for errors in triangulation by running Arch-bot along the periphery of the plinth. Any error is reported to the ground staff as well as on the cloud, if set-up.

3D Printing

S TA G E 0 3

Creating chasing on Plinth for wax exit As illustrated in the figure, Archbots are used to make chases in the plinth. The chases are required to channel the flow of wax and its effective collection, post construction.

3D Printing

S TA G E 0 4

Wall Construction The wall construction is carried out in multiple phases. The actual flow of work varies dynamically depending upon the number of Archbots available. A minimum of two Archbots are recommended on any site. The wall has the following components that are printed together in a layered manner• Wall Fill • Electrical Conduits • Water Pipes • Structural System • Fenestrations

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S TA G E 0 5

Wax and lintel Supports Wax is printed in a parametric manner to minimize material usage while remaining structurally sound. Wax is printed for the following elements: â&#x20AC;˘ Windows â&#x20AC;˘ Staircase â&#x20AC;˘ Roof - If the existing concrete structures are not sufficient to support roof, Wax walls are erected at computed places. However, Doors are not printed in wax to allow movement of Arch-Bots. This is overcome by printing lintels in situ and placing them at their place and printing around it. All of it is done by the archbots. 81

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Roof and Beam Construction The roof system is divided into smaller fragments. Each fragment is printed in situ on the plinth. To ensure it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t stick on to the plinth surface, a layer of wax is used as bed for print. These fragments are such designed that they are snap together when placed and an added layer of glue ensures water-proof joinery. Each of these are printed and placed using Arch-bots.

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Finishing up Once the concrete has fully set in, the wax can be retrieved. To achieve this heat is required. This can be achieve in multiple ways - Using a blowtorch, building a fire within the house. There is a future provision to arm Arch-bots with blowtorch wielding arms to make the melting process all the more efficient. After the molten wax is collected, the chases are filled up using concrete. Then, the triangulation devices are removed.

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Completed House This is merely an illustration to articulate the broad steps followed in the proposed manner of constructing housed. It is to be noted that, there is now evidently no need to keep building boxy houses and designers need not remained constrained with linearity imposed by the existing ways of construction. The add-ons like putting electrical wires and carpentry is to follow now.

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LEARNINGS

The simulation of stage wise construction shed a great deal of light on how the printer printing the house should be. The next section of the document deals with the design of the printer.

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14. Design of 3D Printer

Features required in the printer

Z-axis mobility up to 4.2 meters

X-Y Axis mobility as required

Fine control for extruding

Pumping materials to the required height

Variable/ multiple nozzle apertures

Cable Management

Power Supply

Way-finding

FRC mixer

CENTRAL MATERIAL AND PROCESSING UNIT

MOBILE PRINTING UNIT

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Iteration 1

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The Printer is brought to the site manually. It aligns itself accordingly.

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The four sides of the printer conceal four arms for printing in four directions simultaneously.

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Each arm is connected through helical cable that bundles both material and power.

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Each of the arms further contain telescopic shafts that facilitate the z-axis movement of the printer.

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A central unit is used to feed multiple mobile units.

Using dual extruder system, the bot prints the wall as shown.

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Inferences & crits

• Feeder pipe is too thin • Material and power feed to main unit missing • Looks unstable

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Iteration 2 Bot with tracks for all terrain mobility. Two wheels stacked close to each other employing differential to make turns. The bot is modular, hence, can be clubbed to do heavier tasks.

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The fundamental idea behind introducing modularity was to make the bot all terrain mobile. When two bots are clubbed together, Each cab move independently to allow for dynamic suspension. Using this setup, task of excavation and digging for foundation can also be carried out with precision.

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Product Dimensions

The z-direction is controlled by a dual channel system. The maximum height that can be achieved by the bot is 3900mm.

A counter weight is added on the reverse side of the extruder to account for balance and a stable center of gravity

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Power and material inlet are provided on the rear end of the bot, opposite to the extruder arm. The motor and pump are located in the body below and also serve as counter weight.

Inferences & crits

• Needs work on stability • Need to define boundary for product definition • Need to add swivel to increase the amount of mobility. • The wheel system is very limiting for a Cartesian style movement. • Movement of material within the bot not refined.

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Final Design

Form Exploration

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The ARCH-BOT

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Product parts and details

The wheels hubs have motors inside and can rotate by 90 Â° along its axle.

The arm has three joints with the last part being the rail for motion of extruder.

The main body houses material tubes and pump to send material to the extruder. The rear side has an info panel.

Wheel hubs

Main Body

Arm with Extruder

Axle Support

Chassis

Hydraulic lift mechanism

Swivel axle with entry for material and power.

Chassis with four points for wheel connection.

The hydraulic lift provides the device with Z-axis mobility. This also houses the robotic Arm Extruder.

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Exploded view

Groove for Robotic arm movement

Extruder Info Panel

Hydraulic lifts Rotating axle with Material in

Rotating axle

Wheel hub Rubber tires

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Product Orthogonal Views

Front view

Side view

Top view

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Rear view

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Product Dimensions

The profile of the product has been designed such that it can traverse a door opening of 2100 x 1000.

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Sample printing procedure

Step 1 The Archbot arrives at the desired spot to begin printing.

Step 2 The wheels align with the length of the print direction

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Step 3 The robotic arm moves out and starts printing from the surface level.

Step 4 The robotic arm moves up along the shaft to print at higher voxels.

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Step 5 The wheels move away from the body to increase stability.

Step 6 The hyradulic mechanism now moves up to reach higher up. The body moves slighly back for stability.

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Step 7 The body moves futher back to stabilise as the extruder reaches the highest point at +4300mm.

Finish The wax is melted to reveal the desired shape.

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Concrete

Wax

Material flow

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List of Figures

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Fig 1: A schematic showing FDM printing. Source : www.3dhubs.com �� 8 Fig 2: A complex 3D printed geometry. Source : www.leolane.com �� 9 Fig 3: A DIY 3D printer Source : www.ultimaker.com �� 9 Fig 4: Multiple material exploration. Source : www.3dhubs.com �� 9 Fig 5: Material Design Iteration. Source : www.3dprinting.com �� 10 Fig 6: A complex 3D printed geometry. Source : www.protoseyewear.com �� 10 Fig 7: Anisotropic nature of FDM Prints. Source: www.3dhubs.com �� 11 Fig 8: Stringing and raft support in a print with PLA. �� 11 Fig 10: Comparison of the three manufacturing technologies. Source: www.3dhubs.com �� 12 Fig 9: A schematic showing FDM printing. Source: www.3dhubs.com �� 12 Fig 11: A schematic showing FDM printing. Source: www.3dhubs.com �� 13 Fig 12: The 3D-printed Koenigsegg Agera RS Source: www.depronized.com �� 13 Fig 13: 3D printed bladder. Source: www.all3dp.com �� 13 Fig 14: An array of 3D printed products. Source: www.imakr.com �� 14 Fig 15: A dope-looking full scale 3d printed armor. Source: www.3dprintingindustry.com �� 14 Fig 16: FDM printer. Source: www.3dexter.com �� 14 Fig 17: 3D printed tooling. Source: www.makepartfast.com �� 14 Fig 18: 3D printed robot exoskeleton. Source: www.shapeways.com �� 15 Fig 19: Maker’s asylum 3D printing advertisement. Source: www.makersasylum.com �� 15 Fig 20: Arthur C Clarke Source: www.all3dp.com �� 16 Fig 21: David Jones Source: www.all3dp.com �� 16 Fig 22: Photo Hardening Source: www.all3dp.com �� 16 Fig 23: A First patent on 3D printing Source: www.all3dp.com �� 16 Fig 24: Chuck Hull Source: www.sdsystems.com �� 17 Fig 25: First commercial : SLA-1 Source: www.sdsystems.com �� 17 Fig 26: Stratasys Source: www.stratasys.com �� 17 Fig 27: Stratasys 3d modeler Source: www.stratasys.com �� 17 Fig 28: ZCorp Z402 Source: www.all3dp.com �� 18 Fig 29: Wax models Source: www.solidscape.com �� 18 Fig 30: Selective Laser Melting Source: www.all3dp.com �� 18 Fig 31: Arcam EBM Source: www.arcam.com �� 18 Fig 32: Objet Polyjet Source: www.3dhubs.com �� 19 Fig 33: 3D Printed Bladder Source: www.all3dp.com �� 19

Fig 34: RepRap Printer Source: www.3dhubs.com �� 19 Fig 35: The Darwin printer Source: www.3dhubs.com �� 19 Fig 36: Thingiverse by Makerbot Source: www.makerbots.com �� 20 Fig 37: 3D Printed Prosthetic Source: www.3dhubs.com �� 20 Fig 38: BfB RapMan Printer Source: www.all3dp.com �� 20 Fig 39: Makerbot Cupcake CNC Source: www.makerbot.com �� 20 Fig 40: 3D printed blood vessel Source: www.all3dp.com �� 21 Fig 41: 3D printed in gold. Source: www.shapeways.com �� 21 Fig 42: Urbee, first 3D printed car Source: www.3dhubs.com �� 21 Fig 43: Resin 3D Printer Source: www.amazon.com �� 21 Fig 44: Cody Wilson’s 3D printed gun Source: www.all3dp.com �� 22 Fig 45: SLA and SLS technologies �� 22 Fig 46: Carbon3D using CLIP Source: www.carbon3d.com �� 22 Fig 47: 3D printer in space Source: www.all3dp.com �� 22 Fig 48: Changes in usages of Additive manufacturing Source: www.forbes.com �� 23 Fig 49: Global 3d printing revenues Source: www.deloitte.com/insights �� 23 Fig 50: Types of 3D Printing Icons Source: www.3dhubs.com/ �� 28 Fig 51: 3D printed ABS �� 32 Fig 52: 3D printed PETG �� 32 Fig 53: 3D printed Transparent PLA �� 32 Fig 54: 3D printed Nylon �� 32 Fig 55: 3D printed PLA (100% Infill) �� 33 Fig 56: 3D printed PLA (50% Infill) �� 33 Fig 57: 3D printed PLA (20% Infill) �� 33 Fig 58: 3D printed PLA (0% Infill) �� 33 Fig 59: Stringing in FDM prints. �� 34 Fig 60: The three variables of 3D Printing. �� 34 Fig 61: Printer on Wheels �� 36 Fig 62: Custom Color Crayon Printer �� 37 Fig 63: Object Overlay Printer �� 38 Fig 64: The Replicator X4000 �� 39 Fig 65: Polymer packaging �� 40 Fig 66: Minimal 3D Printer �� 41 Fig 67: Cracker Printer �� 42 Fig 68: Nail Extension Printer �� 43 Fig 69: Wall Runner �� 44 Fig 70: 3D Printed bricks �� 45 Fig 71: Wall of 3D printed bricks. �� 45 Fig 72: 3D Printed brick with switch board �� 46 Fig 73: Metro pillar shuttering �� 47 Fig 74: Food to cutlery printer �� 48 Fig 75: Cake Icing Printer �� 49 Fig 76: Food Cartridges �� 50 Fig 77: Ice Printer �� 51 Fig 78: Any Food Printer �� 52 Fig 79: Cloth Printer �� 53 Fig 80: Waste Paper Printer �� 54 Fig 81: Jewelery redesign Printer �� 55 Fig 82: Custom color crayon Printer �� 56

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Fig 83: Printer on wheels �� 56 Fig 84: Legend for figure 84. �� 57 Fig 85: Heat Map Analysis �� 58 Fig 86: Apis-Cor Printer Source: www.apis-cor.com �� 63 Fig 87: Printer with Gantry System Source: www.aniwaa.com �� 63 Fig 88: Printer with Delta System Source: www.aniwaa.com �� 63 Fig 89: Flowchart of executing the design brief �� 67 Fig 90: Step 1 - Printing �� 69 Fig 92: Step 3 - Heating �� 69 Fig 91: Step 2 - Hardening �� 69 Fig 93: Results - Conduits �� 69 Fig 94: Step 1- Printing �� 70 Fig 95: Step 2 - Hardening �� 70 Fig 96: Step 3 - Cavity �� 70 Fig 97: Step 4 - Bitumen Emulsion �� 71 Fig 98: Step 5 - Blow Molding �� 71 Fig 99: Result - Water Pipes �� 71 Fig 100: Sparse Pattern fill �� 72 Fig 101: Moderately Pattern fill �� 72 Fig 102: Super dense Pattern fill �� 72 Fig 103: Comparison between traditional and proposed structural systems �� 73 Fig 104: Parts of integrated roof support sitting on the columns �� 74 Fig 105: Parts of integrated columns snapping into each other using glue. �� 74 Fig 106: Proposed System �� 75 Fig 107: Traditional System �� 75

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References • think3D. 2020. 3D Printing & Rapid Prototyping Services In India. [Online] Available at: <https://www.think3d.in/3d-printing-service-india/?gclid=CjwKCAiA6 vXwBRBKEiwAYE7iS5xl5GpX-sd-6Yx95WuhzJvRctdhhja39rvyUAhsmwh9vOfu9h h8OhoCZr8QAvD_BwE> . • 3ders.org. 2020. 3Ders.Org - 3D Printer And 3D Printing News. [online] Available at: <https://www.3ders.org/> . • MIT News. 2020. A New Era In 3-D Printing. [online] Available at: <http:// news.mit.edu/2019/new-era-3d-printing-0516> . • Ackerman, D., 2020. The Best 3D Printer For Beginners And Budget Creators In 2020. [online] CNET. Available at: <https://www.cnet.com/news/best-3d-printerfor-beginners-and-budget-creators-in-2020/#listicle-6f74b793-deb9-4365-bcf950178ebc3bad>. • All3DP. 2020. Advantages & Disadvantages Of 3D Printing | All3dp. [online] Available at: <https://all3dp.com/2/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-3d-printing/>. • Essop, A., Vialva, T., Sertoglu, K., Hanaphy, P., Sertoglu, K. and Petch, M., 2020. 80 Additive Manufacturing Experts Predict The 3D Printing Trends To Watch In 2020 - 3D Printing Industry. [online] 3D Printing Industry. Available at: <https://3dprintingindustry.com/news/80-additive-manufacturing-experts-predictthe-3d-printing-trends-to-watch-in-2020-167177/> . • 3dnatives.com. 2020. Is Industrial Scale AM Production Limited By Vendor Lock-In? – 3Dnatives. [online] Available at: <https://www.3dnatives.com/en/ industrial-scale-am-production-limited-150120205/amp/> . • Migo3d.com. 2020. Migo 3D - Printer. [online] Available at: <http://www. migo3d.com/printer/> . • Reprap.org. 2020. PLA - Reprap. [online] Available at: <https://reprap.org/ wiki/PLA> . • 2019. The Material Science Of Metal 3D Printing. [video] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzBRYsiyxjI> [Accessed 5 September 2019]. • 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing. 2020. The Top Ten Most Significant 3D Printed Things: The Results Are In - 3Dprint. Com | The Voice Of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing. [online] Available at: <https://3dprint.com/192706/10-significant-things-results/> . • 3D Hubs. 2020. What Is 3D Printing? The Definitive Guide | 3D Hubs. [online] Available at: <https://www.3dhubs.com/guides/3d-printing/> . 112

• 3Dnatives. 2020. What Is The Outlook For 3D Printer Sales In 2020? 3Dnatives. [online] Available at: <https://www.3dnatives.com/en/3d-printer-sales2020-stud