Evaluation of the Performance and Capability of a 3-Dimensional Part Printer and its Fused Deposition Modeling Process

摘要

Rapid Prototyping (RP) is a growing technology due to its ability to decrease product development cycles in many different industries. The quality of a prototype depends upon the machine design, process, process settings, material used, and other factors. Our ultimate goal is to create a design for prototype guideline that undergraduate students may use when designing and building engineered parts for course projects and capstone projects on a specific 3-dimensional printer. In order to create a student guideline, we begin by testing and determining the capability of a new RP machine, a uPrint three-dimensional (3D) printer by Dimension, to produce certain features with dimensional accuracy. This 3D printer uses the Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) process to create prototype parts. In this study, we develop a benchmark part, based upon previous research in the field, in order to create and test common features. We chose to apply the analysis of variance (ANOVA) method and to use control charts to indicate and determine the dimensional capability of the FDM process for the uPrint 3D printer. Experimental results demonstrate the influence of model material and support fill on several dimensional responses. Based upon analysis of main effects and interactions in the experiment, results show that model and support fill settings affect the accuracy and quality of parts, depending upon the design feature.