Emmanouil Dialynas, "Design for manufacture of a fused fillament fabrication 3D printer ", Diploma Work, School of Production Engineering and Management, Technical University of Crete, Chania, Greece, 2021
https://doi.org/10.26233/heallink.tuc.90432
The evolution of rapid prototyping technologies in the last decades has created a new market known as 3D printing. Many companies have taken advantage of the expiration of many patents these last few years and have advanced many different 3D printing technologies. One of the most well-known to the public is fabrication using molten polymer filament extrusion known also as Filament Fusion Fabrication (FFF). Even though many companies have designed and constructed FFF printers in every price and quality range, this study comprises the design of an archetype FFF machine that has the ability to enter the 3D printing market. A CAD program was used for the 3D designs. Our goal was the manufacture of a small modern desktop type 3D printer that provides all the mandatory features that compose a quality machine and differentiate enough from the market especially in the heated bed alignment process. 50 virtual parts were designed in total, with different functions and materials, all of them together compose all the essential parts to fabricate the printer. Assembling the parts will result in the creation of a functional structure that moves and looks realistically. Furthermore, this thesis analyzes all the basic functions of an archetype FFF 3D printing device in order to better explain its conception. As a result, a 3D file was exported of the whole assembly, photorealistic photographs and thermal simulations were taken and multiple mechanical drawings were exported to assist in manufacturing and assembling every part together. These designs will form the stepping stone in creating the machine in the near future in order to check its correct function.