3-D Technologies
Research on Scanning & Printing in 3D
This research is prepared for Modeling and Identification course in Tallinn University of Technology. The report is about the current 3D technologies mainly related with the engineering applications. The aim is to have a theoretical understanding on current 3D technologies and use the on-hand equipment in the university to have a practical experience on them. The project is mainly focused on 3D scanners and 3D printers as well as modeling.
The main goal of this project is to have an elaborate research on 3D technologies. Theoretical research is also supported with practical works by 3D scanning and printing of selected model(s) with proper hardware and software tools in hand. As an outcome there is an exact copy of the selected 3D model(s) on physical appearance.
After a detailed literature review and description of tools, the practical work done with the chosen model is described in the report. The presentation also summarizes the work done as a defense of the project.
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Survey on 3D Technologies: Case Study on 3D Scanning, Processing and Printing with a Model
Mohamed Abdelmomen; F. Ozan Dengiz; Mart Tamre
Published in: 2020 21st International Conference on Research and Education in Mechatronics (REM)
Date of Conference: 9-11 Dec. 2020
Conference Location: Cracow, Poland
DOI: 10.1109/REM49740.2020.9313881
Publisher: IEEE
Citation: M. Abdelmomen, F. O. Dengiz and M. Tamre, "Survey on 3D Technologies: Case Study on 3D Scanning, Processing and Printing with a Model," 2020 21st International Conference on Research and Education in Mechatronics (REM), Cracow, Poland, 2020, pp. 1-6, doi: 10.1109/REM49740.2020.9313881.
Abstract: The goal of this paper is to explain the current situation of 3D technologies. There are many sources for field specific 3D tools about their intended usage. However, there is lack of general overview of the situation in scientific or engineering society. This survey is completed without prioritizing a single industry or method. Even though the two focus points of the paper are 3D scanning and 3D printing, 3D software tools are also mentioned as they are the link between these technologies. This research was conducted as a Modeling and Identification project for Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech). The practical work was conducted as a case study to observe the real-life results. Several methods and tools were discussed during this phase. Nevertheless, some tools are examined in more detail since they were used for practical work. The physical results were having high accuracy and near-perfect versions of the scan on the software before printing.
Keywords: Three-dimensional displays; Solid modeling; Three-dimensional printing; Printers; Powders; Laser modes; Tools; 3D Scanning; 3D Printing; Modeling; Research
URL: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=9313881&isnumber=9313069
My first real encounter with the applied three dimensional technologies was at the Ä°nfoTron+ as an intern. You can check the EXPERIENCES page for more information about that internship and download my report here for more detail.
Of course I knew about 3D technologies as any engineer but I was not able to use or understand them completely. Even after my internship ended I continued to work on 3D technologies. Like every real scientist or engineer I know they will be the key to almost every area in the near future. I can easily say that you will be reading more about 3D printing, and then a little about 3D scanning. Although there are some other areas like reverse-engineering or visual reality I won't mention them because I am not an expert on those areas.
I can use most of the 3D design or editing programs. Once you learn the pattern anyone can use these programs with a quick orientation. Teaching yourself how to learn a program is a very useful skill when you are an engineer in this age when the technology is constantly and exponentially improve every day.
3D Scanning
Everybody knows a little about 3D scanning technologies and probably anybody will be able to use them in a couple of years in any industry. The hard part about 3D scanning is that it's not a perfect technology yet, and it won't be perfect for at least a couple of years. Everything you scan will have errors, background issues or will need special requirements like dust or paint for the full capacity read from a scanner. There are scanners that can be considered as a room and some that can be mistaken with a jug (kettle) or even a camera.
There are scanners that can scan an entire building and you can edit or examine them in your computer with the right programs before using them for any purpose. This technology is the key of the reverse-engineering today and soon you won't even have to open some device up to learn about it. This is an area that will grow exponentially and require less skill every year, but as I said before it's not perfect yet and you need to know what you do if you will use it in your business. Like every fun technology this comes with a burden too, you have to know how to use the necessary programs not just the machines. You can see some videos on the internet about this technology and learn about how to use them, at least for the personal usage categories. I used Artec EVA for the below results of me. These are the test scans and not repaired or cleaned versions for you to see the first results.
3D Printing
I was an intern in infoTRON technology base mostly working with the additive manufacturing programs and machines. Of course I had to learn them first because not many of them are things you can see in your daily life.
Almost every additive manufacturing method uses support materials on the empty parts of the item to help model material stay strong until it freezes and stops collapsing because of gravity. There are selective laser sintering (SLS), laser engineered net shaping (LENS), aerosol jetting, direct shell production casting (DSPC) etc. technologies in this area. The ones I especially used are more common and mostly easier ones; jetted photopolymer, or polyjet, (JP) technology and fused deposition modeling (FDM) technology.
I did quite a lot of translation for the company. The case studies about the architectural companies that purchase printers from Stratasys will be on www.prototip.org and the technical application guides will be a part of a guide book which will be a lesson material when company gives education for both the customers and the employees.
Additive manufacturing, also known as rapid prototyping, is simply industrialized 3D printing. You turn a 3D model in to a triangle surfaced lattice model and create it layer by layer with a 3D printer. At the beginning there must be a CAD model which is in three dimension and you have to change it to a .stl file so you can adjust it with your software before printing it. The machine uses support material if needed to remove later, sometimes these supports surround the model and sometimes they are just columns. You can easily remove them by hand, water or special compound tanks.
You can see two of the models I worked on above. The bond shaped model and the sphere model are extremely hard designs for making with anything but a 3D printer. I did not create them but edited them to become smooth perfect geometric shapes to prove what a 3D printer with FDM technology can do. The image on the right describes the FDM technology briefly. These models used as advertisement later by the company.
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3D Design
I worked with many 3D design programs through years. I started to design objects for 3D printing and moved to several PCB designs afterwards. I worked with several software based on professional system designs such as SolidWorks. You can see some examples from my senior project on the right side. You can check the Robotics section for the details of the project.
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