AMR Software
AMR Data Centers

Unique Moving Supports Reduce 3D Printing Waste by 35%

Share this Article

While additive manufacturing (AM) may save substantial amounts in terms of material waste compared to subtractive techniques, AM is not without its own subtractive procedures, namely in the post-processing of prints. Depending on the specific 3D printing method used, there may be significant support structures that need to be removed from a print. Researchers at USC Viterbi’s Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering have come up with a novel way to reduce this in fused filament fabrication (FFF).

In an article for Additive Manufacturing, Yong Chen, professor of industrial and systems engineering, and PhD student Yang Xu, describe their method for a dynamically-controlled 3D printing substrate. Inspired by pin impression toys, the team created a print bed made up of a series of square washers connected to rods controlled by a single stepper motor. The rods and washers move to the necessary heights to support the object in various locations.

The team first demonstrated their technique for an arbitrary CAD model, completely replacing the need for printed support structures. For more complex geometries, printed supports were still needed. The metal squares would raise to a point and the remainder of the required support would be printed atop those metal pieces. Once the prints were complete, the researchers could easily remove the washers.

According to Chen, this method could reduce material waste by about 35 percent, which can have a significant impact particularly when it comes to more expensive feedstock.

“I work with biomedical doctors who 3-D print using biomaterials to build tissue or organs. A lot of the material they use are very expensive-we’re talking small bottles that cost between $500 to $1000 each,” Chen said. “For standard FDM printers, the materials cost is something like $50 per kilogram, but for bioprinting, it’s more like $50 per gram. So if we can save 30% on material that would have gone into printing these supports, that is a huge cost saving for 3-D printing for biomedical purposes.”

Chen also spoke to the speed savings of using reusable supports:

“When you’re 3-D printing complex shapes, half of the time you are building the parts that you need, the other half of the time you’re building the supports. So, with this system, we’re not building the supports. Therefore, in terms of printing time, we have a savings of about 40%.”

While there have been similar projects in the past, they relied on individual motors, which naturally resulted in higher costs and energy use. With 100 moving pins attached to $10 motors and 25 boards to control something around 100 motors, the machine would easily cost more than $10,000.

The researchers are already examining ways that the technique could be applied to other 3D printers, such as large-scale systems like the Big Area Additive Manufacturing machine from Cincinnati Incorporated, as well as for other technologies.

“People are already building FDM printers for large size car and ship bodies, as well as for consumer products such as furniture. As you can imagine, their building times are really long — we’re talking about a whole day,” Chen said. “So if you can save half of that, your manufacturing time could be reduced to half a day. Using our approach could bring a lot of benefits for this type of 3-D printing.”



Share this Article


Recent News

Firehawk Aerospace Partners with JuggerBot 3D, Gets $1.25M from AFWERX for 3D Printed Propellants

3YOURMIND’s New AI Speeds Up Technical Drawing Analysis for Part Identification



Categories

3D Design

3D Printed Art

3D Printed Food

3D Printed Guns


You May Also Like

amsight Secures Funding and Lands Key Partnership to Power Smarter 3D Printing

Software startup amsight just hit two major milestones: it raised early funding and struck a strategic partnership with one of Germany’s top metal 3D printer makers. The Hamburg-based company completed...

3D Printing Software Market to Hit $6.78B Revenues by 2033

Additive Manufacturing Research (AMR) has released a new edition of its flagship market study, “AM Software Markets 2025: Analysis, Data and Forecast,” offering deep insights into the 3D printing software...

Backflip Launches AI for 3D Scan-to-STL

Text-to-STL service Backflip is launching a new AI model aimed at helping companies reduce factory downtime, a $50 billion annual problem in industrial manufacturing. This ambitious effort seeks to address one...

Sponsored

AlphaSTAR’s Digital Twin Simulation Prevents 3D Printing Errors before They Occur

This is the first article in a series highlighting America Makes’ member companies and their contribution to the additive manufacturing industry. 3DPrint.com is a proud member of America Makes. The...