Design and Manufacturing of a 3D Printer for Teaching and Research

The goal of this paper is to design and fabricate a 3D printer that will be the most accurate and cost-effective printer possible, while still being faster than the Rapid Prototyping (RP) Lab's Stratasys FDM-1650 at Loyola Marymount University. This project is done to greatly increase the capability of the RP lab in addition to exposing students to the design and fabrication of a 3D printer. To complete the construction of the printer, the design is originally generated in Solidworks to ensure the components would work together effectively and to aid with design selection. The frame is then constructed using V-slot aluminum and RP parts that are made in house. Following which, the motors and extruders are assembled according to design plans and the circuitry is wired through an Arduino based programming system. Further steps needed to be taken were reconstructing the Y-axis motion and calibrating all aspects of the machine to finalize the assembly of the printer. The printer has been completed recently and is being used for teaching and research on design and manufacturing applications.