>> How 3D Printers Work
In our space we use Bambu X1 Links to an external site. Carbon 3D Printers.
When starting with a 3D printer, you must begin preparing a 3D model with a slicer.
A slicer is a program that converts digital 3D models into printing instructions for a given 3D printer to build an object.
In addition to the model itself, the instructions contain user-entered 3D printing parameters, such as layer height, speed, and support structure settings.
Every 3D printing technology creates 3D objects by adding material layer-by-layer. Slicer software is therefore appropriately named because it virtually “cuts” 3D models into many horizontal 2D layers that will later be printed, one at a time. (Resource Links to an external site.)
In the DSI we use a slicing program called Bambu Studio. We will go over this software in-depth later in the training.
The Bambu X1 Carbon is a fused deposition modeling 3D printer. This means that the printer takes filament into the extruder, then heats the filament to its melting point and pushes it out through the nozzle to create the print. The Bambu X1 Carbon has an Automatic Material System (AMS), which allows you to switch between multiple spools of filament during the printing process.
The material used when 3D printing is called filament.
Filament is a thermoplastic, a plastic that melts rather than burns when heated and can be shaped and molded while hot, then solidify when cooled.
The filament is fed into a heating chamber in the printer's extruder assembly, where it is heated to its melting point and then extruded (squirted) through a metal nozzle. As the extruder assembly moves, it traces a path programmed into a 3D object file to create the sliced object one layer at a time.
The Bambu X1 Carbon has an extruder assembly that contains the nozzle (left). At the DSI we currently have 3 different types of nozzles: .2, .4, and .8. The type of nozzle determines the amount of filament that is extruded through the print core.
The print bed is the platform that the 3D model will be printed on. For the The Bambu X1 Carbon, there is a removable bed that is used to take your print out of the printer when finished.