Advantages And Disadvantages Of Selective Laser Sintering

Introduction

3 dimensional printers, additive manufacturing or rapid prototyping are a modern technology process which is the process of creating a three dimensional objects using a digital 3D drawing. It is used to construct a complex shape objects without using any tooling which decrease the production cost. The three dimensional printing can be achieved by two ways. It can either be additive printing process or subtracting printing process.

In additive process the object is created by putting layer over layer (material adding). An example of additive manufacturing is the Fused Deposition Modeling. In the subtractive manufacturing process, the material is removed from a block of the material to shape the required object. A good example of

The SLS process was developed and patented in the 1980s by Carl Deckard. The SLS uses a laser beam to sinter a powder metal to a solid structure. This process is used for low volume production. The powder SLS use is made by the ball milling which is a type of material grinder. SLS uses either single powder components or two powder component.

The advantage of SLS over other additive manufacturing process is that the SLS can use different type of powder materials to make an object. It can be polymers, polystyrene, steel, titanium and green sand. SLS is now widely used because of its ability to create complex shapes.

How SLS Works

SLS is the process of creating 3D objects using powdered material starts by creating a digital 3D drawing of the object in computer aided design software. The CAD file is converted to STL (stereo Lithography) file which is the format that the

Specification of XK7125 Model of CNC:

Model XK7125

X/Y/Z Axis travel 535mm/320mm/375mm

Worktable Size 1000 x 250mm

Max. worktable loading 120kg

Power of spindle motor 1.5KW

Spindle Speed Range 100 – 2500 r/min

Cutting Feed Rate 0 – 2000 mm/min

Positioning accuracy 0.04

Overall Size 1516 x 1764 x 1708mm

Weight 1600 kg

Conclusion:

To sum up the report, there are two types of 3D printing additive manufacturing where material is added over layers to create an object and the subtractive manufacturing where material is removed from a block of material (machining).

There are different ways of 3D printing, and for each process there are advantages and disadvantages. To figure out which method to use, you need to know detail specification of your object such as surface quality, strength, production volume, production time and material.

CNC printers requires less personal to operate than normal manual machines. It makes more waste of material than the additive processes. SLS needs no additional work after the object is printed but it is only used for low production volume. Stereo lithography material is expensive. MakerBot is capable of printing small objects only.