Sustainable 3D printing using eggshells

While Additive Manufacturing is famed for its ability to create complex geometries, sustainability of the technologies is given less attention. Due to the need to melt filament and heat up the printbed, FDM requires a considerable amount of energy. On top of that, valuable and non-renewable resources are used for the production of the commonly...

Utilising additive manufacturing techniques to simplify the accordion production process

This thesis focuses on the utilisation of additive manufacturing (AM) technologies for the production of accordions. The goal is to reduce the man hours required in the production and repair of the instrument. The client, Pigini Nederland, currently produces a small accordion for children and adults: the MiniMouse. This instrument is sold for...

3D Printed Unidirectional Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymers for aerospace applications

In order to save weight and reduce the impact on the environment, the aerospace industry keeps searching for strong and lightweight materials to reduce fuel consumption. A relatively new manufacturing technique made it possible to print nylon, reinforced with continuous unidirectional carbon fibres on a layer-by-layer basis and praised itself...

The feel of 3D prints: An objective and perceptual characterization of FDM surface roughness

Since the expiration of the FDM printing patent by Stratasys in 2009, Fused Deposition Modeling(FDM) printing has taken a large step towards accessible consumer 3D printing. Also, more knowledge is sought in the process of FDM printing and optimizing quality as the layer by layer deposition inevitable results in poor surface quality. This study...

Prosthetic Socket Design for Fused Deposition Modeling

This graduation project was started on the observation that most orthopaedic companies seem to be still far away from producing 3D printed sockets for customers. Research into manual and digital manufacturing methods resulted in an overview of the possibilities for integrating digital tools into the socket production process. Together with the...

Ulticast: Designing an add-on that creates new material benefi ts and increases the printing speed for FDM printed parts

Ultimaker produces desktop Fused Deposit Modelling (FDM) 3D printers. One downfall of the FDM technology is that it is relatively slow in producing solid parts, compared to other rapid prototyping techniques. Larger volumes increase the printing time exponentially. This project started off with a unique idea to replace the internal volume with a...