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Additive technologies have begun its development and application since the second half of the 1980s. The main reason behind that was to fulfil the market demands of increased product quality, flexibility, lower costs, shorter development time and production, as well as small series and individual production. As part of additive technologies, low-budget 3D printers have been developed and are widely available now, and they have enabled a significant expansion of the application of additive technologies for development and production. A large number of low-budget 3D printers on the market make it difficult for the potential investor to choose from. Therefore, potential investor in low-budget 3D printers has to know more detailed their working principle, their construction, materials that they can process and the errors and problems of their technology that occur during processing. In the paper, two most popular low-budget 3D printers MakerBot Replicator 2X and Ultimaker Original was chosen for a detailed comparison. Two reference models were selected for detailed comparison of their performance. Evaluation was made based on final model properties such as deviations from nominal dimensions, shrinkage and surface roughness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In selective laser sintering (SLS) of polymer products the price of material is not the most important factor, but it does play a significant role when analysing the overall i.e. final price of the product, and therefore recycling of material is becoming an increasingly important factor, as well as the ratio of the shares in combining the original and the already used materials. In practice it is inevitable to use the products in various atmospheric conditions (UV radiation and humid environment), intentionally or unintentionally. UV light, with sun being its most common source, and average humidity in different parts of the world can be approximately from 20% to 90%, depending on time, day and geographic location. Therefore, it is necessary to determine how UV light after a longer period of time of exposure affects the product properties. The properties of the final product are also affected by the orientation in the working area of the machine. In the paper an analysis has been performed of the impact of three different types of product orientation in the machine working area and three different ratios of the used polyamide material (100% original, combined in 50:50 ratio of original and recycled and 100% recycled material after the third cycle of usage) on hardness of the polyamide product made by selective laser sintering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The benefits associated with decreasing wall thicknesses below their current values are still measurable and desired even if the final wall thickness is nowhere near those of the aggressive portable electronics industry. It is important to note that gains in wall section reduction do not always occur without investment, in this case, in tooling and machinery upgrades. Equally important is the fact that productivity and performance benefits of reduced material usage, fast cycle times, and lighter weight can often outweigh most of the added costs. In order to eliminate unnecessary mould trials, minimize product development cycle, reduce overall costs and improve product quality, polymeric engineers use new CAE technology (Computer Aided Engineering). This technology is a simulation tool, which combines proven theories, material properties and process conditions to generate realistic simulations and produce valuable recommendations. Based on these recommendations, an optional combination of product design, material and process conditions can be identified. In this work, Moldex3D software was used for simulation of injection moulding in order to avoid potential moulding problems. The results gained from the simulation were used for the optimization of an existing product design, for mould development and for optimization of processing parameters, e.g. injection pressure, mould cavity temperature, etc. © 2007 American Institute of Physics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]