NICE Rapid is specialized in rapid prototyping. However, many new to the industry are still unaware of exactly what this means and how we are qualified to help you produce the highest quality injection moulded parts. We will explain a little more about rapid prototyping and how it could help your business as below.

3D Printing

3D printing is relatively cheap, quick and effective. We can now produce some quite complex designs with multiple materials via 3D printing. However it is not suitable for mass production.

Stereolithography

Stereolithography(SLA), also known as additive manufacturing, uses a cooling laser and photopolymer resin to produce parts. This is undertaken  by the laser sketching an imprint on the resin, which is slowly cured by every pass, adhering to the layer below until the process is completed and a finished part is produced. It is best for models and complex designs and is quite competitive in relation to cost, but the parts produced maybe fairly fragile and they may degrade when exposed to humidity and UV light.

FDM 3D Printing

FDM 3D Printing is a cost-effective and recognizable additive manufacturing technology worldwide. This technology has a wider application in rapid prototyping or low volume production due to its speed and precision in generating three-dimensional polymeric structures utilizing a choice of feedstock materials. Because FDM requires little post-processing and more materials are available, the lead time and delivery time are fast.

What’s FDM Technology?

Fused Deposition Modeling technology, also referred to as an additive manufacturing process that belongs to the material extrusion family. In FDM 3D Printing, an object is constructed by selectively depositing molten material layer-by-layer over a pre-determined path. Below we made a list to classify the types and the correspondent technology.

• Mtaerial Extrusion - FDM
• Vat Polymerization - SLA, DLP
• Powder Bed Fusion (Polymers) - SLS
• Material Jetting - Mateial Jetting DOD
• Binder Jetting - Binder Jetting
• Powder Bed Fusion(Metals) - DMLS, SLM, EBM

How Does FDM 3D Printing Work?

The working process of FDM is to melt the material into liquid state at high temperature, this molten polymer is extruded through a nozzle and deposited onto the print head, then solidify it, and finally arrange it in the three-dimensional space to form solid objects.

Also, the system of FDM uses innovative printer software to separate a 3D computer aided design (CAD) file into individual slices. Then each slice in the file can be converted into machine code to deposit the first layer of material onto the build platform. Most important of all, the Cartesian coordinate system will be used in determining the printer head must follow across the X and Y axes to place the first layer of material onto building platform. Once the object has been created, the materials that are used to support the object can then be removed.

We know that FDM 3D Printing is widely known for its accuracy and speed. For the precision, we used the most advanced industrial FDM 3D Printers designed to meet tolerance at +/- 0.004” or +/- 0.002” per inch, whichever is greater.

Benefits of Fused Deposition Molding 3D Printing

• Cost effective.
• Material choice is flexibility.
• Fast production time.
• Less post-processing.
• Simple-to-use and office-friendly.

Materials of FDM 3D Printing

More available materials in FDM 3D Printing, it includes several types: Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS-M30, ABSi), Acrylonitrile styrene acrylate (ASA), Polycarbonates (PC, PC-ABS, PC-ISO) and high-performance plastic (Ultem 1010 and UItem 9085). Please below format to know more properties.  

Application for FDM 3D Printing

• Rapid Prototyping
• Concept Low-cost Models
• Manufacturing Tools  

FDM 3D Printing become popuar and widerly used printing technology today by a wide margin. If you are interested in this technology or you have some parts need to be printed, welcome to contact us, we would love to help with your project.