Mysore :

Final year students of Vidyavardhaka College of Engineering in city have developed what they claim as the country’s first 3D printer called “iPrint 3D.”

Nikhil Furtado, a final year Mechanical Engineering student of the college, said that 3D printing is a process of making a three dimensional solid object of virtually any shape from a digital model which is achieved by using an additive process, where successive layers of materials are laid down in different shapes. 3D printing is also considered distinct from traditional machining techniques.

He said that this technology is used in the fields of jewellery, footwear, industrial design, architecture, engineering and construction (AEC), automotive, aerospace, dental & medical industries, education, geographic information systems, civil engineering and many others.

Explaining about the process of printing, he said that 3D printing is also called “additive manufacturing” because it uses an “additive process” as opposed to what is called a “subtractive process.” To explain the difference, he gave an example of a sculptor chiselling a block of stone — he said that the sculptor chips away until he has the sculpture just as he wants it, and then throws out what’s been whittled away. The sculptor began with a block of material and then subtracted from it which is a subtractive process.

But in additive manufacturing, the 3D printer doesn’t take anything away — it simply creates each bit of the object where it needs it, layer by layer, successively, in an additive process.

He said they have just taken the technology and developed a low cost 3D printer that can print 3D models that are designed on 3D Modelling software (CAD). In its pure dimensions, this printer can print anything within a build area of 20x20x20cm with either PLA (Poly Lactic Acid) or ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene) and added that the 3D printer works on the same principle as a CNC machine.

Nikhil said that each 3D-printed object begins with a digital Computer Aided Design (CAD) file, created with a 3D modelling program. The digital file sends instructions that the 3D printer understands; the software then slices the design into hundreds or thousands of horizontal layers. The 3D printer reads this file, and proceeds to create each layer exactly as per the specifications, resulting in a three dimensional object.

When asked about the inspiration behind this invention, the group said that the idea to build a 3D printer occurred to them a year ago , but started working on the project only in May and finished it by August. A major part of the time (2 months) taken was to procure the components, from India and abroad. The time taken to assemble the machine and calibrate it was three weeks.

The team which developed iPrint 3D are: T.S. Rachith, Gaurav and Nikhil Furtado, final year students of Mechanical Engineering with the able support of M.S. Abhishek, alumnus of the same college, Karan Seth, VP, Corporate Affairs & Marketing, Mumbai and Chetan M. Rao & and S. Manoj, final year students, Electronic Design & Deployment, NIE IT. The iPrint 3D printer will be launched in the college tomorrow.

When enquired about their future plans, they said that plans are “to commercialise the printer and make it accessible to the general public and to take 3D printing to the masses.” He further said that they will be creating awareness by conducting workshops and demos at various conferences and colleges, one of them being the ‘ZONAL NASA Conclave’ which will be held in city from Sept.5 to Sept. 7 at the University School of Design, Mysore University.

For details,email: contact@iprint3d.co

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Feature Articles / August 30th, 2013