3D Printing: Design to Slice

By the end

What you'll build

• Explain FDM process physics - melt, extrude, solidify - and why printed parts are weakest between layers (Z anisotropy)
• Apply design-for-printing rules for overhangs (the 45-degree-from-vertical limit), minimum walls, hole compensation and assembly clearances
• Read a part drawing in first-angle (IS/BIS) projection and distinguish it from third-angle
• Diagnose STL and mesh problems - non-watertight surfaces, non-manifold edges, flipped normals, coarse tessellation, unit errors
• Model a specified part in your own free CAD tool and verify its volume and surface area against hand-computed values
• Choose slicing settings - layer height, perimeters, infill, supports and orientation - and articulate what each one trades away
• Select an FDM material (PLA, PETG, ABS/ASA, TPU, nylon) appropriate to a part's job and printing constraints
• Estimate a print's material cost, machine-time cost and a bureau-style quote with a failure margin, using deterministic Python
• Troubleshoot common print failures - warping, stringing, under-extrusion, delamination, elephant's foot, pillowing - from symptom to fix

The shape of it

How this course works