International Conference on Computer, Communication, Chemical,

Materials and Electronic Engineering (IC4ME2), 11-12 July, 2019

Design and Implementation of an FDM Based 3D

Printer
Md. Muzammal Hoque1 Md. Mehedi Hashan Jony2 Md. Mehedi Hasan3 M. Hasnat Kabir4
Dept. of Information and Department of Electrical and Dept. of Information and Dept. of Information and
Communication Engineering Electronics Engineering (EEE) Communication Engineering Communication Engineering
University of Rajshahi, Varendra University, University of Rajshahi, University of Rajshahi,
Rajshahi 6205, Bangladesh Rajshahi 6205, Bangladesh Rajshahi 6205, Bangladesh Rajshahi 6205, Bangladesh
Email: Email: Email: [email protected] Email:
[email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Abstract—3D printing refers to the processes in which published the designs of the parts of his 3D printers and
materials joined or solidified under computer control to encouraged others to improve them and in-turn post to
create a three-dimensional object. A machine that allows this improve versions. The ultimate goal of this project is to
process is known as a 3D printer. It has several components. develop a low-cost 3D printer that can print most of its
The major components of a 3D printer are frame, Head components. From a historical point of view, since the
movement mechanics, (Stepper) Motors, The print
appearance of the RepRap 3D printer, a real 3D printer
head/extruder, Firmware, 3D Software, etc. In this research,
it was attempted to describe the design and construction revolution has started. By taking the opportunity of this
process of a Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) 3D printer project, this cool technology can be ensured to the vast
with the help of a traditional 3D printer. The 3D printer was number of people in the developing countries at a very low
used to print different-designed parts of our targeted 3D cost. In this work, we tried to develop a unique, user-
printer designed by Computer-Aided Design (CAD) software. friendly and effective 3D printer with very low cost using
After the construction and firmware installation, four easily available components and another 3D printer, where
different prints of different sizes were done and the resulting our proposed 3D printer is capable of printing an object of
outputs were analyzed. maximum 225x225x225 mm.
Keywords—3D Printing Technology, 3D Printer, FDM Method,
FDM 3D Printer, Extruder II. RELATED WORKS:

I. INTRODUCTION: The credit of the development of the first working robotic

3D printer in 1984 is generally going to Charles W.
(Chuck) Hull, this technology has been using in the
3D printing is an innovative technology that lets its users
manufacturing and prototyping industries since the late
create a physical object from a digital model. The creation
1980s, but it became more popular when the desktop 3D
of a 3D printed object is achieved using additive processes.
printers were readily available to the public in 2009. A
In an additive process, an object is created by laying down
desktop 3D printer is industry jargon for a smaller, less
successive layers of material until the object is created, this
expensive 3D printer that a typical consumer can buy. In
is why this process is also known as additive manufacturing
1989 S. Scott and Lisa Crump patented fused deposition
technique [1,2,3]. It started in 1980 under the name ‘rapid
modeling (FDM) and co-founded the printer manufacturer
prototyping’ because the purpose of this technology was to
Stratasys, Ltd. This technology is also known as fused
create prototype faster and cheaper. [4]
filament fabrication (FFF), where a plastic filament is fed
into a heated extruder and then precisely lays down the
material. Later, in 2005, this technology became the basis
3D printing has many applications. In developed countries,
of the RepRap movement [7,8,9,10].
this technology is applied in various sectors, including
architecture, construction, healthcare, manufacturing, James Norman, Rapti D. Madurawe, Christine M.V.
engineering, clothing, eyewear, and education. Recently, Moore, Mansoor A. Khan, Akm Khairuzzaman published
the popularity of this technology in developing countries is their research work on 3D-printed drug products on 18
increasing. The potentiality of this technology in March 2016. They showed in their research work that, to
developing countries is huge. But unfortunately, there have improve the safety, efficacy, and tolerability of medicines
some challenges to deal, for this technology in developing researchers proposed dozens of 3D printing innovations.
countries, which are the availability of 3D printer expert, The commercial feasibility of this technology has been
adequate supply of spare parts and input materials, lack of shown through the FDA approval of a 3D printed drug
proper knowledge and so on [5,6]. This is why in product in August 2015 [11].
developing countries this technology is somewhat
Thabiso Peter Mpofu, Cephas Mawere, Macdonald
expensive.
Mukosera showed in their research that, the demand and
One of the most popular projects of 3D printing technology the popularity of 3D printed parts in the market are
is the open-source RepRap project. It started when Bowyer increasing gradually in a different field.

978-1-7281-3060-6/19/$31.00 ©2019 IEEE

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 Fig. 1. 3D printing growth prospects Fig. 2. Fused deposition modeling technique

As shown in figure 1, they predicted that in 2025, the 3D Fig.2 shows the general process of FDM 3D printing
printed part market will grow to an 8.4 Billion Dollar technology, where (a) input filament, (b) moveable hot end,
industry. For the part sales forecast the automobile parts (c) desired printed shape, (d) additional vertical support
and aerospace would be in the leading position [12]. structure and (e) a moving platform. [15]
The used input filament was Acrylonitrile Butadiene
III. METHODOLOGY: Styrene (ABS) and the nozzle and bed temperature were
230oC and 60oC.
We divided the whole process into four major steps, i) We installed Marlin Firmware on the circuit board. Marlin
Designing ii) Printing and iii) Assembly iv) Installation is an Arduino platform-based open-source firmware for
Firmware. First of all, we designed several parts of the 3D RepRap and another fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D
printer using a Computer-aided design (CAD) software. printers [16, 17, 18]. This firmware runs on the 3D printer’s
CAD is the use of computer systems (or workstations) control board and manages all of the machine’s real-time
which is used to create, modify, analyze, or optimize activities including movement through the stepper drivers,
a design. In this case the SOLIDWORKS CAD software heaters, sensors, lights, bed leveling, LCDs and buttons. It
was used. [13, 14] supports many different boards and many designs of 3D
printer [19, 20, 21].

IV. DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION

We designed several parts and later they were printed using

an “up mini” 3D printer. A brief description of those parts
we designed and printed is given below.

TABLE I. 3D MODEL AND PRINTED OUTPUT OF SEVERAL PARTS

No. Description 3D Model Printed Output

1 2xZ Axis
Motor Holder

Size:
100x45x50mm
Fig. 3.Z axis motor Fig. 3. Z axis motor
holder (a) 3D Model holder (b) Printed out
put

2 2xZ Axis Top

Holder

Size: 82x30x24
mm.
Fig. 2. Process Steps for construction of the proposed 3D printer. Fig. 4. .Z axis Top Fig. 4. .Z axis Top
holder (a) 3D Model holder (b) Printed out
put
At the printing section, we used a 3D printer (Up Mini) uses 3 4xY Axis
Channel
the most popular Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) Holder
technology.
Size: 25x15x20
mm.
Fig. 5.Y axis Fig. 5.Y axis Channel
Channel holder (a)
holder (b) Printed out
3D Model
put

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4 1xY Axis
Motor Holder After completing all set up using our designed parts and the
Size: 50x50x25 electronic and other components our proposed printer was
mm. constructed as shown in Fig 14.

Fig. 6.Y axis Fig. 6.Y axis Motor

Motor holder (a) 3D
holder (b) Printed out
Model
put
5 2xX Axis
Holder

Size: 82x30x24
mm.

Fig. 7. X axis holder

Fig. 7.X axis (b) Printed out put
holder (a) 3D Model
6 1xX Axis
Motor Holder
(Top)

Size: 55x55x10
mm.

Fig. 8.X axis Fig. 8. X axis Motor

Motor holder (a) 3D holder (b) Printed out
Model put
7 1xX Axis
Motor Holder
(Bottom)

Size: 55x55x10
mm.

Fig. 9.X axis Fig. 9. X axis Motor

Motor holder (a) 3D holder (b) Printed out
Model put
8 2xX Axis
Bearing Holder
Fig. 14. Proposed 3D Printer
Size: 55x55x10
mm.
Fig. 10.X axis Fig. 10.X axis Bearing V. OPERATION:
Bearing holder (a) holder (a) Printed out
3D Model put
1xPrint Head
After completing all the necessary setup, four prints were
9 done with two different input material (ABS & PLA) and
Holder
same bed temperature 60oC and different nozzle
Size: 55x55x18 temperature 235oC & 185oC respectively. The print
mm..
operation is done by an open-source software called
Fig. 11. Print head Pronterface. It is a graphical interface. It is part of a set of
Fig. 11. Print head
holder (a) 3D Model holder (b) Printed out software from Printrun, a group of G-code utility
put applications. With this software, one can operate a 3D
10 1xExtruder Printer easily [22, 23].
(Static Part)

Width:
42x42x25 mm.

Fig. 12. Extruder

Fig. 12. Extruder (Static Part) (b) Printed
(Static Part) (a) 3D out put
Model
11 1xExtruder
(Moveable
Part)

Size: 52x18x12
mm.

Fig. 13. Extruder Fig. 13. Extruder

(Moveable Part) (a) (Moveable Part) (b)
3D Model Printed out put
Fig. 15 Pronterface software

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 the proposed 3D printer, where each of the components was
graphically represented with a different color.

TABLE II. 3D MODEL AND CORRESPONDING PRINTED OUTPUT OF

THE PROPOSED 3D PRINTER

3D Models of Printed output of parameters

the test data the test data
size:
45x28.7x43.7
mm
Used Material:
ABS
Nozzle
Temperature:
Fig. 18 (a) 3D
model of the test Fig. 18 (b) Printed 235oC
data output of the test data Required Time:
1.16 hour
Size:
29.5x31.7x60
mm
Used Material:
PLA
Nozzle
Temperature:
Fig. 19 (a) 3D 185oC
Fig. 19 (b) Printed
model of the test
output of the test data
Required Time:
data 1.20 hour
Size:
31.7x31.7x70
mm
Used Material:
ABS
Nozzle
Temperature:
Fig. 16 Flow chart of the operation of the proposed 3D printer 235oC
Fig. 20 (a) 3D Fig. 20 (b) Printed
model of the test output of the test data Required Time:
data 1.38 hour
size:
100x90x100 mm
Used Material:
PLA
Nozzle
Temperature:
Fig. 21 (a) 3D 185oC
model of the test Fig. 21 (b) Printed Required Time:
data output of the test data
9.29 hour
Where the Bed Temperature were 60oC

VI. RESULT ANALYSIS:

From the table II we see that, four prints were done with
two different material and four different sizes, first three
prints are comparatively smaller than the last one, which
are shown in fig 18, 19 & 20 where fig (a) shows the 3D
model and fig (b) shows the corresponding printed output.
The sizes of these three printed models are 45x28.7x43.7
mm, 29.5x31.7x60 mm and 31.7x31.7x70 mm and the
require time for printing are 1.16, 1.2, 1.38 hour
Fig. 17 Block diagram of the proposed 3D printer
respectively.
Fig 16 shows the operation flow chart of the proposed 3D The larger model requires more time to be printed. In the
printer where different steps of its operation were shown case of the last model shown in fig 21, the size of this model
graphically, and fig 17 shows the general block diagram of is 100x90x100mm and the printing time is 9.29 hours,
which is a much greater time than the previous models. If

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we compare each printed outcome, we can see that, in the [14] Narayan, K. Lalit (2008). Computer Aided Design and
Manufacturing. New Delhi: Prentice Hall of India. p. 4. ISBN
case of smaller print the printer prints almost accurately 812033342X.
with fair quality for both input material. But in case of large [15] Scopigno R., Cignoni P., Pietroni N., Callieri M., Dellepiane M.
print with a higher height, the quality is not so much fair, (2017). "Digital Fabrication Techniques for Cultural Heritage: A
and an irregular surface is found instead of a flat surface. Survey". Computer Graphics Forum 36 (1): 6–
However, it is common that there may have a possible 21. DOI:10.1111/cgf.12781.
deviation on the Z-axis since gravity pulls the material [16] "Marlin 1.1 Beginner Guide for 3D Printer Firmware | 3DAddict".
3DAddict. 2017-07-26. Retrieved 2018-08-04.
down. While the 3D printer resolution of the X and Y axes
[17] Thomas Sanladerer (2018-08-04), How it's Made: The Marlin
is easy to pinpoint, the Z-axis falls victim to gravity. During Firmware!, retrieved 2018-08-04
printing in height, gravity can cause more material to come [18] "mUVe3D releases improved Marlin firmware for all 3D printers".
out of the printer than is intended. This issue is known as 3Ders.org. Retrieved 2018-08-04.
Machine deviation and lower the resolution of the print and [19] "3D Printering: Trinamic TMC2130 Stepper Motor Drivers".
hence degrade the printed outcome. [24] Hackaday. 2016-09-30. Retrieved 2018-08-04.
[20] Thomas Sanladerer (2016-08-20), [2016 version] How to set up the
Marlin firmware!, retrieved 2018-08-04
VII. CONCLUSION:
[21] Wei, Tiwei, et al. "3D printed liquid jet impingement cooler:
Demonstration, opportunities and challenges." 2018 IEEE 68th
In this work, we tried to design and construct an effective, Electronic Components and Technology Conference (ECTC). IEEE,
better quality and unique model of an FDM 3D printer at a 2018.
very low cost. In our work, we found some deterioration of [22] Avinash, J., K. UdayKiran, and K. Srujita. "The Impact of Additive
Manufacturing on Indian GDP." 3D Printing and Additive
quality in the case of large print with a higher height. We Manufacturing Technologies. Springer, Singapore, 2019. 173-185.
may work to minimize this problem. [23] Xu, Yue, and Cheng Deng. "An investigation on 3D printing
technology for power electronic converters." Power Electronics for
[24] https://tractus3D.com/what-is-3D-printing/3D-printer-resolution

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