Design of a Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) 3D-Printer

Authors

  • Akinjide O. Oluwajobi Department of Mechanical Engineering, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, Osun State, NIGERIA
  • Fidelis O. Kolawole Prototype Engineering Development Institude, Ilesa, Osun State, NIGERIA

Keywords:

fused filament fabrication (FFF), low cost 3-D printer, polylactic acid (PLA) filament, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) filament

Abstract

A Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) 3D-printer was designed, for fabrication by using in part locally sourced materials. The printer design was based on the Replicating Rapid Prototyper (RepRap) open source. The print volume of the printer is 200mm $ \times$ 200mm $ \times$ 300mm and it uses the Melzi V2 printer control board, coupled with the Repetier-Host firmware. The designed 3D-printer consists of galvanized steel frame, stainless steel threaded rods and wooded supports. The Finite Element Method (FEM) analysis was carried out on critical supporting components. The results obtained for the stresses are below the yield strength of the materials and the displacements are within acceptable limits, for high precision machines. The total power required by the 3D-printer was evaluated to be 197.93 W and it utilizes two thermoplastic materials namely; the Polylactic Acid (PLA) and the Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS).

http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/njt.v40i2.10

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Published

2021-04-28

Issue

Vol. 40 No. 2 (2021): NIGERIAN JOURNAL OF TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 40 NO. 2, MARCH 2021

Section

Chemical, Industrial, Materials, Mechanical, Metallurgical, Petroleum & Production Engineering

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How to Cite

Design of a Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) 3D-Printer. (2021). Nigerian Journal of Technology, 40(2), 252–260. https://nijotech.com/index.php/nijotech/article/view/2410