Why Slant 3D Uses an FDM 3D Printing Process

In our last blog post, we went over some of the primary printing processes used in additive manufacturing. Today, we will cover why we decided to go with an FDM printing process here at Slant3D.

Materials

For starters, FDM was based off the materials used in traditional Injection Molding. The very first material used in FDM printing was Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene, or ABS, which is an opaque thermoplastic polymer. ABS has been the most commonly used material in Injection Molding for many years. This is a huge advantage because it means that FDM already had a huge supply chain of existing materials right away. So from the beginning, FDM had a huge materials base that it could pull from. The only thing that has to be done is the materials must be ran through a tube to create filament, which is very easy to do. This made it very cost effective to use FDM printing because there was already a huge existing materials base to use.

Scalability

Another advantage of using FDM printing is how scalable it is. Although 3d printing may be a somewhat slow process,  it is not hard to deploy, say, 1,000 FDM printers and be able to produce 1,000 parts at a time. This is the fundamental premise of what we have done here at Slant3D, which is scale up FDM printing by building hundreds of machines, and therefore, being able to produce a high volume of parts every single day. Other 3d printers require a lot of post processing, which means less space for printers. FDM is really the only type of 3d printer that you can use in high volume, without having to build a massive factory.

Post-Processing

Finally, one of the biggest advantages of FDM printing is it's ability to produce parts with little to no post-processing needed. Other printing processes, such as Powder Jetting or Resin, require a lot of different post-processing steps in order to get a part to its final form. A well designed part printed with FDM will be able to come right off the printer and immediately be ready to be shipped, which is pretty amazing. If a printer farm wanted to use Resin 3d printers, their warehouse would be full of washing bays and all sorts of different stations in order to prepare all their parts for shipping. With FDM, all you need are the printers.

So hopefully this post shed some light on why we decided to use an FDM printing process here at Slant3D. The existing materials base makes it an incredibly cost-effective and convenient process. The ease of scaling up to produce hundreds, or even thousands, of parts at one time. And, the ability to pull finished parts right off the printer and ship them without having to spend hours post processing. These are just a few of the many reasons why FDM printing is the best option when it comes to mass production 3d printing, and why we have chosen this process here at Slant3D. Dont forget to check out our video on this same topic down below.