Retrofitment, open-sourcing, and characterisation of a legacy fused deposition modelling system

Abstract

Rapid prototyping is currently one of the most promising manufacturing techniques in industry, allowing for shorter design cycle times and improved design quality. Traditionally, commercially manufactured machines are locked to use proprietary materials specified by the manufacturer. Should a user require more freedom in material choice and other print-process parametres, open-source printers present a desirable alternative. However, these printers tend to suffer from reduced accuracy and part strength when compared to commercially manufactured machines. Thus, an opportunity exists whereby commercially manufactured print hardware can be retrofitted with open-source software to explore avenues of research that would otherwise be closed. In this paper, a large-format fused deposition modelling printer is used as the base hardware, which is supported by custom circuit boards and software to make the system open source and capable of printing a large variety of materials (for future research purposes). A customised feed system is implemented with dedicated control systems, firmware, and software. These combine to realise a completely open-source 3D printing system. The retrofitted machine is characterised by printing standardised samples, which are printed with acrylonitrile butadiene styrene material, and standard print settings. Tensile tests are performed to evaluate the quality of part lamination. It is found that similar results are attainable for comparable materials on commercial machines, suggesting a successful retrofitment.