6 Advantages of FDM 3D Printing

Last Updated on May 3, 2022 by Leizi

Do you want to make a few prototypes with a fast turnaround? 3D printing or CNC machining? Which one do you prefer? Both CNC machining and 3D printing are the common methods of processing to make prototypes. For the design with more complicated structures, 3D printing is always the most preferred one. In this article, we would like to talk about everything about FDM 3D printing(process, advantages, and applications).

What is FDM 3D printing?

Being one type of 3D printing, FDM(Fused Deposition Modeling) is also additive manufacturing. The working principle of FDM is melting the plastic materials and extruding them on the printing bed layer by layer to create the plastic parts.

6 advantages of FDM 3D printing:

1. Cost-effective. Compared to SLA printing and SLS printing, FDM is considered one of the most popular and simplest printing methods. The cost of FDM machines and materials is much lower than other printers. You can even buy an FDM printer yourself to create low-volume plastic prototypes.

2. Flexible and Easy to Operate. The size of plastic components depends on the printer’s arm. You can create your desired plastic prototypes as long as you have the arms. Besides, FDM printers are easier to operate and apply cloud servers to print. This makes it easier to print themselves if the companies have no experience to print.

3. More Material Choices. As long as we make some slight differences in some places, this machine can print most thermoplastic materials accordingly.

4. Environment-friendly. FDM printers process thermoplastic materials, which can be recycled several times. Meanwhile, the waste that FDM printers create is little. Alongside that, these printers have no restrictions on production facilities. That’s why we call this printing method environmentally friendly.

5. Fast Production. Its time efficiency is one of the characteristics of this printing method. We can get the custom plastic prototypes within a day.

6. Customizable. Through FDM 3D printing, we can make custom plastic prototypes according to the clients’ designs. You can print almost everything as long as you can imagine.

What are the applications of FDM 3D printing?

FDM 3D printing has a variety of applications in almost every industry including automotive, automotive, healthcare, electronics, and robotics. For example, surrogates, jigs, fixtures, pre-surgical models, keychains, and so on.