Like many people you may be new to the idea of 3D printing or perhaps you know something about what it is...this blog is to give you a brief overview of how we at makemypart.co.uk take an idea/concept/need and give you, the customer, a part in your hand as if from nothing.
Initially, after understanding what the customer needs, we require measurements of the part, if available. If the part is broken, this isn’t usually a problem as we can obtain what we need from the broken part. We will get the part from the customer if required or try to gather details ourselves on the item. If the customer has an idea for a part that they want we will speak with them via email, phone call or in person to better understand what they are wanting done. We can then generate concepts etc. and move on with the design.
For something flat, such as the emblem shown above, measurements provided to us is all we generally require and can then import the image into computer design software and start generating the 3D model on screen, using the image as a background to create the model.
Once we have generated a 3D computer file, we can put it onto the 3D printing software. This allows us to alter the print settings among other things to ensure the best print is achieved.
Quite often, once printed, we don’t need to do much post processing to the part. It is very much dependant on the end use of the part or the requests by the customer. We can print in a wide range of colours as well as a variety of finishes such as wood effect, steel effect etc. We also have one of the most high end desktop printers available which delivers excellent, dimensionally accurate prints.
If finishing is required, we essentially treat the part as you would anything else you were painting.
The end result. We aim to please each of our customers and always strive to produce prints that are of great quality. The process of printing parts is hopefully clearer now and you can perhaps better envisage what it could be used for in your world. Although the process is a fairly simple one, it requires a sound engineering knowledge, design knowledge and experience as well as various software and hardware to get to the end part. At makemypart.co.uk we have these capabilities and knowledge to get you to a finished part. The possibilities with 3D printing are virtually endless and with the technology rapidly improving, new materials and processes are becoming available, almost daily.
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