How do 3D printers work? And what are their limitations?
In: Technology
Normal printers work by scanning row by row across a sheet of paper and either putting a dot of ink down or not, depending on of the paper is supposed to be black or white. (Let’s forget about colour for now. It’s basically the same but with more options for each ‘pixel.’)
3D printers sort of work the exact same way. Except, the ‘ink’ they use is a blob that has depth. Once they complete one layer, they lift the nozzle up slightly and do it all again. They keep going layer by layer until they reach the top of the model.
A few caveats. If something is floating in the model, they’ll print some thinner pixels below it. These are just to support it during the printing process until it becomes connected to the rest, and are meant to be cleaned off afterwards. Sometimes, these supports are made of a material that dissolved in water. Also, fancier printing software improves speed by only making the nozzle go where it needs to. E.g. if you were printing a cylinder, it would make more sense to go round in circles with the nozzle, rather than going across the whole ‘page.’
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