DEVELOPMENT OF A FUSED DEPOSITION MODELLING MACHINE FOR PLASTIC-BASED ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING PURPOSES

Abstract

In this work, the development of a Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM) machine was successfully carried out and reported. The machine was designed to boost local manufacturing capabilities in Nigeria by promoting the use of additive manufacturing techniques for the production of plastic-based prototypes, functional components and casting patterns. The machine consists of a heater bed, hot-end extruder, machine frame, controller and electrical circuitry and it was designed to have a working envelope with a maximum build volume of 200 x 200 x 200 mm3. The design of each machine component parts was analyzed and the structural capacity was assessed using finite element analysis (FEA) tool in Autodesk Inventor and COMSOL Multi-physics applications. The simulation result showed that maximum stress of 3.669 MPa was attained in one of the machine stands when a component aggregate load of 301.29 N was exerted on the frame structure. The machine component with a maximum resultant displacement of 0.04 mm was also observed while the minimum factor of safety was 12.5. This result shows that the design of the machine is satisfactory for its development since the yield strengths of the selected materials for the individual components were not surpassed by the stresses obtained from the FE analysis. Upon the machine development, it was able to produce prototypes of some vehicle logos which confirms its capability to perform the intention of its vehicle logos which confirms its capability to perform the intention of its development.