Norck, a leading digital manufacturing company, provides extremely reliable, top quality, and fast 3D printing services such as fused deposition modeling for a wide range of industries including aerospace, defense, robotics,  industrial, automotive, electronics, energy, hardware, and consumer products. Our team of highly qualified engineers and cutting-edge facilities will provide you with quality products with the quickest turnaround time at a competitive price. Whether you have high volume production projects or rapid prototyping needs, Norck can manage it with the results better than expectations.

Click here to get a quote for your next 3D printing and fused deposition modeling projects.

Let’s now give you some insight how Norck achieves 3D printing and fused deposition modeling.

FDM 3D printing is an additive manufacturing process that uses plastic filament to produce parts and assemblies. It helps turn designs into scaled prototypes as close to the designed model. It is mainly used in the earliest stages of product development and can be used in conceptual models, functional prototypes, tooling, and electronics.

3D printing requires 3D CAD models to print a part or assembly. The 3D models can be made using parametric CAD software such as Solidworks and CATIA V5, or Subdivision modeling software such as 3DS and Blender.

FDM is used over other 3D printing processes due to:
   -   Most cost-effective
   -   Simple process
   -   Compact printer
   -   Various materials can be used
   -   Reusable filament

There are a few disadvantages to using FDM:
   -    Longer printing time
   -   Weak results (layers can be split)
   -   Rough surface finishing
   -   Nozzle clogging

The 3D printer slices the 3D model into several cross sections and prints them layer by layer. It uses a filament of a thermoplastic material such as PLA and ABS. The filament passes through a hot nozzle that melts it, and using a computer-controlled system, the nozzle moves along two axes and deposits the melted material on a platform. When a whole layer of the desired shape is deposited, the platform moves down to deposit the next layer. Once the 3D printed model is finished, it can be removed from the platform. Post-processing might be required to remove any excess material and burrs or to smooth surfaces.

- Most used materials:
   •    Polylactic acid (PLA)
   •    Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS)
   •    Polyethylene terephthalate (PET)
   •    Thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU)
   •    Poly-ether-ketone (PEEK)
   •    Polyphenylsulfone (PPSU)

Parts and assemblies should follow specific design rules to be printed correctly. Norck offers engineering services that will help you confirm your design for 3D printing.