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 Introduction and contents

This is a compact guide aimed at technical people to allow them to

create products and prototypes that can be produced with FDM
3D printing.
Enjoy the content and send us your questions and feedback to
[email protected].

Table of contents
● Basics of FDM 3D printing
○ What is FDM 3D printing
○ Applications of 3D printing
○ 3D printing for manufacturing
○ Understanding the FDM process
○ How FDM parts are priced
○ Design software
● Design guidelines for FDM 3D printing
○ Part size
○ Part tolerance
○ Walls
○ Holes, pins and small sections
○ Embossed and engraved details
○ Overhangs and bridges
● Printing orientation
○ Printing orientation and part finish
○ Printing orientation and part strength

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 Basics
of FDM 3D printing

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 What is FDM 3D printing

FDM (Fused Deposition Modelling), also known as FFF (Fused Filament

Fabrication) is a 3D printing technology that builds the part by depositing
plastic in successive horizontal layers.
FDM is the most widely available and economical 3D printing technology,
used for prototypes and small series production.

Materials
Many thermoplastics, including
engineering polymers can be
printed with FDM: PLA, PETG,
ABS, Nylon, ASA, TPU, PEEK,
ULTEM…

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 Applications of 3D printing

Bitfab helps companies manufacture their prototypes, tooling and

production parts using 3D printing.

Prototypes Rapid prototyping is the most common application

of 3D printing.
Order unique parts with lead times of just days,
test your design with physical parts and have a
faster developing cycle.

Tooling Create jigs, tooling, templates with 3D printing and

have them in your factory or workshop in days.
Jigs can be redesigned and improved over time
due to the low cost of producing one off parts with
3D printing.

Components We offer an alternative to traditional manufacturing

techniques (CNC, sheet metal, injection molding…)
for small production volumes.
3D printing is usually more economical for short
series and allow you design more functional parts
with faster turnaround times.

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3D printing for manufacturing

No setup costs Complex geometries

3D printing doesn’t have the Able to produce complex parts,
setup costs associated with typically requiring 5 axis
molding or CNC. Very machining, without added costs.
competitive prices for Design your parts for functionality
prototypes and small series and think less about the
production. manufacturing constraints.

Fast turnarounds Easy order process

Parts can be ready in as short Quotation is generated directly
as 3 days. Speed up your from the 3D model (usually
prototyping and manufacturing with an STL file) and the
cycles. Several physical customer requests. No need to
iterations of the prototype or generate drawing or
product are possible. manufacturing documentation.

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 Understanding the FDM process

Understanding how the parts are produced in an FDM printer is

important to know how the parts will look and perform. Parts are built
layer by layer by a circular nozzle that deposits the plastic.

Layer height (Z resolution) Nozzle diameter (XY resolution)

0.1 to 0.32mm (typical value 0.4 or 0.8mm and above (typical
0.2mm) value 0.4mm)

Support structures
Due to the layer by layer nature of
the process, the printer will create
support structures below features
that otherwise would print mid air.
Support material will affect
appearance of the supported
surfaces.

Bitfab takes care of determining the optimum layer height, nozzle

diameter and support structures to obtain the best result according to
your specifications.

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 How FDM parts are priced

Similarly to other manufacturing technologies, 3D printed parts are

quoted using the costs related to setting up and running the machine, as
well as the cost of material used.

● Setup costs. Costs derived from processing the file, loading it in

the machine, unloading and processing the parts… These costs
are usually charged in a flat price per part or per job, but are
much smaller than with other manufacturing methods (injection
molding, CNC…).
● Hourly costs. Costs derived from the hourly operation of the
machine (amortization, operator salaries and electricity costs).
Hourly cost is the main contributor to part cost.
● Material costs. Cost of the filament used in the part, including
support structures.

Cost per cm3. Some 3D printing service providers such as Bitfab offer
simplified flat rates per cm3, which allow customers to know the costs of
the parts before sending the quotation.

Quotations
For part quotations and help
with your project you can go
to our webpage bitfab.io or
send us an email to
[email protected].

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 Design software

Any CAD software can be used to design parts for 3D printing since they
all can export to STL. STL is the most widely used file extension used to
share designs in the 3D printing sector.
If you or your company still don’t use a design software our
recommendation is Autodesk Fusion 360, which is a powerful tool for
creating engineering parts.

Fusion 360 (Windows and Mac) is a very

powerful and versatile software. Free for
non-commercial use, students, educators
and companies with annual revenue below
100.000 USD.
Includes features such as CAD, sculpt
workbench, CAM, FEM, rendering…

Other 3D design software tools:

● CAD software: Solidworks, Autodesk Inventor, CATIA, PTC Creo,
Siemens NX, SketchUp, FreeCAD
● Organic modelling: Blender, Maya, 3DS Max, ZBrush.
● Online: Onshape, Tinkercad
● Mesh processing: Meshmixer, Meshlab

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 Design guidelines
for FDM 3D printing

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Part size

Maximum part dimensions: 400 Small parts. Small parts less

x 300 x 300 millimetres (X, Y, Z than 20 x 20 x 20 millimetres
axis) can be hard to print with FDM
Bigger parts can be printed on technology.
demand or spit in several print Such small parts should have
jobs. simple geometries in order to be
printable.

Large parts costs. Since the 80% rule. To reduce the part
volume increases rapidly when volume to approximately half,
scaling the part dimensions scale the part to 80% of the
(volume increases with the cube original dimensions.
of the length) very large parts are This is a measure to reduce
expensive to produce. costs of parts that can be scaled
When printing large parts we can without affecting functionality
offer costs optimizations such as (not very common in engineering
large nozzles, higher layer parts).
heights, etc.

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Part tolerance

Dimensional tolerance: ±0.5%, with a lower limit of 0.5mm

Part tolerance for large dimensions is usually constrained by the

shrinkage of the material during the cooling process. We review
files according to our customers specifications to compensate for
the shrinkage effect.
Part tolerance for small dimensions is usually affected by machine
vibrations, flow control in the nozzle… The lower limit is ±0.5mm
due to this effects.

See holes, assembly, etc for further info to better understand how
tolerance in 3D printing will affect your designs.

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Walls

Thinnest walls: 0.8mm. Fillets and chamfers. Adding

Designing parts with large thin fillets or chamfers to the base is
walls will affect strength of the advisable to increase section and
part. reduce stress concentration.

Recommended: 2.4mm and

thicker walls.
When designing thin walls use
0.4mm multiples (nozzle
diameter) for walls for them to be
completed in a whole number of
passes and increasing strength.

Ribs. Large thin walls can be

prone to warping, add ribbing or
increase thickness.

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Holes, pins and small sections

Minimum hole diameter: 2mm Minimum pin diameter: 4mm for

Undersized holes. Holes and short pins. Longer pins will be more
inner diameters in FDM 3D prone to breaking and should be
printing are usually printed smaller thicker.
than the nominal dimensions.
- Small holes (up to 10mm Other small sections. Any other
diameter). Add 0.4mm to the similarly small section of the parts
diameter. When tight tolerances can be unprintable or break during
are required, drilling or reaming to the service life of the part.
final size can be required. Design the part so this small
- Large holes. For large holes features and sections don’t support
that require fitting of another large loads.
component, specify this
requirement in the quotation and
we will prepare the file in the
review process.

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Embossed and engraved details

Text and other details can be embossed and/or engraved in your 3D

printed parts.

Embossing min width: 1.2mm Engraving minimum width: 1.2mm

Height: 0.4 mm Depth: 0.4mm
Width multiples of 0.4 mm are When possible, engrave your text or
recommended for best results details instead of embossing them.
(multiples of the nozzle diameter,
to complete the feature in a whole
number of passes)

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 Overhangs and bridges

45 degree rule. Overhangs with Bridges. Bridges smaller than

an inclination lower than 45º will 10mm in length will be printed
require support material. without supports.
Longer bridges will require
support material.

Unsupported flat surfaces.

Minimize support. Design your Large horizontal surfaces
parts using the 45º rule to suspended on air in the bottom
minimize support material. of your part can be considered
Support increases the cost of the large bridges. Avoid large
part and affects the quality of surfaces that will require support
supported surfaces. and affect the surface quality.

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Printing orientation

● Printing orientation and part finish

● Printing orientation and part strength

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Printing orientation and part finish

Depending on the printing orientation some of the model faces may

need support material or will be printed on air, which can affect surface
quality.

Top and vertical faces will have Overhanging, unsupported,

the best surface finish. sloping faces may require
support material and will have
coarser surface finish.
The bottom plane is printed
directly on the bed surface and
will have good surface finish.

Design your part with a printing orientation in mind. Try to avoid sharp
overhangs and place the most detailed features in the top faces of your
object.
Parts usually need to have a lower flat surface to be printable. If there is
not a bottom surface, the software will generate support structure to fix
the part to the build plate.
If not possible, split your design in several parts, each of one optimized
for printability.

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Printing orientation and part strength

Parts produced with FDM 3D printing technology are stronger along the
layer plane (X and Y axis of the machine) and weaker at the interface
between layers (Z axis of the machine).

The part will resist higher loads in The part will resist lower loads in
the layer plane (X and Y axis) the layer plane (Z axis) since the
along the printed paths. layer interface is the weakest
When possible, design your parts point of a 3D print.
so the main loads are applied in
the layer directions.

Design your part minimizing the loads applied in the Z direction or

increase the section of the features in this orientation.
Avoid long pins and salient features that are oriented in the Z direction.
Avoid critical sections coincident with layer interface planes.

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Want to 3D print your parts?

Do you need more information about 3D printing?

Do you want a quotation for a 3D printed part?

Contact us, we will be glad to help you

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