Fused deposition modeling, which is often referred to by its initials FDM, is a type of rapid prototyping or rapid manufacturing (RP) technology commonly used within engineering design. The technology was developed by S. Scott Crump in the late 1980s and was commericalised in 1990. The FDM technology is marketed exclusively by Stratasys Inc. A 3D printer for rapid prototyping Rapid prototyping also describes a software engineering methodology. ... Rapid manufacturing is a technique for manufacturing solid objects by the sequential delivery of energy and/or material to specified points in space to produce that solid. ... S. Scott Crump was the inventer of fused deposition modeling (FDM) and co-founder of Stratasys, Inc. ... 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday. ... This article is about the year. ...

Like most other RP processes (such as 3D Printing and stereolithography) FDM works on an "additive" principle by laying down material in layers. A plastic filament or metal wire is unwound from a coil and supplies material to an extrusion nozzle which can turn on and off the flow. The nozzle is heated to melt the material and can be moved in both horizontal and vertical directions by a numerically controlled mechanism, directly controlled by a Computer Aided Design software package. In a similar manner to Stereolithography, the model is built up from layers as the plastic hardens immediately after extrusion from the nozzle. Three dimensional printing (more commonly referred to the abbreviation 3DP) is a type of rapid prototyping (RP) system developed by MIT in the late 1980s. ... Stereolithography is one of the more commonly used rapid manufacturing and rapid prototyping technologies. ... Extrusion is a manufacturing process where a material, often in the form of a billet, is pushed and/or drawn through a die to create long objects of a fixed cross-section. ... This article is about computer-aided design. ...

Several materials are available with different trade-offs between strength and temperature. As well as ABS polymer, the FDM technology can also be used with polycarbonates, polyphenylsulfones and waxes. A water-soluble material can be used for making temporary supports while manufacturing is in progress, which can simply be washed away after fabrication. Developments in the technology have seen the introduction of magnetic levitation to move the extruder head in place of conventional wires and electric motors. Monomers in ABS polymer Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, or ABS, (chemical formula ) is a common thermoplastic used to make light, rigid, molded products such as pipes, golf club heads (used for its good shock absorbance), automotive body parts, enclosures and toys including LEGO bricks. ... Polycarbonates are a particular group of thermoplastics. ... Magnetic levitation is a process by which an object is suspended above another object with no support other than magnetic fields. ...

As of 2002 it has been the best-selling Rapid Prototyping technology, while simpler, cut-down versions of the system have been introduced in recent years, released under the Prodigy and Dimension trademarks. For the Cusco album, see 2002 (album). ... The Bass Red Triangle, was the first trademark registered in Britain in 1876. ...

The RepRap project intends to develop an open source FDM machine that is capable of manufacturing most of its own parts, with only cheap commodity components such as electric motors needed to build a fully functional copy. It will also be capable of depositing Wood's metal to form conductive circuit paths within the objects it manufactures. Something to do with a self replicating robot. ... Woods metal is a fusible alloy that becomes liquid at approximately 70 °C. It is a eutectic alloy of bismuth, lead, tin, and cadmium with the following percentages by weight: 50% Bi, 26. ...

External links

• Stratasys, Manufacturers of FDM machines
• RepRap, Open Source self-replicating FDM machine development.
• Castle island Castle Island's worldwide guide to rapid protoyping]