Zcorporation ZPrinter 310 User manual

ZPRINTERTM 310 USER MANUAL
PARTNUMBER 09508 REV C, SEPTEMBER 2003

TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1 - OVERVIEW ..................................................................................................................................... 4
MANUAL OVERVIEW ............................................................................................................................... 5
HOW IT WORKS.................................................................................................................................... 6
SYSTEM COMPONENTS ........................................................................................................................... 9
ZPRINTER 310 SUBCOMPONENTS........................................................................................................... 10
CHAPTER 2 - QUICK STARTGUIDE ..................................................................................................................... 14
PRINTER PREPARATION......................................................................................................................... 15
PARTPRINTING .................................................................................................................................. 17
POST PROCESSING.............................................................................................................................. 19
USEFUL TIPS ..................................................................................................................................... 20
PARTSETUP AND POST-PROCESSING ......................................................................................... 20
OVEN DRYTHE PART.............................................................................................................. 21
PARTINFILTRATION .................................................................................................................. 21
CHAPTER 3 - MATERIAL SYSTEMS ...................................................................................................................... 22
USING ZCASTTM POWDER .................................................................................................................... 23
GENERAL INFORMATION ............................................................................................................ 23
USING ZCAST ONYOUR ZPRINTER 310 PRINTER ........................................................................ 23
LOADING ZCAST POWDER ........................................................................................................ 28
SETTING UPZCAST BUILDS ..................................................................................................... 28
POST PROCESSING ................................................................................................................. 28
MATERIAL ORDERING............................................................................................................... 29
RECYCLING ........................................................................................................................... 29
STORAGE.............................................................................................................................. 29
DISPOSAL ............................................................................................................................. 29
USING ZP®250 POWDER ...................................................................................................................... 30
MACHINE SETUP .................................................................................................................... 30
SOFTWARE SETUP .................................................................................................................. 30
PARTREMOVAL AND POST PROCESSING...................................................................................... 32
INFILTRATION ADDENDUM .......................................................................................................... 33
CHAPTER 4 - PREPARING THE 3D PRINTER .......................................................................................................... 34
TURNING THE PRINTER ON................................................................................................................... 35
PREPARING THE BUILD ......................................................................................................................... 36
FILLING THE FEED BOX............................................................................................................ 36
REMOVING AIR FROM POWDER AND PACKING THE FEED BOX ........................................................... 37
PREPARING THE BUILD AREA..................................................................................................... 38
CLEANING UP.................................................................................................................................... 39
CLEANING THE SERVICE STATION ............................................................................................................ 40
CLEANING THE SQUEEGEES AND PARKING CAPS ........................................................................... 40
REFILLING THE BINDER BOTTLE .............................................................................................................. 43
CHANGING THE PRINT HEAD .................................................................................................................. 43
EMPTYING THE WASTE BOTTLE .............................................................................................................. 44
PUTTING THE PRINTER ONLINE............................................................................................................... 44
CHAPTER 5 - USING ZPRINT SOFTWARE .............................................................................................................. 45
OPENING OR IMPORTING AFILE .............................................................................................................. 46
ORIENTING THE PART........................................................................................................................... 46
PARTCONTAINING AN OPENING OR HOLLOW AREA ........................................................................ 46
PARTCONTAINING OVERHANGS ................................................................................................. 47

CHECKING BUILD SETTINGS................................................................................................................... 48
SETTING POWDER PARAMETERS ............................................................................................................ 49
ANISOTROPIC SCALING VALUES ................................................................................................. 49
SATURATION VALUES ............................................................................................................... 50
PRINTING THE BUILD ............................................................................................................................ 50
CHAPTER 6 - POST-PROCESSING ........................................................................................................................ 51
REMOVING THE PRINTED PART............................................................................................................... 52
DEPOWDERING THE PART..................................................................................................................... 53
DRYING THE PART............................................................................................................................... 53
INFILTRATING THE PARTWITH Z-KOTE RESINS ........................................................................................... 54
USING Z-MAXTM EPOXY ........................................................................................................... 54
USING ZBONDTM 100 CYANOACRYLATE....................................................................................... 56
USING Z-SNAPTM EPOXY ......................................................................................................... 57
USING PARAPLAST X-TRA WAX ............................................................................................... 58
CHAPTER 7 - APPLICATIONS .............................................................................................................................. 59
GLUING MULTI-PIECE PARTS ................................................................................................................... 61
PAINTING PARTS ................................................................................................................................. 62
POLYESTER RESIN .............................................................................................................................. 63
ELECTROPLATING ................................................................................................................................ 64
WATER TRANSFER PRINTING ................................................................................................................. 65
INVESTMENT CASTING .......................................................................................................................... 68
FLEXIBLE PARTS ................................................................................................................................. 70
THERMOFORMING ................................................................................................................................ 71
RTV MOLDING ................................................................................................................................... 73
CHAPTER 8 - MAINTENANCE .............................................................................................................................. 77
CHANGING PRINT HEADS ...................................................................................................................... 78
CLEANING POGO PINS ......................................................................................................................... 80
OILING THE FAST AXIS ........................................................................................................................ 81
REFILLING THE WASH FLUID RESERVOIR .................................................................................................. 84
GREASING THE SLOW AXIS.................................................................................................................... 86
GREASING THE PISTON SCREWS ............................................................................................................ 87
CHANGING BINDER TANK ...................................................................................................................... 88
CHANGING BINDER COLOR .................................................................................................................... 89
BLEEDING AIR FROM THE FLUID LINES ..................................................................................................... 90
MACHINE STATUS ................................................................................................................................ 91
CHAPTER 9 - SYSTEM DETAILS .......................................................................................................................... 92
INDEX ........................................................................................................................................................... 95

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THIS CHAPTER WILL GIVE YOU AN OVERVIEW
OF THE PRINCIPLES BEHIND THE ZPRINTER 310
SYSTEM, FAMILIARIZE YOU WITH THE TERMI-
NOLOGY WE WILL USE TODESCRIBE THE SYS-
TEM, AND INTRODUCE YOU TOSOME OF THE
FEATURES OF THIS MANUAL.
FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, PLEASE
CONTACT THE Z CORPORATION SERVICE
DEPARTMENT AT(781) 852-5050,TOLL-FREE
AT(877) 88-ZCORP OR VIA EMAIL AT
[e-mail]. YOU MAYALSO VISIT
THE USER GROUP WEBSITE ATWWW.ZCORP-
USERS.COM.
OVERVIEW
CHAPTER 1

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MANUAL OVERVIEW
This ZPrinterTM 310 User Manual will speed you along the path towards quickly and inexpensively building parts.
We recommend that you use this manual together with service training for best results. The manual contains the
following sections:
1. Introduction.This section provides anoverviewoftheprinciplesbehind the ZPrinter 310System, familiarizes
you with the terminology we will use to describe the System, and reviews the components of the System.
2. Quick Start Guide.This section provides an overview of the steps needed to print a part.
3. Material Systems. This sectioninstructs you onhow to useZCastTM Powderandzp®250powderwithinstructions
on how to prepare your printer, print and post-process the part.
4. Preparing the ZPrinter 310 to Print. This section guides you through putting powder and binder solution in
the Printer, and cleaning the Service Station.
5. Printing a Part. This section takes you through preparing the build and checking parameters in the ZPrint
Software before printing.
6. Post Processing. Thissection leads youthrough removing theprinted parts fromthe buildenvelope,removing
excess powder from the part, and infiltrating the parts to improve strength and surface finish.
7. Applications. In this section you will learn some advanced post-processing steps that will enable you to
enhance the way you use the 3D Printer.
8. Maintenance. Here we review a few preventative maintenance steps, offer some tips for troubleshooting and
inform you about where to go if you experience any problems with the system.

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HOW IT WORKS
Z Corporation 3D Printer processes are based on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s patented 3DPTM
(Three-Dimensional Printing) technology.
The Our proprietary ZPrint Software first converts a three-dimensional design built using 3D CAD into cross-
sections or slices that can be between 0.003" – 009" (0.0762 - 0.2286 mm) thick.
The ZPrinter 310 then prints these cross-sections one after another from the bottom of the design to the top.
Inside the printer there are two pistons. The feed piston is represented in the diagrams below on the left and is
shown in the ‘down’ position filled with powder. The build piston is the piston on the right, shown below in the ‘up’
position. Also represented in the diagrams is the roller (drawn as a circle) and the print assembly (drawn as a
square.) On the printer, the roller and the print assembly are mounted together on the gantry which moves
horizontally across the build area.
Tobegin the 3D printingprocess,the ZPrinter 310 firstspreadsa layer of zp®seriespowder in the samethickness
as the cross section to be printed. The HP print head then applies a binder solution to the powder, causing the
powder particles to bind to one another and to the printed cross-section one level below. The feed piston comes
up and the build piston drops one layer of the thickness. The printer then spreads a new layer of powder and
repeats the process, and in a short time the entire part is printed.

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The ZPrinter 310 employs several techniques to quickly build great parts. First, binder solution is applied in a
higherconcentrationaround the edges of the part, creating astrong “shell” around the exterior of the part. Within
parts,theprinter builds an infrastructure by printingstrongscaffolding within part walls with ahigherconcentration
ofbinder solution. The remaining interior areasare printed with alowersaturation, which gives themstability,but
prevents over saturation, which can lead to part distortion.
After printing, the part is removed from the powder bed, depowdered and dried. The part can then be infiltrated
with wax, or other performance resins to increase strength and durability. For more information regarding
infiltrants, see Chapter 6,Post-Processing.
Because the powder layers support the structures being printed above, the ZPrinter 310 prints parts without
support structures of any kind and can print parts with complex geometries that are impossible for other systems.
There are several important characteristics of the ZPrinter 310 that will help you print the best parts for your
intended purpose.
Part Placement. ZPrint Software will place the parts within the build box to maximize build speed, the most
important criteria for the majority of our users. ZPrint Software positions the parts with the smallest dimension
in the z (vertical) axis. In addition to part placement, however, the following other characteristics should be
considered.
Strength. Theultimatestrengthof the part will be affected by its orientation within the printbox. Thepart will be
strongest along the y-axis and the x-axis and less strong along the z-axis. This is because the cross sections are
printed in continuous strips along the y-axis (the binder cartridge direction of travel), bands across the x-axis (the
gantry direction of travel) and laminated layers along the z-axis. This discussion only applies to untreated parts;
once parts are infiltrated, they uniformly take on the strength characteristics of the infiltrating material.

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z
-axis
x
-axis
y
-axis
Strong
L
ess Strong
Accuracy. The accuracy of the system depends on the materials you choose. You can employ the anisotropic
scaling feature in the ZPrint Software to adjust for expected shrinkage and bring your parts into true scale. More
information on anisotropic scaling factors is found in Chapter 4,Preparing the 3D Printer.
Strong

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SYSTEM COMPONENTS
ZD4i Depowdering Station
ZPrinter 310 System

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ZPRINTER 310 SUBCOMPONENTS
ZPrinter 310 System
Top Cover
Gantry
Feed Piston
Build Piston
Control Panel
Service Station
Waste Bottle Overflow Bin
Binder Bottle (on
the Top Cover)