FAQ
Alberta Spatial Replication - Your Questions Answered
WHAT IS ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING?
Additive manufacturing is creating something by starting with nothing, and adding material until the piece is finished. This is the opposite to subtractive manufacturing, which starts with a piece of material and then removes material until the piece is finished. Just like subtractive manufacturing has many types, like drilling, CNC milling, lathe cutting, friction cutting, plasma cutting etc, additive manufacturing also has many techniques which include plastic powder sintering, thermoplastic filament extrusion, ink on powder printing, resin curing and many others.
WHAT IS FDM OR FFF?
Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) and Filament Deposition Manufacturing (FDM) are the same process, but the term FDM is trademarked by Stratasys. FFF is a process whereby a thermoplastic in a long string called filament is heated and forced through a constriction called a nozzle onto the in-progress piece. FFF is functionally identical to a hot glue gun on a machine which moves and operates the gun.
WHAT IS RESIN PRINTING?
Resin printing is a 3d printing process where a photo-sensitive resin is hardened a layer at a time. One layer is hardened, then the piece being printed is moved an increment away from the hardening source and the process is repeated until the piece is fully printed. Two common types of resin printing are Stereolithography (SLA) and Masked Stereolithography (MSLA). SLA uses moving mirrors to control a laser beam’s path which polymerizes the resin where the laser hits. Masked Stereolithography (MSLA) shines a 405 nm wavelength light at the piece being printed, and uses an LCD screen to selectively block the light, leaving the shape of the printing layer as transparent.
HOW DO YOU CALCULATE THE COST FOR A PRINT?
Cost is based on the machine time required, amount of consumables used, and the amount of labor needed for preparation and post processing. Costs are estimated beforehand and given in a quote, which when accepted will be honoured by ABSR regardless of real costs.
DO YOU SHIP INTERNATIONALLY?
We ship anywhere that the standard postal services ship to. However it is the responsibility of the customer to check that the item being ordered meets local laws and regulations, and carrier requirements. We will do our best to check this on our end, but final responsibility is on the customer.
3D DESIGN
From engineering design to artistic modelling, we can get you electronic designs for what you're looking for.
3D PRINTING
If it can be printed, it will be printed!
3D ENGINEERING
Rapid prototyping with Computer-aided Design(CAD), your ideas can be designed efficiently and beautifully.