3D Printing Advancements Make FFF Printing 10 Times Faster

We just recently ran an article about a new 3D printing technique that can make entire parts almost instantly. But, that only works with resin-based printers, and the reality is that most consumer 3D printers use fused-filament fabrication (FFF). Luckily for hobbyists, however, another advancement may soon increase your FFF printing speed by up to ten times.

The consumer FFF 3D printers that you’ll find on the market today print relatively slowly. That’s because of three key limitations: the speed at which the print head moves, the amount of filament that can be fed into the extruder, and the time it takes to heat and melt that filament. Most common 3D printers are capable of moving the print head far more quickly than can be actually used, so researchers at MIT chose to focus on the latter two challenges.

First, to get as much filament into the extruder as possible, they switched to a screw-feed mechanism. When combined with textured filament, that mechanism can push filament with far more force, and speed, than the usual pinch wheel-type. But, that still left the issue of how to heat up the filament quickly enough to take advance of the high-speed feed rate.

To overcome that problem, they used a laser in place of a conventional hot end to very quickly melt the filament. As you can see in the video, they were able to print at astonishingly fast speeds using just those two changes. The only thing currently holding this technology back is the time it takes to cool each layer, but that should be solvable with active cooling techniques.