Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) has been around almost as long as stereolithography. FDM is a layered process like stereolithography, but uses a filament of actual thermoplastic that is melted and extruded through a tiny nozzle. The nozzle drives down a “road” all around the part's 2D cross-section, and then criss-crosses inside to fill in the volume. FDM's strength is…well, strength! Since you are working with an engineering thermoplastic, you can get better material properties than with many other RP processes. However, due to voids and imperfections in interlayer adhesion, it does not match the strength of the base engineering resin. FDM has a weakness—resolution and accuracy of small features. This is primarily why FineLine does not offer it as a service. The part featured here was made by a factory service organization.
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