At first glance, many of our customers find it difficult to believe that our toys are 3D printed. What most have seen from other makers and at markets around the country are low quality prints that lack the production appeal we at Toyko have perfected. The reason we are able to do this is we have spent tens of thousands of hours understanding the limitations of 3D printing as a manufacutring process and we have developed work arounds that guarantee the aesthetic we've become known for. Others try, but they fall short because they're unable to replicate, at scale, what the Toyko team have been able to do. So, let us introduce you to this wonderful world. We'll begin by refering to the process by it's technical name: Additive Manufacturing.

The world of additive manufacturing is about is broad as any engineering process can be. There are a wide range of methods developed to create things through an additive process that sees any part created one layer at a time on a prepared build surface, as if by magic. We can assure you it's not magic, but before we explain how all of this works maybe we should take a quick look at the various forms of 3D printing machine types.

The primary 3D printing machine types are:

• SLA - Stereolithography (Otherwise referred to as a resin printer)
• SLS - Selective Laser Sintering
• FDM/FFF - Fused Deposition Modelling OR Fused Filament Fabrication

There are many more types but these largely have industrial use and are not relevant for this blog post. The process we use is FDM/FFF. To shorten the use of acronyms, we simply say FDM. Lets unpack what fused deposition modelling actually means. The process begins with the use of highly detailed CAD models which are then fed into a software package commonly known as a "slicer". Each CAD model is comprised of a 3D triangular mesh that looks like hundreds and thousands of tiny little triangles (sometimes even millions). Inside the slicer there are thousands of settings that dictate the behaviour of the 3D printer. The Toyko team have spent many thousands of hours understanding each setting and perfecting the profiles that we use in our prints. We have failed thousands of times, literally, but eventually we prevailed and the result we have now is a repeatable process that creates consistent results.

Once all the settings are applied in the slicer, we "slice" the toy which is a fancy way of saying we ask the slicer to mathematically cut the triangular mesh in horizontal planes at specific layer heights to create cross-sections of the geometry of the toy. Hundreds of intersections are created in the horizontal plane by the slicer, from the bottom of the toy right up to the very top. This produces a series of 2D line segments commonly referred to as "layers". This process is mathematically intensive so it requires a bit of computational power and, depending on the amount of triangles the slicer has to process, could take anywhere between a few seconds up to a few minutes to slice. Once the slicing is complete, the toy is ready to print.

The next step involves sending the sliced toy to the 3D printer for printing. This typically occurs via Wi-Fi using our print farm management software. Once the printer has completed the task download, it prepares itself with the temperature settings the print task requires and proceeds with a pre-configured levelling process which is another mathematical process whereby the printer nozzle interacts with the print bed to measure any discrepencies in build plate height. 3D printers are incredibly sensitive to minute changes in build plate height so even the smallest of differences in height can affect print quality. During this time, the build plate will have warmed up to the required temperature and once the bed levelling process is complete, the print is ready to begin.

3D printing leverages the concept of constant pressure in the printing nozzle which could be inadequate when the print begins, so, to combat this issue, the sliced file includes an instruction to print a pre-extrusion line at the bottom left corner of the build plate which does several things. The first useful thing the pre-extrusion line does is it primes the nozzle which means building up the correct level of operating pressure and getting rid of any air bubbles which removes the potential for inconsistent material flowing out of the nozzle when the print begins. Next, it often helps to clear oozing where any residual blobs of material may have become stuck to the nozzle tip during warm up. Then, while the pressure stabilises in the nozzle, the pre-extrusion line or "purge line" also offers a visual confirmation that material is actually coming out of the nozzle. If nothing comes out, an operator can pause the print to investigate and finally the pre-extrusion line also acts as a wiping feature to clear any debris from the nozzle before it travels to the centre of the build plate to execute its first print command.

Now that the print has begun, the printer will begin moving forward, backward, and side to side across the X and Y axes as defined by the instructions given to it by the sliced file. Each movement serves to deposit a single horizontal line of material on the build plate. When that horizontal line is finished, the printer reads from the sliced file and moves in the Z axis up a tiny bit (again, as defined by the sliced file) so that it can begin depositing the next bit of material across the exact same horizontal plane but this time it's ontop of the previously deposited line. This process happens hundreds or even thousands of times and as the hours pass, a shape begins to emerge. Eventually, all of the instructions the 3D printer received from the sliced file are carried out and the print concludes. At this point, the 3D printer will cease operations, centre itself, and move the toolhead to it's home location (off the build plate). Once this occurs, an operator can remove the build plate to retrive the printed toy.

Now, take what you've read here and picture it happening hundreds of times per day across an entire print farm or even thousands of times per week and you'll have a pretty good idea of what the Toyko team do every day.