Experimental Study of Drilling 3D Printed Polylactic Acid (PLA) in FDM Process

In the current technology, a 3D printer machine can fabricate and duplicate almost anything. Technology is available for the usage of all-purpose mostly in manufacturing industry. 3D printing or additive manufacturing is a process of making three dimensional solid objects from 3D CAD data. In this research, the effects of drilling parameters on FDM products are investigated. The surface texture of 3D printed samples is examined to find out the effects of build orientation. Average surface roughness (Ra) and average maximum height of the profile (Rz) are investigated to determine the effects of printing and drilling processes. Results show surface roughness becomes worse by increasing build orientation. Therefore, horizontal specimen such as 0o sample has the best surface quality compared to perpendicular ones. Moderate feed rate with the value of 1100 mm/min and 800 rpm to 1000 rpm spindle speed showed the best quality in drilled holes. Besides, the quality of holes in 0o sample has the lowest Ra and Rz value compared to other specimens. Further, build orientation also affects surface quality in the drilling process due to the printing angle. After drilling process, results showed the effect of feed rate and spindle speed are significant.