[Inventory] Six ways to reduce costs through 3D printing

Over time, the use of 3D printing (aka additive manufacturing) has gone far beyond prototyping. Now, the technology has taken a place in the manufacturing industry, such as:

The Juno spacecraft, built by Lockheed Martin and NASA, is currently completing its mission on Jupiter's orbit, carrying thirteen 3D printed waveguide brackets.

Activated Research Co. uses 3D printing technology to develop a new design for its Polyarc gas chromatography catalytic microreactor that takes just 15 months to market.

Raytheon uses 3D printing to make control parts for rocket engines, fins and missiles in just a few hours instead of days.

According to reports, Boeing created the largest 3D printing product to date in 2016, a fixture for the manufacture of the 777 aircraft, which set a world record and reportedly reduced manufacturing time by several weeks.

In these cases, the results include more features, lower weight, and lower manufacturing costs, and all three are common. The following six factors make these benefits possible:

1. Optimize design

Well-designed 3D printed parts follow many of the same rules as injection molding. These include: using a gradual transition between adjacent surfaces. Eliminate huge differences in cross-section and part volume. Avoid sharp corners that often create residual stress on the finished workpiece. Note that thin, unsupported walls do not print too high, or they may bend or warp. Shallow-angled surfaces tend to leave ugly "stepped" surfaces, which make them less cosmetic, so they need to be flattened as much as possible.

2. Abandon the tradition

The most dramatic 3D printed component design utilizes 3D capabilities to create "organic" shapes such as honeycombs and complex matrices. Don't be afraid to use these shapes, only doing so will create lighter, stronger parts. You should also not be afraid to place holes (and many of them) in your design. With the development of traditional manufacturing, drilling holes in solid blocks has increased part cost and waste. This is not the case in the 3D printing world because more holes mean less powder and less processing time. Keep in mind that 3D printed holes do not need to be circular. Typically, the shape of the hole in an elliptical, hexagonal or free form will be better suited to the part design and easier to print.

3. Consider the next steps in the design cycle

However, just because you can print parts with lots of holes doesn't mean you should print like this, especially if you plan to make many of these parts later. Because 3D printing offers tremendous design flexibility, it is not necessary to consider how parts are made after prototyping. According to the example at the beginning of this design tip, more and more companies are finding 3D printing for end-use parts, but as production increases, many parts will switch from printing to machining, forming or casting. That's why it's important to make manufacturability (DFM) analysis early in the design cycle to ensure cost-effective production throughout the part's lifecycle.

4. Avoid secondary operations

Plastic parts produced using SLS do not require a support structure during production, so post-treatment is usually limited to painting, reaming, tapping, and machining of critical part features. On the other hand, direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) typically requires a large number of scaffold-like structures to support and control the movement of metal workpieces without which the surface may curl and warp. This is especially true for cantilever geometries, such as a wide T-shape, which requires the construction of supports under the arms that must be machined or polished to increase cost. This story is similar to SL but less noticeable, where the cured resin holder can be easily removed with a hand-held sander and some sandpaper. Where possible, parts should be oriented to reduce these protrusions and other unfriendly features.

5. Observing tolerances

Designers and engineers should avoid “excessive tolerance” parts as this may force them to build with thinner layers (increasing build time and cost) and often require secondary machining operations to meet excessive print sizes. Since 3D printing offers many opportunities to reduce the number of parts, there is no need to achieve an ultra-precise fit between the mating surfaces, which is just another example of how the technology can reduce manufacturing costs.

Some parts produced with DMLS require manual finishing. Well-designed 3D printed parts minimize post-production steps, reducing cost and time.

6.Look at the big picture

3D printed parts may require more upfront costs, but don't let it scare you. With 3D printing, you can reduce part count, reduce weight, increase structural integrity, reduce assembly costs, reduce internal channels for cooling or routing, and other features not possible with traditional designs. Also, keep in mind that 3D printing does not require fixtures, molds, and other types of tools, eliminating the cost that may not be directly related to the price of a single component. Focusing on the price tag of the part, rather than the product features and "big picture", may allow you to design the same parts as before, eliminating the opportunity to reduce overall manufacturing costs.

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