If you’ve been following the advances in additive manufacturing over the past decade, you know that 3D printing technology has changed dramatically. In the past, many in the manufacturing industry held the belief that 3D printed parts weren’t strong enough for end-use applications. But over the past 7 years, the additive manufacturing space has seen tremendous investment and development efforts to improve the materials, processes, and machines used to 3D print parts.
We now have access to stronger nylons, engineered plastics, and rubbers with improved durometers. In fact, some of the plastic materials used in additive manufacturing are stronger than aluminum! These advances open up a wide world of applications that additive manufacturing can now service.
Read below to learn about how 3D printing can be used in a variety of production scenarios:
Additive Manufacturing: Production Applications
Alternative to Injection Molding
3D printing is an alternative to injection molding that can save on time and cost. Injection molding requires a mold to be created before any parts can be produced, and creating a mold can be time-consuming and expensive. 3D printing, on the other hand, doesn’t require a machine setup or any additional tooling. Because of this, additive manufacturing can be faster and more cost-effective than injection molding for quantities well into the thousands.
Additive manufacturing also provides more design freedom than injection molding. There are certain features that can be designed with additive manufacturing that simply cannot with injection molding, or even subtractive manufacturing. Additionally, 3D printing makes it easier to iterate on a design than injection molding. With additive manufacturing, you can run an initial batch of parts, test them, make a change to the design, and produce a second batch of parts all without having to modify or redesign a mold.
Fixturing
Additive manufacturing is an excellent choice for making fixtures.
3D printed plastic soft jaws can be just as hard as metal soft jaws, but have the added benefit of being non-marring, meaning they won’t scratch the metal parts they are holding. This is very important for applications in the medical industry and others where parts must not be scratched.
Additionally, 3D printing makes it much easier to create fixtures that perfectly match the contours of the part they are holding. These fixtures are safer and easier to use than those made via other methods because they hold the workpiece much more securely.
Lightweight Parts
In certain industries, there is tremendous value in making parts as light as possible. For example, in aerospace applications, lightweight parts can reduce fuel consumption dramatically. Additive manufacturing can be used to create parts with lattice structures that reduce the weight of a part by 50-70%, while retaining the part’s functional properties.
Part Consolidation in Assemblies
Using additive manufacturing, you can print a part that would otherwise need to be an assembly. In fact, you can 3D print designs with integrated hinges and other moving parts!
3D printing a single integrated part can be much more cost-effective than injection molding the components and then fastening them together. You don’t need multiple molds, you don’t need fasteners, and you don’t need to spend time assembling. In addition, an integrated part can be stronger than an assembled part because it removes the need for joints where the fasteners attach to the part.
3D Parts Unlimited: Your Trusted Supplier for 3D Printing Services
At 3D Parts Unlimited, we are experts in designing for additive manufacturing. Contact us to learn more about how our 3D printing services can benefit your production applications.