Description
Additive manufacturing (AM), better known as 3D printing, is disrupting the manufacturing industry. Its capabilities and build processes make additive technologies ideal for applications such as light-weighting and component consolidation. In order to fully capitalize on the awesome power of AM, an understanding of the technology and its limitations is crucial. However, this is not a natural skill for most designers and engineers. Since AM is so new and different from traditional manufacturing, it comes with a completely different set of design considerations. When properly understood and applied, design for additive manufacturing (DfAM) can vastly improve printing times and it results in higher-quality parts. This class will focus on general design practices that apply to all types of AM, including metal (SLM) and polymer materials.
Lab dataset is available at https://autode.sk/3pCQ0xQ
Key Learnings
- Learn how to modify existing designs to optimize for the additive build process.
- Discover the right and the wrong way to lightweight a part.
- Learn how part orientation can affect build quality and success.
- Learn about when the printing process will fail before trying to build a part.