ACCELERATING MANUFACTURING – A DESIGN PERSPECTIVE

An in-depth look at how both machining and 3D printing can be employed in harmony to give you the best metal part

- Kruti Bharadva

Designing metal parts? By incorporating both CNC machining and metal 3D printing into your manufacturing toolbox, you not only enjoy far greater flexibility in part design but also gain the ability to procure them in less time and more cost-effectively than ever before. To take advantage of this, however, you must understand the shared strengths and inherent differences of each process, and how to best use them to your benefit.

EMBRACING THE YIN AND YANG OF METAL MANUFACTURING

Nowhere is this relationship more significant than the bond that exists between CNC machining and direct metal laser sintering (DMLS), the leading technology for 3D printing complex metal parts. The latter can produce virtually any part shape using nothing more than a laser beam and a pile of metal powder, but it can be a slow process. Machining on the other hand is more limited in terms of geometry but offers far faster production speeds. The choice, then, of which to use is primarily a question of A) can the part or parts are machined, and B) how many parts need to be made?

In many cases, the two manufacturing processes can work together. Examples? Oftentimes metal-based additive manufacturing relies on its subtractive alter ego to finish the job. Holes must be bored or reamed, threads tapped or thread-milled, critical surfaces milled, turned, or ground to size. At the very least, 3D-printed parts need some manual TLC in the form of cleaning, blasting, and support removal, pretty much guaranteeing a visit to the machine shop.