Limitation of 3D printing

Limitation of 3D printing

Additive manufacturing,or 3d printing,is such a magical method that is anticipated to replace traditional manufacturing methods but there are definitely limitations of 3D printing.The stepped contour reduces the roundness of circular features,which cannot be entirely eliminated by decreasing the layer thickness.The most serious limitation is the same as that involved in traditional manufacturing methods:taking out of the unwanted materials such as support materials from cavities,specifically,long and narrow or closed cavities,such as a hollow ball.In fact,the 3D printing method does not hold intrinsic advantage over traditional manufacturing methods.Sacrificial structures must be used to support and hold overhanging features during 3D printing and they will be removed after the build.Weiheng Die Casting Provide 3D printing service for prototyping.

3D printing
3D printing

Even the cleaning of loose powder does not seem always easy from deep and narrow passages.It may be misunderstood that it is not necessary to use support for laser sintering powdered bed,but the truth is that during the transportation after cleaning,the sintered parts may need support,so some supports have to be made during 3D printing.Therefore,the design of supports and ribs,and the cleaning of unwanted materials and loose powders needs to be considered at the beginning of 3D printing.Direct manufacturing has given some rules on how to optimize the design of metal parts so as to realize self supports or to realize no access features without trapped supports.But,the technical design for cleaning has not yet been profoundly considered and relative software should be in urgent need in the future.

The layer by layer manufacturing method provides much more freedom for designers as well as high efficiency and lower cost.Some traditional casting designs such as draft and parting line are not necessary,but new designs,such as supports and ribs,have to be considered.3D printing technologies have evolved from rapid prototyping to rapid tooling,rapid manufacturing and rapid casting.They can be used to directly print some specific castings;however,mostly they are adopted to make sacrificial patterns and ceramic shells for investment casting,sand cores and moulds for sand casting.

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