The Additive Mindset
The Additive Mindset
What is it like to design and manufacture a product completely using additive manufacturing (3D printing)?
For the product to be successful, your design and engineering team needs to know HOW to design for additive manufacturing. This does not only mean they must be familiar with the different constraints of each additive process, although that is important.
Truly taking advantage of additive manufacturing requires a change of mindset. The knowledge designers and engineers have about traditional manufacturing (such as injection molding, casting, or machining) is often used to inform design. This can be counterproductive when the targeted manufacturing process is additive. This is why it’s crucial for the design team to free themselves from the “injection molding mindset” and get into the “additive mindset.”
Here are just a few examples of how the “additive mindset” enabled us to bring the full benefits of HP MJF (Multi Jet Fusion) printing the CGX Quick-32r headset.
Without any need to unmold a part from a tool, we could design functionality into parts that required complex geometry—geometry that could never reasonably be injection molded.
To simplify assembly and field-serviceability, we designed single parts that were “up-integrated” (combined). In a typical injection molding process, such a part would have had to be made as multiple pieces and then assembled together.
The headband is a part that is “up-integrated” with additive manufacturing in mind. In an injection molding process, this would have to be made as at least 7 separate pieces and then assembled by hand.
The additive mindset also helps us pay close attention to mechanical properties and finish—areas that are much more well-developed (and therefore easier to spec) in traditional manufacturing.
MJF (Multi Jet Fusion) printing is used for nearly every mechanical piece of the CGX Quick-32r. Careful attention was paid to optimize the surface finish of each part.
Lastly, a paramount piece of knowing how to design for additive manufacturing is to be familiar with the capabilities of the supplier. Two suppliers with the same machines will often produce vastly different quality parts. It is critical to develop enough knowledge of the processes to be able to work closely with additive suppliers on these issues.
To get the most from additive manufacturing, start with examining the design mindset. We will dive deeper into some of what we touched on above in future posts, so stay with us!