For mass production, traditional machining, die casting, sheet

metal bending and wielding are very mature in market, in most

situation 3D printing sits in inferior position no matter in cost or

efficiency.

For example, a relative simple plastic part, length 20cm,

width20cm, height 7cm, a one-off 3D printing parts cost run with

USD$30-40, if you go with 20 sets, price go down about 30%.

Contrast with traditional manufacturing, such as injection modling

die casting, molding cost around USD$7000, parts less than

USD$2!

Under today’s environment, for less than 1000pieces production, it

is not manufacturing, just hobby. It seems 3D printing have

advantage in cost while talking about cycling time, injection mold

wins.

Why?

To builds up layers of an inch (0.25mm) thick, tt takes one 3D

printer 100 times to finish. 3D printing would take 20-60 minutes

to accomplish parts using the latest laser sintering technology (SLS

printing). The cycle time for the injection mold runs between 10

and 15 seconds!
You will find that, it would take hundreds of 3D printers to match

the throughput of injection mold.

But, do not get me wrong, 3D printing has its own place, and it will

becomes better and better. Ans a savvy product manager would

rarely allow expensive injection molds for prototyping when

product proof-of-concept /proof of test has not been

accomplished.

For mock-ups, 3D printing surpass traditional processing

method, it is fast, is able to use the same material as final

products. Most important, it saves a large amounts of molding

cost.

There are four target which we use 3D printing to achieve:

1) Decrease the numbers of accessory parts

2) Reduce the weight of parts

3) Reduce the time to assemble

4) Printing highly complexity prototypes

For example, General Aviation has launched a metal 3D printing

design competition on the Internet. The original part of the

aircraft weighs 2033 g. It is designed for the public to collect 3D

 printing design. It is required to meet the strength and assembly

requirements. The lighter the better, the lightest wins; The

competition attracted a lot of citizens to participate, and one of

the biggest advantages of 3D printing is its so-called design

freedom.

Most of the contestants showed their designs to meet the

original constraints, which met the installation and strength

requirements, and significantly reduced the weight. The final

winner's weight was 327g, almost the original weight. One, to be

exact, is 16% of the original weight! This is undoubtedly a

revolution for the aviation industry, which is “increase in size”;

Each reduction of 1706g weight is equivalent to reducing the fuel

cost by several hundred thousand per year and reducing the

carbon emissions by 10,000 tons; This is the synthesis of 3D

printing. Cost, not just the cost of manufacturing, but consider

the effect of eco-friendly to the earth, which is very obvious for

the aviation industry with strong demand for weight loss,. Not

only the aviation industry, metal 3D printing can do the

accompanying cooling mold, but also has a similar

comprehensive cost advantage.

Metal 3D printing is very suitable for printing grid-like structures.

These grid-like structures are ideal for internal support, which can
reduce weight and retain strength.

In summary, metal 3D printing opens up new design options,

freeing up design freedom and making more designs possible.

However, metal 3D printing will not replace the traditional

manufacturing methods, they have their own strengths and

complement each other. Understand the specifications of metal 3D

printing, so as to get the maximum benefit of metal 3D printing,

HITIONS hope to help friends who need 3D printing.