Although 3D printing has been around since the early 1980s, this process is still considered an emerging and constantly changing technology.
With 3D printing, a thermoplastic filament is used. Instead of molding parts from a resin, the thermoplastic filament is fed into the 3D printer’s extruder from the heating chamber. The chamber melts the thermoplastic filament, which is then fed through an extruder’s metal nozzle.
It’s referred to as 3D printing because the nozzle’s path is defined by a file containing the schematics or outline of a 3D object. Each pass of the nozzle deposits an additional layer of thermoplastic filament until the final product is complete.
When to Use 3D Printing
During a part’s design or pre-production phase, multiple iterations of the part (prototypes) may be required before the design is finalized. 3D printing addresses this need by providing engineers and designers with quick turnaround on redesigns or engineering changes to the part.
A physical part helps engineers, designers, and quality control personnel test and validate the design’s fit, form, and function. They can measure the part’s viability as a stand-alone or assess how well it interacts within a larger integrated assembly. This helps to reduce design time while shortening the time it takes to move to full-scale production
Benefits of 3D Printing
The primary benefits of 3D printing include:
1. Prototyping: 3D printing is often called rapid prototyping for a good reason. In many instances, a new design can be printed within 24 hours.
2. Shorter Validation Period: 3D printing provides design engineers with working parts they can play with, manipulate, and validate. This reduces the time for redesign and the product design phase altogether.
3. Small Production Runs: 3D printing can be used for small production runs of parts with simple profiles.
While 3D printing is great for prototypes and small production runs, it isn’t suited for large-volume production runs or parts with complex geometries and tight dimensional tolerances. Parts that require a specific surface finish or nice appearance are also not ideal for 3D printing.
Which Process Do You Need?
Don’t make the all-too-common mistake of assuming that 3D printing and plastic injection molding are competing technologies. They aren’t. Each has a purpose, and they’re often used together within a given product’s lifecycle.
If your engineering team is in the middle of tweaking its design and needs a physical part to test and validate, then 3D printing is the solution. If you need a small production run of simple parts, 3D printing may also be the more cost-effective option. However, if you need production of several hundred or thousands of parts with unique properties and repeatable tight tolerances, then plastic injection molding is precisely what you need.
