Additive Manufacturing For High Volume Industrial Applications

Hi,

I'm new to this forum and was hoping to get some feedback from the industry on industrial 3D printing.

Does the technlogy exist for mass production manufacturing?

Thanks for your time and I look forward to hearing your thoughts!

If you're talking industrial levels of mass production, 3D printing is the wrong place to be. It's called a prototyping technology for very good, clear reasons. While getting the product out the first time is loads faster, each individual product is loads slower than typical mass production processes.
Extra waste is also introduced along with not as strong parts and highly likely to double your material cost as filaments cost much more than their pellet counter parts.

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Realizer- One who realizes dreams by making them a reality either by possibility or by completion. Also creating or renewing hopes of dreams.
"keep in mind, even the best printer can not print with the best filament if the user is the problem." -Ohmarinus

... you can find some sort of 'industrial mass-production' at the give-aways of 3D-systems or other big companies ... received a bottle-opener, made per SLS out from titanium powder on a professional machine, where some ten of the parts were sintered at once, vertically aligned.

The stability/strenth is really high, the surface a bit 'sandy' ... and you can see some surface aeas, where I've tested smoothing the surface with a laser ...

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Viktor
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Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]

It takes forever to 3D print something compared to plastic injection or metal injection molding. There's a company out there doing cheap aluminum molds for cheap plastic parts if that's what you are looking for?

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JerseyGirl
It takes forever to 3D print something compared to plastic injection or metal injection molding. There's a company out there doing cheap aluminum molds for cheap plastic parts if that's what you are looking for?

Milled or 3d printed? I would think a 3D printed mold wouldnt be cost effective either depending on size.

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greghoge.com

HUGE 3D PRINTER PARTS SALE!!!

3d printing works good for things that need constant, minor customization (teeth) or in situations where no other method works (some lcd panels).

For small batches of items, you need to find your price breaking point, at what point is it cheaper to go another route.
If you want 10,000 small keychains, injection molding is a good option as once the mold is made, you can make them in seconds for pennies on the dollar.
If you want 200 small keychains, 3d printing is a better option as while they may cost more, you aren't spending thousands on the mold.
That's the idea of printer farms, they take a warehouse full of printers and knock out lots of low volume items quickly. There are many of these popping up across the country.

So you think mass production isn't a reality at all? Even in the next, say 5-10 years?

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MrDoctorDIV
If you're talking industrial levels of mass production, 3D printing is the wrong place to be. It's called a prototyping technology for very good, clear reasons. While getting the product out the first time is loads faster, each individual product is loads slower than typical mass production processes.
Extra waste is also introduced along with not as strong parts and highly likely to double your material cost as filaments cost much more than their pellet counter parts.

Great question J_MAC!

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J_MAC
So you think mass production isn't a reality at all? Even in the next, say 5-10 years?

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JessicaW
Does the technlogy exist for mass production manufacturing?

^{Underline added}
I was answering the question in its context, that being already here. Currently, 3D printing isn't suitable for mass production. That all depends on what you call mass production, though.
As for the future, well, years have proven that those who predict the future haven't been all that accurate. It is the future though, and years have proven that things improve. 3D printing is a new tool, it hasn't been fully refined or mastered, it may reach modern day levels of mass production, but the future may have even higher levels of mass production.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/07/2014 01:28PM by MrDoctorDIV.

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Realizer- One who realizes dreams by making them a reality either by possibility or by completion. Also creating or renewing hopes of dreams.
"keep in mind, even the best printer can not print with the best filament if the user is the problem." -Ohmarinus