Direct metal laser sintering brings unprecedented freedom to those willing to rethink traditional part design

Additive manufacturing is an excellent complement or alternative to machining when irregular, intricate, or smaller jigs and fixtures are needed

Consider this list: Fuel nozzles for General Electric’s LEAP engine; cabin brackets for Airbus A350 aircraft; patient-specific hearing aids and skull, hip, and ribcage replacements; and LED power-indicator housings for battling robots. These are just a few examples of fully functional end-use parts produced by industrial 3D printing technology, also known as additive manufacturing, shattering any lingering reputation that it’s a “prototype only” manufacturing process.

Sintering is the process of applying heat and/or pressure to fuse bits of metal, ceramic, and other materials into a solid mass. It’s nothing new. Nature has been fusing sedimentary minerals into slate and quartzite for eons, and humans began using similar methods to make bricks and porcelain millennia ago. Today, sintering is used to produce everything from gears and connecting rods to sprockets and bearings. It’s also used to 3D print parts.

It was once a no-brainer. Round parts were turned on lathes; non-round parts were machined on mills. With the advent of CNC machining centers, which interpolate round part features with ease, the line between the two machining processes became blurred.

Stereolithography, or SLA, emerged in the mid-1980s and established itself as a staple of additive manufacturing (AM) over the next decade. Since that time, SL’s ability to quickly and accurately create complex prototypes has helped transform the design world like never before.

In the traditional approach to product development, there is a sharp line between development and production. Development begins with a light bulb over someone’s head, proceeds through napkin sketches and CAD models, and ends, ultimately, with prototypes. At one or more points in the development process there may be input from the market, be it someone’s best guesses, one or more focus groups, or actual market tests. And from start to finish there is always pressure to “get on with it,” either because you need to catch up with a market leader or because you are the leader and someone may be catching up with you. But then, when you have reached your goal—a fully developed, marketable product—everything comes to a screeching halt and the drawings and/or models disappear into the “production machine,” from which, weeks or months later, a whole lot of deliverable product appears and the rush begins again as it heads off to market.

Designing metal parts? By incorporating both CNC machining and metal 3D printing into your manufacturing toolbox, you not only enjoy far greater flexibility in part design, but also gain the ability to procure them in less time and more cost-effectively than ever before. In order to take advantage of this, however, you must understand the shared strengths and inherent differences of each process, and how to best use them to your benefit.

Upload a CAD model to our automated quoting and design analysis engine and our CNC machines will mill or turn your parts in as fast as a day. For all of the technology that makes that possible, however, the human element is still critical—and often the culprit in recurring issues we see in parts designed for CNC machining. Avoiding these six common mistakes can help improve designs, shorten run time, and perhaps reduce your final manufacturing cost.

Vowin Prototype is a leading supplier providing CNC machining services and EDM machining services. We can manufacture parts using any kinds of material. We offer a wide selection of engineering plastics, alloys, and other exotic materials. We use high speed and high precision CNC machines to deliver parts, typically within 3 to 5 days. Our skilled technicians can thread holes complying with International (Metric) or US (Imperial) standards.

3D printing, otherwise known as additive manufacturing, is a manufacturing process that builds a part layer by layer. A computer sends instructions to the 3D printer, which deposits or hardens the material in a preprogrammed pattern, creating layers in succession.

Vowin Prototype possesses in-house sophisticated measuring and testing equipment, which enables us to qualify all incoming raw materials and rapid prototypes, while our modern metrology lab ensures that your parts meet your exact specifications.