Additive manufacture, more commonly known as 3D Printing, has been developing since the early 1980's. However, the machines capable of doing this revolutionary "additive manufacturing" were extremely large and expensive. This changed in early 2009 when the first 3D printer for the average household consumer was released for a relatively affordable price. Since this first release, the last 10 years have seen an explosion in the market for simple, affordable, and powerful 3d printers with amazing print quality.
In the early 1980's the Engineering design process was a very long, expensive, and tedious process. However, after a design was completed, its manufacture could very easily be optimized to be lightning fast, and cheaper than ever before.
The founders of 3d systems noticed this disparity and developed the first rapid prototyping machines. The first developed method was called stereolithography. This method uses a laser to solidify a liquid resin and builds a part layer by layer. This was one of the first steps in advancing additive manufacturing.
All rapid prototyping machines (3D Printers) are based on the same idea of building parts layer by layer. These techniques have taken years to hone. Consumer grade 3d printers generally use Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM) to build parts. This method is achieved by slicing a solid CAD file into a layered structure. This structure is built by melting the chosen material and depositing it on the build plate and previous layers. In the last 10 years, the print quality of these consumer grade printers has vastly improved and the price of each machine has dropped from thousands to hundreds of dollars.
There are many other additive manufacturing methods. For plastic and polymer parts, Stereolithography (SLA), Digital Light Processing (DLP) and Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) are generally used. For metal 3d prints, Selective Laser Sintering (SLS), Selective Laser Melting (SLM) and Electronic Beam Melting (EBM) are generally used to fuse powdered metals into solid parts.
Rapid prototyping via additive manufacture is a massive help in the component phase of engineering design. Once a prototype component is quickly printed out, it can be test fitted on a machine or assembled with other components. This can show errors in from decisions made in the module phase or, less desirably, the concept or strategy phases.
Additive manufacture is a pivotal method to use when creating my design. Many of the products my design competes with are primarily manufactured using additive manufacture because it is more accessible for small operations than molding methods. My design would be prototyped and likely manufactured in whole or in part using 3D printing.
The advancements of personal 3D printing have visibly improved in the last ten years. Many colleagues of mine who were early adopters of these products in the early 2010's were amazed by prints that would now be considered low resolution with poor surface finish.
Some challenges that I may encounter while using 3D printing with my design is how parts act under load. Because printing results in a layered part, which means it is inherently anisotropic. I have to carefully consider which direction my part is printed in order to assure it is as isotropic as possible.
Over time, many materials have been used for additive manufacture with varying degrees of success. Over the time of the advancement, new technologies with thermoplastics and photopolymers have been developed that directly improved the world of 3D printing. These developments have made it easier to improve the quality and strength of 3D prints. There have even been FDA approved printing methods often used in surgical planning and Dental practices.
To integrate additive manufacture into my design, I need to determine if it's the best way to prototype and produce my part with a high level of quality. Some parts that require significant amounts of support material often have poor surface finish where the support material had to be removed. Due to the open holes and fin-shaped elements on my parts, it will likely need many supported sections. I may be required to test print my part and fine tune parameters for maximum finish quality.