As shown in Figure 1, it is extremely affordable to 3D print one-off tooling compared to conventional manufacturing.Īdditive manufacturing streamlines the production of end-use, revenue-generating parts by drastically decreasing their time to market. For one-off tooling, additive manufacturing opens the door for manufacturers to improve their bottom line by reducing CNC machine downtime, labor, and overhead to just material cost. In addition to allowing more freedom in design, additive manufacturing drastically shifts tooling from time-consuming and costly to hands-off and affordable. Break-even point for additive manufacturing compared to conventional manufacturing This is where additive manufacturing - colloquially known as 3D printing - steps in.įigure 1. If the jaws are never used again, in order to recuperate the initial, upfront cost and its successive iterations, the cost of the jaws are gambled and spread across the final, production-run milling jaws or the end-use, revenue-generating parts being machined. Machining milling jaws does not help a manufacturer's bottom line. ![]() For example, the cost to a manufacturer for machining a set of milling jaws on a CNC is machine downtime, labor, and overhead. The inherent problem with tooling is they don’t generate revenue. Now, what happens when the part the jaws were designed to hold iterated from Rev 1 to Rev 2 and, eventually, to Rev 3? Each revision results in a revision to the jaws, and the whole process begins again from step one.Īt low-production volumes, manufacturers either refuse production or charge a premium per unit cost. A manager to sign off on the blueprint/drawing. Draft blueprint/drawing of jaws in CADīy the time the jaws are delivered, as many as five different people have touched it in the process. ![]() The typical process to get a set of custom milling jaws in hand is:ĭesign jaws in computer-aided design (CAD) softwareġ. Tooling is traditionally one of the most time-consuming and costly portions of the machining process. This problem becomes extremely painful when it comes to machining custom tooling - the production of fixtures, jigs, molds, and patterns. ![]() The problem with machining today is simple: it's costly and takes up too much time.
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