The Design For Additive Manufacturing Worksheet

by | Jun 2, 2016

Authors: Joran W. Booth, Jeffery Alperovich, Tahira N. Reid, Karthik Ramani
Proceedings of the ASME 2016 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences &Computers and Information in Engineering ConferenceIDETC/CIE 2016August 21-24, 2016, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
https://doi.org/10.1115/DETC2016-60407

Abstract: Additive manufacturing (AM) technologies have become integral to the modern manufacturing process. These roles are filled both in prototyping and production. Many studies have been conducted and lists been written on guidelines for AM. While these lists are useful, they virtually none are written in a way that is accessible to novice users of AM, such as Makers. Most guidelines assume the user has extensive prior knowledge of the process, apply to only a few AM technologies, or describe benefits of the technology that novices already know. In this paper, we present a short, visual design-for-additive-manufacturing worksheet for novice and intermittent users. It addresses common mistakes and problems as identified by various expert machinists and additive manufacturing facilities. The worksheet helps designers accurately assess the potential quality of a part that is to be made using an AM process by giving intuitive feedback and indirectly suggest changes to improve a design. The immediate benefit of this worksheet is that it can help to streamline designs and reduce manufacturing errors. We validated it in a high-volume 3D-printing facility (Boilermaker Lab) where users are predominantly novice or intermittent. After the worksheet was implemented in the Boilermaker Lab, both the total number of print failures and reprinted parts fell over 40%.

 

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Joran

Joran

Joran is a research scientist and lecturer at Yale University and a Co-Advisor with Professor Tahira Reid. He received the degree of D-PhD in the School of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University. He received his bachelor's in mechanical engineering from the Brigham Young University. His research focuses on how students abstract and solve complex problems in early design phases, with a special emphasis on functional decomposition and sketching/visualization. Other research interests include prototyping, engineering history, education, family science, and history. Joran spends his free time volunteering, playing board games, hiking, playing music, or spending time outdoors. His past projects include starting the Purdue Maker's club, various sketching workshops, and simple robots. He recently finished an internship at IMMI, a top automotive safety products company.  Joran is a member of ASME and the Order of the Engineer. You can find more information at http://joranbooth.wordpress.com/.