The application of 3D printing technology is the development trend of the future machinery manufacturing industry, and now the manufacturing industry has developed in the direction of digitalization. The application of 3D printing technology in the field of machinery manufacturing plays an important role in promoting the better development of the machinery manufacturing industry.
Why use 3D printing technology instead of CNC machining or mold machining?
Mechanical design drawing, from the initial hand, drawing to drawing on the computer. The introduction of software such as CAD has greatly improved the level of designers, and further improved the quality of drawings and the accuracy of processing. However, software such as CAD is only a plane drawing, and the cooperation between the parts can only rely on the overlapping of the drawings. The cooperation between more complex but small parts is difficult to be detailed so there is a big problem in the cooperation between parts.
The introduction of 3D drawing software is favored by the majority of designers for its three-dimensional sense of fit and intuitive design. Therefore, software such as Pro/Engineer is generally used by mechanical designers. However, the processed drawings are still the processing of plane drawings, and the designed parts need further processing. Sometimes parts are too small, making machining complex.
The machining of small parts with complex structures is very time-consuming. Even if it is processed by CNC machine tools, the programming of the processing is also very time-consuming. Moreover, only one or two experimental pieces can be processed, and the average cost is very high.
If you make a mold, you need to go through a lot of experiments, and the design of the mold may not be completed at one time. The cost of making a mold is very high.
3D printing technology is based on digital model files, using adhesive materials such as powder metal or plastic, and stacking them through a nozzle or a laser beam. Including FDM technology, SLS technology, MJF technology, SLA, and other technologies.
With the improvement of 3D printing technology, the current FDM technology has been greatly improved, and the addition of laser technology has further improved processing accuracy. At present, most industrial-grade 3D printers basically adopt processing methods such as SLA.
After the mechanical parts are modeled by 3D software, the modeled parts are archived in STL format. After the 3D printer is connected to the computer, it will print the identified model, and the printed parts are consistent with the required size. Through these parts, it can be seen whether the structure of the parts and the related dimensions are more suitable for the product made. Moreover, there are not many materials for 3D printing, and the cost is greatly reduced.
Advantages of 3D printing in mechanical manufacturing
1. 3D printing technology can reduce costs when manufacturing complex objects, and at the same time increase the diversification of products. The design space of 3D technology is also very large. Its materials can be infinitely combined to achieve precise physical reproduction.
2. The manufacturing side of 3D technology occupies a relatively small space, and can realize the mode of portable manufacturing, which greatly improves work efficiency.
4. 3D technology can process parts that are difficult to manufacture by traditional methods. Most of the traditional ways of manufacturing parts are to use molds, and there are certain difficulties in the face of some complex parts manufacturing. However, 3D printing technology enables the replication of complex parts.
5. 3D printing technology can shorten the time for manufacturing preparation and data conversion, reduce the product design cycle, promote and cooperate with the mechanical manufacturing industry for experimental manufacturing, and can shorten the construction period, and reduce costs. The application of this technology can stimulate the mechanical manufacturing industry’s product development capabilities.
6. Changed the traditional design concept. In the process of manufacturing products, 3D printing technology does not require a lot of human resources and can rely on itself to complete the production work, and the stability and integration of the processed parts have been significantly improved. The application of this technology simplifies the design and processing of parts to a great extent, enabling enterprises to obtain high economic benefits. For example, aviation parts have very high requirements for products, not only high stability but also small batch production. In addition, there are many shapes of aviation parts, and different shapes have different production requirements. These features increase the difficulty of processing. These problems can be easily solved by applying 3D printing technology.
In mechanical design products, many complex and small parts are not easy to process. These parts are more complicated to work on, and the processing costs such as mold opening are very high. And because most of them are experimental parts, the processing volume is not large, and it is not guaranteed that the design requirements can be met at one time. After a lot of changes, the cost of molds and processing will increase greatly. 3D printers solve these problems very well, and the cost has been greatly reduced.
JTR is able to provide a variety of 3D printing technologies, including carbon DLS, DMLS, FDM, MJF, SLS, SLA, and other technology types. Professional technicians and production equipment are ready to serve you.
