The Design for Additive Manufacturing Worksheet

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, 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 rate of print failures and reprinted parts fell roughly 40%.

Toward a customized multicriterion tool for product evaluation in the early design phases: the CMDET methodology

“…As Rias' proposal underlines, during the search for ideas stage, there are insufficient product data to analyse the product's manufacturability, so experts may have to be called into analyse its potential [30]. Ideas can be evaluated with adapted tools, like those developed by Booth [31], taking the form of a matrix where design rules are graphically formulated to evaluate the AM potential.…”

“…• t 2 = F, total lifecycle considerations [20]. • t 3 = IV, DFAM worksheet [31]. • t 4 = α , eco-ideation [23]…”

Toying With Design: Experiencing Design for Rapid Prototyping Using Mini-Fabrication Exercises

“…Previous research has developed checklists, rule-based catalogs, and worksheets for integrating design for AM (DfAM) considerations into the design process [5,26]. Such tools usually provide broad guidelines and span across multiple AM techniques.…”

“…However, previous studies have reported that students tend to rush to fabrication without accounting for design flaws or performing model checks [4]. They also ignore considerations for support structures and expect AM parts to have similar endurance to machined parts [5], and find it difficult to learn from mistakes made as they seldom reflect on their errors [6]. Learning aids such as worksheets [5] and expert-supervision during fabrication have been successful in remedying some of these concerns.…”

“…They also ignore considerations for support structures and expect AM parts to have similar endurance to machined parts [5], and find it difficult to learn from mistakes made as they seldom reflect on their errors [6]. Learning aids such as worksheets [5] and expert-supervision during fabrication have been successful in remedying some of these concerns. However, such aids are often used as cautionary tools and do not allow students to learn by reflecting on their mistakes.…”