Design Nomenclature / Physical Model Making

3D printing

Also called additive manufacturing, AM, rapid prototyping, 3D-printing

Building a part by adding material in layers, whatever the mechanism — extruded filament, cured resin, fused powder. The layer is the common fact: it sets Z resolution, makes every part anisotropic, and means the machine wants a closed solid it can slice into contours rather than a surface model.

Five panels left to right, numbered, each a small section with the step named beneath it. A closed solid tagged MANIFOLD; the same solid tilted, with a rotation arrow over it; the solid ruled across with evenly spaced contour lines, which is the slice; the part on the build plate with its courses drawn and the plate heavy beneath it; and the finished part with arrows rising off it for the post-processing still to come.

In practice

"Additive manufacturing" is the same thing in a procurement document, and "rapid prototyping" is the same thing in 1995. The processes share almost nothing but the layer — the design rules for FDM, SLA and SLS have less in common than the umbrella suggests. Name the process.

Not to be confused with

How this term connects

CNC millingFDMGenerative DesignLayer heightPrint anisotropySLASlicingSLSSTLSupport structureWatertight3D printing
Related Confused with