![]() However, the limits of CAD and the STL file format have become clear, industry leaders say. Another goal would be to play a larger role in other manufacturing sectors like automotive, aerospace and medical devices. ![]() It also seeks to be involved with multi-materials and biological structures, food, electrical functions and textiles. That software is paired with the STL file format, invented in the mid-1980s to enable CAD software to transmit files to print 3D objects.ĪM has evolved from its gee-whiz stage to an industry that aspires to move to mass production. On the front end, AM relies on CAD software, invented in 1961. He is also the former president of Paramount Industries and former VP for AM in aerospace and defense at 3D Systems. “If you get down to two microns and you find the error is in your STL model, then in a sense you’re defeating yourself by making the machine tools better,” said Jim Williams, chairman of ANSI’s American Makes Standards Collaborative (AMSC). Fortunately, key people involved in multiple aspects of the industry are responding. Today’s high-end 3D printers have the capability to be more precise than the software and format used to design printable objects.ĪM has been in dire need of audacious and monumental thinking-the sort that would land problem solvers’ visages on a 3D-printed Mount Rushmore. We can build anything but we can’t design it.” The challenge is the software design tools are not keeping pace. With additive manufacturing, you can make almost any shape you can imagine. “For the first time in history, manufacturing is more advanced than design. “For most of human history, we could design crazy shapes but there was not a way to make them,” said Hod Lipson, professor of mechanical engineering at Columbia University and chair of the AM data interchange committee for ASTM, one of the largest international standards development organizations. Three decades after Chuck Hull invented the 3D printer and founded 3D Systems, that paradigm has shifted-at least in additive manufacturing (AM). Think about Leonardo DaVinci’s helicopter on paper in the late 1400s, more than 400 years before the first successful flight. When you start talking quantity, 3D printing is not the answer.”įor centuries, dreamers have designed things that could not yet be built. But it’s not so mature from a functional side that moves beyond mechanics and structure. “From a hardware and mechanical point of view, it’s a very mature, stable technology in how we extrude, dispense and laser process. “We’re using old technology,” Church said. Then we moved from rapid prototyping to small-lot manufacturing.”īut to fulfill what industry leaders say is its destiny, the technology involved must mature. “What if I made it functional? Then the niche was rapid prototyping-get something out there and see how it fits. “You made a 3D model and it had a cool factor-Mickey Mouse or a little chess piece-it was awesome to look at,” said Kenneth Church, CEO of the R&D engineering firm Sciperio, as well as the 3D printing firm nScrypt. “The industry was a hobby industry for 25 years and it’s starting to grow up,” said Kirk Rogers, technology leader at GE. The limits of CAD and CAE tools and the STL file format are holding manufacturers backĪs additive manufacturing emerges from a long infancy, the industry is grappling with a key challenge: A file format and design tools from the 20th century are being asked to do 21st century jobs.
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