Additive Manufacturing General Study Guide - Midterm Exam with 100% correct answers

Why is additive manufacturing usually most cost effective for small production lots (as opposed to large production lots)? correct answersConventional manufacturing has the cost of tooling (i.e. molds, fixturing), but additive has no specialized tooling. Small production lots benefit from not needing this high fixed cost. On the other end, this specialized tooling can help produce a large amount of parts faster than AM, which brings the part cost down for large production lots. What are two security concerns related to the build file used in AM processing? correct answers1. Someone steals your build file and can make your part because it contains all the commands to build your part. 2. If someone intercepts your build file, they can change a few lines of code to intentionally cause a flaw in your part without you knowing. Sabotage. What is HIPping and how is it used in additive manufacturing? correct answersHot-Isostatic pressing is a process that places a finished part under high temperature and pressure for a fixed period of time; it is used to reduce the size of internal pores. Give two reasons why the FDM process "took off" in popularity in the 1990s compared to the other major polymer AM processes (SLA, DLP, SLS). Hint: One of the reasons is also why FDM was quickly adopted as the basis for maker machines. correct answers1. The process was simpler, and thus the machines were simpler and cheaper as a result. 2. The machines used commonly available materials (ABS, PLA), making their continued use cheaper than existing methods. What was roughly the cost difference between FDM machines made by Stratasys and the first Makerbot machines based on the FDM process? correct answersThe cost of the makerbot was about 2.5k and the real FDM machines were 25k, so a factor of 10 Give 3 ways you can come up with a CAD model of a part which can then be printed in an AM machine. correct answers1. Off the internet (GrabCAD) 2. Create one from scratch