Blog post: Simplify your design and save weight using Additive manufacturing
Marc Saunders
Director - Global Solutions Centres at Renishaw, accelerating adoption of additive manufacturing (metal 3D printing)
February 12, 2016
In my recent post, How can you get the most from additive manufacturing? I explained how different levels of adoption of Additive Manufacturing (AM) lead to increasing levels of financial benefit, using the staircase model below.
The higher the position that you move to on the AM adoption staircase, the more use you make of the unique capabilities and design freedom that AM provides. The higher steps demand higher commitment in terms of design and process validation, but also deliver higher product cost and lifetime benefits.
In this space application, a complex assembly of microwave components is replaced with a single part, reducing substantially the materials needed to produce the waveguide, and greatly simplifying assembly. In space missions the mass of the launch payload is a critical cost factor, and the unitary design delivers substantial weight savings, as well as better microwave transmission with fewer back-reflections.
By freeing ourselves from conventional manufacturing constraints, AM enables simpler and more effective product designs.