3D Printing for Product Designers closes the gap between the rhetoric of 3D printing in manufacturing and the reality for product designers. It provides practical strategies to support the adoption and integration of 3D printing into professional practice. 3D printing has evolved over the last decade into a practical proposition for manufacturing, opening up innovative opportunities for product designers. From its foundations in rapid prototyping, additive manufacturing has developed into a range of technologies suitable for end-use products. This book shows you how to evaluate and sensitively understand people, process, and products and demonstrates how solutions for working with additive manufacturing can be developed in context. It includes a practical, step-by-step plan for product designers and CEOs aimed at supporting the successful implementation of 3D printing by stakeholders at all levels of a manufacturing facility, tailored to their stage of technology integration and business readiness. It features a wide range of real-world examples of practice illustrated in full colour, across industries such as healthcare, construction, and film, aligning with the strategic approach outlined in the book. The book can be followed chronologically to guide you to transform your process for a company, to meet the unique needs of a specific client, or to be used as a starting point for the product design entrepreneur. Written by experienced industry professionals and academics, this is a fundamental reference for product designers, industrial designers, design engineers, CEOs, consultants, and makers.

This book provides a wealth of practical guidance on how to design parts to gain the maximum benefit from what additive manufacturing (AM) can offer. It begins by describing the main AM technologies and their respective advantages and disadvantages. It then examines strategic considerations in the context of designing for additive manufacturing (DfAM), such as designing to avoid anisotropy, designing to minimize print time, and post-processing, before discussing the economics of AM. The following chapters dive deeper into computational tools for design analysis and the optimization of AM parts, part consolidation, and tooling applications. They are followed by an in-depth chapter on designing for polymer AM and applicable design guidelines, and a chapter on designing for metal AM and its corresponding design guidelines. These chapters also address health and safety, certification and quality aspects. A dedicated chapter covers the multiple post-processing methods for AM, offering the reader practical guidance on how to get their parts from the AM machine into a shape that is ready to use. The book's final chapter outlines future applications of AM. The main benefit of the book is its highly practical approach: it provides directly applicable, "hands-on" information and insights to help readers adopt AM in their industry

3D Printing for Product Designers closes the gap between the rhetoric of 3D printing in manufacturing and the reality for product designers. It provides practical strategies to support the adoption and integration of 3D printing into professional practice. 3D printing has evolved over the last decade into a practical proposition for manufacturing, opening up innovative opportunities for product designers. From its foundations in rapid prototyping, additive manufacturing has developed into a range of technologies suitable for end-use products. This book shows you how to evaluate and sensitively understand people, process, and products and demonstrates how solutions for working with additive manufacturing can be developed in context. It includes a practical, step-by-step plan for product designers and CEOs aimed at supporting the successful implementation of 3D printing by stakeholders at all levels of a manufacturing facility, tailored to their stage of technology integration and business readiness. It features a wide range of real-world examples of practice illustrated in full colour, across industries such as healthcare, construction, and film, aligning with the strategic approach outlined in the book. The book can be followed chronologically to guide you to transform your process for a company, to meet the unique needs of a specific client, or to be used as a starting point for the product design entrepreneur. Written by experienced industry professionals and academics, this is a fundamental reference for product designers, industrial designers, design engineers, CEOs, consultants, and makers.

This book provides a wealth of practical guidance on how to design parts to gain the maximum benefit from what additive manufacturing (AM) can offer. It begins by describing the main AM technologies and their respective advantages and disadvantages. It then examines strategic considerations in the context of designing for additive manufacturing (DfAM), such as designing to avoid anisotropy, designing to minimize print time, and post-processing, before discussing the economics of AM. The following chapters dive deeper into computational tools for design analysis and the optimization of AM parts, part consolidation, and tooling applications. They are followed by an in-depth chapter on designing for polymer AM and applicable design guidelines, and a chapter on designing for metal AM and its corresponding design guidelines. These chapters also address health and safety, certification and quality aspects. A dedicated chapter covers the multiple post-processing methods for AM, offering the reader practical guidance on how to get their parts from the AM machine into a shape that is ready to use. The book's final chapter outlines future applications of AM. The main benefit of the book is its highly practical approach: it provides directly applicable, "hands-on" information and insights to help readers adopt AM in their industry