Direct from CAD
3D printing produces an object straight from a high quality digital 3D design, without intermediate production steps, fixture setup or manual intervention. This radically reduces production lead time and increases accuracy of the product to match the CAD design 100%.
The benefits of producing direct from CAD include the following:
- Accuracy – 3D printing is a digital process and the products match the CAD design with 100% accuracy, whereas traditional methods often involved manual steps that introduced discrepancies and/or unknown results.
- Turnaround time – omitting traditional manual interventions and fixture setup radically streamlines and shortens the production process, often slashing production lead times from weeks to days.
- Series of one – As each product is produced individually from a CAD file, each product can be made differently, allowing customisation to client specific needs.
- Save material and energy – avoiding traditional tooling and fixture setup can produce significant savings in material and energy usage. For instance, the entire production step in the casting process of producing a pattern can be omitted by producing the mould direct from CAD, so all the material and energy that was traditionally used for pattern making is saved using the new process.
