It’s a scenario commonly played out in manufacturing: a replacement tooling fixture is needed ASAP to keep production running. Or that prototype has to be in engineering’s hands yesterday to maintain the development schedule. If you’ve been here before, you know 3D printing is the obvious solution because it’s faster and cheaper than the standard alternatives. The only problem is, this time, your 3D printer isn’t big enough or can’t be trusted to handle the size of the parts you need to make.
Sound familiar? It’s not an uncommon dilemma for engineers and operations managers who want to use 3D printing to solve everyday design and manufacturing challenges. But the hard reality is that printers capable of accommodating large parts either exceed the budget, aren’t sufficiently reliable for manufacturing, or are tied up making other parts with high-performance materials. Some have steep learning curves, which handicaps your operational efficiency when you have to dedicate someone just to run the printer.
What’s been lacking is a 3D printer capable of reliably making larger parts that’s both easy to use and affordable.
That is, until now. But before we reveal what’s behind the curtain, let’s look at the facts of 3D printing large parts. Printing them is one thing – doing it successfully is another. What should you consider when making parts up to a metre long? How do you get the best results? Follow along as we share our insights on the challenges and opportunities of 3D printing large parts, and how the right printer can help you do that.
