CAD vs Slicer. What to rely on when mass producing a part with 3D Printing.

Discover the benefits of using CAD instead of a slicer for 3D printed parts engineering in mass production. Learn how CAD gives you more control, allowing you to optimize the manufacturing process and achieve the perfect result. Don't forget to like, share, and subscribe for more expert 3D printing tips!

#additivemanufacturing #3dprintfarm #productdesign

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[christopherhughes]

New to 3 D printing, something to keep me busy recovering from an injury. Nice to see I'm doing something right.

[stevenmitchell]

Some of my parts are literally a cube created in CAD and two pages of modifiers and heaps of slicer settings. There are so many things the CAD can't do if you want fast, affordable, good looking parts in large quantities.

[logicalfundy]

It would actually be nice to have some tutorials on things like custom rafts which are normally handled by the slicer.

[MichaelPetito]

There are many slicer options that aren't related to geometry that still have a significant impact on the part. Perimeter / wall thickness, top/bottom layers, and infill patterns are common examples. I don't think you can really specify these in cad, can you? The closest I can think of is embedding profile settings in a 3mf file, but that seems to be slicer specific.

[LearnEverythingAboutDesign]

I would have to respectfully disagree with this statement. The person designing a part and sending it to a print farm to have it printed isn't going to have the knowledge or skill to create features to support the printing process for a printer they don't own. I would say avid hobbyists that have their own machines can play around with this although I can't think of a case I would model the brim rather than letting the slicer do it. And you show Fusion on the thumbnail, fusion has a slicer that works on the CAD geometry so it lets you export G2/G3 movements if your controller/firmware supports that. You update the CAD geometry, you simply regenerate with all the same settings. You can also place custom supports in the cura slicer as well as in Fusion including tree supports. Adding features/tabs things to a 3d model specifically for 3d printing I think requires the user to have their own printer and a pretty deep knowledge of the process. I think if the file gets sent to a MFG for printing then the quality/output is on the manufacturer. If there is a problem with thin parts and supports or adhesion to a build plate that isn't for the customer to figure out for the manufacturer. If i send a part off to have a mold made, the MFG doesn't ask me to model the mold for them, they review the file, ask me to increase draft here, add an ejector location there etc when they redline a drawing. Or if the part is hard to hold the shop doesn't ask me to design the soft jaw or add tabs to the design. That is the job/requirement of the manufacturer "programming" the part.

[maximaurum]

You didn't mention the most important part of CAD being much more precise and true to dimensions and loss of that precision when converting the files to be used in the slicers. And the true geometry in cad vs the conversion to triangles can lead to significant problems and losses of that precision.

[tjpprojects]

Cad vs slicer?! What? I use CAD to make the part then use a slicer to make it usable for my printer. Shouldn't this be cad AND slicer? Eh, guess I'll watch the video now.

Edit* Watched it now.

[vladmirputin]

Disagree. Every feature of the part should be modeled in CAD. Any features that are printer dependent should be left to the slicer, for instance brims/rafts/etc.

For example, I design a part with a raft that has a 0.1mm gap. I print it on my machine with PETG, it works fine. I then send the part to be manufactured out of Nylon from a manufacturer. Now the raft is fused to the part and can't be removed. Same goes for supports. What happens if a customer sends a part to you with a raft, and then you can't remove the raft? Do you say 'oh, well re-model it and we will re-print it' or is it 'we printed the model that you gave us".

There's a reason that parts are modeled standalone. We do not include tooling inside the manufacturable part, regardless of process.

[tymoteuszkazubski]

IMHO
1) 3D model (even brep) does not contain enough information to design additive manufacturing process.
2) Most 2.5D FDM slicers way to automated to be good tools for designing good 3d printing jobs
3) 3D printing jobs should be designed just like other kinds of CNC manufacturing.

[ralphbrown-sp]

Call me old fashioned but why wear a stupid hat?