Evolution of 3D Printing in Australia

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Evolution of 3D Printing in Australia
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Introduction

• With a rapidly changing manufacturing
  environment, businesses are now increasingly
  eager to invest in technological advancements
  that could put them a step higher than their
  competitors.
• 3D printing is one such technology that most
  businesses are inclined to take advantage of. 3D
  printing in Melbourne isnt just about fashion
  accessories, life-size replicas and weapons.
• From design to finishing phase, this technology
  can speed up the process and reduce costs of
  manufacturing drastically.

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Major advantage of 3D printing

• Since it is an additive technology, there is
  significant saving in costs when 3D printing is
  used.
• This is because there is usage of lower amounts
  of material as compared to traditional methods of
  manufacturing.
• Cutting away from a solid block increases costs
  as material has to be removed for detailing.
• Maximum of machines printing in metal can recycle
  the unused powder, which is the ink used in 3D
  printing. This is another advantage.
• There is a wide variety of 3D printing
  technologies that can be benefited from in the
  current manufacturing scenario.

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Major advantage of 3D printing

• The use of a range of energy sources and
  technologies for fusing metal and plastic
  feedstock is one of the capabilities of printers.
  
• Plastic printers come in a variety of shapes.
  They can be personal units that retail for
  thousands of dollars, or complex manufacturing
  units that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
  

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Designing Phase

• The time spent by a product in designing phase
  heavily impacts the time to market.
• 3D printing has reduced the time for development
  by a whopping 96. With the help of 3D printing,
  manufacturers can explore multiple iterations of
  product design variations during conceptual
  stages of design phase, without the need to
  invest in the tools required to make the product.
  
• This has been especially beneficial for car
  manufacturers, who use 3D printed mock-ups of the
  required parts, such as front end fascias and
  rear view mirrors.
• 3D printing design files can be digitally shared
  with manufacturers by a process called 3D-faxing.

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Designing Phase

• This process can potentially reduce shipping
  costs and time significantly. Products can be
  created at digital facilities as per requirement,
  eliminating customs duties and inspections and
  also reducing transport costs.
• 3D printing can be used extensively to
  manufacture fixtures, jigs, shop tools and gauges
  inexpensively as well as quickly.
• These tools are made so as to help assemble more
  complex parts that can be expensive if
  manufactured traditionally. 3D printers can save
  about 90 on the fabrication of fixtures.
• An instance of specialized use of 3D printing can
  be seen in the medicine industry, where surgeons
  use this technology to create mock-ups of complex
  surgeries, a technique that allows them to
  practice a surgery before undertaking it. For
  example, they can use it to install crews or pins
  with extreme precision.

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3D Printing in Australia

• Objective 3D got introduced in Melbourne with 3D
  printing technology primarily being used for
  manufacturing parts for industries such as
  defense, mining, automotive, biomedical and
  construction.
• The technique, also called as additive
  manufacturing can be used to produce products of
  high value for niche markets directly from the
  printer.
• This gives regional and rural areas, which have
  manufacturing hubs already in place, competitive
  advantage over others.
• 3D printing is a fantastic resource for
  manufacturing locally and providing parts
  extremely quickly.

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3D Printing in Australia

• Objective 3D consists of 15 high tech 3D
  printers, all of which individually use
  electricity comparable to that of a household
  refrigerator.
• Also, costs of the printers have dropped
  drastically, cheap 3D printers available for as
  little as 2500.
• 3D printing can be used to manufacture products
  that belong to a huge spectrum of industries.