Relationship between additive manufacturing and CAD

If it is a matter of manufacture, it is important to bear in mind that various topics are always related in this field, since many of the processes always go hand in hand with others and especially when it comes to additive manufacturing, a procedure that has become so popular during the last years.

The additive manufacturing originated due to the manufacturing need presented by different manufacturers; needs that could not be covered by the common methods and that thanks to the innovative ideas of processes, could be covered part by part and layer on layer, until completing the required piece.

And this is exactly what additive manufacturing is about, placing layer upon layer of materials so that they take in an orderly manner the form that the design of the clients has presented to the company that will be in charge of the manufacture of these pieces.

But, through which method does the manufacturer indicate the characteristics of the piece that they will have to elaborate through the additive manufacturing?

At present all manufacturing systems are fully automated, or at least those that work with additive manufacturing, and for this reason it is very common to find a process controller software, which will be configured certain indications and this will execute them from the most efficient and accurate way you know. But it is important that this communication exists between the design of the client and the machine of the manufacturer, and for what we know is possible.

How do customers communicate with manufacturing machines?

There is a program called CAD, Computer Aided Design and it is one of the most relevant programs in the whole manufacturing process since it is a direct bridge between the design of the client and the orders that can be given to the machines in charge of the additive manufacturing

CAD is a software of molded that allows the creation of pieces in real dimensions, this program is compatible with all the systems of the manufacturers that offer services that are far from the most traditional, which must give form to pieces much more complex than the that were observed before in the market.

This program is the one that will guide the printer through the whole process, since it will tell you where you will have to create the layers to be able to form the final product, that is, this CAD file is the one that actually contains the indications that the machines of manufacturers must follow, this is why it is considered of great importance. It is the universal language that all the machines of manufacture of pieces or products understand.

The relationship between the manufacturing processes and the CAD software is quite close, because it is the latter that dictates all the processes that the machines must execute in order to make the design it contains a reality and in this way an effective delivery can be made of all the requested pieces, each of them respecting the original design and the indications originated by the clients.