Designing for manufacturing is an extremely important concept because no matter how well designed a product is if it can not be made by the current methods existing it an not be made. This project involved additive and subtractive manufacturing. Additive manufacturing is when a product is built from the bottom up without cutting away material. Subtractive manufacturing is when a product is made by cutting or chipping away at a piece of raw material. The laser cutter and table top CNC mill use subtractive manufacturing to get a final product. The 3D printer uses additive manufacturing to create a product. The Versalaser is a laser that has high accuracy. The SRN-20, the table top CNC mill, is a lower accuracy cutter but can cut parts that have a greater depth than the laser cutter. The Formlabs Form2 is an extremely accurate 3D printer. The Makerbot is less accurate but quicker and cheaper to run than the Form2. Each machine can hold and cut a different size part. Making sure that the part is not to large is one way to design for manufacturing.
