Design and Development of SP Hybrid Manufacturing Prototype combining 3D printing and CNC Milling

Nowadays the most two crucial procedures utilized to create parts used as a prototype are rapid prototyping (RP) and the classical methods of CNC manufacturing. Rapid prototyping (RP) creates rapidly a physical part directly from its CAD model data using various manufacturing techniques. Rapid prototyping can be used at any stage of the product development cycle for any components or sub-components. The CNC is often used to create parts by material removal as a subtractive technology. The main limitation of this technology is related to the possibility of manufacturing very complex parts. The focus of this paper is twofold. Firstly, it aims to combine two well-known technologies to provide an easier way to manufacture complex parts. Secondly, it aims to improve the surface finish and achieve high accuracy very close to the CAD model. For this case study, it was designed a new prototype of hybrid manufacturing which is using fuse deposition modeling (FDM) equipment to print the material. Also, CNC milling equipment to remove the excess material. Both subassembly tools were displaced on the same X-axis. By developing the new manufacturing prototype, we aimed to solve some of the limitations related to the quality of the final part. We targeted to improve the surface finish of the parts and to assure the required geometrical tolerance, The validation of the new prototype is made by comparing the results with existing ones from other researchers. All the steps that were followed starting from the design to the execution phase will be presented.