Introduction to rapid Prototyping (RP), Need of RP in context to batch

production, FMS and CIM and its application.

Introduction to rapid Prototyping (RP).

Rapid prototyping (RP) is a new manufacturing technique that allows for fast fabrication of a
scale model of a part or assembly, designed with three-dimension (3D) computer aided design
(CAD) software.

Advantages:
This technique allows for fast realizations of ideas into functioning prototypes, shortening the
design time, leading towards successful final products.

Applications:
RP is used in a wide variety of industries, from shoe to car manufacturers

Types of RP:

Based on manufacturing methods RP technique comprise of two general types: additive and
subtractive, each of which has its own pros and cons.

Subtractive type RP or traditional tooling manufacturing process is a technique in which

material is removed from a solid piece of material until the desired design remains.

Examples of this type of RP includes traditional milling, turning/lathing or drilling to more

advanced versions – computer numerical control (CNC), electric discharge machining (EDM).

Additive type RP is the opposite of subtractive type RP. Instead of removing material, material
is added layer upon layer to build up the desired design such as stereo lithography, fused
deposition modelling (FDM), and 3D printing.

Why Rapid Prototyping?

The reasons of Rapid Prototyping are

• To increase effective communication.

• To decrease development time.
• To decrease costly mistakes.
• To minimize sustaining engineering changes.
• To extend product lifetime by adding necessary features and eliminating redundant features
early in the design

All these reasons are possible by using concurrent engineering in the prototyping stage.
Automation
Automation is the use of machines or technology to perform tasks without much human
intervention.

1. Hard or Fixed Automation:

 To increase the productivity hence lower the production cost as much as possible
automation was introduced in the engineering manufacturing industries.

 In such factories the ease and the speed of manufacturing were facilitated by specially
designed hardware i.e. Special purpose machine tools, handling devices, transfer lines
etc.

 These specially designed manufacturing units could be cost effective only when huge
quantity of a particular item was needed to be manufactured.

 The variations in products were few and the demand for individual items was large.
Thus this type of automation now- a-days called ‘Hard Automation’

2. Flexible Automation:
 Once the concept of computer developed it becomes possible to store and feed
information with the help of numbers and that led to the development of ‘numerical
control’ for machine tools.

 Thus switching over from one job to another involved feeding new data and no major
modification of the hardware is necessary.

 Consequently, such units are very flexible in the sense that switching over from one job
to another can be done without major time delay and expense. Use of such flexible
machines is termed as ‘Flexible Automation’.

 With the tremendous development in computer science and micro-electronics, flexible

automation has become very inexpensive to achieve. The machines are also now
directly controlled by computers and such a control is called ‘Computer Numerical
Control (CNC)’
Flexible Manufacturing Systems (FMS)

Along with the progress in computers, microelectronics and sensor technology gradually
appeared in the technological world i.e. ‘Industrial Robotics’.

With the development of industrial robots, manufacturing industry entered another era where
it became possible to realize the dream of true automation. The human work force for tending
machines and in inspection stations and more important assembly stations could now been
replaced by industrial robots.
To survive in a competitive market, the cost of the product has to be as low as possible and the
quality and reliability have to be assured.

To cope with these requirements and to achieve cost effective production of small and medium
sized batches, island of automation have been developed which are called “Flexible
Manufacturing Systems (FMS)”.

These are self-contained automatic manufacturing units comprising CNC machine tools and
manufacturing centres, robots, automated inspecting stations and an automated transfer device,
all controlled by a single computer.

FMS technology is now common in all industrially developed countries. Most industries use
FMS in manufacturing all kinds of products.

Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM)

In a very competitive and open global market survival is possible only if a good product variety
is offered, quality and reliability are assured, cost is made attractive and the time gap between
the conceptualization of a product and delivery is reduced.
To satisfy so many requirements it is essential to strive for optimal use of Man, Machine and
Material. This is possible only if all the activities associated with design and manufacturing are
integrated.
The required electromechanical and computer technologies for such an integration was ready
in 80’s; such a system is termed as ‘computer integrated manufacturing system’(CIMS) and
the technology has been given the name ‘computer integrated manufacturing (CIM)’.

CIM not only implies the use of computer in designing a product, planning inventory and
production, controlling the operations and accomplishing many other designs, manufacturing,
management and business related issues but suggest a marriage of the diverse functions under
the control of one central supervisory computer.

Computers are also used at lower levels for direct control of subsystems. Thus a central
database, data processing and information flow are the central themes of CIM.

The activities under computer aided design (CAD), computer aided process planning (CAPP)
and computer aided manufacturing (CAM) are also integral parts of CIM.
The figure below indicates the information flow, material flow and functions involved in CIM.
 Basic principles of RP; Steps in RP, Process chain in RP in integrated
CAD-CAM environment, Advantages of RP

Basic principles of RP

In RP process a solid object with prescribed shape, dimension and finish can be directly
produced from the CAD based geometric model data stored in a computer without human
intervention.

Conventional method for producing parts like casting, forming, machining etc. are not suitable
for this purpose and a host of new processes for shaping objects directly from the CAD data
have been developed and machines are in the market.

Rapid prototyping can be of two types based on the use of the prototype made by RP:

 The parts obtained by RP technology can form the prototype directly without requiring
any further processing.
 The parts obtained by RP technology can be used to make moulds for casting the
prototype component.

In general, this technology is called as Generative Manufacturing Process (GMP) as the shape
of the work piece is not obtained by removal of chips or forming or casting. It is achieved by
addition of material without any prior recognizable form or shape and no tool is necessary.

In all types of GMPs the CAD model is split into layers as indicated figure below.

Figure 1. Basic principle of the GMP

Steps in RP

The general procedure for obtaining a solid component from a CAD file in
shown below:

Figure 2. Steps involved in rapid prototyping

A typical RP process involves following steps:

1. Construct the CAD model.
2. Convert the CAD model to STL format.
3. Check and fix STL file.
4. Generate support structures, if needed.
5. Slice the STL file to form layers.
6. Produce physical model.
7. Post-process the physical model.
STL file
The .STL file, is a file extension from STereoLithography.
It is a format that uses a mesh of triangles to form the shell of the solid object, where each
triangle shares common sides and vertices. The CAD software generates a tessellated object
description. In the STL format, the file consists of the X, Y, and Z coordinates of the three
vertices of each surface triangle, with an index to describe the orientation of the surface normal.
STL files translate the part geometry from a CAD system to the RP machine. All CAD systems
build parts and assemblies, store geometry, and generally do many things in their own
independent and proprietary way. Instead of having a machine that has to communicate with
all of these different systems, there is a single, universal file format that every system needs to
be able to produce so that a RP machine can process what a part looks like for “slicing”
operation. This is the STL file.
Why is STL format used? The reason is due to the fact that slicing a part using STL format is
easier compared to other formats, such as boundary representation (B-rep) and constructive
solid geometry (CSG), which will need complex geometric reasoning and data conversion.

Support Structure
In many RP processes, the support structure is generated before slicing operation to anchor a
deposition or hold overhanging surfaces during the build.
Support structures are an important feature of the 3D printing process. It helps in creating
unsupported shapes/designs and complex geometries. Without support structures, it is
impossible to realize the full potential of 3D printing and the freedom to design unconventional
shapes.
The support structure can be removed later during the post-processing of the 3D-printed part.
Support structures can be created for plastic and metal parts according to the requirements.
Support is important to prevent deformation and other defects of the part during the printing
process.
Unique support materials are available which can be easily detached from the part without
much effort leaving behind a smooth surface.

Figure 3. Examples of Support Structures

Slicing the STL file
The generation of a series of closely spaced 2D cross sections of a 3D object is known as
“slicing.” Depending on the type of RP machine, the user can generally specify the Z-thickness
of the slice. After the .STL part is properly oriented and positioned, the user then “slices” the
part into layers. This is often an approximate process.

Figure 4. Solid Model before and after Slicing.

Process chain in RP in integrated CAD-CAM environment
 Irrespective of the prototype making whether classical or RP, the process chain starts
from the Design Work. The design work may include Drawings, Physical models,
Virtual reality etc.

 The next part involves making CAD data.

 Then the CAD data are converted to required prototype components. In some cases, the
parts produced by RP technology can be directly used as the prototype. Otherwise the
parts produced by RP are used as patterns to make the required prototype with help of
various follow up manufacturing processes.

 Once the prototypes are studied and evaluated, modifications in the designs are
suggested. Some minor modifications may be incorporated manually, but in general a
redesign is carried out by Reverse Engineering of the functional and technical
prototypes.

 The data obtained from this operation is fed to the CAD database and a New CAD
design is prepared.

 Similar cycle is done in iterations until an acceptable prototype is found.

 Once an acceptable prototype is arrived at, it undergoes quality and reliability analysis,
value and cost analysis. Even at this stage some less drastic modifications may be
necessary and there may be one more iteration cycle before the design is frozen.