The Process of Production 3D Printing

What is the Process of preparing a product to be manufactured with high volume production 3D printing?

Production 3D Printing is able to produce 100,000's of parts more affordably than injection molding. This savings is a result of the eliminated upfront cost of tooling and reducing design time and the long terms costs of warehousing.

But what is the process of moving a product into Production 3D Printing? It is very important to know this process to ensure that there are as few delays as possible as you are going into production.

I have an Idea/Sketch

1. Your idea will need to be turned into a 3D model, this is a service that Slant 3D can provide. You may submit your sketch, product rendering, or concept through our Quoting Form. 
2. One of our Engineers will be put in contact with you and will work with to turn the Sketch into a manufacturable 3D model.
3. When the 3D Model is complete the engineer will provide a detailed quote for production.
4. Slant 3D will then produce several samples for verification of the part and make changes as necessary.
5. When the samples are approved then full production can begin.

I have an Engineered Design

1. Make sure that the design is in a 3D Format. Typical 3D model files are .STEP, .STL, .OBJ, or any of the various core design files such as Solidworks or AutoCAD. Be sure to ask your designer for one or all of these.
2. Submit the 3D Model through out Production Quoting Form with all of your preferences on appearance, mechanical properties and performance and let us know your timeline. You can check our 3D Printed Part Properties page to introduce yourself to limits of the process.  
3. Once you have submitted your design one of our engineers will contact you with an initial quote and discuss any design changes that might be needed to optimize the part for high volume 3D printing.
4. Depending on the design files available our engineers and designers might be able to make the design changes to ensure the part can be produced as affordably and reliably as possible.
5. The Slant 3D engineer will then provide a final quote for production of the part.
6. Slant 3D will then produce several samples for verification of the part.
7. When the samples are approved then full production can begin.

I have a Physical Part I need Re-manufactured or is no Longer in Production

1. ​Submit photos (Top, Side, etc) of the part through our quoting form with notes on general dimensions and mechanical needs.
2. One of our engineers will contact you and discuss the options for the part and estimated production costs.
3. You will then need to ship the part and any drawings available on it to Slant 3D (this address). 
4. Our design team will then reverse-engineer the piece and optimize the design for the additive manufacturing processes.
5. The Slant 3D Engineer will then provide a final quote for production of the part with additive manufacturing.
6. Slant 3D will produce several samples for verification of the part.
7. When the samples are approved then full production can begin.

The Most Important Thing

The most important thing is to make sure that you part is designed and optimized for production 3D printing. This makes sure that the quality, performance, and cost of the part is the best case possible. Additive manufacturing is rarely an exact replacement to injection molding. It is an alternative process that must be considered during design. That is why we keep a team of engineers who are the world leaders in design for additive manufacturing and they are here to make sure that your part meets your needs.