About the DfAM Substack

This is DfAM, Articles about Design for Additive Manufacturing.

Over the past 20 years we have seen continuous improvement in machines, materials and software in additive manufacturing. The technology has evolved from it's roots in 'rapid prototyping' to the production of manufacturing tools such as jigs and fixtures through to end use parts, and even sometimes 'serial production' of parts in the millions.

While it is possible to sometimes bring a product to market without modifying a design for the additive process, tweaking it slightly, or sometimes just throwing an existing design at a 3D printer, it is often very hard to make a real business case unless the component is designed for additive manufacturing from the very beginning.

Approaches such as light-weighting, topology optimization and part consolidation are potential first steps in the adoption of DfAM but where things get really interesting is where multiple performance criteria (including manufacturing processes) are considered simultaneously and the business case for additive manufacturing really starts to make sense.

Our goal is to explore DfAM products, processes and people to help tease out where design really unlocks the most possible value.

This does not mean we will focus only on the most advanced engineering accomplishments where simulation driven geometries outperform conventional designs by a factor of ten (though we will to some degree), but also where DfAM intersects with other disciplines such as industrial design, architecture and experimental branches of medicine.

If there is a particular project you think we should cover, a designer pushing boundaries of their discipline or an academic institution that is preparing the next generation to enter industry as a DfAM native, please reach out as we are always interested in learning more about what is happening in and around the discipline of Design for AM.