ABSTRACT
Additive manufacturing (also called 3D printing or layer manufacturing) is redefining how manufacturers approach manufacturing, constantly changing path in the growth of manufacturing technology. New thinking is needed to assess the costs and benefits of additive versus traditional manufacturing techniques. That is because the trade-offs and optimum solutions are radically different. There are several questions on the potential for the use of 3D-printing technology for product prototypes of innovative solutions. The edge for 3D printing is in its unique ability to produce directly on the basis of a CAD model. The model file provides the information needed to generate the incremental control file. The design and manufacturing processes are the main stages of the additive manufacturing process. Design work is done using a computer-aided software suite (CAD). Common CAD software includes AutoCAD, SolidWorks, CATIA, IntelliCAD, PTCCreo, Open SCAD, and so on. Some of them are free and many are premium software. The physical production aspect, also known as 3D printing, is facilitated by exporting the CAD file (such as SLDPRT) to STL. STL is a format that can be read by 3D printers.
