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Subtractive Manufacturing vs Additive Manufacturing
Folks,
A number of my viewers have asked for a channel on this forum about CNC and Milling. I made this new channel a bit more generic and called it Subtractive Manufacturing.
In 3d printing, we create objects by adding material layer by layer. The material may be plastic in the case of FDM 3d printers that print from plastic filaments. It might be metal, concrete, or even pancake batter.
Prior to the development of additive manufacturing based 3d printing, subtractive manufacturing and molding dominated. In subtractive manufacturing, a device, which could be a tool or a laser, cuts away material from a block to form an object. In molding, the material is poured into a mold, that is often made with a subtractive process, to create an object. Injection molding is an example of high volume and low-cost molding.
In addition to additive and subtractive processes, assemblies are often created from these parts. For example, a house is sometimes built from wood, that was cut (subtracted or milled) from a tree or bricks that are molded. Today's vehicles are assembled from parts that are produced with CNC or Milling Machines, molding with Injection molders and printed on 3d printers.
The revolution in manufacturing is that these technologies are now available at relatively low costs (yes a good laser is still out of my price range) and available to many hobbyists. This enables thousands if not millions of people to become "makers", creators of new things assisted by this technology revolution.
The DrVAX community is all about this revolution.
Irv
A number of my viewers have asked for a channel on this forum about CNC and Milling. I made this new channel a bit more generic and called it Subtractive Manufacturing.
In 3d printing, we create objects by adding material layer by layer. The material may be plastic in the case of FDM 3d printers that print from plastic filaments. It might be metal, concrete, or even pancake batter.
Prior to the development of additive manufacturing based 3d printing, subtractive manufacturing and molding dominated. In subtractive manufacturing, a device, which could be a tool or a laser, cuts away material from a block to form an object. In molding, the material is poured into a mold, that is often made with a subtractive process, to create an object. Injection molding is an example of high volume and low-cost molding.
In addition to additive and subtractive processes, assemblies are often created from these parts. For example, a house is sometimes built from wood, that was cut (subtracted or milled) from a tree or bricks that are molded. Today's vehicles are assembled from parts that are produced with CNC or Milling Machines, molding with Injection molders and printed on 3d printers.
The revolution in manufacturing is that these technologies are now available at relatively low costs (yes a good laser is still out of my price range) and available to many hobbyists. This enables thousands if not millions of people to become "makers", creators of new things assisted by this technology revolution.
The DrVAX community is all about this revolution.
Irv
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