| Abstract Scope |
When applying additive manufacturing (AM) to parts designed for other manufacturing process (e.g., part replacement or emergency production), there is often resistance to redesign. Naively printing parts without considering design for AM (DfAM) guidelines typically results in structures that dramatically underperform their original counterparts. Unfortunately, this poor performance is frequently attributed to the AM process itself rather than the underlying design ethos. In this paper, we demonstrate this pitfall in a simple part-replacement case study; a common household item is reproduced via AM using the nominal design and material, but the replacement is extremely fragile compared to the original. By allowing moderate design modifications via topology optimization, the replacement’s performance is significantly improved. We also show that accounting for DfAM guidelines (e.g., critical overhangs and build orientation) further improves performance. Although a relatively simple case study, we hope this exploration helps motivate the need for redesign on more complex structures. |