Additive Manufacturing vs. 3D Printing – What’s the Difference and Why It Matters
I’m writing up some presentation slides late the night before a big meeting, and I start typing out that phrase “3D Printing…” no wait, not 3D printing, “Additive Manufacturing.” It’s like nails on a chalkboard. Additive manufacturing just sounds so much better to me. Like a career you would feel confident explaining to friends over a few beers. Awhile back I decided to work in the additive manufacturing space, and that I had moved on from regular-old 3D printing. I’m now curious if other 3D printing or rather additive manufacturing professionals feel the same way. And if you haven’t considered it before, I’ll make an argument why you should.
Back Story
At my first Rapid+TCT conference in Texas 3 years ago, I sat in on a keynote presentation that introduced me to the term additive manufacturing. I furiously scribbled down the new ASTM and ISO numbers in the little leather padfolio that came in the conference goody bag. As someone who saw 3D printing as only a hobby for the past 6 years, this was a paradigm shift.
With the Solidoodle 3 I lugged into my dorm room freshman year, I ran a small side hustle printing (crude at best) PLA parts for local companies and students on campus for a ridiculous $10/in3 (the going rate fell to less than $1/in3 by the end of that year).
With a personal 3D printer, and a $50 budget for our intro to engineering design final project, I easily earned one of the top grades when compared to my peers’ cardboard and duct tape contraptions.
3D printing was a hobby that I had wasted countless hours on, endlessly upgrading machines chasing new wonder materials.
I lived through the rise and fall of 3D printing hype outside of industry, and by my senior year, I had given up on the dream to build a career around it. At best, I hoped it would be an interesting talking point during interviews in my looming job search. Little did I know a few years later I would be sitting in an auditorium listening to a keynote that would change my perception (and eventually my career trajectory) forever. With this new terminology, I had the necessary tools to rebrand a technology that had been written off up until that point.
What Does 3D Printing Refer to in the Year 2021?
Creating a three-dimensional, physical object from a digital file.
What Is the Definition of Additive Manufacturing?
The process-controlled production of something utilizing machines that adds material to make up that something, rather than removing material from a piece of stock.
May also refer to the broad field of study relating to 3D printing equipment for production environments.
For example, I would refer to an HP 5210 as an industrial 3D printer. Additive manufacturing machine doesn’t really work. I wouldn’t say that I work in 3D printing or that I am a 3D printing engineer. Job titles like Additive Manufacturing R&D Engineer or Additive Manufacturing Technology Manager sound better. I would call the production line built around an HP 5210 an additive manufacturing center. I wouldn’t call it a 3D printing center, that sounds more like something you’d find in a makerspace. To contrast, the Ultimaker S5 upstairs in the engineering wing is a 3D printer, and it 3D prints models. It doesn’t additively manufacture models. That would imply many parts controlled by a production process.
Based on the examples above, 3D printers and 3D printing can refer to all additive processes and machines. Additive manufacturing is really referring to a production process. The dividing line for me is the sign that says: “steel toes and safety glass are required beyond this point.” Additive manufacturing is made up of production equipment that lives on bare concrete floors, is judged harshly by SQDC run charts, and has an ROI built on real financial models.
But Does It Really Matter?
And to that, I say it does. The biggest reason to draw a line between toy makers and production additive manufacturing equipment is that executive teams are not going to invest millions into glorified toy makers. And unfortunately, 3D printing has that perception. we were promised 3D printed food, wonder machines that could print anything at home with the push of a button, and a 3D printing pen to go with your favorite mechanical pencil. the phrase additive manufacturing breaks from the past notions of 3D printing. We get another chance to create a perception for the technology we’re all so passionate about. So next time you’re writing an email back to your boss about how “if only we had that 3D printer I keep telling you about! We could have fixed this whole mess way cheaper and faster!” consider the connotation that the phrase 3D printer has. Remember that to the uninitiated, 3D printing was a bit of fad. it’s now our job to rebuild the wonder and curiosity surrounding these magic machines that makes parts from thin air.
On Desktop 3D Printers
Now am I saying that I’m done with desktop 3D printers for design engineering? Absolutely not! I have two FFF machines sitting in my loft that I use regularly. Desktop 3D printers compliment additive manufacturing production cells and will always be better for rapid innovation. You don’t need to worry about disrupting a production schedule, going through qualification processes, and controlling changes with an ECN and a redline print. Now what if you wanted 100 pieces per month that needed to meet an engineering drawing and pass a quality inspection before being assembled onto customer facing products? A true additive manufacturing production center is the solution. From personal experience, you can’t manage a full-time job and production print farm at the same time.
