{"id":69432,"date":"2018-10-15T22:02:12","date_gmt":"2018-10-15T22:02:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.manufacturinglounge.com\/?p=9015"},"modified":"2025-03-28T04:50:49","modified_gmt":"2025-03-28T11:50:49","slug":"3d-printers-in-the-machine-shop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/3d-printers-in-the-machine-shop\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Ways 3D Printers Benefit Machine Shops"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Additive manufacturing made a splash in the consumer market over a decade ago, but 3D printing<\/a> has been around much longer than that. Now that 3D printers are available and functional for anybody with the internet and $200 USD, they have become a necessary tool in most engineering environments. But what about manufacturing?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

1. Rapid prototyping<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Printing with PLA or ABS plastic<\/a> provides the opportunity for fairly quick and inexpensive prototyping. While you might think that should be left to an engineering firm, prototyping in a machine shop can save you headaches by getting a part in-hand before cutting (and potentially wasting) raw material.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Moving from CAD to prototype to CAM to machining is an efficient workflow that can help not only make parts faster, but it can help make better parts more efficiently. What\u2019s more, it helps to demonstrate workholding needs and manufacturing challenges that you can easily present to a customer.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking of workholding, there are a number of opportunities to utilize a 3D printer for workholding. Creating soft jaws<\/a> is quick and easy with a 3D printer, so long as you aren\u2019t planning to machine with a lot of force.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Printed workholding is also a great way to hold odd-shaped parts or if you want the workholding to be more sacrificial than aluminum.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

2. Simplifying Design for manufacturing<\/span> (DFM)<\/h2>\n\n\n

Similar to the perks of prototyping in a machine shop with a 3D printer, they can also help simplify the DFM process<\/span><\/a>. As the gap continues to close between designers\/engineers and manufacturers, the need for properly designing parts for manufacturing is more apparent than ever. 3D printing in the machine shop provides the opportunity to test and vet designs before they are ever manufactured.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

3. Affordable metal 3D printing<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Metal 3D printers used to cost millions of dollars, and the material wasn\u2019t much less, but they helped make unique parts that could only be 3D printed in the high-end aerospace and automotive industries<\/a>. With the cost of this technology dropping, these printers are emerging in more industrial spaces.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"metal<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

These printers have the ability to help machine shops save money. Similar to casting a part, metal printers can create parts without purchasing billet, which can then be machined to a refined tolerance or finish. Having this ability to essentially create a cast without a mold provides some unique opportunities for a machine shop.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

Not the end of machining<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

While the need for 3D printers in the machine shop may be relatively new, they are far from replacing traditional manufacturing. 3D printing has become much less expensive, and it’s the perfect tool to help make the machine shops become more efficient and productive. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Now that 3D printers are more accessible in price and availability, here are three ways machine shops can benefit from this technology.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4033,"featured_media":10951,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[480],"tags":[],"coauthors":[597],"class_list":["post-69432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-manufacturing","dhig-theme--light"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n3 Ways 3D Printers Benefit Machine Shops - Fusion Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Now that 3D printers are more accessible in price and availability, here are three ways machine shops can benefit from this technology.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/3d-printers-in-the-machine-shop\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"3 Ways 3D Printers Benefit Machine Shops - Fusion Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Now that 3D printers are more accessible in price and availability, here are three ways machine shops can benefit from this technology.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/3d-printers-in-the-machine-shop\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Fusion Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-10-15T22:02:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-03-28T11:50:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/additivetechnologymetal.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"448\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Emily Suzuki\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Emily Suzuki\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"3 Ways 3D Printers Benefit Machine Shops - Fusion Blog","description":"Now that 3D printers are more accessible in price and availability, here are three ways machine shops can benefit from this technology.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/3d-printers-in-the-machine-shop\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"3 Ways 3D Printers Benefit Machine Shops - Fusion Blog","og_description":"Now that 3D printers are more accessible in price and availability, here are three ways machine shops can benefit from this technology.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/3d-printers-in-the-machine-shop\/","og_site_name":"Fusion Blog","article_published_time":"2018-10-15T22:02:12+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-03-28T11:50:49+00:00","og_image":[{"width":500,"height":448,"url":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/additivetechnologymetal.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Emily Suzuki","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Emily Suzuki","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/3d-printers-in-the-machine-shop\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/3d-printers-in-the-machine-shop\/"},"author":{"name":"Emily Suzuki","@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/5dc597b1665ac01ddfdf98c0a230b674"},"headline":"3 Ways 3D Printers Benefit Machine Shops","datePublished":"2018-10-15T22:02:12+00:00","dateModified":"2025-03-28T11:50:49+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/3d-printers-in-the-machine-shop\/"},"wordCount":450,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/3d-printers-in-the-machine-shop\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/additivetechnologymetal.jpg","articleSection":["Manufacturing"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/3d-printers-in-the-machine-shop\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/3d-printers-in-the-machine-shop\/","url":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/3d-printers-in-the-machine-shop\/","name":"3 Ways 3D Printers Benefit Machine Shops - Fusion Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/3d-printers-in-the-machine-shop\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/3d-printers-in-the-machine-shop\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/additivetechnologymetal.jpg","datePublished":"2018-10-15T22:02:12+00:00","dateModified":"2025-03-28T11:50:49+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/5dc597b1665ac01ddfdf98c0a230b674"},"description":"Now that 3D printers are more accessible in price and availability, here are three ways machine shops can benefit from this technology.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/3d-printers-in-the-machine-shop\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/3d-printers-in-the-machine-shop\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/3d-printers-in-the-machine-shop\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/additivetechnologymetal.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/additivetechnologymetal.jpg","width":500,"height":448},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/3d-printers-in-the-machine-shop\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"3 Ways 3D Printers Benefit Machine Shops"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/","name":"Fusion Blog","description":"Product updates, tips, tutorials and community news.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/5dc597b1665ac01ddfdf98c0a230b674","name":"Emily Suzuki","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/powerpoint-headshot-150x150.jpgf3f6ce43b8bd98a1ccf2099494b77fb8","url":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/powerpoint-headshot-150x150.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/powerpoint-headshot-150x150.jpg","caption":"Emily Suzuki"},"description":"Emily Suzuki is a global Content Manager at Autodesk. She's passionate about turning complex ideas into digestible, engaging content and shedding light on the often-overlooked design process.","url":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/author\/emily-engle\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4033"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69432"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69432\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69432"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=69432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}