Manufacturability analysis of flatness tolerances in Solid Freeform Fabrication

Increasingly, Solid Freeform Fabrication (SFF) processes are being considered for creating functional parts. In such applications, SFF can either be used for creating tooling (i.e., patterns for casting, low volume molds, etc.) or directly creating the functional part itself. In order to create defect free functional parts, it is extremely important to fabricate the parts within allowable dimensional and geometric tolerances. This paper describes a systematic approach to analyzing manufacturability of parts produced using SFF processes with flatness tolerance requirements on the planar faces of the part. Our research is expected to help SFF designers and process providers in the following ways. By evaluating design tolerances against a given process capability, it will help designers in eliminating manufacturing problems and selecting the right SFF process for the given design. It will help process providers in selecting a build direction that can Inset all design tolerance requirements.