The difference between 3D printing and cnc processing

Which is better, CNC or 3d printing? There are many manufacturing processes that turn raw materials into finished products or parts of finished products. Chief among these are CNC and more recently 3D printing.

There are many different types of CNC machining and 3D printing, and CNC has been around for decades and has matured to the point where it is the process of choice for manufacturing parts. However, 3D printing is relatively new and it is considered a fad. The principles of CNC machining and 3D printing can be understood as the opposite process. CNC machining belongs to milling raw materials to obtain the desired shape, while 3D printing is to add raw materials to make shapes.

What is 3D printing?

3D printing is a general term for many different manufacturing methods. This includes; Selective Laser Sintering, Stereolithography and more. One similarity among all these methods is that they start from scratch, building a product or part layer by layer. This results in products with vastly different sets of attributes.

As a process, 3D printing is especially useful for rough prototyping or when the number of "print runs" is very small and also needs to be done in-house. This means that as a manufacturing process it is not qualitatively or quantitatively as useful or feasible as CNC machining.

CNC vs 3d Printing - Advantages of CNC Machining

CNC machining is a fairly simple concept that offers many advantages to manufacturers in nearly every industry sector.

• Easy to implement

CNC machining processes can be applied to a wide range of products and materials. It requires little adjustment, and in most cases it may be necessary to change the cutting tool to be used between projects. In short, CNC machining can mass-produce a product in a short period of time. 3D printing is time-consuming, with even the fastest industrial 3D printers taking hours to produce a single part.

Installing and getting started with a CNC machine has never been easier than with an industrial 3D printer. CNC machining is user-friendly, and their popularity means that finding experienced operators is rarely a problem. And there is a shortage of operators for industrial 3D printers.

• Minimal finishing

CNC machining is a one-off process. The process is extremely precise and the precision of the CNC machines means that the product leaving the machine requires minimal or no further tooling before being shipped to the customer.The incredible surface finish eliminates unplanned burrs and edges. The most a part might need is some surface finishing and smoothing, all of which is done during the CNC machining process.3D printing, on the other hand, will require lengthy and complex finishing to bring the product to close to usable tolerances. Even then, the finishing and precision can never match what is produced on a CNC machine.

• Faster

When it comes to the finished product leaving a CNC machine, nothing compares to the speed of a CNC machine. This accuracy and speed coupled with the absence of human error means that products are produced with astonishing speed. This combination of speed and precision means CNCs are suitable for everything from small, medium to large production runs.This, combined with the ability of a well-maintained machine to run continuously day and night, year round, means there is only one winner; CNC machining.On the other hand, 3D printing is a very slow process, adding material will always take longer than removing it. A part that can take hours to produce on a 3D printer can take less than an hour on a CNC machine.

• Product integrity

CNC machining uses a subtractive production method, thanks to this method the material is not heated or modified and the molecular bonds in the material are not changed by heating or the introduction of any other material. This means the finished product retains the strength and other properties of the material.In 3D printing, the process, while capable of producing complex parts, reduces the integrity of the part because it is a layered material, which means that the final product is not structurally sound because the materials cannot bond at the molecular level.

• High quality

A good CNC machine can provide an incredible accuracy of 0.005 MM. This is independent of the material used. The rigidity of materials such as steel and aluminum means they do not deform and are therefore capable of being machined into small parts with high precision.At least in theory, 3D printing is capable of near-CNC machine accuracy, but in practice, due in large part to the materials used, 3D printing cannot match the near-CNC machine accuracy. This is why the question of CNC vs. 3d printing makes CNC machining a clear winner.

• Versatility

CNC machines are capable of producing tools, jigs, and a variety of custom-designed parts. Whether you need to produce hundreds of identical parts or a one-off prototype, a CNC machine can do it. Even prototyping, the mainstay of 3D printing, can be produced more quickly on CNC machines.