Course Length: 5 days
Pre Requisites:
No prior additive manufacturing experience required. Basic familiarity with manufacturing or composites is recommended.
Summary:
AM1 is a hands-on introduction to additive manufacturing (AM) as applied in advanced composites, tooling, fixtures, repair support, and prototype development. Designed for technicians, engineers, and educators, this course develops practical competency with polymer-based 3D printing workflows commonly used in composite manufacturing environments. Participants progress from foundational concepts through guided laboratory work, emphasizing process understanding, diagnostics, and outcome-driven iteration rather than machine-specific button pushing.
Introduction:
Instruction integrates real-world composite shop constraints including material selection, print orientation for strength, surface finish considerations, dimensional accuracy, and post-processing requirements. Through a structured five-day progression, students will slice and produce validated prints, diagnose and correct defects, design and print a simple functional component, perform routine maintenance and calibration, and understand how AM supports composite layup, bonding, trimming, and repair operations. Lectures are concise and targeted, while extended labs build confidence through guided discovery and hands-on problem solving.
Topics:
Lecture Topics:
- Foundational AM concepts
- FDM/FFF process control
- Slicer fundamentals for strength, surface quality, and reliability
- Material behavior and selection for tooling and repair support
- Geometry, orientation, and load-path considerations
- Diagnosing print defects
- Design-for-additive-manufacturing principles
- Maintenance and calibration
- CAD platform overview and manufacturing intent.
Workshop Exercises
- Validated baseline printing
- Sourcing and evaluating third-party designs
- Diagnosing failure modes from geometry, orientation, slicer settings, and materials
- Iterative re-slicing and limited reprinting
- Simple functional part design using intentional geometry
- Printer calibration and maintenance tasks tied to real print outcomes