Examine a ceramic coffee cup and determine in which orientation you would choose to produce the part if you were using (a) fused-deposition manufacturing or (b) laminated-object manufacturing.
Careful analysis of a rapid-prototyped part indicates that it is made up of layers with a distinct filament outline visible on each layer. Is the material a thermoset or a thermoplastic? Explain.
The extruder head in a fused-deposition modeling setup has a diameter of 1.25 mm (0.05 in.) and produces layers that are 0.25 mm (0.01 in.) thick. If the extruder head and polymer extrudate velocities are both 50 mm/s, estimate the production time for the generation of a 38-mm (1.5-in.) solid cube. Assume that there is a 10-second delay between layers as the extruder head is moved over a wire brush for cleaning.
