You can design whatever you like using CAD for 2D and 3D modelling, but how do you get it off the screen and onto your project?

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Founder and CEO, Jim Belousic of @sendcutsend, runs us through what a rapid manufacturing company like his is, what it can offer and what some of the most common pitfalls are for those just learning how to turn images into objects.

Accepted file types include .dxf, .step, .stp, .eps, and .ai, with STEP file types being a more recent inclusion and an option that can require some extra customer guidance when it comes to bending & bend reliefs, geometry sizing, and placements are going to physically work for the manufacturing process. Advice is also given on material choices for manufacturing, noting a rapid manufacturing company like SendCutSend will not engineer a part for you; they are just there to help you make it.

Design for manufacturing (DFM) and design for assembly (DFA) are also discussed with the likes of tab and slot aka self-fixturing design features helping to massive cut down in physical manufacturing time for those that employ them when compared to getting set up with magnets and clamps before welding. An example of this was at their 2022 SEMA stand, where 190 hours of design work took only 22 hours to make.

Some manufacturing options companies like SendCutSend offer will include: Laser cutting, CNC machining, waterjet cutting, bending, anodizing, countersinking, plating, and tapping.