Additive/subtractive manufacturing service is launched

STAR Prototype, which is based in Guandong Province, developed the service after it identified a significant demand for a one-stop-shop for such components.

“Most metal 3D printed parts are not used as prototypes, but as complex low-volume manufactured components, and many of these parts need certain high-precision features that are virtually impossible to produce with 3D printing alone,” says Gordon Styles, president of STAR.

“The problems arise because most 3D printing companies don’t carry out secondary machining, meaning the customer needs to take care of the work themselves or farm it out to a specialist machining bureau.” 

The groundbreaking system allows parts to be transferred directly from its 3D printing machines to its CNC machines without having to be removed from the build plate – a development that also resolves the troublesome issue of subcontractors getting to grips with 3D printed parts.
 
STAR sees the Subtractive CNC element of AddSubÒ as being ideal for mating faces, precision bores, tapped holes, spigots and other very necessary high-precision features, and feels AddSubÒ is likely to be of particular use to the motor-sport, aerospace, military, medical and dental fields.