The Use of Supports to Fast Fabrication of Plastic Parts

Abstract

This paper provides a design technique of support for being applied in fast fabrication on plastic prototype, the plastic part developed through the computer aided design (CAD) can be rapidly fabricated by a CNC machining center without needs of any specific jigs or fixtures, the function provided is similar to a rapid prototyping (RP) machine used for fabricating the sampling part. By the testing result, the provided design technique of support can not only be applied in the part required for a dual-surface (or multiple-surface) processing, but also applicable for fabricating the part having thin housing. As such, this paper provides another economical and efficient option besides the RP.