• The Additive Report Videos

The pros and cons of 3D printing for metal fabrication shops

Length: 49:00

In the first episode of The Additive Report Advisor, Mark Abshire, an application engineer at Computer Aided Technology in St. Louis, joins host Todd Grimm to discuss how fab shops can "connect the dots" when it comes to leveraging additive manufacturing.

What are pros and cons of small to mid-sized metal fabricators bringing 3D-printing technology into their shops? Much like selecting any machine tool, Abshire says there is a lot for job shops to consider when deciding on 3D printers and AM materials.

Abshire has been pioneering additive manufacturing for more than 30 years. After starting with the then-new technology of stereolithography in 1988, Mark continued using each new developing 3D printing tech, like FDM (fused deposition modeling), laser sintering, PolyJet and others.

He has spent the last 20 years as an application engineer developing new applications and teaching others how to utilize additive manufacturing for their business.