Some investigations for small‐sized product fabrication with FDM for plastic components

Purpose Fused deposition modeling (FDM) is an additive manufacturing technology commonly used for modelling, prototyping, and batch production applications. The purpose of this paper is to investigate properties of plastic replicas, fabricated as small‐sized product moulds with FDM. Design/methodology/approach From the identification of component, prototypes of ABS plastic material were prepared for commercial end‐user applications, such as vacuum moulding, vacuum casting, investment casting, etc. Findings The study highlighted the best settings of orientation and support material quantity for the selected component on FDM machine, from the dimensional accuracy and economic points of view. Originality/value Final replicas prepared are acceptable as per DIN 16901 and ISO (UNI EN 20286‐I‐1995) standard for industrial applications. The results are also supported by SEM analysis.