Democratising the design of 3D printed functional components through a hybrid virtual-physical design methodology

To enable democratising manufacturing technologies, such as 3D printing, to reach their full potential, it is recognised that there is a need to democratise the activity of design itself. The shortcomings of currently available design methods are explored and based on their evaluation, and particularities of the Filament Deposition Modelling process, a methodology is developed that is capable of taking reasoned design decisions on behalf of the user. This is achieved through combining a knowledge base of manufacturing parameters and a fusion of activities from virtual and physical design processes. The functionality of this methodology is demonstrated through the design and manufacture of a load bearing component and its effectiveness is assessed through comparison with a typical CAD based design process. The relative merits of the methodology are evaluated with respect to its potential to democratise design and steps to its implementation are outlined.