Prototyping to Mass Production: Automated CAD Model and G-Code Optimization Framework for Industrial 3D Printing

3D printing has the potential to be widely applied in mass production with customization. However, iterating the computer-aided design (CAD) models and printing configurations to obtain the desired object mostly remains a tedious trial and error process. Various automation techniques have been proposed to facilitate the CAD model creation process and a few of them are designed specifically for 3D printing. We propose an automation framework for industrial 3D printing, which translates both constraints and requirements into technical parameters for corresponding geometric optimization for CAD models and G-code generation for the printing tasks. This framework aims to further close the gap between rapid prototyping and mass production for industrial 3D printing.