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Design for Additive Manufacturability: Finishing for FDM and PolyJet

Finishing or secondary operations encompasses a broad range of processes that change a manufactured part’s properties. Engineers can employ finishing simply to improve a part’s appearance and reshape it to meet certain dimensions, or use it to enhance functionality, such as increasing strength, chemical resistance, electrical conductivity and more. Secondary operations basically turn raw parts into finished goods. And this isn’t limited to traditional manufactured parts. 3D printed parts can also be enhanced with secondary operations, but much like designing for additive manufacturing, different processes and best practices apply.