THREE-DIMENSIONAL PRINTER AND METHODS FOR ASSEMBLING PARTS VIA INTEGRATION OF ADDITIVE AND CONVENTIONAL MANUFACTURING OPERATIONS

摘要

A three-dimensional (3-D) printer and technique for integrating additive and non-print manufacturing operations is disclosed. In an aspect, the 3-D printer includes an energy source and a powder bed regions for selectively fusing layers of a build piece. The 3-D printer further includes a robotic arm. The 3-D printing is interrupted responsive to instructions from a controller, upon which the robotic arm may perform one or more non-printing operations using the build piece such as milling, casting, molding, pressing, and the like. Following the non-printing operations, the 3-D printing operation continues, and a resulting assembly including the build piece is produced.