Processability investigatation of non-assembly mechanisms for powder bed fusion process

When directly fabricating mechanisms by powder bed fusion (PBF) process, the processability of mechanism is an important factor in a successful fabrication and is studied in this paper. The reference structures due to PBF process are presented; design guidelines of non-assembly mechanisms for PBF process are then suggested to improve the processability. Apart from the design guidelines, the relationship between processability and process strategy is investigated. Lastly, two cases are presented, a universal joint and a rocker–slider mechanism, which are directly fabricated by selective laser melting. Results show that they can be successfully fabricated. The PBF process provides a new methodology that allows more design freedom and faster fabrication of mechanisms. The directly fabricated mechanisms would have better quality and better performance when reasonably designed.