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For 3D printing meshes are fine. But 3d printing is not exactly mass production ready.

However, if you need your object made with a CNC machine like say you need aluminum or steel injection molds made then the CAM operator is not going to be happy with a mesh. Why because its really problematic for the path planning to have a angular surface*. So be prepared to pay for your own work again in the engineering department and time to market as they will be calling you on the phone a lot.

While the CAD can sometimes approximate surfaces out of a mesh this isn't entirely ideal for the mass production team for several reasons. When I have had to do this we have been charging the same as if we would have designed the piece to begin with. But it depends on the company.

The thing is you don't want to have to redo a 50,000 tooling cost because of a auto conversion error. Though you can probably live with a lot less than that for vacuum/rotary casting of silicone.

* the fact that it looks right in rendering is irrelevant its all well to approximate a surface for rendering with something that has no bearing on physical truth. But for the CNC it is physical truth or no dice.

For 3D printing meshes are fine. But 3d printing is not exactly mass production ready.**

However, if you need your object made with a CNC machine like say you need aluminum or steel injection molds made then the CAM operator is not going to be happy with a mesh. Why because its really problematic for the path planning to have a angular surface*. So be prepared to pay for your own work again in the engineering department and time to market as they will be calling you on the phone a lot.

While the CAD can sometimes approximate surfaces out of a mesh this isn't entirely ideal for the mass production team for several reasons. When I have had to do this we have been charging the same as if we would have designed the piece to begin with. But it depends on the company.

The thing is you don't want to have to redo a 50,000 tooling cost because of a auto conversion error. Though you can probably live with a lot less than that for vacuum/rotary casting of silicone.

* the fact that it looks right in rendering is irrelevant its all well to approximate a surface for rendering with something that has no bearing on physical truth. But for the CNC it is physical truth or no dice.

** Well, you can make a casting master in a resin printer then spend time post processing it to become a master and mold it in platinum silicone which can then be used as molds for processing. But this all depends on do you need a 100, a thousand, ten thousand or hundred thousand units.

For 3D printing meshes are fine. But 3d printing is not exactly mass production ready.

However, if you need your object made with a CNC machine like say you need aluminum or steel injection molds made then the CAM operator is not going to be happy with a mesh. Why because its really problematic for the path planning to have a angular surface*. So be prepared to pay for your own work again in the engineering department and time to market as they will be calling you on the phone a lot.

While the CAD can sometimes approximate surfaces out of a mesh this isn't entirely ideal for the mass production team for several reasons. When I have had to do this we have been charging the same as if we would have designed the piece to begin with. But it depends on the company.

The thing is you don't want to have to redo a 50,000 tooling cost because of a auto conversion error. Though you can probably live with a lot less than that for vacuum molding silicone.

* the fact that it looks right in rendering is irrelevant its all well to approximate a surface for rendering with something that has no bearing on physical truth. But for the CNC it is physical truth or no dice.

For 3D printing meshes are fine. But 3d printing is not exactly mass production ready.

However, if you need your object made with a CNC machine like say you need aluminum or steel injection molds made then the CAM operator is not going to be happy with a mesh. Why because its really problematic for the path planning to have a angular surface*. So be prepared to pay for your own work again in the engineering department and time to market as they will be calling you on the phone a lot.

While the CAD can sometimes approximate surfaces out of a mesh this isn't entirely ideal for the mass production team for several reasons. When I have had to do this we have been charging the same as if we would have designed the piece to begin with. But it depends on the company.

The thing is you don't want to have to redo a 50,000 tooling cost because of a auto conversion error. Though you can probably live with a lot less than that for vacuum/rotary casting of silicone.

* the fact that it looks right in rendering is irrelevant its all well to approximate a surface for rendering with something that has no bearing on physical truth. But for the CNC it is physical truth or no dice.

For 3D printing meshes are fine. But 3d printing is not exactly mass production ready.

However, if you need your object made with a CNC machine like say you need aluminum or steel injection molds made then the CAM operator is not going to be happy with a mesh. Why because its really problematic for the path planning to have a angular surface*. So be prepared to pay for your own work again in the engineering department and time to market as they will be calling you on the phone a lot.

While the cad can sometimes approximate surfaces out of a mesh this isn't entirely ideal for the mass production team for several reasons.

* the fact that it looks right in rendering is irrelevant its all well to approximate a surface for rendering with something that has no bearing on physical truth. But for the CNC it is physical truth or no dice.

For 3D printing meshes are fine. But 3d printing is not exactly mass production ready.

However, if you need your object made with a CNC machine like say you need aluminum or steel injection molds made then the CAM operator is not going to be happy with a mesh. Why because its really problematic for the path planning to have a angular surface*. So be prepared to pay for your own work again in the engineering department and time to market as they will be calling you on the phone a lot.

While the CAD can sometimes approximate surfaces out of a mesh this isn't entirely ideal for the mass production team for several reasons. When I have had to do this we have been charging the same as if we would have designed the piece to begin with. But it depends on the company.

The thing is you don't want to have to redo a 50,000 tooling cost because of a auto conversion error. Though you can probably live with a lot less than that for vacuum molding silicone.

* the fact that it looks right in rendering is irrelevant its all well to approximate a surface for rendering with something that has no bearing on physical truth. But for the CNC it is physical truth or no dice.