Oregon State University, $25,000
There are two commercially accepted approaches to automated manufacturing: subtractive and additive. Subtractive computer-controlled machining (e.g,. CNC milling) yields precise parts suitable for any prototyping or production scale, but suffers from inefficient use of material and slow operation. Additive methods, such as fused deposition modeling (FDM), substantially reduce material waste and build time while sacrificing precision and finish quality. Fused Machines is developing a desktop machine that combines both subtractive CNC milling and additive FDM build methods, allowing for the production of higher precision, higher quality parts while still retaining superior material efficiencies.