easytofabricate

Easytofabricate is a term used in engineering and product design to describe parts or components whose geometry and material choices simplify manufacturing with common processes and readily available tools. Designs labeled easytofabricate typically emphasize simplicity, standard materials, and minimal need for specialized tooling.

Key characteristics include simple geometries (mostly flat or orthogonal profiles), few features, single-material or standard-material choices, standard hole sizes and spacing, generous radii to ease bending and molding, and tolerances that align with common machining capabilities. Symmetry and regularity also help reduce setup time and inspection complexity.

Common manufacturing processes for easytofabricate parts include sheet metal stamping and bending, CNC milling with standard tooling, plastic injection molding for simple shapes, extrusion, casting of simple geometries, and entry-level 3D printing for prototyping. The design often favors features that can be produced with off-the-shelf equipment and widely available materials.

Design guidelines to improve manufacturability include avoiding sharp internal corners, using standard fasteners and drill sizes, aligning features to common work-holding strategies, and incorporating fillets and consistent wall thickness. The goal is to enable rapid production and straightforward quality control.

Benefits of easytofabricate designs are lower production cost, shorter lead times, easier automation, improved yield, and simpler supply chains. Trade-offs may include greater part weight, reduced stiffness-to-weight, limited functional optimization, or constraints on advanced materials.

Applications include consumer electronics enclosures, simple brackets and housings, prototyping kits, and educational components. The concept is often integrated into design-for-manufacturability and design-for-assembly approaches (DFMA) to balance manufacturability with performance.