Question $3$

$40$ pts

Equipment

The characteristic build volume of a machine is defined as the cube root of that machine's build volume. The plot comparing AM equipment prices across this scale indicates that larger machines are generally associated with larger upfront costs. Why is that?

increased flexibility and potential customer value

increased manufacturing costs for the larger systems.

Larger machines can make parts with high accuracy

Larger machines have richer feature sets i$.$e$.$ user$-$friendly software, ability to print with proprietary materials