[culturestate]

Powdered metal parts are everywhere today, but it's not really an additive process - you pour a bunch of powder into a mold, compact it, and then bake it.

PM parts are also porous and fairly weak (in some dimensions) relative to machined counterparts, so you don't typically see them in critical applications.

[ip26]

Yeah, now that you mention it, camshafts have quite a reputation for fragility. I always wondered how a rod of solid steel could fracture like that.