TCT Europe 26.3 by TCT Magazine

EUROPE EDITION VOLUME 26 ISSUE 3 www.tctmagazine.com

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INTEGRATING DIGITAL MANUFACTURING AUSTRALIAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S LARGEST DENTAL LABORATORY SHARE THEIR DIGITAL JOURNEY THE MAGAZINE FOR DESIGN-TO-MANUFACTURING INNOVATION

VOLUME 26 ISSUE 3

ISSN 1751-0333

EDITORIAL

PRODUCTION

GROUP EDITOR

Sam Hamlyn

DEPUTY GROUP EDITOR

MANAGEMENT

Daniel O’Connor e: daniel.oconnor@rapidnews.com t: + 44 1244 952 398 Laura Griffiths e: laura.griffiths@rapidnews.com t: + 44 1244 952 389 EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

Samuel Davies e: samuel.davies@rapidnews.com t: + 44 1244 952 390 NEWSDESK

Matt Clarke

C.E.O.

Duncan Wood VP, CONTENT, STRATEGY AND PARTNERSHIPS

James Woodcock

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FROM THE EDITOR PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES

uring the opening remarks of a conference I attended in May, I felt my eyes roll so forcibly to the back of my head I nearly tipped backwards off my chair. I’m paraphrasing here, but it was basically, “we need to change the way we think about design,” we’ve definitely been saying that for the five years I’ve been working in the industry, have we still not changed? If not, when will we change? When the first caveperson struck up a fire, for how long were they saying, “we need to change the way we think about heating.” By the third talk at this conference, I wondered if I was trapped in a glitch in the Matrix; I’d seen the videos from two particular companies a good 100 times, I’d seen the applications ad nauseum. Perhaps I’d woken up on the wrong side of the bed, (there was only one side of the bed such was the size of the “hotel” “room”), but it seemed to me like additive manufacturing and the Messrs therein were becoming something of a broken record. Yes, we know additive manufacturing could save time, weight and cost but does it actually do that? Stop with the could and show us the has. Fortunately, the next two talks were as refreshing as the mojito offered up at the post-conference reception on a particularly scorching day whilst wearing a full suit, coat and lugging my laptop around. Both were talks on how additive manufacturing is being applied to significant effect in the transport industries. The first from Stefanie Brickwede, Head of 3D Printing at Deutsche Bahn (DB), showed us how DB isn’t so concerned with topologically optimised prints, finished to an inch of their lives, they want the quick and dirty fixes for spare parts like plastic windscreen washer fluid containers.

Stefanie even discussed how DB 3D printed a spare bracket straight from its traditional manufacturing CAD file in metal that was both heavier and costlier than its conventional counterpart, railing against every fibre of additive manufacturing’s touted benefits. Despite those cons, the part convinced some old sceptical engineers of the pros of 3D printing and since they’ve not looked back, DB estimate that it will print over 15,000 parts in 2018. Stefanie told us not to be afraid of printing boring parts; it’s a great way to find out what does and doesn’t work. Another way to find out what does and doesn’t work is to rigorously test, over and over again until you can certify that your machine works and that the parts you’re getting are repeatable enough to be a product from one of the world’s most renowned brands. That’s what Christian Gröschel, Project Leader, Production at BMW Group demonstrated during his talk. Christian demonstrated how BMW is now in series production in both polymers and metals for end-use parts that go onto cars on the road today. Whereas DB have an almost ‘throw enough mud at the wall to see what sticks’ philosophy, BMW is methodical in its approach to what can and can’t be printed on what machine. After those two talks and that mojito, my enthusiasm for all things additive was reinvigorated. Moreover, to complete the trifecta of transport that heads the top of this page; this issue has a focus on the aerospace sector, the place where 3D printing is applied almost as a matter of urgency. The transport sectors are leading the way in additive; it’s time for everyone else to catch up... fortunately there’s plenty of vehicles to choose from.

Druck on.

DANIEL O’CONNOR GROUP EDITOR

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VOLUME 26 | ISSUE 3

Cover Story

8. INTEGRATING DIGITAL MANUFACTURING Race Dental talk us through the implementation of a suite of digital technologies at its leading dental laboratory.

Aerospace

11. LEARN TO FLY

Deputy Group Editor, Laura Griffiths, takes a look at how 3D printing is changing the aerospace maintenance, repair and overhaul industry.

17. ENABLING ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING FOR UK AEROSPACE

An overview of the Digital Reconfigurable Additive Manufacturing facilities for Aerospace (DRAMA) project being headed up by the MTC.

21. MISSION: KEEP BIRDS IN THE AIR WITH AM

Editorial Assistant, Sam Davies, speaks to the U.S. Air Force’s Lifecycle Management Center’s Product Support Engineering Division.

25. MADE IN SPACE

Group Editor, Dan O’Connor, reports back from a visit to the NASA Research Park in California with news of how space could be the manufacturing plant of the future.

MACHINING UPDATE

33. THE RISE OF HYBRID MANUFACTURING

All-in-one additive plus subtractive machinery have had time to settle, Laura dives into this burgeoning sector.

39. THE LIFE OF A SERVICE BUREAU

Dan in discussion with Gregory Campbell, Operation Director at CA Models about the challenges facing the service provider of today.

41 TOOLING, JIGS & FIXTURES 43. FIXTURE LIST

Sam runs the rule on the innovative implementations of additive in the world of jigs and fixtures.

47. MOULDING INCREASES ITS COOL

As a growing number of mould and die shops implement AM, it’s time those still on the fence took note.

SIMULATION

49. SIMULATE TO STIMULATE

Simulation could be the catalyst for additive technologies to be truly adopted for series production, Dan looks at why.

54. IN OTHER NEWS

News in brief from the world of Aerospace Manufacturing.

58. READY TO POUNCE

Todd Grimm’s latest column discusses how you make yourself ready to seize on the next additive opportunity.

INTEGRATING DIGITAL MANUFACTURING RACE DENTAL IS AUSTRALIA’S LARGEST DENTAL LABORATORY. CEO BRAD RACE DISCUSSES HOW HIS COMPANY APPLIES 3D DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES TO STAY COMPETITIVE.

SHOWN: 3D PRINTERS PRODUCE DENTAL SURGICAL GUIDES AND TEETH MODELS FROM INTRA-ORAL 3D SCAN DATA.

SHOWN: MILLING IS USED FOR PRODUCING CERAMIC CROWN AND BRIDGE COMPONENTS.

technologies has been critical in sustaining our growth and has allowed Race to successfully scale our operations to continue to produce high quality 100% Australian and New Zealand made dental prosthetics and orthodontic appliances. The investment in technology has allowed us to keep manufacturing on-shore and compete against cheaper labour markets.

What does Race Dental do? Race Dental is a full service digital dental laboratory servicing Australia-wide and into the Asia-Pacific region. How did your company begin? Established in 1936, Race Dental is a 4th generation family business established in the heart of Sydney. Now 82 years old, the company has grown significantly with manufacturing centres in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Malaysia. How many staff do you employ? Race Dental currently employs approximately 150 people. How many dental cases do you process a year? Race Dental currently produces well over 100,000 cases a year. What fraction of your cases involve digital production? Approximately 75% of all cases involve digital production, from scanning, CAD, through to milling and printing. Race Dental also employs a dedicated R&D team to understand and efficiently implement emerging technologies. The adoption of digital

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How has digital dentistry changed in the past 10 years? As with any other globalised industry, the dental industry in Australia was hit with the import of cheaper products from Asia in the early 2000s leaving Australian labs in a vulnerable state. Rather than joining the outsourcing movement or scaling back to reduce costs, Race Dental significantly invested into emerging technologies and teams designed at maintaining higher quality Australian made products at a price point competitive with the imported prosthetics. What is your digital production setup? What do you produce on each machine and why? Race Dental operate the largest network of intraoral scanners in the region which give us direct digital impressions for almost half of our cases. Traditional mould of patient’s teeth are also digitised as the first step of production as the majority of products are produced using CAD/CAM. We run a variety of 5 axis milling machines from small desktop units from vendors such as Roland DG, through to large automated industrial units from DMG Mori with a total of approximately 20 machines in use. Milling remains an important

COVER STORY

part of our production process as many of the prosthetics are produced in ceramics and metals such as titanium and cobalt chrome. The limitations in terms of material selection or additive technology precision prevent these products being produced using additive technologies. Race Dental also has made large investments in additive manufacturing for certain products including castable frameworks, models, moulds and biocompatible prosthetics with machines from 3D Systems, EOS and Asiga in daily production. Significant R&D expenditure has left a graveyard of unsuitable equipment, such is the nature of evaluating the various products oﬀered to market and wading through marketing claims. Describe the journey you went through in evaluating 3D printers for your application. In short it was a long, expensive and often frustrating journey. With any machine, we start by requesting samples which is a good way to see what the printer is capable of. Samples produced from manufacturer’s designs will show the printer in

The units we use now in production have proven themselves to not only deliver the results, but also long term consistency backed with good manufacturer support. How do you see the division between processes that are performed with subtractive manufacturing and additive manufacturing? I.e. what processes are most economically suited to subtractive and which are best for additive? The selection of additive or subtractive manufacturing starts with the material requirements for the specific prosthetic device or product. Many products are either impossible to produce with additive manufacturing or are prohibitively expensive due to immature technology. An example is ceramics where we have not found any additive technology that can compete with milling. For products that can be produced with either additive or subtractive techniques it then comes down to an assessment of economics, reliability of process and the ability to obtain the required precision. Products particularly suited for additive for example are dental models which can be milled, but are much more economically produced with printers such as the Asiga 3D Max which we use heavily for this purpose. Although not strictly required to produce prosthetics, models are demanded by dental customers who like to visualise the restorative work before the patient fitting consultation. Frameworks in Cobalt Chrome are produced in house using SLS technology from EOS Technology. The high cost of these machines is oﬀset by the large capacity which can result in favourable economics. It is also possible to produce for example, Chrome Cobalt partial denture frameworks using SLS but the finishing steps required due

SHOWN:

A MILLED ZIRCONIA CROWN IS FITTED TO A 3D PRINTED VERIFICATION MODEL.

its absolute best light, so it is best to send your own designs. However, receiving a nice sample back and checking it for accuracy is only the start of the evaluation - you really need to use the printer day in day out in your own facility to see how it fares as a production machine. For example, we ran some DLP printers in our R&D department from a European manufacturer that appeared to tick all the boxes, but turned out to be quite unreliable and more often than not failed to complete builds for one reason or another. Tearing the machine down we could see that it wasn’t ready to be released as a product - the build quality was quite poor (it was not an inexpensive machine) with a lot of “hacks” - tape and cardboard for example. Another example was a low-cost laser scanning stereolithography system which performed well initially but quality rapidly degraded with every build rendering them useless after a short period.

to the extensive support material required. For this reason instead of SLS we use 3D Systems Mullitjet machines to produce castable resin frameworks using wax supports. Removal of the wax supports is easy by melting and leaves us with a clean framework ready to cast. In addition, advanced biocompatible resins are now available which allow us to produce prosthetic devices and surgical guides which can be used intraorally. Again, here we use the Asiga3D Max range as their completely open system allows us to utilise resins from almost any vendor. Yes, we actually 3D print teeth that go straight into a patient’s mouth! What is your vision for the dental laboratory of the future and how are you preparing for this? We see further developments in additive technologies making this the preferred option for more and more of our product range. Increasing printer performance and lowered costs of consumables is already evident and this trajectory is expected to continue. The ultimate aim is for better patient outcomes through application of advanced technologies.

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AEROSPACE

LEARN A TO FLY WORDS: LAURA GRIFFITHS

A LOOK AT HOW SOME OF THE WORLD’S BIGGEST AEROSPACE AND MRO COMPANIES ARE EMBRACING ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING.

s a somewhat nerdy by-product of working in an industry that looks at manufacturing the world diﬀerently, I too find myself often viewing the world through an additive lens. Perhaps the place I do this most is when travelling on an aeroplane where I tend to scour the cabin for places where additive manufacturing (AM) could be present someday soon. The lifespan of an aircraft, typically between 20 and 30 years, makes maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) and retrofit, both big and necessary businesses. Think of every plane you’ve been on in the last few years that still featured a now defunct charging socket from the 1980s - aircraft are not changing overnight to keep up-to-date with consumer expectations. However, Airbus’ Global Market Forecast projects that over the next 20 years the commercial aircraft upgrades services market will be worth 180 billion USD. Various reports suggest that aerospace accounts for roughly 20% of the AM industry. AM oﬀers numerous benefits to the sector; part consolidation, reduced inventory, on-demand manufacturing, light weighting reduced costs and fuel consumption. For replacement parts where timescales are tight, and downtime must be kept to a minimum, speed of delivery can be a game-changer. 

 ABOVE:

A380 INSIDE HANGER AT ETHIAD ENGINEERING

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AEROSPACE

“For me, as an innovation director, I was always sure that AM would really take oﬀ if you have functional integration,” Büning commented. “With dual extrusion and the right materials such as conductive or capacitive, it is possible to dramatically decrease the manufacturing process by embedding structural and functional performance within a single process chain. In my opinion this is really the way to go, and that’s why BigRep is pushing hard on this.”

FLOOR-TO-FLOOR Can (or indeed, should) you 3D print an entire aeroplane? Berlin-based BigRep is looking to answer that question from an interior perspective in partnership with Etihad Airways Engineering, taking a close look at everything you see in the cabin, to explore where AM could offer a better solution. “Currently, we are jointly working together with the innovation unit of Etihad Engineering to identify parts within the cabin – predominantly large format parts – that could be candidates for 3D printing,” Daniel Büning, Head of Global Strategy at BigRep explains. “It could be headrests, it could be side wall panels, it could be part of the seats or entertainment system. The core idea is to work with their lead designers and engineers to establish a novel digital workflow for AM cabin design.” Etihad is leveraging BigRep’s large-format polymer FDM (fused deposition modelling) systems, which will soon be located at its Innovation Centre in Abu Dhabi, to reimagine non-flying parts for new aircraft and retrofit installations. As Etihad is the first airline MRO permitted by the EASA to certify, manufacture and fly 3D printed parts in-house, it already has a strong advantage over a significant hurdle. “Imagine you have an aircraft that is 30 years old and there is a need to refurbish or retrofit them every other 5 to 10 years. Every one of those parts has to be certified,” Büning adds. “This is a major problem if you are not able to do that by yourself or with a certified partner.” Taking this a step further, BigRep is already embedding “digital smartness” into parts in combination with digitally tailored design methods. Hybrid manufacturing is being explored, using off the shelf 6-axis industrial robots to print onto half-finished parts independent of its geometry or size as a “digital value add-on”. The first proof of concept is a full-scale print of an Airbus A320 sidewall on the BigRep ONE. The part was scanned to create a “digital twin” which is used to provide information to the robot about the part geometry and print conductive tracks, antennas and ornamental features.

The project is part of NOWlab@BigRep, BigRep’s internal innovation department which looks at what’s to come in the industry in the next five to ten years. So, whilst you won’t see these parts ﬂying in your commercial aeroplane cabin tomorrow, the potential for future applications in functional integration and reducing production costs and time could be huge.

CERTIFICATION-READY Over in Dubai, Emirates Engineering, part of the biggest airline in the UAE, has been actively exploring 3D printing for cabin parts for around two years and recently teamed with 3D Systems. The company, which provides MRO services for a wide range of Airbus and Boeing models, used selective laser sintering (SLS) to produce video monitor shrouds for its aircraft cabins. The first batch was printed in partnership with UUDS, a European aviation Engineering and Certification Office and Services Provider based in France, using 3D Systems’ new Duraform ProX FR1200 material, a flame-retardant nylon-12 thermoplastic. The 3D printed monitor shrouds were 9-13% lighter than components manufactured traditionally and could lead to significant reductions in fuel emissions and costs across an entire fleet. The parts have undergone a range of tests and are in the process of receiving EASA certification before they are installed on select Emirates aircraft. Emirates has already used AM to develop EASAcertified aircraft cabin air vent grills that were installed for on-board trials late last year. Both components are currently being evaluated before they are rolled out across Emirates fleet. 

 ABOVE:

BIGREP HYBRID MANUFACTURING TECHNIQUES USED TO EMBED ‘DIGITAL SMARTNESS’ ONTO PARTS AT ETIHAD ENGINEERING. 26 : 3

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AEROSPACE

Airbus, the second biggest aerospace manufacturer in the world, is no stranger to AM and has already produced thousands of parts such as brackets, clips, and holding devices using polymer processes. The latest is a spacer panel, located alongside the overhead storage compartments on commercial aircraft, produced in partnership with Materialise and set to be the first 3D printed parts placed in the cabins of Airbus’s A320 Family jetliners at Finnair. To the passenger, the part won’t look any different on the outside, but its weight has been optimised with a bionic design to achieve a 15% reduction compared to the original. “Conventional manufacturing has trained MRO managers to think in terms of manufacturing at scale to ensure cost benefits. AM is a game-changer because it allows for cost-effective production of even single parts,” Edouard de Mahieu, Project Manager, Manufacturing at Materialise told TCT. “AM enables the production of what is necessary now, even if it’s a highly customised part. Ultimately, when your spare parts production is free from the economies of scale, the winner is performance.” The spacer panels are produced using Materialise’s Certified Additive Manufacturing process and then painted to Airbus cabin requirements, all using flame-retardant Airbus-approved materials. The Belgian company’s Certified AM facility holds several key certifications including ISO 9001 for manufacturing and EN9100 and EASA 21.G for the aerospace industry which has already seen the company produce flight-ready parts for the Airbus A350 XWB. Materialise describes the process as more than a 3D print but rather “an entire quality system”. “Quality in AM can be affected at each stage of the value chain. That’s why we have defined quality management processes for each step of the manufacturing process, from data capture to build preparation, production to postprocessing, and final quality control,” Mahieu continued. “In order to define and hone these processes, we work very closely with our clients to understand their quality requirements and integrate them seamlessly into our infrastructure and workflows.”

TIME TO SPARE SIA Engineering Company (SIAEC) recently formed a joint venture with Stratasys to establish an AM service centre for the manufacture of parts for commercial airlines. The Singaporean firm provides MRO services to more than 80 airlines worldwide. Combining SIAEC’s MRO industry knowledge and Stratasys’ AM leadership, the partnership aims to identify opportunities for 3D printing in aviation whether that’s advanced tooling or end-use cabin parts.

“We’ll do some prototyping work but we’re more focussed on advanced tooling and production part opportunities which are less obvious and may take the customer, such as an MRO, a very long time to discover for themselves,” Daniel Thomsen, Stratasys secondee, Deputy General Manager – Joint Venture with SIA Engineering Company told TCT. “We are trying to work extremely closely with our customers and help them identify these advanced opportunities.” Initially they will look at cabin interior components and non-critical, non-loaded, singular parts which Thomsen believes will not only be a good starting point to get engineers thinking differently about AM, but also for regulators to understand and become familiar with the utilisation of the technology. “For successful deployment of AM, an MRO really needs to look at the pains in their services. The two pains that come to mind are unnecessary repetitive costs and extremely time-consuming workshop activities,” Thomsen explained. “These tend to be two good starting points. AM is an option and with strong knowledge behind that option, in many cases, can deliver the most economical and successful solution.” Whenever an aircraft is not flying, it is losing money, so driving down lead times for replacement components is crucial for airlines. By adopting AM into their spare part workflow, MROs could have the ability keep stock quantities significantly lower and manufacture lesser volumes on demand with a catalogue of parts that have been designed for AM. Unlike some of the more elaborate AM concepts we’ve seen for the aerospace industry, this doesn’t mean overhauling the entire look of an aircraft. In fact, Thomsen says in his view “you won’t see them flying”. Cosmetically, AM cabin parts will look the same, adhering to each airline’s aesthetic, but instead they might be enhanced by internal features that can’t be seen, such as lattices, to reduce material and weight. “AM can produce more complex geometries where the complexity may not be seen due to being in the back of the part, but will provide possibly stronger, lighter and more reliable parts than what was currently installed on the aircraft,” Thomsen adds. “This is certainly not just reproducing an existing part, but designing a new part solution, exploiting the benefits of AM”.

 SHOWN:

AIRBUS 3D PRINTED SPACER PANELS WITH MATERIALISE CERTIFIED ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING

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ENABLING ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING FOR UK AEROSPACE T

he importance of additive manufacturing (AM) to the UK aerospace industry cannot be overstated. There are more than 4,000 companies involved in the industry in the UK and the technology has the potential to revolutionise design approaches and component manufacturing, as well as deliver new opportunities throughout the supply chain.

Aerospace OEMs are always striving for new, cost effective ways to design, build and maintain their market offerings. Demand for reduced weight, higher performing AM parts will continue to grow, to match the ever-increasing demands for lower emissions and better efficiencies. In a bid to ensure the UK aerospace supply chain can meet and deliver on those needs, the government announced back in November 2017 that it will inject more than 53 million GBP for a range of projects that will tackle barriers to growth, boost exports and grow high value jobs. An element of that funding will deliver DRAMA (Digital Reconfigurable Additive Manufacturing facilities for Aerospace), a three-year project led by Dr Katy Milne from the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC), to establish world-class AM ‘test bed’ facilities and a corresponding digital-twin environment where aerospace suppliers will be able to test products and processes in a virtual AM facility. These reconfigurable facilities will be at the National Centre for Additive Manufacturing (NCAM), located at the MTC, Coventry and at Renishaw’s AM Solution Centre in Stone, Staffordshire. One of Renishaw’s RenAM 500M systems has also been installed at the MTC’s facility.

National Physics Laboratory, Renishaw and the University of Birmingham.

Formally launched at the MTC in May, the overarching aim of the project is to open up and de-risk the adoption of AM technologies for the entire supply chain and, in doing so, develop relevant, commercially viable AM process chains. With this virtual AM environment, DRAMA will reduce the time and cost in the planning of AM processes, provide a showcase for leading AM equipment and services, and grow the UK’s AM knowledge base to increase right-first-time deployment of AM. This year DRAMA will establish use cases and demonstrate the ability to deliver parts required by the industry, as outlined by the ATI (Aerospace Technology Institute). By November 2019, a full trial facility is expected to be operational at the NCAM to work on proving part production. By year three, in 2020, the facility will be available for the supply chain, to explore and develop AM knowledge and lead to its take up. 

The project is receiving 15 million GBP investment from Department of Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) as part of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF), delivered through Innovate UK, and supported by the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI). The project consortia includes prominent partners such as ATS Global, Autodesk, Granta Design, Midlands Aerospace Alliance,

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AEROSPACE

HOW WILL DRAMA EFFECT THE UK AEROSPACE INDUSTRY? The view from a UK aerospace OEM

The technology provider view

The supply chain view

“Unless the suppliers can work with AM they are going to miss out. It is about bedding the technology into the UK supply chain, so they know how it works and how to design to get the best quality - to make what we need. Our long-term view is to get momentum so it can be fully exploited in three to four years from now.

“DRAMA, being based at the NCAM and supported by Renishaw’s AM Solutions Centre, means it will oﬀer a wide scope of AM to the UK aerospace sector. Renishaw’s role is to contribute our experience, equipment and time to the project as a leader in the AM field.

“There is an appetite for more information about the AM process. Before our members make an investment in a new process, they need to know that their customers want AM products. Some companies have already been directed to AM by their customers, but they need help with where they should start.

Paul Evans | Head of Manufacturing Technologies & Processes – Airbus

As a business, we’re really interested in seeing further development and uptake of AM. In the short term, and I mean the next two to three years with our current legacy accounts, we’re looking to reduce costs for our parts and that’s with less material being required via current castings and forgings. This will provide real benefits as it will mean less raw material and lower our costs. Looking longer-term, when we bring the next aircraft to market, we’ll have to design components and make sure we can make more of them via the AM process.”

Marc Saunders | Director, Global Solutions Centres, Renishaw

The DRAMA trial facility will be reconfigurable, supporting a range of projects with diﬀerent companies. The digital twin will make sure the development process is eﬀective with less trial and error. It will enable us to understand in more detail how it is built, if there are issues with the variant in the process and, if so, we can perfect it and make more consistent parts. The DRAMA project is a vital step in building an AM supply chain in the UK and developing the knowledge and confidence to produce the innovative designs coming from the aerospace primes.

Bridget Day | Supply Chain Technology Director, Midlands Aerospace Alliance

The cost of the equipment is only one aspect that the supply chain companies need to consider. They also need to know about the skills involved, the materials to use and a lot more about the processes involved. This is a chance for the supply chain to try out AM on the equipment available and assess its viability and to learn about all aspects. The other advantage of this project is that the supply chain, via our members, are in at the very start of this project and can play a key role in the planning and development.”

Currently, there’s a lack of engagement or experience and that needs to be bridged. It’s about exploiting the technology widely and helping the supply chain to understand the technology better.”

 SHOWN:

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AEROSPACE

MISSION: KEEP BIRDS IN THE AIR WITH AM WORDS: SAM DAVIES

hen Mike Froning settled into the role of Technical Advisor for the Product Support Engineering Division at the U.S. Air Force Lifecycle Management Centre in 2015, his commanders gave him his mission: ‘We’ve got to get moving on additive manufacturing (AM). Research folks have been doing a lot of work for 20 years, but now we really need to get pumped up and using it.’ Froning tells of his latest assignment, in an almost 40-yearlong career, at the Additive Manufacturing Users Group (AMUG) Conference 2018. While he shares the stage with peers from the U.S. Army, Navy and Marine Corps, he’s the only one of them who can boast being part of the consortium that acquired one of the first ever – serial number 6 – Stereolithography (SLA) machines. Installed in the University of Dayton Research Institute (UDRI) it was used by ten companies within the region, including Delco General Motors, who Froning worked for. Back then, 3D printing was merely a rapid prototyping technology, and any idea that it could be anything more was simply pie in the sky. Fast forward 30 years and the U.S. Air Force is using it to keep ‘birds’ in the air. At its disposal, it has more than 60 3D printing systems of varying sizes and process. Around 50 of them output polymer parts, some desktop, some suitable for the production of larger structures. There are six metal machines located between its Institute of Technology, Wright Patterson Air Force Base (AFB), OH; Tinker AFB, OK;

and Warner Robins, GA locations, and a further ten with the UDRI. The processes include material extrusion, powder bed fusion, VAT photopolymerisation and directed energy deposition. And, so far, the Air Force has ten qualified AM parts on the C5 aircraft, including a door handle and hatch cover, with 17 more requested. The organisation has also installed a ball turret disk on the Memphis Belle bomber plane. It’s a good start, but the Air Force is working towards implementing AM with more regularity. Soldiers out in the field need certified parts on-demand to complete missions when problems with their aircraft arise. The issue today is parts typically need certification, as does the process, and the material used, and so on. The solution tomorrow is a digital library that would provide soldiers with a central hub of qualified parts with global access. “Establishing a central 3D parts database is critical to meeting the Air Force goal of being able to print on-demand, any time, in multiple locations based upon warfighter needs and machine

availability,” explained Debbie Naguy, of the Air Force Lifecycle Management Center’s Product Support Engineering Division. “It enables all Air Force AM sites with qualified machines, processes and technicians to download and print parts as needed.” A materials database will supplement this library. Currently, the Air Force has in place a platform containing S-basis data (a minimum value dictated by an external specification with statistical assurance not known) of Ti-64 and 17-4 PH stainless steel. It will expand to B-basis (90% of the population values are expected to equal or better the minimum value, with a 95% level of confidence) and A-basis (99% of the population values are expected to equal or better the minimum value, with a 95% level of confidence) within the next year, and then begin to incorporate data on aluminium, Inconel 718 and cobalt chrome. In the long run, the parts library and materials database will both ensure the parts being shipped out to those in the field are safe and efficient, and done so much quicker than is currently possible, particularly important when soldiers are up against the clock. 

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AEROSPACE

“As we continue to validate 3D printed components with assistance and participation of our Program Offices, AM part designs will be loaded in the database for use in the field,” Naguy told TCT. “The goal is to print on demand, any time, on any qualified machine in the Air Force inventory to increase mission readiness. This requires validated machines, processes and qualified operators. The Air Force has a long-term plan of rolling AM out to the field with a rhythmic refresh rate in order to support this.” For the validation of parts, the Lifecycle Management Center will require the assistance of the Air Force Research Lab (AFRL). There’s over 30 people dedicated to AM research, both the processes and the materials, and are motivated by the design freedom that is available to them, the enhancement that can bring to a range of parts, and the impact that can then have out in the field. They began by printing jigs and fixtures – ‘the low hanging fruit of AM’ – to improve their understanding of the technology, but their work goes deeper. One example is with metal powder bed fusion for propulsion applications and how the variability of processes impact on the part properties.

“Understanding the sources of variability, and the eﬀects of defects. Let’s say we have a tiny pore,” Dr. Jennifer Fielding, Section Chief of Composites, Performance and Application, AFRL, begins to explain, “if we have clusters of porosity what does that do to fatigue life? Trying to understand those types of things and then being able to evaluate those defects is a big focus for us. That can be challenging with additive. You can have thick walled areas and thin walled areas and just doing one setting within an NT scan may cause the operator or the capabilities of the machine to miss some defects that are present. “In order for us to recommend additive and adopt additive manufacturing, we really just need to make sure that we have a stable process and that we are able to detect defects that could cause problems.” So, it’s a safety-first approach at the research bases, while the Lifecycle Management Center puts in place a strategy that can kick into eﬀect when the processes and the parts are all certified. “It’s all about standardising our AM with documentation, certified operators and machines. It’s all about how we get to the future where we have a global manufacturing network, a digital thread and a cyber secure parts

library,” stresses Froning. “Our whole goal in the Air Force with additive is not to become manufacturers but to keep birds in the air. We’re never going to be making more than a few parts at a time, but when we need them we need them.” “This technology provides many wins for the Air Force,” Naguy adds, “and there are thousands more to come.” On Froning’s first day as Technical Advisor for Product Support, the task at hand was spelled out to him. From then to now, the number of 3D printers has doubled, more and more additively manufactured parts are being used safely, and now materials databases and qualified library parts are being established. Froning’s duty only began 36 months ago, but his motivation to help make this reality came six years prior, when he first walked through the door at WrightPatterson to work with the Propulsion Acquisition Division. “There’s a lot of old birds, the P52 first ﬂew in 1952, it was operational in 1955, and when I started at the Air Force nine years ago, the Director of Engineering told me that the last pilot to ﬂy the P52, their mother hasn’t been born yet. I wouldn’t be surprised if that wasn’t a true statement even today.” There’s no surprise, because Froning has seen the development of AM from the beginning, has seen its impact over the last few years, and sees a future of digital parts libraries and materials databases. Fully Mission Capable? You wouldn’t bet against it.

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AEROSPACE

MADE I N S PA C E WORDS: DANIEL O’CONNOR

ON THE APPROACH TO MADE IN SPACE’S NASA RESEARCH PARK FACILITY IN CALIFORNIA, THERE’S A STRUCTURE SO LARGE IT ALMOST APPEARS LIKE AN OPTICAL ILLUSION. MY BRAIN COULDN’T COMPUTE THE VASTNESS OF THESE ARCHED STEEL GIRDERS RIVETED TOGETHER TO LEAVE WHAT LOOKS LIKE THE HUSK OF A CRASH-LANDED SPACECRAFT FROM AN APOCALYPTIC B-MOVIE. “WHAT IS THAT THING?” I ASK MADE IN SPACE’S CO-FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR, JASON DUNN. “THAT IS OUR INSPIRATION!”

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AEROSPACE

ou probably know Made in Space (MIS) from a famous photograph of astronaut Barry “Butch” E. Wilmore holding a ratchet that he’d just printed onboard the International Space Station (ISS). The STL file was sent from earth and printed on Made in Space’s Additive Manufacturing Facility (AMF). The AMF is a plastic extrusion printer similar to fused deposition modelling, adapted to survive forces of launch, integrate with ISS’s technological eco-system and operate consistently on orbit for at least the rest of the life cycle of the ISS. The AMF is a feat of engineering excellence, tested to the nth degree, there are now two onboard the ISS, and they have printed over 200 objects including spare parts, upgrades and tools. MIS’s research suggests that over a third of all the broken things onboard the ISS were plastic and potentially fixable with the current AMF system. The next step for onboard manufacturing is MIS’s Vulcan technology, a hybrid 3D printer and machine tool that prints near net shapes and

finishes both metal and polymer parts to precise, fully operational parts. Vulcan recently was given the green light with NASA funding to head into Phase II to ready the system for demonstration onboard the ISS. As impressive as those printers are, one would have to question the sustainability of any company who manufacture a few machines for one very distant customer, the answer to that question of the company’s validity is in the name. “When we set out to build a company it was set out on the big vision,” says Jason Dunn. “If we wanted just to build a 3D printer for the space station the company would be called, ‘3D Printers on the Space Station,’ not, ‘Made in Space.’” The 50 strong staﬀ at MIS only need to glance out of the office window to see what is motivating the company today. The aforementioned gargantuan beast on the horizon turns out to be Hangar One, one of the largest unsupported human-made structures on earth, built in the 1930s to house the USS Macon - the largest helium-filled airship ever to take to the skies. The exterior panels were removed in 2012 and what’s left of the Googleowned premises, which could accommodate six football fields, is the just the network of steel girders. MIS is progressing towards manufacturing structures of Hangar One’s size in space. 

 SHOWN:

MADE IN SPACE’S ARCHINAUT: ULISSES CONCEPT

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AEROSPACE

JASON AND THE ARCHINAUT

The technology that will power this is called Extended Structure Additive Manufacturing (ESAM) and has proven to work after passing NASA’s thermal vacuum test in 2017. Earlier this year MIS set an officially ratified Guinness World Record for the “World’s Longest 3D Printed Nonassembled Piece” - a black polymer beam printed at MIS’s HQ and which, when showing to TCT, Jason quipped, “we only stopped because we didn’t have any more room.” “It’s 37.7 metres long, and the reason that is important is that everything we put in space today is put inside of a rocket, you can’t put an object like this inside of a rocket, but we need things bigger than that in space. In fact, 40 metres is about the length of one of the solar arrays [the wings] on the space station. The solar array wings had a mechanism that packed up small and then popped open; the wings are pretty close to being the biggest we can pack up as a deployable and pop open in space, we want bigger.” ESAM is what powers the MIS, NASA $20m funded product, Archinaut. Archinaut will primarily be a spacecraft with robotic arms and ESAM. Jason describes ESAM’s functionality as being like a “robot spider building a web,” using its robotic arms to traverse along the structures assembling what comes out of ESAM. The raw material is launched to the free-ﬂying robots, and a design is beamed from earth, Archinaut manufactures and then assembles the structure in orbit. We’ve seen novel 3D printing solutions fall at the applications hurdle, but Jason believes that Archinaut already has a crucial, achievable application for the progress of satellite technology. “Every satellite in space has in some way an aperture,” says Jason. “In the game of apertures, bigger is better. Today we’re stuck, apertures and antennas can only be a certain diameter to fit into rockets. If you can get into hundreds of metres across in apertures size, you could do amazing things like have broadband speeds directly to your cell phone.” We’ve seen the costs of $10,000 a kilo to launch anything quoted numerous times, so launching a manufacturing facility to space to manufacture in space makes sense. However, another of MIS’s advanced projects wants to ﬂip that dynamic on its head. Instead of manufacturing on earth to launch to space, its Optical Fiber Production in Microgravity Experiment (OFPIM) is going to manufacture high-value optical fibre in space for use on earth.

 LEFT:

MADE IN SPACE’S RECORD BREAKING BEAM PRINTED AS ONE USING THE BASIS OF ARCHINAUT TECHNOLOGY, ESAM

London trading, all that is built on optical fibre,” says Jason. “The fibre is a piece of glass that has been heated up and pulled into something thinner than your hair that is kilometres long. Glass is a crystal so when it sets up in gravity there are defects in the crystal itself but if you make the glass in zero gravity it is almost like one big perfect crystal, there are no lattice defects, which means you can send light from one end to the other with lower attenuation.” The amorphous properties of these fibre-optics mean less of the bulky, inefficient repeater stations dotted across the ocean ﬂoor. MIS conservatively estimates that 10 km of the fibre-optics known as ZBLAN could be spooled onto a roll weighing just 1 kg, SpaceX’s Dragon Capsule

as a return payload mass of 3,000 kilograms, meaning one fully loaded return trip could almost supply enough to go around the earth. “There are some fascinating use cases where space becomes the place we manufacture,” explains Jason. “Today, low-earth orbit is a place where we have a space station that governments operate and there are some [privately owned] satellites. I think what we’re going to see is a lot more industrial activities happen in space. There will be many space stations owned by diﬀerent companies and organisations doing a variety of industrial manufacturing activities. We won’t have polluted skylines in future because we will make things in an environmentally friendly way in space.”  SHOWN: BUTCH E WILMORE WITH THE WRENCH PRINTED IN POLYMER ONBOARD THE ISS

“The internet is connected around the world under oceans; the stock market, New York to

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AEROSPACE

SHOWN: RELATIVITY’S STARGATE 3D PRINTER AND A FUEL DRUM ADDITIVELY MANUFACTURED IN THREE DAYS

IT’S NOT ROCKET SCIENCE In May 2018, NASA successfully fire-tested its most advanced 3D printed rocket engine part. The agency printed the first, full-scale 3D printed copper combustion chamber liner in 2015 at its Marshall ﬂight centre using a powdered copper alloy created by material scientists at its Glenn Research Center. The liner was then sent to Langley where NASA’s proprietary E-Beam Free Form Fabrication Technology - a layer-additive process that uses an electron beam and wire to fabricate metallic structures - was used to deposit a nickel-alloy onto the liner to form the chamber jacket. The part, which is lighter and quicker to manufacture, stood up to the forces and survived tests of 100% power.

but Made in Space thinks that there’s only so much optimisation achievable in additively manufacturing a rocket and thus the question of, ‘how can we improve rockets?’ is the wrong questions to pose. “When you look at a picture of a rocket launching oﬀ into space - the skyscraper of structure with a ﬂame coming out of the bottom - 99% is the rocket,” explains Jason. “Out of that 99%, 97% is fuel, so there’s 2% structure, and the final 1% is the payload. There are all these genius ideas on how we make the rocket cheaper, reusable, bigger, smaller but the physics will always be the same. If you want to increase the amount of payload mass that you send into space you can’t take away the 97% that is fuel, that is just physics. All you can do try to take your 2% of structure and make it slightly better, you could imagine maybe a 2% payload and 1% structure but then how do you ever get below that?

“I TRULY BELIEVE THAT THAT THE SUCCESS OF MADE IN SPACE IS BECAUSE WE ASK DIFFERENT QUESTIONS.”

Relativitiy, like Made in Space, is an ambitious young Californiabased company with NASA backing. Co-Founders Tim Ellis and Jordan Noone came out of Jeﬀ Bezos’ Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX projects respectively. Relativity’s aim is to entirely additively manufacturing rockets. The company has a 20-year research grant from NASA and has test-fired its AEON rocket over 100 times. Relativity claims that its Stargate 3D printer is the largest metal 3D printer in the world and can build a ﬂight-ready rocket in less than 60 days. Another California start-up, Rocket Lab, which has successfully launched four satellites into orbit over the past year, says its battery-powered Rutherford rocket engine could be 3D printed in just three days.

“We looked at what everybody else was doing and said, ‘everybody is trying to make a better rocket, what if we ask a diﬀerent question?’ And the question is, ‘what if we didn’t need a rocket at all?’ When you explore that question, you open a new world of possibilities like having antennas as big as a football stadium, or sending robots to Mars to build habitats way before we send humans, or making things in space not possible on earth. “I truly believe that that the success of Made in Space is because we ask diﬀerent questions.”

As evidenced, 3D printing is revolutionising the manufacture of the rockets to send cargo into space, 26 : 3

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MACHINING

RISE THE OF HYBRID MANUFACTURING WORDS : LAURA GRIFFITHS

hen we talk about additive manufacturing (AM) competing with traditional means of manufacturing, the common comparison is with CNC machining. The technology may have a few decades on AM, having been born out of an MIT lab back in the 1940s before stereolithography was even a twinkle in Chuck Hull’s eye, but it’s important not to overlook how both can oﬀer their own unique benefits to the modern manufacturer. Despite the alleged gripe between the two, these recent forms of manufacturing technology are by no means running in parallel. A number of technologies have emerged onto the market oﬀering hybrid solutions such as Hybrid Manufacturing Technologies and alot of machining OEMs now have some form of additive capability including DMG Mori, Hermle and Mazak. Established manufacturers like Imperial Machine & Tool Co. in the U.S. have, as the name suggests, been using machining technologies for decades and in the last five years have invested in metal AM, recognising the benefits of combining the two and treating AM “as if it were any other “traditional” technology”. Christian Joest, VP of Sales & Business Development at Imperial explained: “When commencing new projects, we discuss our manufacturing approach, and every department involved has a seat at the table – whether it be multiaxis CNC machining, precision turning, precision welding, or

additive manufacturing. This approach allows us to account for any concessions that must be made to ensure overall manufacturability. For example, we might add additional material to an AM design to enable further machining or fixturing.” Imperial’s New Jersey-based machine shop houses two SLM 280 HL powder bed fusion systems which are used to fabricate complex structures that are then finished using machining centres to achieve critical tolerances and features. “Precision threads, ﬂatness call-outs, mating surfaces, critical diameters, O-Ring grooves… these are all handled using CNC machines,” Joest continued. “It’s only by using additive and subtractive technologies together that we’re able to realise the most innovative designs.” It’s not only end-use customer parts where AM is giving Imperial the edge, the technology has been applied across its entire operation to improve efficiencies meaning every machinist is trained on polymer AM which can be used to create manufacturing aids such as machining fixtures. “Making proper fixtures is traditionally a time-consuming process; especially for intricate 5-axis work pieces,” Joest added. “Utilising AM technology to print the fixtures frees up our skilled machinists to spend time on actual work pieces. More efficient work force utilisation drives increased profitability.” 

 SHOWN:

HYBRID-3D METAL 3D PRINTING TOOLS FOR CNC MACHINES

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MACHINING Even generative design, often promoted as a software which produces designs that could only be made with AM, is in fact enabling some pretty interesting solutions with subtractive manufacturing. At Autodesk’s Advanced Manufacturing Facility in Birmingham, UK, the majority of machines in tow are advanced multi-axis CNC systems - 3D printing is primarily left to the design workshop. That’s largely down to its origin as a Delcam cutting lab but one notable exception is its Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing technology, otherwise known as WAAM, which uses standard metal feedstock to rapidly manufacture large-scale structures which are then machined to exact specifications. The most well-known example of this is the manufacture and installation of a large ship propeller which was unveiled on a Damen shipyard vessel last year. “AM is not a silver bullet and certainly should not be seen as replacing proven, mature processes for making things,” Kelvin Hamilton, Technical Consultant working in R&D projects at Autodesk commented. “It’s another tool in the toolbox to be called upon where appropriate and where there is a clear value addition for using it.” During a recent visit to the facility, Autodesk’s CEO Andrew Anagnost spoke about the need to reach a middle ground between hyper efficient generatively designed parts and traditional ways of manufacturing by adding material and manufacturability constraints to create designs for a specific process. This will enable more people to benefit from the technology without having to drastically disrupt their workﬂows.

“AM IS NOT A SILVER BULLET AND CERTAINLY SHOULD NOT BE SEEN AS REPLACING PROVEN, MATURE PROCESSES FOR MAKING THINGS”.

“Total production time, cost and lot size have a massive impact that require serious thought and trade-offs to be made depending on the production scenario,” Hamilton continues. “The chosen production method whether its casting, forging, additive, fabrication, subtractive or their hybrid combination, is a part of the production conversation and one that needs holistic almost systemslevel thought to maximise flexibility and value addition.” A start-up in the U.S. is tackling this head-on, literally, with a trio of tool-heads that claim to give AM capabilities to any CNC machine. The technologies on offer from 3D-Hybrid follow a recent trend for rapid deposition processes, such as wire arc, which use standard materials to build near net parts which are then machined. Manufacturers can leverage the benefits of Wire-Arc Additive Manufacturing, Laser Metal Deposition, and Cold Spray without having to invest in a costly new machine. Wire Arc is its most popular tool offering low entry costs to metal AM, 5-axis

printing and 100% material utilisation. But Hybrid-3D founder, Karl F. Hranka says it’s not all about the cost. “They [manufacturers] chose our approach because they need to work with application specific CNC machines, which are ideal for specific materials/ applications,” Hranka told TCT. “We are even seeing CNC machine manufacturers embracing our technology to gain access into the metal AM equipment supply industry.” Every generation has its rivalries. Blur vs. Oasis, Joan Crawford vs. Bette Davis – one is rarely better than the other, and maybe a combination of the two can be a winning formula. For this generation of manufacturing, it’s not about this or that, it’s about finding the right solution for the application and leveraging the benefits of both. “One big take away about AM (specifically metal AM) is that the technology is incapable of producing final net shape geometries due to process resolution and thermal eﬀects such as distortion,” Hamilton concludes. “That dependency in eﬀect means that we can hardly expect AM to take away some of the subtractive market. You might be doing slightly less cutting than say starting from a billet of material or some more targeted cutting on critical areas like mating faces but subtractive processes are essential. It’s the marriage of these technologies that make the added value benefits of AM shine.”

 LEFT:

THREAD MILLING AM COMPONENT AT IMPERIAL

 TOP:

GENERATIVELY DESIGNED MOTORCYCLE UPRIGHT FINISHED WITH CNC MACHINING

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SERVICE PROVIDER MAP 2018

nside this issue (UK & Ireland addresses only), you’ll find our annual Service Provider pull-out. There are 43 companies listed across Great Britain and Ireland, providing services that help to turn your idea into a reality. Of late TCT has been extolling the virtues of SMEs, who have changed the way they manufacture with the use of 3D printing. A recent report on the state of the additive manufacturing industry suggested that there wasn’t a manufacturer in the UK that wouldn’t benefit from 3D printing in some way, shape or form. Have a look at your inventory, is there a low-volume part you buy in from a third party? Do you have a lost or broken part? Is your tooling costing too much? Prototyping taking too long? Chances are 3D printing could be the answer and there’s no better way to dip your toe into the waters of additive manufacturing than via a service provider. The service providers on this map have experience by the bucket load, they know how to get your project oﬀ the ground whether it is sketched on the back of an envelope or a collaborate cloud-based CAD drawing. Their technology is vast from 3D scanners to metal 3D printing systems, all you need to do is pick up the phone, email them or visit the website.

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Tooling made simple Validate jigs, fixtures, tools and end products more thoroughly to avoid costly errors that lead to waste, scrap, rework, and retooling.

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THE LIFE OF A SERVICE BUREAU QUESTIONS: DANIEL O’CONNOR (DOC)

he additive manufacturing (AM) service bureau business model, on the face of it, is relatively straightforward; invest in a technology that there is enough of a demand for, build up a client base, expand your oﬀering and repeat. But with companies bringing more additive technologies in-house, and increasing competition bureaux have to be more agile than ever.

GC: Business is consistent with motorsport and aerospace, they are our two most significant sectors, product design can go crazy for two or three months and then you won’t hear a thing. Eight years ago oil and gas was a huge part of our business, but now it’s pretty minimal. The kind of developments we did in oil and gas require big budgets, but because of the current price of oil, the money for R&D isn’t there.

We speak to Gregory Campbell (GC), Operations Director at CA Models to see how one of the UK’s largest service providers stays ahead of the game.

Plus, you’ve got to think, ‘who is one of the biggest companies in the additive manufacturing business right now?’ GE. GE in Aberdeen used to be one of our biggest customers for scale models, prototype parts, machine components but now you’d imagine they’ll be doing those internally or at a GE Subsidiary.

DOC: Last time we talked you were installing an SLM Solutions SLM 500HL, the first commercially available SLM machine in the UK, how has that technology changed the business? GC: In the last twelve months we’ve had the SLM 500 machine running 24/7. Although it is great that metal AM is booming, the profit margins aren’t as high as a technology like SLA. SLA, in comparison, is quite easy; you buy a machine, buy a material, get your maintenance contract and then literally print parts with very little post-processing; whereas metal AM requires a lot more CAD work, a lot of post-processing but at the same time the amount of money per job is higher because of what is involved. DOC: A big difference I suppose is the potential print failure with metals, one miscalibration could be seismic. GC: It’s not just applicable for metal additive manufacturing, if you fill an SLA platform full of parts using a ceramic resin, sometimes those parts are big volumes and you’ve got a 60-80 hour build on a 3D Systems iPro system with a high-value material, if that crashes at the end of the build, you’re looking at a huge loss. But it is much more unlikely to happen as those jobs don’t come along every day for SLA and the chances of failure are slimmer. With metal almost every job you’re building is high-value, and when you’re building different parts for different jobs a failure isn’t just about the monetary loss it’s the letting down of customers and making them think that maybe this technology isn’t reliable enough. When we take a job on we want to deliver it as we say we will. DOC: Which verticals have seen the most change since you took on metal AM work?

DOC: Since the dawn of affordable 3D printers, do you think service bureaux had to take a hit on some smaller jobs? GC: Some of the companies that we used to do a lot of product development for have bought cheap printers because the main jobs were for form, fit and function. What we’re starting to see is that the cheap printers are being written off, so then they’re less willing to go out and buy another one so you either invest more or start to come back to us. DOC: How does a service bureau assess new technologies? GC: It is hugely important to us to keep up-to-date with the launches of new technologies, obviously Clark (Clark Campbell, Managing Director) has built this business on innovating, he has tried to be first to buy into technologies that he sees as innovative so that CA Models can get up to speed with how we can offer the technology as a service at a quality level. Now you’ve got a marketplace that is saturated with different technologies and so many people doing it, it’s harder to get the business. So when you’re looking at investment in technology the business case has to be there, the finance comes from the successes of your other technologies. Since we bought into SLA in 1995 it’s funded every other venture in this company but now, you can’t go and buy a machine for a few hundred thousand pound and hope that it might work, it has to work.

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Photo credit: MBFZ Toolcraft GmbH

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Jigs & Fixtures

THE FIXTURE LIST SAM DAVIES RUNS THE RULE OVER NEW APPROACHES TO THE ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING OF JIGS AND FIXTURES.

ohn Dulchinos, Jabil’s VP of Digital Manufacturing, holds his thumb and index finger as close together as possible without them touching, the slight waft of air between the two representing jigs and fixtures’ chunk of the $12T manufacturing market. Jigs and fixtures don’t have the glamour of final parts, they’re not even as sexy as prototypes, but they are a necessary evil that the majority of manufacturing needs. With a slew of innovative thinking in the additive manufacturing (AM) space, there’s a revolution in how they are being brought to life. Per the 2018 Wohlers Report, 7.3% of AM users harness the technology to produce tooling equipment, among them the likes of Indaero, Boeing, Eckhart, Ricoh Japan and Volkswagen Autoeuropa. It is a growing trend within industry, not least because

of the significant cost and time reductions oﬀered. VW infamously achieved a 98% of the former and an 89% saving of the latter with its use of Ultimaker systems, and multibillion-dollar manufacturer, Jabil has implemented a similar approach, with similarly eﬀective results: an 80% reduction in delivery time and 40% reduction in costs. Jabil has an army of Ultimaker machines producing jigs and fixtures in small volumes, as and when required. The company turning to the Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM) process like many other industry players to manufacture tools. Going forward, though, it has grander plans. Plans that contribute to a trend that sees the users and makers of AM technologies pioneering methods that promise simplicity and proficiency. As the 2018 edition of RAPID + TCT commenced, Jabil announced

its Additive Manufacturing Network, which, in the long-term, will see dozens of Multi Jet Fusion (MJF) platforms deployed in manufacturing facilities all around the world. Jabil is serious about leveraging HP’s 3D printing technology as a volume manufacturing tool to deliver enduse parts to its customers in the aerospace, automotive, medical and consumer goods industries, and such are the capabilities of the MJF machines, foresee manufacturing tooling, jigs and fixtures concurrently to optimise the whole process. It will be enabled by HP’s 380 x 284 x 380 mm build envelope which can print multiple parts, whether the design is the same or not, at the same time, and even stack parts on top of one another. It means Jabil would be able to let tools ‘ride for free’ as end-use manufacturing ensues, and eﬀectively buy the company time. “Jigs and fixtures are less cost sensitive than making a part. We’re always trying to squeeze costs out of the process,” John Dulchinos, Jabil’s VP of Digital Manufacturing tells TCT, “but the ability to get this to do better, faster turns and get a fixture and jig that streamlines the process is more important than ‘can we save a few pennies on fixture and jigs?” 

 SHOWN:

ASSEMBLY FIXTURE DEVELOPED ON HP’S MULTI JET FUSION PLATFORM

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Jigs & Fixtures

HP 3D Printing’s VP, Global Head of Customer and Market Development, Scott Schiller continues: “There’s way more cost impact in the ﬂow of the production line, and if you have a change notification coming through and you need to change that jig for the whole production line to work, timing is everything.”

SHOWN:

AN ASSEMBLY FIXTURE MANUFACTURED BY JABIL USING AN ULTIMAKER MACHINE.

“IN THE LONG RUN, ALL FIXTURES AND JIGS WILL BE 3D PRINTED. IT JUST MAKES PERFECT SENSE.”

This strategy is being adopted to maximise Jabil’s efficiency, though Ultimaker systems will still be used for one-oﬀ production runs. The new method will require Jabil engineers to get creative with the design of jigs and fixtures to ensure parts are stackable or collapsible and area that isn’t necessarily required anymore, because the part is no longer being injection moulded, is removed. That third design consideration is relevant on FDM platforms too. Stratasys, the company famed for bringing the FDM process to market, has a range of industry players harnessing its technology for tooling. The likes of Boeing and Orbital ATK are among those taking advantage of the potential to streamline operations by making jigs and fixtures quickly and almost immediately integrating them into the manufacturing process, and soon they’ll have a platform to help enhance the design of those tools. With its latest software product release, Stratasys is looking to make the entire process as quick, and as easy, as possible. Driven by customer need, the ‘fundamental bedrock’ of Stratasys’ jigs and fixtures software is to pull in native CAD data, rather than require neutral CAD, to design parts. The company has done away with the ‘Stratasysms’, language that was only relevant to Stratasys products, because ‘that’s not how engineers think’, instead striving for simplicity. Engineers might want to make things smaller, or stronger, or lighter, and so now they can, using a slider to alter these properties to better visualise the change, or for more precision, input the numbers manually. Then with the click of a button, the design is updated. Users can change the geometry 

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Cambridge Sensotec, specialists in measuring oxygen in protective gas atmospheres and manufactures of the Rapidox range of gas analysers, have been working with the leading AM machine manufactures to supply high performance oxygen analysers. The analysers are supplied as an OEM component to integrate seamlessly into metal 3D printers and come with many standard features. The Rapidox sensor can measure from sub ppm to % O2 and can operate in temperatures of up to 600°C. For more information, contact the experts in oxygen gas analysis. www.cambridge-sensotec.co.uk sales@cambridge-sensotec.co.uk +44 (0)1480 462142

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SHOWN: THIS TOOL, PRODUCED USING STRATASYS’ FORTUS 450MC MACHINE IN ULTEM 9085 MATERIAL, ENABLES INDAERO TO PRODUCE COMPLEX SHAPES THAT PERFECTLY FIT THE CURVATURE OF AIRCRAFT PANELS.

of a part inside the print preparation tool, and within a matter of minutes, have the design specifications for their jig or fixture that they require. “We’re trying to take the brain of someone who has been doing this for ten years, the tools that are in Insight [a Stratasys print preparation software], and the easy user interface in GrabCAD Print, and put them together,” explained Shuvom Ghose, Go-To-Market Engineer, Stratasys. From vendors and users of AM technology alike, there’s a concerted effort to enhance an already promising application, proven to yield impressive results, by implementing focused strategies around their development. Stratasys and Jabil are two such companies, and it could have a big impact on the way they are designed, and the way they are manufactured. “If you want to make a jig, it’s got to be accurate,” Phil Reeves, Stratasys VP Strategic Consulting, says. “There’s a whole range of applications where these higher performance materials like ULTEM, PPSF, and PEKK, have a place on that shop floor. Jigs and fixtures is one of them. Until now, the problem has been the people with the prototyping machines haven’t got the software to design the jigs and fixtures. That’s where GrabCAD Jigs and Fixtures software comes in.” “Companies like Jabil make their living in continuous improvement, lean operations, and so we really need to constantly be iterating an assembly jig because it streamlines the workflow. It will be a valuable thing to do,” Dulchinos explains. “Seems to me that, in the long run, all fixtures and jigs will be 3D printed, some will be in plastic, some will be in metal, but ultimately it just makes perfect sense.”

 top:

THIS 3D PRINTED TOOL, PRODUCED USING TOUGH ULTEM 9085 MATERIAL, MANUFACTURED BY INDAERO, FITS AGAINST THE CURVED PANEL INDEPENDENTLY AND FREES UP OPERATORS TO UNDERTAKE OTHER PRODUCTION JOBS.

John Dulchinos points out Jabil’s implementation of AM mainly centres on the manufacture of functional end-use parts. But Jabil is a company that manufactures millions of parts a year, and not all of them will be 3D printed, meaning during the manufacture of many products, Jabil will need a jig to guide tools in operation and fixtures to hold parts down. Eckhart, Volkswagen, and Ricoh will too. And between them, they will soon have tailored methods enabling them to best-use their preferred 3D printing process for tooling components. Jigs and fixtures might only make up a smidge of the manufacturing market today, but taking into consideration the plethora of benefits, the focus from AM OEMs, and the dexterity of industry users, they’re likely to make up much more than just 7.3% of the AM one. It just makes sense.

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TOOLING, Jigs & Fixtures

MOULDING INCREASES ITS COOL WORDS : LAURA GRIFFITHS

AS A GROWING NUMBER OF MOULD AND DIE SHOPS IMPLEMENT ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING (AM), IT’S TIME THOSE STILL ON THE FENCE TOOK NOTE, AS ONE SHOP TELLS TCT.  LEFT:

METAL 3D PRINTED CORES PRODUCED ON THE PRO X DMP 300

 BELOW:

JARAD RAUCH, B&J SPECIALITY IT & 3D PRINTING MANAGER

corn field in Indiana isn’t exactly the first place that comes to mind when thinking about technology, but B&J Specialty Inc., a 35-year old mould, die and build-to-print tooling provider, is showing that you can find innovation in the most unexpected places. Founded as a small shop in a garage by a father and son team to meet the needs of local factories, B&J has grown into a family of organisations that’s always striving to be on the cutting-edge of technology. “We have always been able to excel and succeed because we always look for technology to be the answer to how we make that next step,” Jarod Rauch of B&J Specialty Inc. told TCT. “We have seen so many tool shops in our area and in the industry, that don’t strive to improve, they just get used to doing things the way they’ve always done it and before you know it, they’re no more.” B&J invested in a 3D Systems ProX DMP 300 metal 3D printer along with Cimatron mould design and 3DXpert AM software to enable them to create complex geometries and apply conformal cooling strategies into mould designs that would be impossible with traditional methods. In the plastics moulding industry, cooling lines and circuits are typically the last thing to be incorporated into a design. Traditional methods of cooling a mould have been limited and inefficient, usually done by drilling intersecting holes throughout the geometry and often leading to defects such as warping, sink marks, and long moulding cycle times.

“When we build tools that do not have adequate cooling there is a lot of warping,” Rauch explained. “We have to build adjustment into our design knowing that after we get the sample part moulded, we’ll have to run it across our blue light scan machine and figure out how it is defected from the original geometry and then reverse that. With conformal cooling, I’m able to reduce a lot of that warpage so I can get a mould from build into production much faster.” The cooling stage can take up over half of the overall injection mould cycle, so optimal cooling is vital. With metal 3D printing in-house, B&J is able to create moulds in maraging steel, which can be heat treated and machined, and design peak cooling passages inside a part which maintain a uniform distance between the moulding surface and cooling lines. “If you take a high value mould that’s going to produce 2.5-3 million parts and you reduce five seconds per cycle oﬀ that - if

you break that down, you’ve just paid wages for somebody for two years,” Rauch elaborated. In some cases, the process has resulted in a 40% reduction in cycle times, 30% production rate increase, improved part quality and increased performance of the tooling itself. In one particular mould cavity test, a conventionally manufactured part had over 132-degree deviation in temperature which can be catastrophic for a plastic mould. With 3D printed conformal cooling passages, the part had only 18-degree temperature ﬂuctuation across the cavity resulting in over 86% improvement in cooling. Currently, AM has penetrated around 2% of B&Js business through not only conformal cooling applications but increased part complexity and removal of material with lattice structures. Rauch believes by educating customers and encouraging an open mind-set, that number can only continue to grow. “I see that gaining and doubling and tripling, I would say hopefully in the next five years, if not sooner, because once we get one customer on board and their results start spreading throughout the moulding industry, other customers are going to jump on board.”

 ABOVE:

MOULD DESIGN WITH CONFORMAL COOLING CHANNELS CREATED WITH CIMATRON

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SIMULATION

SIMULATE TO STIMULATE I WORDS : DANIEL O’CONNOR

t was during a talk by software company, Volume Graphics on the TCT Introducing stage at formnext a couple of years ago that I had a mini existential crisis about the validity of additive manufacturing (AM). I wondered whether this entire burgeoning industry that kept thousands of people, including myself, in work, was built on a lie.

Volume Graphics’ Business Development lead, Gerd Schwaderer, was discussing how the company’s software was able to take CT Scan data and detect defects in internal lattice structures. ‘Defects in lattice structures?’ I thought. Lattice structures are the crux of many an AM sales pitch. Walk past any stand at an AM trade show and, at some stage, you’ll hear something along the lines of, “by using lattice structures the weight of this aerospace part can be reduced by 50%.” If the internal channels of our topologically optimised designs could have defects, how could anyone in their right mind adopt this technology?

Added to this particular crisis in faith, a few months previously I had found myself questioning the validity of AM at the International Conference on Additive Manufacturing and 3D Printing in Nottingham. Manyalibo J. Matthews of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) was discussing the problem of spatter in selective laser melting (SLM) 3D printing. LLNL’s research suggested that spatter from the energy source can randomly land anywhere in the build area, potentially contaminating an entire job. It’s the spatter phenomenon and other variables such as material contamination, energy drops and

inconsistent scanning that lead to a widespread distrust of additively manufactured parts. The likes of Volume Graphics and Wenzel America exist in the additive world to ease those worries and to validate parts. However, if AM is to truly head into certified series production, it surely isn’t viable for the majority of companies, both in terms of time and cost, to CT scan every single part? “Today, a company like GE does take every part and run it through a CT Scanner,” Dr Brent Stucker, Director of Additive Manufacturing at ANSYS (at the time of writing Brent Stucker was CEO of 3DSIM) tells me. “That only works if you’re building jet engines and have those high margins.” 

 SHOWN:

PREDICTING BEHAVIOUR INSIDE MACHINE IS CRITICAL TO PART SUCCESS

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SIMULATION Brent is a veteran of the additive manufacturing industry, having first been involved in additive academia over 25 years ago. Like anybody engaged in those early days of 3D printing back when it was called things like Rapid Prototyping or Time-Compression Technologies, the majority of Brent’s work was trial and error. Unlike many of his peers, Brent was keen on documenting those experiments. “I was trying to understand how changes to the machine, changes to the material, changes to the process parameters, or changes to the geometry resulted in diﬀerent properties or accuracies,” explained Brent. “I joined forces with the guy who is now our chief scientist, Deepankar Pal, and we decided to tackle this issue of trial and error. By developing a whole new set of simulation capabilities, this would allow us to predict from process parameters what is going to happen to your part.” The pair joined forces in 2009 and by 2014 had formed the company, implementing years of research and resulting algorithms into an additive manufacturing software platform called 3DSIM.

based on wasted material, time and cost. The cost could be even higher if you’re missing a deadline on something like a satellite launch.” For the likes of a metal AM service provider, simulation software could be critical and not only in regards to preventing costly jobs from failing part the way through. “With software, you don’t need an expert to build a part anymore,” stated Brent. “You can have software to tell me; this is the orientation, this is where I need supports, this is how I’m going to get distortion, with that you eliminate the need for years of built up intuition. We’re seeing people in the service bureau market also use it as a risk mitigation tool, saying, ‘if I get the software, make sure I’ve got it proven for my process, my machines, and my materials, then if somebody comes and takes my people away from me I’ve some way to continue my operations.” 

3DSIM developed two software tools; exaSIM, allowed engineers to predict residual stress, distortion and build failure; and FLEX, which allowed users to dial in the best process parameters for a particular additive manufacturing machine and material combination thus predicting both part integrity and microstructural formations. In November 2017, the world’s most renowned engineering simulation software company, ANSYS, acquired 3DSIM. Shane Emswiler, ANSYS vice president and general manager, said at the time: “By bringing exaSIM and FLEX onto our Workbench platform, ANSYS can oﬀer customers the only end-toend additive manufacturing simulation workﬂow available. That will spark innovation, speed time to market and reduce manufacturing costs for our customers across industries.” The way Brent saw it at the time of the takeover was that 3DSIM plugged some holes in ANSYS’s already world-class software that made it the complete simulation for AM and for 3DSIM, ANSYS gave access to a previously untapped worldwide market. In April this year, ANSYS announced the full integration of the 3DSIM platform with two products, Additive Suite and Additive Print.

RISK MITIGATION Additive Print will demonstrate to engineers the exact printing process, informing them before the part goes to print whether it will fail or not. If a part is going to fail, the software will detail exactly how, where and why it will fail. Part failures in industrial applications aren’t your messy spaghetti on a Yoda head, it can mean life or death for a company. “People think software is expensive,” says Brent. “But if you think of how much money is wasted in just one failed build of those new large metal machines, we’re talking tens of thousands of dollars in a single build failure

 ABOVE:

SIMULATION RESULTS FROM ANSYS ADDITIVE PRINT SHOWING DISPLACEMENT FOR A HEAT EXCHANGER PART

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SIMULATION

GENERATION SIMULATION When one pictures simulation software, you might conjure up an image of a CAD file on screen with a primary coloured heat map that indicates load stresses. In the ANSYS case, it is their software that gave birth to this vision of digital simulation, but simulation is no longer a tool used after a part has been designed, it is playing a crucial role in the technology many claim to be the “future of design”. “With generative design, simulation is a driving technology underneath,” says Ravi Akella, Director of Product Management for Simulation and Generative Design at Autodesk. “Instead of simulation in a traditional process where you propose a solution then you go and validate that solution, what generative design is doing is using simulation to propose functionally valid solutions from the get-go.”

“WITH SOFTWARE, YOU DON’T NEED AN EXPERT TO BUILD A PART ANYMORE”

Generatively designed parts are like nothing we’ve seen in the world of human-made manufacturing before; these organic meshes of metals and plastic that are lighter, stronger make motorcycles faster, planes lighter and cars stronger. Designers give generative design tools the required constraints and conditions and the software will virtually mimic the physical forces and create the optimal shape. Designs can be mind boggling, Ravi says that at first many users will go down traditional validation steps using simulation tools but once they realise the generatively designed part does its job, this provides generative design’s aha moment. “Our goal is to make simulation integrated with the design process and not make it this additional step,” stated Ravi. What ANSYS and Autodesk are doing may seem like opposing strategies but at the core of those strategies is simulation. A combination of generative design, sensors and simulation together can predict what should happen during a build, measure whether it did happen and then if it does happen we can begin to say that parts are certified. Once that is the case, additive’s shackles are oﬀ and my existential crisis banished.

 ABOVE:

AUTODESK GENERATIVE DESIGN TOOLS WERE USED FOR A PREVIOUS TCT COVER STAR; THE LIGHNING MOTORCYCLE SWINGARM

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AND IN OTHER NEWS

MORE STORIES ON THIS ISSUE’S BIG FOCUS: AEROSPACE

3DCERAM DEVELOPS 3D PRINTING PROCESS FOR CERAMIC CORES 3DCERAM-SINTO has developed a 3D printing process for producing complex ceramic foundry cores for turbine blades. Traditionally, the production of foundry cores has been a relatively closed market, with little innovation

over the last few years. 3DCERAM believes 3D ceramic printing technology can optimise production for the industry with a more ﬂexible, high-performance approach. 3DCERAM has been developing its own ceramic paste since 2001 for use with its 3D printing system, the CERAMAKER 900. They have developed a range of pastes and suspensions to achieve optimal printing results of foundry cores to guarantee the same quality of product as traditional methods. The company has already received interest from a European aerospace client to develop a paste using the powder and within 12 months of development has been able to successfully produce a set of cores.

3D PRINTED TUPOD SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHED FROM ISS An innovative nano-satellite named the TuPOD (Tubesat-POD) has inaugurated a new era for scientists as the first complete 3D printed satellite launched from the ISS. The project began when a group of Brazilian Students needed a compatible deployer to launch their TubeSat, TANCREDO-1. The TuPOD was designed and built with Tetonsys with GAUSS G.A.U.S.S. Srl (Group of Astrodynamics for the Use of Space Systems), CRP USA and Moreheard State University, to be integrated inside the J-SSOD (JEM Small Satellite Orbital Deployer) system and released from the Japanese module “KIBO”.

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The TuPOD is a 3U CubeSat satellite, fully 3D printed out of CRP’s Windform XT 2.0, a carbon fibre reinforced composite 3D printing material. The combination of laser sintering and Windform XT 2.0 resulted in a single-part, high-performance smallsat and deployer, that meet the rigid material properties required for space applications. Around 83 hours after the initial release from the ISS, the TuPOD deployed its two TubeSats, TANCREDO-1 and OSNSAT. The satellite transmitted a small FM Morse beacon that lasted for 4 days until the primary mission was completed before burning up safely upon re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere.

NEWS FORMALLOY 3D PRINTS LARGE-SCALE ROCKET NOZZLE DEMONSTRATOR Formalloy, LLC, an additive manufacturing (AM) company based out of San Diego, has partnered with NASA on a series of R&D projects to assist the space agency’s investigations into scalability of AM for large, high value components. NASA completed tensile and quality testing on Formalloyprinted samples built on the company’s A-series machine model with virtually no material porosity and sufficient tensile strength. “NASA is leveraging Formalloy’s laser metal deposition technology for development and feasibility studies to investigate scalability of additive manufacturing for large, high value components. Laser metal deposition technology is being explored

NASA’S ORION SPACECRAFT WILL FEATURE OVER 100 3D PRINTED PARTS NASA’s Orion deepspace spacecraft is to go into space featuring 100 3D printed production parts thanks to a joint eﬀort from Stratasys and Phoenix Analysis & Design Technologies, Inc. (PADT) with Lockheed Martin Space. The project consists of six individual 3D printed components locked together to form a ring on the craft’s exterior. The parts will be printed at Lockheed Martin’s Additive Manufacturing Lab in Stratasys advanced materials including ULTEM 9085 and an ESD (electro-

as an alternative to powder bed technology for key components such as rocket nozzles,” said Paul Gradl, NASA Senior Propulsion Engineer. Formalloy recently showcased a rocket nozzle demonstrator from the collaboration. The start-up’s LMD process provides a cost-eﬀective solution for printing metal parts, repairs and coatings in a wide range of materials due to its industry first LMD with blue laser technology.

static dissipative) variant of the new Antero 800NA, a PEKK-based thermoplastic oﬀering high performance mechanical, chemical, and thermal properties. “Working with PADT, Stratasys, and NASA has enabled us to achieve highly consistent builds that move beyond the realm of prototyping and into production,” said Brian Kaplun, Manager of Additive Manufacturing at Lockheed Martin Space. “We’re not just creating parts, we’re reshaping our production strategy to make spacecraft more aﬀordable and faster to produce.”

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grimm column

PREPARED TO POUNCE WOR D S : TODD G R IM M

TODD GRIMM is a stalwart of the additive manufacturing industry, having held positions across sales and marketing with some of the industry’s biggest names. Todd is currently the AM Industry advisor with AMUG

tgrimm@tagrimm.com

ops, there it goes—another opportunity to capitalise on additive manufacturing (AM) just passed by you.

Didn’t see it? That’s because you didn’t know what to look for. Saw it but didn’t react? That’s because you were ill-equipped to deploy AM when it was needed. Recognised it but didn’t act? That’s because you allowed status quo to obscure the opportunity. This scenario plays out every day, even for run-of-the-mill applications like prototyping and even within companies that are on top of their AM games. As AM for production makes further inroads and becomes increasingly viable, history will repeat itself unless you begin to prepare for that inevitability. For AM production, and other applications, you must be prepared to pounce. AM is not a drop-in solution that fits neatly within the traditional considerations for design and manufacturing. Integration into current operations is a long journey. Taking full control of AM and acquiring the needed intelligence to do so is longer still. Insights into technical,

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operational and financial matters, in advance of deployment, are required to enable your company to act when the time is right. To do nothing in advance—to ignore AM in the present—is a complacent approach that will put you behind the competition. Most can’t, or don’t need to, deploy AM for production today; the vast majority have yet to do this. However, all should be, at a minimum, considering the possibilities and requirements. Inaction will leave you behind or place you in the undesirable position of needing to rapidly catch up to those that invested their resources in advance. To be prepared to pounce requires a deep understanding of AM that is converted into a plan of attack. The plan does not need to be perfect—it will evolve—but it must be informed. Investigation begins with a clear understanding of the potential value that AM oﬀers. This will extend beyond incremental gains versus traditional technologies and beyond the platitudes expressed from the stage and in print. A deep, broad understanding of AM’s eﬀect and impact will lead to strong business cases that have merit and hold promise. Having a strong sense of direction and justifiable use cases will arm you with the rationale for pouncing. Next, you will need to understand how to pounce.

Preparatory research of the AM technology landscape will identify possible candidates and reveal their associated advantages and limitations. This understanding is as much about capitalising on unique capabilities as uncovering perceived deficiencies. For the things that an AM technology does not do well, the insight supports planning for how to mitigate the challenges and obstacles. AM technology investigation will also reveal the complete workﬂow, from raw data to finished goods. An understanding of the workﬂow will then lead to infrastructure requirements, which are rarely discussed but often significant, unseen stumbling blocks. Discovering that you are operationally lacking after initiating AM activities will delay your ability to pounce by months, maybe years. Your understanding of the needed infrastructure will span equipment, facilities and processes. It will also include human resources in terms of staffing required and skills needed. Convert the infrastructure understanding into a plan, and you are now prepared to pounce. There is a lot to learn and more to discover to prepare for future AM applications. Taking this work on before the need arises or the opportunities reveal themselves is an investment in your future. Don’t wait and don’t fall into the trap of complacency. For if you do, you will be saying ‘Oops, there it goes’ over and over.

Every facet of how you design and manufacture is about to be transformed, voxel by voxel. hp.com/go/3Dprint

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