Part examples from an established manufacturer of medical implants and instruments illustrate the expanded engineering possibilities that additive manufacturing is making possible.
This small shop invested in production 3D printing in part because its owner expects other manufacturers to make the same move. He wanted a head start.
Rep. Tim Ryan describes the challenge of attracting manufacturing’s next generation, as well as the promise of the technology that this generation is likely to put to use.
Ed Morris, director of the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute, spoke at last week’s Additive Manufacturing Users Group Conference in Jacksonville, Florida. His presentation identified benefits of additive manufacturing that are important to the Department of Defense.
It was about a year ago that 3D printer makers Stratasys and Objet announced their plan to merge. This video from the now-united company shows a 3D-printed part made with both of the machine lines.
Shops that have additive manufacturing capability in-house can sometimes use this 3D printing to quickly make replacement components for critical equipment.
Additive manufacturing can be challenging to understand because of how many processes the term includes. Here is a list of officially recognized terms recognized by two major standards organizations.
By providing solid prototypes of proposed part designs, one company has saved enough money in avoided rework to pay for its new 3D printer several times over.
It will, says Directed Manufacturing. This company sees metal additive
manufacturing becoming as much of an established technology for final part production as plastic additive manufacturing is now. It expects to buy more metal additive machines in anticipation of the work that’s coming.