Hill Air Force Base AM office supports maintenance operation

December 9, 2022

809th Maintenance Support Squadron engineering technician monitors an AM process at Hill Air Force Base (Courtesy US Air Force/R Nial Bradshaw)
809th Maintenance Support Squadron engineering technician monitors an AM process at Hill Air Force Base (Courtesy US Air Force/R Nial Bradshaw)

The RAPID (Reverse engineering, Advanced manufacturing, Prototyping, Innovation and Design) unit in the Ogden Air Logistics Complex, Hill Air Force Base, Utah, USA, is reported to be helping the US Air Force replace hard to find parts and tools via three-dimensional modelling, designing tooling and Additive Manufacturing. Based on customer surveys, it is approximated that the unit saved customers over $1 million last fiscal year, and about 12-15 work hours per project.

“We can print inexpensively with cheap plastic to validate specifications before the part is manufactured in expensive metals,” stated Taylor Gittins, RAPID supervisor. “This not only saves money but also helps improve the quality and lead time of the manufactured parts.”

The unit has over twenty AM machines with different capabilities, including those for polymer and metal Additive Manufacturing using technologies such as Laser Beam Powder Bed Fusion (PBF-LB), Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM), and Vat Stereolithography.

www.hill.af.mil

809th Maintenance Support Squadron engineering technician monitors an AM process at Hill Air Force Base (Courtesy US Air Force/R Nial Bradshaw)

In the latest issue of Metal AM magazine

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Extensive AM industry news coverage, as well as the following exclusive deep-dive articles:

  • What happens when you take the powder out of AM? Charting the rise of wire-based DED with WAAM3D
  • Smart sensor-integrated parts by AM: A look at a novel possibility with industrial applications
  • Tailored materials for AM: How a 'powder kit' can achieve greater material diversity with fewer resources in PBF-LB
  • QuesTek's ICMD: Faster, cheaper, and better alloy development for Additive Manufacturing
  • NanoAL: Alloy development on an open parameter PBF-LB machine, from installation through to Rapid Alloy Screening
  • Using the Six Sigma method to optimise metal powder spreading in PBF-LB
  • Insights from R&D to part production: How CT analysis can advance metal Binder Jetting
  • Corrosion and wear resistence of materials processed by beam-based AM technologies

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