Spare parts keep the world turning, and their complex supply chain is an industry in itself, specifically designed to get trains moving, ships sailing, and industry producing. But this is an expensive business, and one driven by calculated risk. Do you reduce your profits by stocking every expensive, highly engineered part that you might need, even though the chances are that most will never be used? Here, Joseph Kowen considers if digital part inventories, in conjunction with metal Additive Manufacturing, can transform how the spare parts industry operates. What are the opportunities, and how are early adopters already taking advantage of them? [First published in Metal AM Vol. 7 No. 4, Winter 2021]
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This summer, a new player arrived on the AM scene: the Digital Manufacturing Centre, or DMC. Based on the edge of Silverstone, the UK’s most famous race circuit, home to numerous leading F1 teams, there could be no better place to launch a business aimed at offering AM support to the elite in performance motorsport. Jim Hadfield speaks with the DMC’s CEO, Kieron Salter, to explore how metal Additive Manufacturing is enabling innovation in the booming hypercar industry, and how a truly connected digital manufacturing operation can bring the DMC a competitive advantage in this field and more. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 7 No. 2, Summer 2021]
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Heat exchangers have become – excuse the pun – a hot topic in metal Additive Manufacturing. This is an application that can, in one go, leverage advances in equation-driven CAD design software and the capabilities of AM to produce geometries that would be impossible by any other manufacturing process. Olaf Diegel, Wohlers Associates, reports on a project exploring workflows for AM heat exchanger design using design tools from nTopology. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 7 No. 2, Summer 2021]
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In highlighting the vulnerabilities of global supply chains, events such as COVID-19 have inspired renewed interest in alternative forms of organising production. Distributed manufacturing is now seeing early use in fields such as oil and gas and for on-demand spare parts manufacturing. For the first time, large-scale on-demand manufacturing was seen in the supply of emergency PPE at the height of the pandemic. Dr Jennifer Johns discusses how AM can help to address the challenges this new business model presents, and introduces the University of Bristol’s £1 million Brokering Additive Manufacturing project, which seeks to produce a revolutionary new brokering method for highly distributed and diverse manufacturing systems. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 7 No. 2, Summer 2021]
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In October 2020, New York City-based space technology company Launcher started testing its full-sized E-2 liquid rocket engine, designed to deliver the highest performance at the lowest cost for smaller space launch vehicles. That the E-2 features a one metre tall single-piece copper alloy Laser Beam Powder Bed Fusion (PBF-LB) combustion chamber is remarkable. What is even more impressive is the fact that Launcher, a company with less than twenty employees, achieved this in a short time frame and to a relatively modest budget. Metal AM magazine’s Nick Williams reports on the project and Launcher’s close collaboration with specialist PBF-LB machine builder AMCM GmbH. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 6 No. 4, Winter 2020]
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The Additive Manufacturing industry in South Africa has come a long way since the installation of the country’s first AM machine in 1991, with a number of research and commercial initiatives driving the development of world-class applications and knowledge. In this article, Terry Wohlers and Olaf Diegel, Wohlers Associates, present an overview of metal Additive Manufacturing activities in South Africa, from the technology’s life-changing use for medical implants to its development for rapid, large-scale part production and beyond. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 6 No. 4, Winter 2020]
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For a country with a total population significantly smaller than that of cities such as London or New York, New Zealand is ‘punching above its weight’ when it comes to developing expertise in Additive Manufacturing and educating design engineers in how to use it. Olaf Diegel, a professor at New Zealand’s University of Auckland and associate consultant at Wohlers Associates, and Terry Wohlers, president of Wohlers Associates, report on AM activities and highlight a novel range of successful commercial applications. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 6 No. 3, Autumn/Fall 2020]
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The use of metal Additive Manufacturing for the production of injection moulding tools that have been optimised by conformal cooling is growing internationally. For many companies, however, the main obstacles to adoption are not concerns about material properties or apprehension about unfamiliar processes, but simply initial cost – the tooling industry is extremely competitive and AM inserts can be expensive. Here, 3D Systems’ Mark Cook and GF Machining Solutions’ Dogan Basic present a case study from leading toolmaker and injection moulding specialist TK Mold that highlights how such inserts, when efficiently manufactured, can reduce overall manufacturing costs and improve part quality. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 6 No. 3, Autumn/Fall 2020]
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When you mix a childhood obsession with rockets and space travel, a career at some of the biggest global names in aerospace, and a curiosity about hobbyist 3D printing developed through maker fairs, it was inevitable that FormAlloy’s Melanie Lang would end up in the world of metal Additive Manufacturing. Metal AM magazine’s Emily-Jo Hopson-VandenBos interviewed Lang, CEO and co-founder of Directed Energy Deposition (DED) specialist FormAlloy, about her route into AM, her company’s technology and the outlook for the process. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 6 No. 3, Autumn/Fall 2020]
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Whilst Additive Manufacturing is undoubtedly having a huge impact on the design and manufacture of rocket propulsion systems, most notably combustion chambers and nozzles, the Achilles’ heel of most AM processes is as-built surface finish. Whilst in many AM applications surface finish may be largely irrelevant to a component’s function or performance, when it comes to high-cycle fatigue properties, achieving the required level of smoothness is critical to performance. In this article, Justin Michaud, REM Surface Engineering, reports on advancements achieved in this area through a public-private partnership with NASA. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 6 No. 3, Autumn/Fall 2020]
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The story of Atherton Bikes stands out as a shining example of how metal Additive Manufacturing can be successfully embraced and commercialised by a small, dedicated team of people. In the case of the Atherton family, the technology has not only enabled them to maximise their performance at the pinnacle of professional mountain biking, but has also opened a path to commercial bike production in an industry where frame manufacturing is dominated by Taiwan and China. In an article that will appeal to anyone considering the use of metal AM, the Atherton Bikes team shares its experiences with Robin Weston. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 6 No. 3, Autumn/Fall 2020]
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It is far too easy to overuse superlatives when speaking about hypercars or Additive Manufacturing. When the discussion combines both – Bugatti’s new driver-focused Chiron Pur Sport and a high-performance AM component that truly pushes today’s processes to their limits – the result is worthy of a closer look. In the following in-depth case study, Bugatti and APWORKS explain the requirements, development and production of the Chiron Pur Sport’s exhaust finisher and share insight into some of its hidden details, from lattice structures to nature-inspired honeycomb reinforcements. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 6 No. 2, Summer 2020]
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