Additive Manufacturing Media

The Metal Powder Application (MPA) process uses cold spray to apply metal to an existing workpiece. As you may have inferred, it's cold! Nothing is melting, which means you can more easily embed sensors and other electrical components. Stephanie Hendrixson learned about this process at the Hermle USA, Inc. booth at IMTS 2024. While there she filmed a video that features interesting MPA applications, including a satellite waveguide and a semiconductor frame. See the video for an extended explanation of MPA and its advantages here: https://lnkd.in/g3WGuiEC

This Year I Have Seen a Lot of AM for the Military — What Is Going On? Peter Zelinski shares that he — and our audience members — are noting the recent interest and investment from the U.S. Department of Defense in additive manufacturing. What is the DOD's interest in making hardware via 3D printing over conventional methods? He posits there are three manufacturing concerns driving this that are particular to the military. Read them here: https://lnkd.in/eeZG_NNr

Accelerate product development! Join Ethan Rejto of Mantle for this webinar that explores how rapid tooling dramatically accelerates product development by leveraging metal 3D printing for injection molds. Learn more and register here: https://lnkd.in/g4Jwrtsd

One challenge of laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) 3D printing? Safely handling metal powders. ⚠️ Stephanie Hendrixson learned about a platform at IMTS with some practical solutions for this. (Link to her video in comments 👇 ) That platform is One Click Metal's BoldSeries. Here is a quick list of how it enables safe powder management: 1) Cartridge powder handling 2) Continuous printing 3) Integrated depowdering and sieving Full details at the video in the comments.

You saw Stephanie Hendrixson's Beehive Industries post. Did you read her article? Get the full story of modular, scalable manufacturing to meet defense needs here: https://lnkd.in/gkdnyCFv

Dross. Dross is areas of unwanted material that form on surfaces of molten metal during casting, smelting, welding or 3D printing. In one study, researchers looked into dross that forms on down-facing surfaces in laser powder bed fusion (LPBF). They found that adjustments to the laser path can reduce dross formation and density. Next up in their research? Simulations to anticipate dross, which could enable real-time adjustments to avoid it in the printing process. Read more about this in a summary on Additive Manufacturing Media: https://lnkd.in/gzzGBjCZ 👆 Thanks to: Mohamad Bayat at DTU - Technical University of Denmark Allyce Jackman at FLOW-3D and Kip Hanson at KAHMCO LLC.

Do you have an idea of what this white part is? It's 3D printed. It's stored in a digital inventory. It's something AM's Stephanie Hendrixson saw at IMTS 2024 (and describes at the 2:27 mark in the video linked in the comments) Hendrixson saw the part while getting an update on Würth Additive Group's Digital Inventory Service (DIS). Since launching DIS earlier this year, Würth has digitized more than 5,000 digital inventory parts. In the video below, she shows a demo of the DIS Fleet management functionality as well as several of the components now being supplied through digital inventory (including the pictured white part).  

As printer technologies evolve, so does the need for users to handle the transfer of resin materials during the manufacturing process. Learn from Bryan Rogers at CPC - Colder Products Company about the different transfer options and how to make informed decisions for simple, reliable and clean delivery into DLP and SLA 3D printing systems. Register here: https://lnkd.in/gmxbwd4u 👆

Did you know that our AM Radio podcast posts feature more than just audio? For instance, this week's episode features an illustrative photo gallery and video demo — along with the usual timestamped transcript and collection of mentioned links. The podcast topic this week? 🤖 Robots + automation + 3D printing. Tune in (and watch...and read...and bookmark helpful links) at: https://lnkd.in/gZ5WvQDH

How one company began 3D printing polymer EOAT: “The market took us to end-of-arm tools and collaborative robots where lightweight tools are needed so humans working alongside cobots aren’t injured,” Tharwat Fouad, Anubis 3D Industrial Solutions Inc. CEO, explains. “Since a tool isn’t sensitive and could hurt someone, it’s important to ensure the EOAT have smooth surfaces, there are no pinch points and no exposed actuators or sharp corners and nothing that could grab someone’s finger and break it. It’s hard to comply with that using a metal tool, so it’s kind of a default for cobot EOAT suppliers to use plastic-bodied devices not only for weight — since cobots are payload constrained — but also for safety.” Read more about the tooling and the materials and platforms used to print them here: https://lnkd.in/gDYXp-Bv