3D Printing

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JK
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3D Printing

Post by JK »

I just read that Siemens is R&D'ing selective laser melting (SLM). SLM technology is similar to that of 3-D printing, which will allow individualized design and manufacturing of parts using metal powders.
"The R&D team within the Siemens Energy Service Oil & Gas and Industrial Applications business unit sees SLM as a game changer within the industry. Today, spare parts are mass-produced, stored and sent out individually as required. In the future, some of them will be able to be printed, using additive manufacturing and associated processes such as SLM, right where they are needed and closer to the customer, reducing repair time by as much as 90% in some cases, the company said.......With additive manufacturing and SLM, our customers could simply order a spare part from the nearest Siemens service center. We could call up the part’s data package and manufacture it right there “on demand” with a laser system — no transportation costs for spare parts from distant locations, downtime would be minimized, and no warehousing of spare parts as only the digital blueprints would have to be saved.”
This is pretty cool stuff.
When I started, the machinist came to the ship and was days taking measurements of our many up and down pump cylinders and pistons then machining rings for each out of cast iron and ebonite. Then they had to be individually fitted to what ring groove they were in and how worn the cylinder was.
This is in a mere 33 years. It just amazes me
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Re: 3D Printing

Post by Big Pete »

I first read about this a few years ago.
One of the early examples was printing replica chain mail armour, all in one piece, with fully articulated links in all 3 dimensions that really impressed me.
Recently there was a case in the UK where a man had half his face smashed, in order to repair it they took a 3 D scan of the bones on the good side of his face, used a computer to flip the images over into mirror images and 3D printed new bones to re-build his face. Far quicker than conventional surgery and his face was left perfectly symetrical.
Another one recently was the skeleton of King Richard III recently discovered, the original was buried with due respect but a 3D copy was printed for display.
There are now companies making "one of" pieces of Gold and Silver jewellery to order using 3D printing.
You can buy 3D printers in a UK Electrical store, Maplins, for about 1,000 GBP.

I can see them replacing the lathes in Engine Room workshops in the future. They may also lead to re shoring of many of the jobs in manufacturing that went to the Far East.

They are cetainly a " Game Changer", in all sorts of ways. If you have the electronic plans of anything you could print a copy to any scale in any material.

B.P.
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Re: 3D Printing

Post by JK »

I found another article today about how they are using 3D printing to embed temperature sensors in difficult areas. I'll have to see if I can find it again.
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Re: 3D Printing

Post by The Dieselduck »

That really is quite amazing, and to be honest a bit out of left field. The implications are staggering, it would certainly be neat to see that old lathe replaced by a 3D printer, but somehow I believe we will find some die hard unwilling to let go of it. Eehehe
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Re: 3D Printing

Post by JK »

UAM is a solid-state 3D printing process for metals that uses sound waves to merge layers of metal foil. The process produces true metallurgical bonds with full density and works with a variety of metals, including aluminum, copper, stainless steel, and titanium. By combining additive and subtractive processes, UAM can create deep slots; hollow, latticed, honeycombed internal structures; and other complex geometries—geometries impossible to replicate with conventional subtractive manufacturing processes. Additionally, because the metals do not have to be heated for bonding, many electronics can be embedded without damage. This enables sensors, communication circuits and actuators to be embedded into fully dense metallic structures.
http://www.designworldonline.com/ultras ... s-metal/#_

The only problem is when the sensor fails....
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Re: 3D Printing

Post by Big Pete »

Just seen another article,

https://www.imarest.org/themarineprofes ... e-industry

3d Props being printed for tugs, by Dammen Shipyard. How long will it take to scale up the technology to Super Tankers?

BP
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Re: 3D Printing

Post by 3dtech »

Selective laser melting (SLM) is a technique that also uses 3D CAD data as a source and forms 3D object by means of a high-power laser beam that fuses and melts metallic powders together. In many sources SLM is considered to be a subcategory of selective laser sintering (SLS). But this is not so true as SLM process fully melts the metal material into solid 3D-dimentional part unlike selective laser sintering. The history of SLM started with German research project held by group of Fraunhofer Institute ILT in 1995. 3d printing service mumbai pune chennai - sla technology
Similarly to other 3d printing methods CAD file needs to be processed by special software to slice the CAD file information into 2D layers. The file format used by printing machine is also a standard .stl file. Right after the file is loaded the printing machine’s software assigns parameters and values for construction of the path.

This method of printing is widely applied to parts with complex geometries and structures with thin walls and hidden voids or channels. Lots of pioneering SLM projects were dedicated to aerospace application for different lightweight parts. SLM is great for project that experience such kind of problems like tooling and physical access difficulties to surfaces for machining, as well as restrict the design of components. The technology is not widely spread among at-home users but mostly among manufactures of aerospace and medical orthopedics. But the whole process of acceptance, certification and final approval takes some time which results in long time for development and qualification for this technology.
Thanks.
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Re: 3D Printing

Post by JK »

Very interesting. Thanks for posting this info.
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