Articles

FFF

Unusual Forms of 3D Printing, and How to Categorize This Technology: AM Radio #21A

In this episode of AM Radio, Stephanie Hendrixson and Peter Zelinski quiz each other on six 3D printing processes — some common, some novel. Test your own knowledge and stick around for a discussion about how to categorize (or maybe re-categorize) AM technologies. 

Listen
Safety 

Multimaterial 3D Printing Enables Solid State Batteries

By combining different 3D printing processes and materials in a single layer, Sakuu’s Kavian platform can produce batteries for electric vehicles and other applications with twice the energy density and greater safety than traditional lithium-ion solutions.

Read More

Business Considerations for Additive Manufacturing

The use or adoption of additive manufacturing tends to play out differently for startups and established manufacturing businesses.  For both, it offers a means of achieving speed, flexibility and cost savings over traditional manufacturing methods; however, established businesses may have incumbent processes, equipment and suppliers that make adoption slower and more difficult. 

Read More
Cool Parts

3D Printed Putter Tailored to the Golfer: The Cool Parts Show #49

An engineering student in South Africa used metal and polymer 3D printing in tandem to create a putter customized to the individual golfer’s swing.

Watch

Where Does Additive Manufacturing Make Sense?

3D printing’s earliest applications were for rapid prototyping. Additive manufacturing (AM) has advanced far beyond this with the maturation of various technologies and expansion of its materials envelope. 

Read More
Machining

How Does Heat Treating Affect Machining Considerations for a Metal 3D Printed Part?

This picture of part distortion in additive manufacturing illustrates the kind of effects that part design or machining stock allowances need to anticipate.

Read More

How An Airline Addressed Supply Chain Issues with 3D Printing

COVID-19 not only grounded most of Scandinavian Airlines’ (SAS) fleet in 2020, but also limited its access to engine covers critical for safe storage. CNE Engineering used BigRep machines to 3D print molds to produce the covers. 

Watch
Automation

3D Printed End of Arm Tooling Aids Automation

Frustrations with traditional end of arm tooling led Richard Savage to start 3D printing custom versions for injection molding applications, eventually founding a company to fill this niche.

Read More
Production

AddUp Opens North American HQ, A Proving Ground for Metal AM

The company welcomed visitors June 22, 2022, to its Cincinnati-area facility, showcasing its laser powder bed fusion and directed energy deposition technologies. 

Read More
Casting

AM 101: Additive Manufacturing Materials

In processes like machining, the material is a known quantity. A part starts as a block of material, or perhaps a forging or casting. Its form changes in the machining process, but its inherent material properties are already set. In additive manufacturing, however, the material properties are being established alongside the geometry of the part.

Read More
Mold Tooling

3D Printing Enables Mold Shop to Rapidly Prototype Medical Parts (Video)

A case study involving Mantle’s 3D printing technology allowed moldmaker Westminster Tool to go from design to injection molded prototype medical parts in three weeks.

Watch
Machining

Five Digital Manufacturing Trends Reflected in 3D Printing and Machining: AM Radio #20

As the digitization of machining accelerates, it’s seeing more crossover with its innately digital relative, additive manufacturing. On this episode of AM Radio, Julia Hider and Matt Danford discuss common themes in machining and 3D printing. 

Listen
SolidCAM Additive - Upgrade Your Manufacturing
Acquire
Airtech
World According To
North America’s Premier Molding and Moldmaking Event
AM Radio
The Cool Parts Show
SolidCAM Additive - Upgrade Your Manufacturing