Modern Machine Shop and MoldMaking Technology present ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING, a quarterly supplement reporting on the use of additive processes to manufacture functional parts. More at additivemanufacturinginsight.com.
Issue link: https://am.epubxp.com/i/542042
Something to Add Peter Zelinski Editor I Hope to See You in Knoxville Come to the Additive Manufacturing Conference, hosted by this publication and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. 2— AM Supplement I hope to see you in Tennessee in October. If you are reading these words—if you receive and read with interest this small supplement—then it is likely that you are interested in the specifc and highly demanding topic this supplement was created to cover. That is, it is likely you are interested in additive manufacturing. Perhaps you have begun to make production parts or tooling this way, or per- haps (more likely) you expect you might be making parts this way in the future. If so, then the Additive Manufacturing Conference, October 20-21 in Knox- ville, Tennessee, will probably be worth your time. Additive manufacturing is different from 3D printing. Some use the terms as though they are interchangeable, but they are not. 3D printing describes a mechanism or operation. Objects are built up from digitally defned layers. By contrast, additive manufacturing seeks to apply that mech- anism within a disciplined methodology. A given 3D printer may or may not deliver acceptable part properties, it may or may not provide repeatable output or effciency, and inspecting or validating the part might not be part of the way the printer is used. But when properties, repeatability and validation can all be locked in suffciently to create a functional part, perhaps even a production part, then the result is additive manufacturing. (In fact, take a look at this month's cover story—additive manufacturing performed with an operation that does not look much like "printing" at all.) This distinction is important to make because the Additive Manufacturing Conference, as its name stresses, will be all about additive manufacturing. The event is not broadly about 3D printing, and that separates it from many other gatherings. This event is about something more rigorous. The two-day conference is focused solely on industrial applica- tions of digital part-making, solely on applications related to printing functional parts. Indeed, just about all of the speakers at the event (from compa- nies such as GE Aviation and Honeywell, and from institutions such as Penn State University and the National Institute for Aviation Research—fnd the complete lineup at the URL below) are primarily concerned not just with additive manufacturing, but with applying it in metal. This publication is hosting the event in partner- ship with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which is the reason for the Knoxville location. If you attend, you'll receive a tour of Oak Ridge's Manufacturing Demonstration Facility, which assists U.S. man- ufacturers to develop and succeed with additive manufacturing capability. (This facility is also the site of the "Big-Area Additive Manufacturing" machine that has been used to create the bodies of two 3D-printed cars.) And if you attend, you'll also receive something else. It will be a small gift—not enough reason on its own to make the trip, but something meaning- ful to us. Starting with the next issue, this small publication will be small no longer. It will grow to a full-size magazine. The demand for coverage of industrial additive manufacturing justifes this expansion, and we are excited about taking this next step. This October, in Tennessee, it will be our pleasure to give you a copy of the new, larger publication in person. To learn more about the Additive Manufactur- ing Conference and to register to attend, visit additiveconference.com .