ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING is the magazine devoted to industrial applications of 3D printing and digital layering technology. We cover the promise and the challenges of this technology for making functional tooling and end-use production parts.
Issue link: https://am.epubxp.com/i/815448
AM / Big Possibilities additivemanufacturing.media 27 IMTS demo had the machine making car parts. Fine, he thought—except auto parts are generally made in high vol- umes. Conventional processes are good at that. Meanwhile, certain large industrial components are produced in very small quantities. These are the jigs, dies, fixtures and layup tools used to make end-use parts in automotive, aerospace and other sectors besides these. The chance to reduce the lead times for these tools by producing them on a 3D printer big enough to accommodate them could be welcome news to many different types of customers reliant on many different types of tooling. His friend Andrew Bader was easily brought around to seeing this as well. Part of the family owning OGS Industries in Akron, the metal stamping and fabrication house founded by Bader's grandfather and now run by his father and uncle, An- drew had already been working with Schmidt within a fledging, after-hours version of Additive Engineering Solutions. Their little moonlighting company provided 3D printing services us- ing desktop 3D printers. For this company to commit to BAAM would represent a dramatic scaling up in more ways than one. The two brought a proposal for what they wanted to do to Bader's family. Coming to see the same promise they did, Bader's elders in OGS agreed to back AES through financial investment and administrative support—a crucial foundation for the small firm that now lets its co-founders focus almost entirely on explor- ing, advancing and winning business for the additive capability. But these two together were not quite enough. Schmidt is the engineer, Bader the sales and marketing person. To interact with them for just a moment leaves no doubt which is which—their vibes are that different, and their strengths that complementary. However, both know metals. They have experience that grew within metalworking. The BAAM machine is a polymer 3D printer able to produce hard, resilient tooling using material such as carbon-fiber-filled PPS that is 50 percent carbon by weight. For the application of such materials, they would need a materials expert. They hired Clark Patterson, a 25-year plastics veteran who has worked for both a maker and a user of industrial 3D printers. I spoke with all three together during my recent visit to AES's facility. Schmidt, Bader and Patterson talked about the promise of going big with polymer 3D printing, and they had just as much to say about the challenges. Tooling Types Here is partial list of the varieties of large tools that the three say can now be produced efficiently through large-scale 3D printing. The company has not delivered tools of all of these types (at this writing, there have been two completed and billable jobs for big tools), but in conversations with prospects, the team has had the chance to explore all of these viable possibilities for big-area AM: • Aerospace tooling, such as jigs used for large assemblies. • Layup tools for composites, with the right choice of material potentially producing an autoclavable tool with low thermal expansion, says Patterson. • Ancillary tools for composites, such as trim fixtures or gages. • Stretch forming dies. • Hydroforming dies. • Stamping dies, though here the use would be for short runs of stamped parts, says Bader. A traditional steel die would last much longer, but the 3D-printed die could be produced more quickly—in weeks instead of months. • Concrete molds, an unusual opportunity that might open the door to organic, contoured concrete structures. • P lus, potentially anything made of tooling board, Bader says. Because BAAM produces a form within 1/4 inch of net shape, machining needs are slight. The 3D printing can therefore potentially compete on both speed and price against applica- tions in which a considerable amount of tooling board has to be milled away. For all these tools, AES looks for jobs in which the tool is at least 8 square feet along its largest plane. Referring by name to a well-known industrial 3D printer at conventional size, Schmidt says, "If the job can fit into a Fortus 400, then it is probably too FACING PAGE: Andrew Bader and Austin Schmidt stand in front of the Big Area Additive Manufacturing machine that is the basis for their business. ABOVE: Vertical travel has proven valuable on this machine. Because 3D printing tool- ing forms along the X-Y table would generally mean adding support structures, tools are frequently printed with their length oriented in Z instead.