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.
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AM / The Third Option additivemanufacturing.media 31 time to projects; 2) Add machining equipment and personnel to the tooling department, increasing capacity but also adding overhead; or 3) Find another solution. In the end, CPI chose the third option: It added a fused- depositi on modeling (FDM) 3D printer. This option gave CPI the added capacity to bypass the traditional tooling department on many tools, bringing more of its tooling work in-house, and reducing the time and cost of creating custom tooling. Sparked by Growth Producing subassemblies for aircraft has been CPI Aero- structures' specialty since the company was founded in 1980. Typically working as a subcontractor, CPI sources discrete parts from its global supply chain, fashions them into sub - assemb lies, polishes and paints the assemblies as needed, and ships the finished pieces to the customer or main contractor. Whereas many of its peers are vertically integrated—offering machining, metal forming and fabricating, assembly, and fin- ishing services—CPI focuses almost entirely on assembly. For years, all of the custom tooling required for this work had to be farmed out to local machine shops. "Basically, we were doing things the same way they'd been done since World War II," says Clint Allnach, director of man- ufacturing operations. "We'd model the jigs and fixtures then send the design to external shops. Those shops would have to procure the material, machine it and deliver it. Typical lead time was anywhere from 12 to 14 weeks for a modest-sized tool and could cost several thousand dollars to $25,000 or more." The addition of an in-house tooling department in 2012 helped alleviate some of the company's tooling needs as it grew. This department relies on manual equipment, including Bridge- port mills, lathes and welding equipment to manufacture and maintain metallic tools such as custom jigs, fixtures and gages. But by 2013 the maintenance and care of the hundreds of tools needed on the assembly floor became overwhelming, and CPI reached a point where another solution was necessary. With the help of Stratasys reseller Cimquest, CPI purchased and installed a Fortus 360mc 3D printer. The FDM system of- fers a build envelope measuring 14 by 10 by 10 inches (355 by 254 by 254 mm) and enables CPI to print with both polycarbonate and nylon material. Bringing the printer into the engineering department has dramatically reduced cost and turnaround time for custom tooling. In many cases, tooling can be printed in-house much more cheaply, usually for about 25 percent of the cost of 3D printing with the Fortus 360mc makes it possible to incorporate hashmarks, words or numbers on tooling, such as these ribs which are numbered for installation on a precision welding table. This bonnet for an A10 Thunderbolt aircraft is made of flexible sheet metal, which made it difficult to confirm that the part was good before CPI fixtured it for drilling. A check gage 3D-printed in four parts (left) now makes it possible to quickly check the parts before this stage.