MAY 2016 Additive Manufacturing
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By Peter Zelinski
Efcient AM: Just the Details?
Additive manfuacturing can make a part as if from nothing. Without tooling
and without a pattern, an AM machine can generate a precise, solid, intri-
cate form. But is "nothing" really the best starting point?
DM3D, a Michigan manufacturer of production parts made additively,
has recently been advancing a diferent idea. In some cases, rather than us-
ing AM to grow the complete part, the far more efcient use of additive is to
start with a basic workpiece and grow the necessary details onto this part.
"TransFormAM" is the company's brand name for this idea.
The part above provides an illustration. This 25-inch diameter Inconel
625 component represents a jet engine casing. For a part like this to be
grown entirely through AM would take something like 500 hours, says
DM3D. An alternative is to begin with a cylindrical blank of material pro-
duced through forging or roll forming. When the company made the part this
way, using AM just to add features and details, the additive cycle took only
21 hours.
The company does this work on direct metal deposition machines such
as the one in action in the middle photo. Large travels allow for AM to be ap-
plied to large starting workpieces. The machine at left has a work envelope
2 meters wide. Learn more about this application at gbm.media/details.