Use of additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, is expanding, with users looking to do more metal printing, Stratasys Direct Manufacturing said, citing a survey of users of the technology.
Be it due to a breakage or malfunction of tooling or a part, manufacturers will likely acknowledge that it’s not unusual for one or more production line(s) to be down, waiting for a replacement item at any given time.
In this podcast discussion with Rick Schultz of FANUC America and Bruce Morey, Senior Technical Editor for Manufacturing Engineering Magazine, current practices in aerospace machining is dissected. Many shops today stick with the tried and true to reduce risk to schedule and profit, but that tried and true is stuck in the 1980s and 1990s. Rick discusses practical ways to get the most out of 21st century machining technology, by programming for the part and not the machine.
Compared to machining and other traditional metalworking processes, additive manufacturing (AM) is a newcomer. Most industry experts trace its birth to 1987, when Chuck Hull of 3D Systems fame introduced the first commercially available stereolithography machine, the SLA-1.
Additive manufacturing, or 3-dimensional (3D) printing, continues to rapidly develop across a number of industries.
Cutting tool consumption in January 2020 rose 5 percent compared with December 2019, according to the U.S. Cutting Tool Institute and AMT - The Association for Manufacturing Technology.
Driven by market changes and feedback from customers, we shifted our focus away from the consumer market toward education and professional segments. We recognized that professionals needed more to meet the advanced needs of rapid prototyping for manufacturing.
The value of machine tool orders plunged in November as makers pared prices to cut inventory, according to a monthly report.
Not far from Florida’s metropolitan areas lie rural communities with the space and workforce to support manufacturing leaders. From Walton County in the Panhandle to the Heartland Counties near Lake Okeechobee, the state’s rural regions present a unique mix of resources for the manufacturing industry.
Stainless steel is far from an unknown quantity in machine shops. Yet, particularly in automotive and aerospace applications, tools and cutting methods continually evolve to optimize output—particularly as parts get more complex.
