Auto racing is a global business and Quick Drive LLC is a key part of the supply chain. The Parker, Colo.-based company manufactures a proprietary line of high-performance drivetrain components for auto racing. Its parts are designed, engineered, prototyped, and manufactured in-house.
Rich, General Motors recently invested in 17 production-grade FDM printers, intending to use them for 3D-printed tooling. The term “tooling” is quite broad, however. Can you share details about what types of tooling GM and others are 3D printing, and why?
EnvisionTEC CEO Al Siblani—whose firm is being purchased by Desktop Metal—discusses photopolymers’ move from prototyping to production. He gets into how he sees the sale will impact his company, as well as Desktop Metal and the 3D printing market in general. For the uninitiated, he also patiently explains how the 3d printing of polymers has progressed over the years. Last but not least, he details EnvisionTEC’s plans for growth—and asserts that the cost of 3D printing has reached a point where it is disrupting plastics.
ExOne Co. and Ford Motor Co. say they are on a path where 3D printing plays a bigger part in automotive manufacturing.
In a project co-funded by Ford Motor Co. and the ExOne Co., a team of engineers, material scientists, and manufacturing experts has developed a patent-pending process for rapid and reliable binder jet 3D printing and sintering of aluminum that delivers properties comparable to die casting.
The FX5 now with a new 12kW grinding spindle and an even stronger upgrade option
Okuma America Corp. has announced that select machines from Okuma's core product line now come equipped with the Advanced One Touch-Interactive Graphics Function.
Driven spindles are the technical core of a machine tool, supplying the power to turn the cutting tools that shape our products and our world. Attaching one to a five-axis movement creates an advanced CNC machine.
The three-axis vertical machining center (VMC) has long been the go-to machine tool for many small to medium-sized shops. Their use is well-understood. Compared to more complex machinery, it’s easier to find operators for three-axis machines.
Horizontal machine tools (HMCs) have typically been used for longer run production jobs. But as lot sizes decrease, machine builders and their partners have introduced new technologies that speed setups and generally make HMCs nimbler. So much so that one should probably rethink the role HMCs serve.
