Who Controls Feedstock Used in 3D Printers? March 2, 2018 Should the US Copyright Office oversee whether 3D printer operators can use feedstock not approved by their machine’s maker to turn out medical devices or airplane parts, or is that the role of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), respectively?
Advances in Titanium Machining—Do More on Less Floor February 6, 2017 The demand for titanium components by the aerospace industry began as a whisper about 15 years ago and steadily grew to a sustained, raucous shout over the last five and likely won’t quiet for several more.
Why Ultrasonic Additive Manufacturing Makes Sense for Aerospace & Defense September 21, 2016 Additive manufacturing lets companies think “outside the box.” Engineers can now start to look at a part without restrictions on size, shape or material. Instead of taking 15 different CNC milled parts and brazing them together, these companies have reimagined the part entirely—to be built as one part.
Quality Inspection and the CAD Connection January 6, 2016 Modern manufacturing is rapidly adopting model-based definition (MBD). When employing an MBD strategy, the CAD model becomes more than the nominal to which all parts are measured and inspected against. MBD keeps the all-important digital thread intact—from design to manufacturing to inspection and quality reporting.
3D Printing Delivers New, Easy-to-Use Washout Tooling for Composites September 13, 2019 With today’s focus on lightweighting, hollow parts made from composite materials, such as ducting, fuel tanks, mandrels, and rocket shrouds, are in higher demand than ever before. The composite ducting market in the aerospace and defense sector alone is expected to reach $864.7 million by 2024, according to a recent report from Stratview Research.
Heading to Mars? Pack a 3D Printer! November 30, 2017 If NASA’s Journey to Mars project succeeds, the astronauts who make the 140 million-mile (225 million-km) trip to the Red Planet in the 2030s will need someplace to stay. The space agency is looking at 3D printing, using on-site materials, to manufacture humanity’s first deep space home.
Shops Continue to Rethink Brass and HSM August 14, 2019 The Copper Development Association (CDA) is eager to help shops discover and tap into the high-speed machining advantages of brass. The substantial benefits of doing so have an increasing number of shops rethinking their part materials and, when possible, converting those parts to brass.
Augmented Reality: In this Case, the Writing’s on the Work Station April 10, 2019 A Michigan company that displays instructions for manual manufacturing processes on work stations via augmented reality (AR) is adding wearables to provide similar guidance.
Metrology, Product Design and the Next Revolution September 6, 2018 When I graduated with an engineering degree some decades ago, I learned that the organizations I was going to work for had internal communication problems. This was especially true for those that designed and manufactured complex machinery such as engines, aircraft, or automobiles.
2030 August 28, 2018 SME’s Smart Manufacturing Hub will be part of IMTS this year. Smart Manufacturing asked past Hub speakers to imagine what manufacturing will look like in 2030. Here are their visions:
