Quote:
Originally Posted by MT4Runner
It may not replace some molding and forging processes, but it could streamline mold and partmaking. Instead of having a skilled machinist spend hours building a mold, a 3D printer could make the mold from the 3D CAD file. Far less lost to interpretation. If it's in the file, it's in the mold. Should be a growing market, too, for CAD operators who understand manufacturing processes if you are taking the skilled machinist out of the process.
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The demonstration I saw included 3D scanning of a part into a CAD system. Then it would compare that part against the "reference" CAD model and highlight the differences (to show wear and other faults).
Another couple of points about that high-end 3D printer that worked with metals:
- It can build parts that are not able to be created from a mold. e.g., the shape of the part is impossible to create a mold for yet it can be printed. They showed us some oddly shaped cone object that demonstrated this point.
- 3D printers can actually repair extreme tolerance parts like the fan blades in a jet engine due to the manner in which the new material is applied to existing material. It's unlike welding in how the new material is bonded to the existing material. In fact the whole demo was oriented towards the aircraft industry.
- 3D printing can fuse various metals together that before hand could never be "welded" together. I think the example was brass and titanium. Doesn't matter, the materials that would not normally be able to be bonded together using standard means can be printed in a fashion that one section of a part requires a particular metal and another section requires another incompatible metal yet the 3D printer and how it operates can fuse them together as one. It was explained better to us than I'm doing here
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