By George Aslanidis Program Manager, Additive Manufacturing Cuyahoga Community College Unified Technologies Center Cleveland, Ohio As additive manufacturing gains momentum, so does the need for skilled technicians to man and maintain sophisticated 3D printing machines—in addition to those who design and print 3D parts. Under a grant from the U.S. Department of Labor, Read More
Archives for February 2015
Not Everything That Can be Automated Should Be
By Robert Simonis Senior Consultant, Manufacturing and Operations KCE Consulting LLC The assembly cell was installed and running in our Mexican factory. We had used the Production Preparation Process (3P) to design this Improved Junction Box assembly area and were happy to see our hard work and ideas in practice. We had a compact U-shaped cell with right-sized equipment Read More
It’s Here: The World’s First 3D-Printed Jet Engine
By Sarah A. Webster Editor in Chief Researchers in Australia, led by a team at Monash University, have created the world’s first 3D-printed jet engine using selective laser melting (SLM). The ongoing project, which is still in an early phase, and the information it develops, could eventually lead to wider adoption of additive Read More
Keeping Your Cool in Order To Keep Costs Down
The machining of blades for steam and gas turbines has long been a difficult, demanding, and costly operation. In recent years this situation has begun to change. On the one hand, advances in machine tool technology and data processing have brought improvements to the process. However, the industry’s increasing use of high-temperature superalloys and difficult-to-machine Read More
Prospects of an Apple Car Create Manufacturing Buzz
Apple Inc. usually does things in a big way. The buzz surrounding the maker of computers and smartphones is it may try automobiles—iCar, anyone?—next. It began Feb. 13 when The Wall Street Journal reported Apple had assigned "several hundred employees" to a project code-named "Titan" to come up with an Apple-branded electric vehicle that resembles a minivan. The newspaper Read More
ExOne Says 6 New Materials Now Printable on Its Systems
By Bill Koenig Senior Editor ExOne Co., a maker of 3D printing machines, said six new materials are now printable on its systems, a move that may expand markets for additive manufacturing. The six materials are: Cobalt-Chrome, IN Alloy 718, Iron-Chrome-Aluminum, 17-4 Stainless Steel, 316 Stainless Steel and Tungsten Carbide. Cobalt-Chrome and IN Alloy 718 are used in Read More