3D Printed aircraft flies

[ShotOne]

An unmanned aircraft has just been launched from HMS Mersey having been printed on board. A first step but far-reaching possibilities: aircraft or other weapon systems could be printed as required.

[Rigga]

...not quite sure how you could print an explosive substance though?

Perhaps an enemy could just buy an Eraser to counter your printed weapon!

[Radix]

............

[Buster Hyman]

Waste of time. Why print it when you could just Fax it to the destination!

[Pontius Navigator]

Why fax it when you could use Hawala. Maybe The Sullivans was an early trial.

[CoffmanStarter]

But how about 3D printed spare parts

A titanium wing spar has sucessifully been 3D 'printed' ...

3ders.org - 3-meter long titanium airplane part 3D printed in one piece | 3D Printer News & 3D Printing News (http://www.3ders.org/articles/20130118-3-meter-long-titanium-airplane-part-3d-printed-in-one-piece.html)

http://www.3ders.org/images/3d-printed-titanium-china.jpg

[just another jocky]

You can 3D print in titanium now? Or do they use the epoxy as a mould?

[Wensleydale]

Des this mean that warships will revert to Canons?

[CoffmanStarter]

JAJ ... Yes that's printing (aka Laser Additive Manufacturing) in titanium ...

It would seem from this pic taken aboard HMS Mersey, that the RN also get some Humrol paints to help them distinguish Port and Starboard :}

http://i1004.photobucket.com/albums/af162/CoffmanStarter/CKrpGHaUEAEgU8Z.jpg-large_zpsl1wzqrai.jpg

Image Credit : MOD RN

[Courtney Mil]

Nice one, Wensleydale!

[NutLoose]

GE have already printed a working gas turbine to prove the concept

See

GE fires up fully 3D-printed jet engine (http://www.gizmag.com/ge-fires-up-all-3d-printed-jet-einge/37448/)


They printed a house In China

http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/chinese-company-constructs-3d-printed-home-in-three-hours/

[CoffmanStarter]

Careful Nutty ... We'll blow Busters mind with all this stuff ... The Fax is 'state of the art' technology where he comes from :E

[Radix]

............

[NutLoose]

I do wonder if in the future where you have corrosion or combat damage in spars etc will they have the facility to print repairs directly onto the damaged structure thus restoring it back to its factory dimensions / strength.

[Pontius Navigator]

No need for machine tools?

Be a bummer if the printer, like my HP, stops half way through.

[NutLoose]

Or ot prints onto the spar the wheel bolt that was still in the printers cache :E

[PPRuNeUser0211]

The key with 3d printing for manufacturing aircraft components (particularly titanium) is the low level of material wastage involved compared to conventional production. There was an article on the 787 recently in a major news outlet and Boeing's stated prime aim was to reduce the percentage of loss, which is currently mind-bending, given the huge cost of the raw material!

Though not having to wait for 'just in time' spares would be nice. Although the RAF would by 1 printer between 3 units, and it would be the old kind that uses a cable no one makes any more...

[MightyGem]

get some Humrol paints to help them distinguish Port and Starboard
Probably no power for nav lights. :rolleyes: :)

[NutLoose]

Although the RAF would by 1 printer between 3 units, and it would be the old kind that uses a cable no one makes any more...


Yep, a dot matrix running through a serial port that would be both heavy and ever so slow :E

As for holding the drawings, best guess, they would be held by and licenced from BAe etc who would transmit them direct over the web at a cost of zillions per print.

[CoffmanStarter]

Recruitment crisis solved :E

Researchers are only steps away from bioprinting tissues and organs

New 3D bioprinter to reproduce human organs, change the face of healthcare: The inside story - Feature - TechRepublic (http://www.techrepublic.com/article/new-3d-bioprinter-to-reproduce-human-organs/)

[Radix]

............

[Wensleydale]

The technology is amazing!


https://risingoutoftheocean.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/toy-spitfire-from-bletchley-park-halfterm-trip-51.jpg?w=620&h=465

[Lyneham Lad]

The key with 3d printing for manufacturing aircraft components (particularly titanium) is the low level of material wastage involved compared to conventional production. There was an article on the 787 recently in a major news outlet and Boeing's stated prime aim was to reduce the percentage of loss, which is currently mind-bending, given the huge cost of the raw material!

A looong while ago I was tasked with writing the draft structural servicing schedule for the Tornado. Apart from many meetings at Warton and MoD MB, I was despatched to Turin to see how the wing planks were produced at the Aeritalia factory. Large billets of aluminium were fed into CNC machines where >85% was machined away to form the top and bottom wing planks. Huge hoppers were situated underneath the CNC stations to take the swarf away for recycling.

[ShotOne]

Radix, I agree. For anyone in the Manchester UK area, the museum of science and industry has one that you can watch in action producing the most complex and intricate shapes. Nor is it theoretical; Tornados are flying around now with printed components.

[NutLoose]

While I understand the concept, I do wonder how they get the layers to merge together into one solid billet for want of a better word. Especially when some billets have the metal grain flowing in the same direction for strength.

[althenick]

I wonder how long it will be until we see replicators :)

[drustsonoferp]

Nutloose - apparently the grain can be controlled during additive manufacture - I have more homework to do, but am intrigued.

If the future is to include a supply chain amended by a remote server containing required parts drawings, with local manufacture of parts,potentially deployable manufacture of parts, I am really interested to know how the quality side works: what is the percentage failure rate of the manufacturing process, how do you qualify you remotely manufactured part - is control of the raw material, atmospheric conditions around the plant etc all going to require controls, or can it be made carefree to tight tolerances?

Alternatively, can certain parts be made with a more tolerant design to permit e.g. deployable manufacture world-wide? Interesting times.

[Wokkafans]

I wonder how long it will be until we see replicators :)


Been around for a while:

The 3D printers that print themselves: how RepRap will change the world | TechRadar (http://www.techradar.com/news/world-of-tech/future-tech/the-3d-printers-that-print-themselves-how-reprap-will-change-the-world-1255490)

[NutLoose]

Nutloose - apparently the grain can be controlled during additive manufacture - I have more homework to do, but am intrigued.

Me too, I wonder if by way of the concept you wil be able to lay the grains crosswise per layer much in the way you currently do with plywoods producing a product that is both stronger and more flexible than natural timber of the same thickness.. It's a fascinating time we live in, I do wonder if the material remains in essence as multiple layers and not one totally fused end product or as in welding the materials combine with localised heat, the reasons I ask is how they will resist intergranular corrosion and exfoliation. I also wonder do you need to then heat treat the materials

[Buster Hyman]

Oh no...Replicators (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Replicator_%28Stargate%29)!!! :eek:

[Hempy]

Its not just titanim they print but also stainless steel etc.,

Understanding 3D Printing Titanium (http://3d-printing-titanium.com/)

[t43562]

I think 3D printing has a lot of hype around it just because the "smell" of all the news articles is sort of the same as the thing I'm used to reading in the software world. It's all positive and without qualifications. To feel confident about something one needs to know what it cannot do as well as what it can and if you're not being told the negatives then it's just a sales pitch.

It sort of is amazing and yet relies on everyone mostly knowing nothing about machining and engineering so that we imagine it can make anything we might want. You can see us poor consumer lemmings rushing off to buy home 3d printers so as to be "a part of the future" and thereby paying for the huge R&D required to make things that might truly be worth the money. Without that kind of subsidy I doubt that there would be supercomputers in Los Alamos of 1/1000th the standard they have now - because us consumers paid for the R&D on the thousands of CPUs they use.

It's not that it isn't useful already or that it's won't develop a lot but I suggest that a goodly percentage of what is said about it is bull****.and that one should be asking what the limits are. e.g it's not going to make single-crystal turbine blades I presume although it might make the moulds. Without this information people are going to make silly and expensive investments and be conned,

[Molemot]

Quote from Lyneham Lad...

"A looong while ago I was tasked with writing the draft structural servicing schedule for the Tornado. Apart from many meetings at Warton and MoD MB, I was despatched to Turin to see how the wing planks were produced at the Aeritalia factory. Large billets of aluminium were fed into CNC machines where >85% was machined away to form the top and bottom wing planks. Huge hoppers were situated underneath the CNC stations to take the swarf away for recycling."


Even longer ago I saw the production of the BAC 1-111. The wing skins were made in just that way, too...starting with large billets of aluminium alloy and machined away to form the structure, then they were shot peened until the required curve was obtained. Again, all the swarf was recycled. I can see how 3D printing is attractive as an alternative, but I do wonder about the quality control of such methods.

[Haraka]

Even longer ago I saw the production of the BAC 1-111. The wing skins were made in just that way, too...starting with large billets of aluminium alloy and machined away to form the structure, then they were shot peened until the required curve was obtained.
Apparently the 1-11 skins were originally intended to be "chemically milled," which was theoretically a much cheaper process. This approach had to be discarded in practice, as witnessed above.