Antarctic Bear Guide: Traditional processing technology combined with 3D printing can improve industrial manufacturing efficiency and reduce production costs, and has blossomed in many industries.
AddiTec is a founding partner and distributor of Meltio, a well-known manufacturer of 3D printer equipment. Antarctic Bear learned that it has partnered with Amorphology, a spin-off company specializing in advanced materials from NASA, to develop special 3D printed gearbox parts.
△ The two companies have 3D printed a 6-inch diameter strain wave gear flexible wire as part of the collaboration. Photo from AddiTec
It is reported that the original intention of the cooperation between the two manufacturers is to use additive manufacturing to develop large steel strain wave gear flexible wires. Strain wave gears are special types of gearboxes for robotic arms and precision motion systems. They are compact, have zero backlash and transmit torque through a thin-walled cup of gears called a flexible wire.
When using traditional manufacturing techniques, flexible wires are the reason for the high manufacturing costs of strain wave gearboxes. This can be attributed to features such as precise gear teeth and flexible walls, making strain wave gears an important part of the cost of a six-degree-of-freedom (6DOF) robotic arm.
Dr Glenn Garrett, Chief Technology Officer of Amorphology, said: "When the traditional process processes flexible gears with a diameter of 6 to 8 inches, the large steel raw material may be reduced to 10% of the original. From a cost and sustainability perspective, this is a downside because energy and materials are wasted on producing a part that is only in raw stock.
3D printing process
By opting for additive manufacturing, it is possible to simplify traditional manufacturing workflows and make the use of high-performance steels cost-effective with greatly reduced costs for 3D printing these gear flexible wires.
Amorphology and AddiTec have jointly developed a 6-inch diameter strain wave gear flexible wire using 17-4 precipitation hardened steel. The prototype parts are 3D printed and then CNC machined on a Haas CNC hybrid system running the Meltio unit, a modular directional energy deposition DED printhead.
In addition to cutting material usage and production costs, the method also enables the manufacture of flexible threads of various sizes on demand. This means that users do not have to maintain inventory of each diameter at all times, reducing warehousing and logistics costs.
Dr. YashBandari, AddiTec's Business Development Manager, said: "We are delighted to be working with Amorphology to provide them with solutions for manufacturing parts by drastically reducing expensive machining. We look forward to working together to drive innovation." “
△ Processing flexible line and mixed 3D printing flexible line. Image courtesy of AddiTec.
Meltio's laser metal deposition technology
AddiTec attributes the success of the demonstration parts to Meltio's capabilities in laser metal deposition (LMD) technology. The DED process is compatible with wire and powder materials, using a laser beam to melt the metal raw material into a weld bead. These beads are stacked on top of each other to create completely dense, near-mesh metal parts, such as flexible wires. The Meltio Engine laser head can be retrofitted to a variety of control systems, including CNC machines, robots, and gantry systems.
Brian Matthews, CEO of AddiTec, added: "Meltio's ability to integrate with CNC machine tools makes it a hybrid system. Hybrid manufacturing is a one-stop solution for seamless metal parts production that combines additive and subtractive operations on a common platform, reducing the overall cost and time to manufacture parts. "
Amorphology and AddiTec have said they plan to advance their partnership to the flexible wire of multi-material and functionally graded materials that are unlikely to be produced with traditional manufacturing techniques.
Meltio's LMD toolhead is integrated with CNC. Photo from Meltio.
DED 3D printing has a wide range of applications. Just recently, an additive manufacturing consortium including Airbus, Safran Landing Systems and the National Manufacturing Institute of Scotland (NMIS) began working on a new hybrid DED 3D printing process for the aerospace sector. The technology will be used to 3D print critical aerospace components, such as those that make up aircraft landing gear, as well as in MRO applications.
Elsewhere, MX3D, a developer with metal wire arc DED technology, recently unveiled its partially 3D-printed "WAAM clips." This hybrid industrial component is an example of a pipe clamp that is used to seal high-pressure leaks in the chemical and oil and gas sectors. It is an integral part of pipe repair and also increases the service life of the device before it is repaired.