Courtesy Photo | Dr. Charles Nguyen, an engineer in the Welding, Processing and Nondestructive...... read more read more
In the world of additive manufacturing (AM), or, more commonly referred to as 3D printing, people are always wanting to transcend what has been done before – to make the next thing flashier and larger than what was previously printed. However, there are tons of little, seemingly insignificant things that can be printed that make a considerable impact.
Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division’s Manufacturing, Knowledge and Education (MAKE) Lab is an excellent source to learn about the AM process and its application to the Navy.
“The purpose of Carderock’s MAKE Lab is to educate people on how to effectively use AM and give them access to the technology,” Scott Ziv said, a mechanical engineer in Carderock’s Additive Manufacturing Branch.
Carderock’s MAKE Lab was conceived in 2016 as a base-wide makerspace, and has been used for various projects over the years.
“We keep watching AM across the board in the Navy, and most of the attention is placed very heavily on using AM to make end-use parts for the fleet,” Ziv said. “Which, granted, is what we are here for. But there’s also a whole world of untold stories using AM as a tool to accelerate the development of new products or just make us more efficient and organized.”
While the MAKE Lab dabbles in large, vastly important 3D printed technology, it also provides a significant number of smaller items that are easy to overlook.
“We’ve been involved in printing microelectronics cases, molds for potting cables, front-leading edges for mounting sensors, vacuum forming molds, cases for soldering irons, holders for gauges, bookends, standoffs for control boards and boxes for organization,” Ziv said.
While there have been several large-scale items that have been created in the MAKE Lab that have saved considerable time and money — including the printing of developmental turbine blades that saved the Navy approximately half a million dollars — Ziv would like for the lesser-known capabilities of 3D printing be recognized more frequently, as well.
“We want to find a way to use AM for not only big things, but also for smaller things. Some things may seem unimportant, but are very helpful – like door stops,” Ziv said. “People think of additive manufacturing as having a big overhead cost, but realistically, if it’s an off-the-shelf thing, you can just go on the internet and download whatever you want and hit print, which for some commonly needed things is far faster than standard procurement and most times is also cheaper. There’s a website called ‘Thingiverse’ that has millions of pre-designed models for everything from doorstops to tool organizers, to wall mounts, tape holder and radius gauges. It’s a great logistics tool for all those very niche, little plastic bits we engineers use every day.”
Zachary (Zak) Kaler, an engineer in the Propulsor Acoustics Branch, who spearheaded the printing of the turbine blades, has also been 3D printing shrouds for a test rig and using those printed parts to support experiments in the Anechoic Flow Facility (AFF).
“One of our experiments involved the testing of an aluminum rotor, and we wanted to look at a number of geometric variations of the original rotor” Kaler said. “3D printing allowed us to quickly create several variations of the original rotor at a significantly lower cost than the original aluminum. We also used 3D printing to manufacture fairings which cover structural components in the flow. This opens up possibilities for the design of the test stand because it allows to easily and quickly create aerodynamically streamlined shapes.”
By using the MAKE Lab to 3D print this technology, Kaler is able to save considerable time.
“It is very impressive how quickly they can turn these parts around,” he said. “We got one a few weeks ago that was more complex than others, but it was only a week before we got it back from the MAKE Lab. It is great for if a problem arises that we didn’t expect and a new part is needed – delays can be prevented because we can get a part in days - verses months for traditional manufacturing.”
Another important item that Carderock has 3D printed in the last couple years is a sleeve that fits the outer contours of projectiles. This concept came about while the Hull Response and Protection Branch were attempting to capture all relevant physics associated with the impact and penetration of bullets and fragments. Data collected included projectile velocity as well as its pitch and yaw.
“As all the test specimens were fired out of a rifle barrel, they spin when travelling down range,” Eric Walzer said, an engineer in Carderock’s Hull Response and Protection Branch. “We wanted to measure this spin rate in the tests. To do so, we needed to have markings on the projectiles so that we could watch the rotations of the markings in high-speed video of the test event to calculate the spin rate.”
Drawing the fiducial markings – reference points to measure data – on the projectiles proved too challenging due to them having a curved surface. Therefore, Walzer and his team decided to print the sleeves.
“In these sleeves we created evenly spaced slits that were arrayed in 45-degree increments around the projectile,” Walzer said. “This allowed us to draw the lines on the projectiles in the exact 45-degree increments we were looking for, which allowed us to capture the data. This was particularly important for projectiles that have complex curvature … with the sleeves we could 3D print any sleeve shape we needed to in order to draw the lines.”
Walzer and his team have since submitted a patent application for the sleeves and were authorized to file a patent application for “Device for Drawing Fiducial Markings on Projectiles for Ballistic Testing.” (Case No. 112, 518)
With the rapid updates and changes to AM on a regular basis, Ziv would like for the MAKE Lab to be used as a learning center to help people better understand AM and to keep up with the ever- growing changes. The MAKE Lab is currently working on relocating to share a facility with the larger traditional manufacturing shop on base to better bring traditional and additive equipment together.
“The underlying goal of the MAKE Lab has changed every year since the AM landscape, and how we use it, changes every year,” Ziv said. “We have had around 700 new hires in the last year, many of whom know how to use a 3D printer from college. As a result, we have a two-sided story with a bunch of young people who really know printers, but who only know printers, and not traditional manufacturing. On the other side, we have some individuals who really know traditional manufacturing, but who don’t know the value AM brings. Our goal is to pull both sides together and use this new form of manufacturing where it makes the most sense for our mission.”
| Date Taken: | 07.06.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 12.30.2021 16:10 |
| Story ID: | 412190 |
| Location: | BETHESDA, MARYLAND, US |
| Web Views: | 207 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Little Things Make a Big Difference, by Todd Hurley, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
