58 - The Postprocessing Episode
AM Radio
Postprocessing is a necessary part of the additive manufacturing (AM) workflow in almost every instance, because 3D printing alone rarely yields a finished part ready for use. Depending on the materials and processes they choose, AM adopters have to account for depowdering, curing, heat treat, cleaning, dyeing, tumbling, machining and many other post-print operations. Coupled with the high-mix, low-volume production typical in AM, such steps are difficult to automate or optimize — leading many companies to develop innovative and often secretive internal processes. In this episode of...
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57 - Does Additive Manufacturing Win the Race? Exploring AM’s Production Rate
AM Radio
A question from an audience member about competing production rates for a forged metal part that might be made through additive manufacturing instead got Pete Zelinski thinking about production rate in general, and what this rate does and does not tell us about productivity overall. Additive can win a production “race.” An example involving a 1,000-piece production run of parts otherwise made through molding was documented by Formlabs (more info below). However, is a head-to-head comparison like this the measure by which additive must succeed? Pete explores this question. Find photos,...
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56 - Applications Reaching the Tipping Point, Semiconductors and Tungsten on the Rise, Costs Coming Down and More From Formnext 2024
AM Radio
Formnext 2024 lived up to its reputation as additive manufacturing’s largest trade show, attracting more than 34,000 attendees to 54,000 m2 of exhibit space. It was also large in the sense of showcasing just how big 3D printing can go, with plenty of showpieces and demos running to illustrate the current scale of large-format additive manufacturing (LFAM) technology. But beneath the robotic arms and towering prints, there were also plenty of new machine introductions, software advances and application examples. Over the course of their time at the show, AM Radio cohosts Peter Zelinski and...
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55 - How 3D Printing Aids Automation, and How Additive Will Reach Farther With Robots
AM Radio
Additive manufacturing and robots are parallel technologies, both digitally enabled tools for manufacturing that are advancing in adoption. But they also enable each other. 3D printing can provide the grippers, end effectors and other specialized tooling that robots require to serve production. And robots are driving AM forward as well. Collaborative robots or cobots are being used to tend 3D printer farms, sometimes mounted on autonomous guided vehicles (AGVs) for a fully mobile, as well as automated, solution. And robots are opening opportunities for larger and more complex part production,...
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54 - New Equipment, Additive Manufacturing for Casting Replacement, and AM's Next Phase at IMTS 2024
AM Radio
The 2024 edition of IMTS – The International Manufacturing Technology Show welcomed more than 89,000 attendees to Chicago last week. While only a portion of the show’s 1,500 exhibitors were offering additive manufacturing equipment or services, AM nevertheless had a significant footprint at this show. Conversations with speakers, exhibitors and attendees revealed insights about where additive is finding traction now, and where it is heading next. In this episode of AM Radio, I talk with Pete Zelinski about equipment launches during the show, advances in usability and accessibility,...
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53 - Steel Mills and Spatter: AM and Advanced Manufacturing Research at Carnegie Mellon University
AM Radio
Stephanie Hendrixson shares observations from her visit to learn more about two different manufacturing institutes under the umbrella of Carnegie Mellon University. First, she visited the lab facilities at Mill 19, a refurbished steel mill site, used by the Manufacturing Futures Institute. The MFI aims to accelerate the digital transformation of manufacturing, through work that includes things like robotics, digital twins and generative design as well as AM. She also learned about the Next Manufacturing Center, CMU's additive-focused research institute seeking to solve increasingly specific...
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52 - Additive Manufacturing at NASA (PART 2)
AM Radio
In this follow-up to episode #51 of AM Radio, Dr. Tim Simpson joins Stephanie Hendrixson and Pete Zelinski in the studio to talk more about how NASA is implementing and shaping additive manufacturing. As part of an intergovernmental personnel act (IPA) assignment, Dr. Simpson has spent the last two years deployed within NASA helping to advance additive use cases and connect AM users within the organization. In this episode, he shares insights from this work including NASA's collaborative relationship with commercial space; its role in studying AM fundamentals and providing testing...
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51 - Additive Manufacturing at NASA (PART 1)
AM Radio
Additive Manufacturing Media editors have had the chance to visit three different NASA facilities: the Goddard Space Flight Center, Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Marshall Space Flight Center. Pete Zelinski and Stephanie Hendrixson learned and reported on how 3D printing is being used to fulfill NASA missions through parts like a generatively designed bracket, lightweight titanium lattices and a multimaterial thrust chamber made with two different processes. But where do these parts fit within NASA's broader mission, and what is the role of additive manufacturing at NASA? In this episode, part...
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50 - How Model No. Manufactures Sustainable Furniture with 3D Printed Polymers
AM Radio
When we first covered Model No. in 2020, the company was manufacturing furniture on its own large-format 3D printers, built to designs directly manipulated by customers through parametric options available on its website. Four years later, production looks a bit different. Gone is the user-facing design tool, as the company has discovered that conversation with customers is the more effective way to arrive at the right designs for its clients. More colors and materials are offered today, in part because of a circular economy-focused project that Model No. completed with several partners. And...
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49 - Trip Report from Innovative 3D Manufacturing
AM Radio
We are trying something new on the podcast! Whenever one of us on Additive Manufacturing Media pays a visit to a manufacturer for the first time, we want to talk about the trip as soon as we return. Why keep this recap to ourselves? In this episode of AM Radio, here is Stephanie Hendrixson getting the full download just after I paid a visit to Innovative 3D Manufacturing in Franklin, Indiana. Innovative does contract production using 12 laser powder bed fusion machines, all from Renishaw. Just part of what struck me is this company’s connection to foundry work — not just in terms of...
info_outlinePostprocessing is a necessary part of the additive manufacturing (AM) workflow in almost every instance, because 3D printing alone rarely yields a finished part ready for use. Depending on the materials and processes they choose, AM adopters have to account for depowdering, curing, heat treat, cleaning, dyeing, tumbling, machining and many other post-print operations. Coupled with the high-mix, low-volume production typical in AM, such steps are difficult to automate or optimize — leading many companies to develop innovative and often secretive internal processes.
In this episode of AM Radio, Stephanie Hendrixson, Peter Zelinski, Jessica Pompili and Jodee McElfresh share examples of how additive manufacturers solve their varied postprocessing challenges and seek to answer some of the questions around these critical steps.
Thanks to listeners who sent questions, left comments or lent their expertise to this episode, including Matt Havekost, Rick Beddoe, Miguel Valenzuela, Konstantin Rybalcenko, Rey Chu, John Whalen and those who responded anonymously.
Find photos, related links and the transcript for this episode on AdditiveManufacturing.Media.
This episode is brought to you by Additive Manufacturing Media. Never miss a story.
Mentioned in this episode:
- Our calls for questions — and discussion— around postprocessing on LinkedIn
- Meet Jessica Pompili, Additive Manufacturing Media assistant editor
- A conversation on finishing's role in AM with Products Finishing editor-in-chief Scott Francis
- Our story on ATI's new Florida facility
- Article on Rivelin's robotic machining technology from Derek Korn, editor-in-chief of sister brand Production Machining
- Video on how the Rivelin solution works
- AM-Flow's sorting solution for mixed part batches
- The Cool Parts Show LIVE: Special 5-Year Anniversary Episode with support removal "hatch"
- 3D Printed Metal Component for CNC Machining Center | The Cool Parts Show #47 with sacrificial powder removal feature
- Micro Factory's enclosed mSLA system
- The modular JENI production system from Photocentric
- Solvent recycling technology company CBG Biotech
- How metal injection molding and metal binder jetting coexist at Smith Metal Products
- The metal binder jetting workflow at Freeform Technologies
- An example of a thin-fin cold plate produced by Conflux Technology
- Resolution in vat photopolymerization and smoothing techniques developed at the Technical University of Denmark