Contract manufacturers across the country provide technical capabilities for customers who do not have to invest in machinery or labor. Some of these versatile manufacturers have added advanced additive technologies to their arsenal.
Two recent companies that have added AM capabilities are Wagner Machine Company of Champaign, Illinois, and ADDMAN Engineering of Bonita Springs, Florida. The two companies have invested in Velo3D’s Sapphire AM machinery.
Wagner Machine Co., a second-generation, precision machine shop purchased the AM solution to produce parts out of aluminum F357 metal for a challenging application. The company, a one-stop-shop for advanced manufacturing with capabilities including 3- and 5-axis CNC mill, CNC lathe, CNC Swiss, wire EDM, abrasive waterjet, and a variety of precision grinding and other support processes, added Velo3D metal AM to be an “innovative source for high-precision manufacturing.”
“VELO3D ’s real-time monitoring of the 3D printing process from start to finish with their integrated Assure quality assurance software is exactly what metal AM needs to be ready for prime time,” said Wagner. “They offer the most advanced capabilities available in metal AM, with process control, traceability, and build monitoring that is second to none. This expands our ability to serve more aerospace and defense customers who need complex, high-value, mission-critical parts.”
ADDMAN Engineering, a Florida company with a production center in Westfield, Indiana, near Indianapolis, also wanted to bring these advanced AM capabilities to its customers in the aerospace, defense, energy and manufacturing sectors.
“The full-stack laser powder bed fusion 3D printing solution from Velo3D gives our customers the freedom they need to design the next generation of spacecraft and turbomachinery without compromising their designs for the sake of manufacturability,” said Mark Saberton, CTO and founder, ADDMAN. “The Velo3D process saves time and avoids waste by removing unnecessary steps, and reduces time to test or go to market, while also ensuring production-ready quality in every build.”
The company has plans for future expansion of these capabilities. In addition to owning and operating the first Velo3D metal AM solution in the Indianapolis area, ADDMAN holds two reservations for the highly anticipated Velo3D Sapphire XC large format metal AM solution. Each Sapphire XC system will provide up to four times the productivity of ADDMAN’s new Sapphire system, positioning the company to keep up with increasing demand for complex, high-performance parts spurred by the booming commercial space industry.
“We have a vision and are looking toward the future not just for our company, but for the entire aerospace industry, where demand for intricate, high-value parts is growing fast,” said Saberton. “While the Sapphire system brought net-new capabilities to ADDMAN, we’re excited about the Sapphire XCs because they open up a new category of parts, while making impressive increases to capacity and efficiency.”
For more information, contact Wagner Machine Company, ADDMAN Engineering, or Velo3D.
Related Glossary Terms
- abrasive
abrasive
Substance used for grinding, honing, lapping, superfinishing and polishing. Examples include garnet, emery, corundum, silicon carbide, cubic boron nitride and diamond in various grit sizes.
- abrasive waterjet ( AWJ)
abrasive waterjet ( AWJ)
System that uses high-pressure waterjets in combination with a slurry of fine abrasive grains to machine materials. See waterjet cutting.
- computer numerical control ( CNC)
computer numerical control ( CNC)
Microprocessor-based controller dedicated to a machine tool that permits the creation or modification of parts. Programmed numerical control activates the machine’s servos and spindle drives and controls the various machining operations. See DNC, direct numerical control; NC, numerical control.
- electrical-discharge machining ( EDM)
electrical-discharge machining ( EDM)
Process that vaporizes conductive materials by controlled application of pulsed electrical current that flows between a workpiece and electrode (tool) in a dielectric fluid. Permits machining shapes to tight accuracies without the internal stresses conventional machining often generates. Useful in diemaking.
- grinding
grinding
Machining operation in which material is removed from the workpiece by a powered abrasive wheel, stone, belt, paste, sheet, compound, slurry, etc. Takes various forms: surface grinding (creates flat and/or squared surfaces); cylindrical grinding (for external cylindrical and tapered shapes, fillets, undercuts, etc.); centerless grinding; chamfering; thread and form grinding; tool and cutter grinding; offhand grinding; lapping and polishing (grinding with extremely fine grits to create ultrasmooth surfaces); honing; and disc grinding.
- lapping compound( powder)
lapping compound( powder)
Light, abrasive material used for finishing a surface.
- lathe
lathe
Turning machine capable of sawing, milling, grinding, gear-cutting, drilling, reaming, boring, threading, facing, chamfering, grooving, knurling, spinning, parting, necking, taper-cutting, and cam- and eccentric-cutting, as well as step- and straight-turning. Comes in a variety of forms, ranging from manual to semiautomatic to fully automatic, with major types being engine lathes, turning and contouring lathes, turret lathes and numerical-control lathes. The engine lathe consists of a headstock and spindle, tailstock, bed, carriage (complete with apron) and cross slides. Features include gear- (speed) and feed-selector levers, toolpost, compound rest, lead screw and reversing lead screw, threading dial and rapid-traverse lever. Special lathe types include through-the-spindle, camshaft and crankshaft, brake drum and rotor, spinning and gun-barrel machines. Toolroom and bench lathes are used for precision work; the former for tool-and-die work and similar tasks, the latter for small workpieces (instruments, watches), normally without a power feed. Models are typically designated according to their “swing,” or the largest-diameter workpiece that can be rotated; bed length, or the distance between centers; and horsepower generated. See turning machine.
- milling machine ( mill)
milling machine ( mill)
Runs endmills and arbor-mounted milling cutters. Features include a head with a spindle that drives the cutters; a column, knee and table that provide motion in the three Cartesian axes; and a base that supports the components and houses the cutting-fluid pump and reservoir. The work is mounted on the table and fed into the rotating cutter or endmill to accomplish the milling steps; vertical milling machines also feed endmills into the work by means of a spindle-mounted quill. Models range from small manual machines to big bed-type and duplex mills. All take one of three basic forms: vertical, horizontal or convertible horizontal/vertical. Vertical machines may be knee-type (the table is mounted on a knee that can be elevated) or bed-type (the table is securely supported and only moves horizontally). In general, horizontal machines are bigger and more powerful, while vertical machines are lighter but more versatile and easier to set up and operate.
- process control
process control
Method of monitoring a process. Relates to electronic hardware and instrumentation used in automated process control. See in-process gaging, inspection; SPC, statistical process control.
- quality assurance ( quality control)
quality assurance ( quality control)
Terms denoting a formal program for monitoring product quality. The denotations are the same, but QC typically connotes a more traditional postmachining inspection system, while QA implies a more comprehensive approach, with emphasis on “total quality,” broad quality principles, statistical process control and other statistical methods.
- wire EDM
wire EDM
Process similar to ram electrical-discharge machining except a small-diameter copper or brass wire is used as a traveling electrode. Usually used in conjunction with a CNC and only works when a part is to be cut completely through. A common analogy is wire electrical-discharge machining is like an ultraprecise, electrical, contour-sawing operation.
