Lockheed Martin to Use Makerbot 3D Printers For Their Next Space Project
Lockheed Martin Space uses METHOD X to create parts for the lunar rover project, enabling the engineers to design, develop, and test autonomous systems and processes Lockheed Martin is a global aerospace and defense company, with the mission to connect, protect and explore. The company focuses on next-generation and generation-after-next technologies. In alliance with General Motors, Lockheed Martin is developing a new fully-autonomous lunar rover that could be used for NASA’s Artemis program. This is a fitting team that pays homage to the original Apollo rover, which GM was also involved in its development. Some elements of the rover’s autonomy system’s early design and development is done at Lockheed Martin’s state-of-the art R&D facility in Palo Alto, Calif., the Advanced Technology Center (ATC), which is well-equipped with a variety of cutting-edge technology, including a lab full of 3D printers. MakerBot 3D printers have been in use for about five years and have provided easily accessible 3D printing for a host of projects for Lockheed Martin’s team of engineers. Lockheed Martin's Advanced Technology Center is a major hub for developing next-generation space technology. ULA rockets commonly carry space-going payloads like the satellites being developed at the ATC. “A lot of [...]
Metrology Minute – Control X Measure Menu
While most users of Control X are interested in producing color maps, whisker plots, dimension checks, and GD&T analysis of the scan as compared to the nominal CAD model, it is important to note that there are several “mesh-only” functions for measuring a scan model that do not require a nominal CAD model. The Measure Distance menu simply measures the distance between two points. You just need to keep in mind that the distances are generated from the nearest vertex points on the mesh, not the actual selected point. The Measure Angle menu will measure the angle between two mesh faces, such as the chamfer and body scan below. The Measure Radius menu simply measures the radius of a mesh by selecting three points. The Measure Area menu measures the surface area of the selected mesh. This measurement is in terms of units squared (for example, in^2, mm^2, etc.). Surface area calculations may be for both closed and open mesh files. The Measure Volume menu measures the volume of a fully closed, manifold mesh. The units are in terms of cubic units (i.e. MM^3, In^3, and so on). The term “closed manifold” implies every triangle edge in the mesh shares one and only [...]
3D Printing Surged 23% Last Year
3D Printing has surged 23% in 2022 and is now a $13.5 billion industry. (A reprint from DesignNews) Photo courtesy of Design News. The fourth quarter of 2022 capped a strong year for additive manufacturing markets, according to SmarTech Analysis. Even in the face of uncertain economic conditions, the growth rate for all 3D printing hardware, materials, software, and services expand by 23% in 2022. The year-end spending on additive manufacturing hit $13.5 billion. Sectors in the industry expanded at different rates. The metals market grew 25%, to $4.9 billion, while the polymers market grew 20%, to $7.3 billion. The software segment reached $1.2 billion, and the additive manufacturing services totaled $6.0 billion. Sector-by-Sector Growth The big movers in additive adoption continued to be aerospace and dental. In both industries, 3D printing has morphed into a matured manufacturing process. Yet other sectors are now showing strong growth. “Though the aerospace industry drove growth in additive manufacturing over the last decade, followed by medical/dental, other sectors are starting to catch up with growing adoption, particularly leading up to and after COVID hit,” Michael Molitch-Hou, editor-in-chief of 3DPrint.com, told Design News. “Specifically, automotive and, more recently, oil and gas, have been using the [...]
Metal 3D Printing is Spicing Up Food & Beverage Equipment
Desktop Metal has compiled the top 5 reasons we see the food and beverage industry moving to metal 3D printing. While mentions of 3D printing for food may bring to mind chocolate extruded into cool decorative shapes, additive manufacturing is actually transforming the industry behind the scenes – making food and beverage processing equipment safer, more productive, and delivering all-new innovations to the nearly $60 billion industry. If you’ve ever watched an episode of “How it’s Made” on Discovery TV, you’ve seen the complexity of cleaning, cutting, mixing, swirling, layering, stretching, shaping, or molding of food or beverages in solid, semi-solid, or liquid states. And that’s all before they get packaged by complex assembly lines that often resemble a Rube Goldberg machine. In all, the food and beverage industry is a symphony of hundreds of thousands of complex mechanical parts and assemblies that perform tasks that must also meet strict standards for quality and sanitization. Metal parts, often made of stainless steel, are an industry standard material for that safety reason. But making and shaping all of those complex metal parts comes with challenges, and this is where 3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, offers value-added solutions. Building parts layer-by-layer eliminates many [...]
A Tribute to Mike Sljaka
The Cimquest family woke up on Monday, Mar 13, 2023, to the news that our beloved colleague and friend, Michael Sljaka, had succumbed to his longtime battle with cancer on Saturday, March 11th. Mike worked for Cimquest as a Senior Applications Engineer since the acquisition of Services Four Automation in October of 2011 where he worked since August 2007. Mike quickly became popular with customers and his fellow colleagues. He put in countless hours to provide a high level of customer service. His responsibilities ranged from Mastercam applications and training to CNC programming to being an integral part of the 2-Minute Tuesday video series. Every task that Mike was involved in had the highest dedication to quality which he encouraged in others. He was the epitome of “If you are going to do something - do it right!” Mike was the best colleague a person could ask for and an inspiring key member of our Mastercam Team. He was very supportive and motivating as a co-worker and we always looked to him for his creative thoughts and ideas. But more than a wonderful colleague, Mike was an amazing person and friend. He was smart, funny, kind, deep, always ready to lend a helping [...]
Cimquest Adds Meltio to Their 3D Printing Lineup
Cimquest Becomes Meltio’s Official Sales Partner Cimquest is going to play a key role in the distribution and support of the Meltio metal 3D printing solutions in the North Eastern United States market, as an official sales partner. Meltio offers a pioneering metal 3D printing solution that enables industrial applications with a process built around welding wire, the safest, cleanest, and most affordable metal feedstock in the market. Cimquest will focus on building a supportive ecosystem for Meltio’s technology in the North Eastern United States territory partnering and driving business opportunities alongside technology centers, tooling machine companies, robotic integrators, academia, and industry. Rob Hassold, CEO at Cimquest says: "Cimquest is excited to partner with one of the top growth leaders in Metal Additive. We feel that the DED process fits well within our job shop customers' workflow and environment. The Meltio technology offers unique advantages compared to other metal printing technologies and will help to round out our metal additive offerings." Meltio proudly announces its first official sales partner in the North Eastern United States territory, Cimquest. Michael Humphrey, Sales Manager for North America at Meltio says: “We are thrilled to be working with companies like Cimquest as their expertise as well as [...]