ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING JULY/AUGUST 2019
FROM 0-500 IN TWO DAYS
As well as experimenting with automated materials handling, which is profi led in this
month’s cover story, Airbus and the AMRC are trialling the latest 3D printing technology
BY GEORGE SLEATH, PROJECT ENGINEER, AMRC
Right now, achieving perfection in
advanced manufacturing can seem like
a constant battle. Firms are increasingly
required to integrate complex systems
such as robotics, digitally-assisted
assembly and machining technologies
to ensure complete accuracy, precision, and
tolerance in the manufacturing process.
Doing so successfully helps eliminate
down time and massively reduce waste, so
understanding how to achieve it is imperative.
The Integrated Manufacturing Research Group
(IMRG), based in the £43 million ‘Factory 2050’
facility at the University of Sheffi eld’s Advanced
Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC), works
with industrial partners to help them drive
for perfection by assessing new innovations
and methodologies that can enhance existing
manufacturing practices.
The IMRG recently worked on a project for
Airbus, Europe’s largest aerospace manufacturer,
that involved high tolerance drilling and
machining of carbon fi bre, aluminium and
titanium components. Given
the stringent manufacturing
and assembly requirements,
it was critical to prevent
cross-contamination of holes
during these trials. However,
shortly into the project, the
team discovered that their
planned process might cause
weeks of possible delay to
machine or injection mould
replacement parts.
To fi nd a solution to this
problem, they turned to
the additive manufacturing
market and installed a station
within the factory containing
a dozen of Formlabs’ Form 2
stereolithography (SLA) 3D
printers. This fl eet of printers
enabled the rapid production
of 500 high-precision drilling
caps, cutting the lead time from
weeks to only three days.
Testing di erent
methods to avoid
cross-contamination
Avoiding hole contamination
in the drilling process was
essential to this project. This
meant between drilling holes,
the team needed to cover up
the fi rst one, so that any scrap
generated by drilling didn’t
cross-contaminate the second
hole. Once the project had
begun, this requirement meant
0.5mm
is the tolerance
range required for a
3D-printed O-ring
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