Page 24 - 3D Metal Printing Spring 2017

3D Caterpillar’s Grand AM Plan
great example of collaboration, in terms of identifying parts that can be successfully redesigned for AM.”
The plan moving forward, then, is for the AM factory to con- duct AM design competitions quarterly. In the meantime, DelVec- chio will seek to forge closer relationships with the company’s chief engineers, to encourage them to light the AM fire under their individual design teams.
The bigger challenge, she says: Printing service parts without redesigning the basic part, yet making it cost effective to print with minimal post-processing. “We have 600,000 part numbers in our system,” says DelVecchio, “and there’s plenty of opportunity for AM to get in there and support our machines in the field. However, we must be able to minimize or eliminate post-pro- cessing requirements.”
Toward that end, DelVecchio showed us a production metal part that it recently printed, optimized to minimize post-pro- cessing: a round cross-section curved pipe that serves as an air- handling part on the intake side of an engine-test rig. The Cater- pillar AM factory team printed the pipe from 17-4 stainless steel on a 3D Systems ProX 300 machine, without internal supports.
Hub-Spoke Strategy Balances Engineering and Production
In addition to the ProX 300, the 4500-sq.-ft. AM factory operates a new SLM 280 2.0 machine equipped with dual 400-W lasers
and with a 280 by 280 by 365-mm build envelope. There’s also a well-equipped polymer room that houses a 3D Systems sPro 60 SLS machine, FDM machines from Stratasys and Objet, and a new Carbon CLIP (continuous liquid interface production) machine.
“On the metal side, we’ll focus on stainless and tool steels,” DelVecchio shares. “We do not expect to print any aluminum here—that has special requirements better left to our partner, FIT.”
DelVecchio describes the plan to use the inhouse AM factory for process development and “limited” production runs, with support from a network of service bureaus, as a hub-and-spoke arrangement.
“As Caterpillar continues to develop AM applications and opportunities,” she says, “we’ll hone in on our inhouse sweet spots as one of the production spokes, while serving as the hub of the research and development work. Other spokes include some of our facilities around the world that operate AM equipment, as well as a network of service bureaus we work closely with. We also have several metal machines working at our subsidiary, Solar Turbines (which prints metal parts for its gas turbines).
“We will rely on the service bureaus as our capacity becomes limited,” DelVecchio continues, “and use them based on their material and process capabilities, and their response times. Hav- ing the machines, capabilities and knowledge base here allows us to analyze the potential applications for AM—for new part designs and for service parts. But we may not necessarily build substantially more production capacity moving forward. The plan is to work closely with our design groups and purchasing people so that they come to our AM team first, so that we can
evaluate projects and decide whether to print parts here, or find the right supplier with which to work.” 3DMP
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Caterpillar’s Ryan Lozier a Featured
Conference Speaker
Caterpillar AM engineer Ryan Lozier will provide an informative presentation on
Caterpillar’s additive-manufacturing journey at the upcoming 3D Metal Printing Experience and Tech Tour, produced by 3D Metal Printing magazine, August 16-17 in Schaumburg (Chicago), IL. Attendees will be able to interact directly with industry experts, learn about the latest technology developments for 3D metal printing and hear case-study applications. They’ll also participate in exclusive plant tours to engage with company representatives and view metal-AM machines in action.
Learn more and register to attend: www.3dmpmag.com/conference.
3DMPmag.com