Super Discovery: Very Large Format 3D Printing for military UAVs

After reading the title of this post, you may be thinking that the Super Discovery is merely a very large version of a standard 3D Production System.

Well, this is not the case: Some of the Super Discovery’s specifications are a bit unusual for 3D Production Systems. The minimum layer size, for example, is 0.5 mm, which may be perhaps not surprising. But the largest possible layer size, one that might be used when 3D printing large items, is 10 mm.

The manufacturer has installed a hot end that is capable of hitting an astonishing 450 ºC, making the Super Discovery able to attempt 3D printing of many strong engineering materials... in huge sizes. Their high-performance material capability is extremely interesting because it opens up the possibility of 3D Printing large production components for military UAVs, among other applications.   

This enormous 3D printer that uses pellets as input material, is developed and produced in Spain by a company that began developing 3D Printing technology five years ago. Prior to that, and still occurring, is their marketing of other manufacturing equipment, including CNCs, lasers, and the like.

What is the price of this massive machine? Well, it depends, because each machine is custom built. But you will find more info at:

http://integral3dprinting.com/impresoras-3d/gama-discovery-3d-printer/super-discovery/

Stratasys Composite Production

Stratasys’ development of high-temperature materials, as well as the increased throughput of its Fortus 3D Production Systems, enable the manufacture of high-temperature lay-up / sacrificial tooling in hours or days, rather than the weeks or months it would take to produce and procure tooling made from traditional methods.

3D printed tooling also offers disruptive cost-savings compared to traditional tooling materials and numerous other less quantified benefits, such as dramatic weight savings. This is being exemplified by Dutch 3D service bureau, Visual First, who is using FDM Nylon 12CF carbon-filled thermoplastic to replace metal machine parts for its customer, The Chocolate Factory.

This has significantly reduced machine downtime, ensuring production line continuity for the company. In fact, the replacement time of broken machine parts has been reduced from one month to one week using Stratasys additive manufacturing compared to traditional handmade metal replacements, with cost reductions of 60%.

For the Army, a customized, 3-D printed UAV is the best

Army planners say they envision a portable set of interchangeable components that could be used to build a wide assortment of UAVs. Ideally, a 3-D production system would churn out the frame, while a selection of motors, sensors, cameras and other apparatus could be selected from a standing inventory: “It’s an integrated system model that allows you to match the mission to the components,” said Eric Spero, a team lead within ARL’s vehicle technology directorate. “If I know what mission I need to accomplish, I want to be able to select the most appropriate electronics and combine that with a predefined structure.”

The Army is not alone in offering up a vision for a 3D-printed UAV. Hobbyists can download instructions for build-it-yourself copters and can even buy ready-made printable drone kits on Amazon. YouTube offers video tutorials. But the military-grade project looks to go beyond these commercials offerings, by making available the widest possible range of vehicles: “Our emphasis is on inherent flexibility,” said John Gerbes, a mechanical engineer at ARL. “It’s not just about providing a 3D-printed UAV but about providing a suite of tool to meet mission-specific needs.”

The use of 3D printing, or additive technology, makes it possible to create these ad hoc solutions to meet a broad range of requirements. Rather than carry parts and pieces for every possible configuration, soldiers will be able to manufacture on the fly those components that best suit the need: “If you can scale the arms longer or shorter, that links to the motor, which links to the battery, which links to the control systems. When you can do that, that is when you are really leveraging the power of additive technology,” Spero said.

“This is one step toward giving soldiers the right tools they need when they need them,” said Larry “L.J.” Holmes, Lead, Additive Manufacturing-Hybrid Operations Team (AM-HOT) at RDECOM, the Research, Development and Engineering Command. He described UAVs as the “low-hanging fruit,” a point of interest across Army and Marine Corps user groups. But he suggested that this capability might be just a starting point as the Army seeks other areas in which 3D printing could fulfill mission-specific needs on the fly. So, why carry around UAVs... when they can be printed on the spot?