The impact 3d printing will have on the warbird community?

James D · **Posted:** Wed May 27, 2015 4:22 am

Laurent Stuck wrote:

Hi from France

Beeing involved in those techniques for several years....

Nice work Laurent! I'm really impressed.
Would your sand printing machine be able to make something the size of a Merlin or DB crankcase?
Not that I need one, or can afford it, but it might open up possibilities for other people.

Laurent Stuck · **Posted:** Wed May 27, 2015 5:17 am

Quote:

Would your sand printing machine be able to make something the size of a Merlin or DB crankcase?
Not that I need one, or can afford it, but it might open up possibilities for other people.

This is absolutely possible. "The printer" job box is 1,50 meter long, but we use to assemble mold parts for bigger castings. The factory manufactures parts up to 3.00 m and could even make bigger if needed.

Ventana's factory is moving ahead fast on this topic and is about to set up the second generation machines...faster and cheaper! 2016 could see major investments, we'll know more at Le Bourget in June.

James D · **Posted:** Wed May 27, 2015 8:22 am

Amazing! That should hopefully open up some new avenues in future.

Scott Rose · **Posted:** Wed May 27, 2015 8:31 am

Now hopefully one day we will see new build DB engines. I want to see a Bf 110 fly!

Warbird Kid · **Posted:** Wed May 27, 2015 8:53 am

Scott WRG Editor wrote:

Now hopefully one day we will see new build DB engines. I want to see a Bf 110 fly!

Or some Jumos for a Henkiel!

Laurent Stuck · **Posted:** Wed May 27, 2015 9:11 am

Would love to be part of it!!!

We went to the French Ferté Alais annual warbird meeting for the first time las week end with one of our brand new crankcases and received a warm welcome by people working on very rare rebuilds.

I'm sure we will be given the opportunity to demonstrate what this technology can bring to the warbird community.

DoraNineFan · **Joined:** Fri Aug 12, 2005 3:37 pm **Posts:** 673

Laurent Stuck wrote:

Would love to be part of it!!!

We went to the French Ferté Alais annual warbird meeting for the first time las week end with one of our brand new crankcases and received a warm welcome by people working on very rare rebuilds.

I'm sure we will be given the opportunity to demonstrate what this technology can bring to the warbird community.

Amazing work! And thank you for sharing.

It looks like new engines are much closer to reality.

A production run of German inline engines will be extremely helpful with getting more rare types flying. And with the very low TBO times and total use times for the DB and Jumo engines, new blocks and parts will be very much needed to keep them in the air.

Mike Banks · **Posted:** Wed May 27, 2015 8:54 pm

This is one of my favorite topics!

I currently work for Pratt & Whitney East Hartford on the 119 and 135 programs and we use 3D printing on a daily basis to reporduce hard to come by engine hardware to verify repair tooling fitment. Our department uses a very high end Dimension machine with a very large build capacity to print blades, case sections, anything that may interface with repair tooling.

Actual flight critical production parts produced through laser sintering 3D printing is fairly rare in military and commercial engines. The research and testing is being performed as we speak but it will take some time before we see these parts carrying flight loads or being subjected to any type of high temperatures. What you will see today are very complex castings being made from laser sintering. So cool! UTAS (previosly Hamilton Sunstrand) is leading the way in this field.

Producing casting molds is a perfect example of what our community can do with 3D printing! I volunteer for Craig at Connecticut Corsair on his -4 Corsair project and we are utilizing laser scanning and 3D printing to create sheet metal stamping dies. So far it has worked out great! Hopefully we can expect to see some unobtainium produced with laser sintering some day but I think its going to be a while!

Tiger Tim · **Posted:** Wed May 27, 2015 9:14 pm

I was going to say that printed parts will likely never be strong enough to handle real flight loads and temperatures and would be best used as patterns. Then I thought about it some more and I believe somebody is making and selling 3D printed duplex fuel nozzles for turbines right now. The future is here, I guess.

Laurent Stuck · **Posted:** Thu May 28, 2015 12:46 am

Quote:

Actual flight critical production parts produced through laser sintering 3D printing is fairly rare in military and commercial engines. The research and testing is being performed as we speak but it will take some time before we see these parts carrying flight loads or being subjected to any type of high temperatures

Hi Mike
I had in hand a few weeks such printed parts (major components - not allowed to tell what) that are actually used in the core of the latest engines (small turbines). Outstanding detailing and surface finish. Only very low machining time is needed on interfaces. Those parts couldn't have been machined because of their shape. But they are very expensive!

Every metallic material can now be printed, even those hi temp almost non machinable Inconels!

I've not seen yet casting substitutions here but they are possible. For serial production, traditional or hybrid techniques remain much less expensive.

Studies show that costs may be reduced by a factor of 10 in the next 10 years. So you are right, there is still a short while before we see it for basic parts...

Have Blue · **Joined:** Mon Dec 01, 2014 3:36 pm **Posts:** 17

Tiger Tim wrote:

I was going to say that printed parts will likely never be strong enough to handle real flight loads and temperatures and would be best used as patterns. Then I thought about it some more and I believe somebody is making and selling 3D printed duplex fuel nozzles for turbines right now. The future is here, I guess.

Heck, GE just 3D printed an entire (micro sized) turbine engine: http://www.gereports.com/post/118394013 ... ngine-then

Yes, it needed cleanup with standard machining equipment, but it bodes very well for reproducing impossible-to-source parts.

Scott Rose · **Posted:** Fri May 29, 2015 7:49 pm

I think 3D printing, once it reaches maturity, will have far reaching implications for any machine restoration, from cars to planes to ships. I would find it interesting to see a PT boat restored and operational. The future will be interesting, there is hope for a Ju 87B flying at a n airshow yet

DoraNineFan · **Joined:** Fri Aug 12, 2005 3:37 pm **Posts:** 673

Scott WRG Editor wrote:

I think 3D printing, once it reaches maturity, will have far reaching implications for any machine restoration, from cars to planes to ships. I would find it interesting to see a PT boat restored and operational. The future will be interesting, there is hope for a Ju 87B flying at a n airshow yet

PT-658 is the only operational boat so far. I think you can go for a ride.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUiZY9rD-fw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AG8x8C5I8a0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucciZ1zFpXY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLxW-Y8xevg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pp9ijOGo5SY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xq3x_noQ-bk

Dave Hadfield · **Joined:** Sun Sep 17, 2006 10:31 pm **Posts:** 1672

Hang on, let's not jump the gun.

Many warbirds are not Experimental. They have some sort of Certificate of Airworthiness, which requires only Certified parts to be put in them. Or, if those parts are not available, then re-created parts of materials and construction equal-to-or-better-than the original. The process of documenting that is complicated, time-consuming and expensive.

When the Inspector from the regulatory body shows up, and you tell him your part is as good as the original, they say, "Prove it." And if you can't, you don't get the C of A.

In time there will be Standards put in place for the use of printed parts, but it's not going to happen fast.

Dave

ErrolC · **Posted:** Sat May 30, 2015 3:29 pm

Dave H, this is where TVAL have an advantage. As certified Manufacturers, they have more options when building replicas.

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