This is the place where the majority of the warbird (aircraft that have survived military service) discussions will take place. Specialized forums may be added in the new future
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Re: The impact 3d printing will have on the warbird communit

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.

Re: The impact 3d printing will have on the warbird communit

Sat May 30, 2015 5:56 pm

I work in a CNC machine shop in New Zealand (mainly Mills but a couple of lathes) and over the last 18 years it's amazing the technology that has developed just for the tooling alone for these machines and can see the benefits of 3D printers for all sorts of things. I have a Auster project powered by the good old Gipsy Major. With the age of this engine some parts are getting either hard to find or are eye-wateringly expensive. Gipsy crankcases sometimes crack and if not repairable you then have to try and find one. (Apparently the Australian built cases are a bit stronger in some areas as they modified the design when they started making them.)
But how cool would it be to ring up a engine shop and ask them to whip u a new crankcase on their 3D printer? Expensive now for sure but like most things once there is an explosion of uses, markets and eager customers the price will come down.

Re: The impact 3d printing will have on the warbird communit

Sun May 31, 2015 5:21 am

And not just for restoration. Imagine the Burt Rutan's of the world with access to this technology. There are bound to be some weird aircraft on the horizon.

Re: The impact 3d printing will have on the warbird communit

Mon Jun 01, 2015 2:45 am

But how cool would it be to ring up a engine shop and ask them to whip u a new crankcase on their 3D printer? Expensive now for sure but like most things once there is an explosion of uses, markets and eager customers the price will come down


That's just exactly what we propose with our "Digital Foundry" and it's today's reality: our first rebuilt Renault 4P (a french version of Gypsy Major) will be on test bench this summer and we hope to fly early 2016.

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.


You're absolutely right, we are starting here in France with planes flying under special regulations like collection airplanes or orphan airplanes. These are often the ones that need rare parts remanufacturing. For those, the owner is in charge of airworthiness, and can have its parts remanufactured under its own responsibility.

For the others we are having advanced discussions with our CAA (DGAC) and they are proposing solutions like a special design agreement we could apply for, as they understand it's much safer to fly with a brand new casing, X Ray and sample tested, than to continue with those old rewelded cracking crankcases...

In this process, we have of course to provide material data, sample tests, X Rays for each part, but as new material yeld strength is 4 times the old part samples yield, there is at present time no major objection.

Re: The impact 3d printing will have on the warbird communit

Mon Jun 01, 2015 5:43 am

Well that's great, Laurent.

Once a main regulatory body, like EASA, sets in place a Standard for printed parts, others will pile on.

Right now cylinder heads for a Bristol Pegasus are made of unobtanium. It would be great to just send a drawing to a manufacturing foundry and have the thing printed, or a mold printed and the part cast.

Dave

A

Mon Jun 01, 2015 7:08 am

Bristol Pegasus cylinder heads are exactly things we could easily do here in a few weeks with high performance high temp Al alloys. Just need a sample part, a traditional manufacturing drawing or 3D CAD model....

Our Stampe cyl heads are already on the way...

Re: The impact 3d printing will have on the warbird communit

Tue Jun 02, 2015 3:41 pm

New technology... new processes... new regulations. It just takes time to get them in sync
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