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$4M grant awarded for USAF 3D printing repair

Optomec has been awarded a major project from America Makes, the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute. The Re-Born in the USA project will focus on advancing additive manufacturing for the repair of aerospace metal components for the U.S. Air Force. Specifically, Optomec’s team will leverage the unique advantages of Laser Engineered Net Shaping (LENS) 3D metal printing technology and the expertise of some of the world’s leading aerospace companies and industry organizations to advance a reliable, cost-effective approach to replace conventional repair processes such as manual welding. The potential benefits of using additive manufacturing to repair high-value metal components include lower costs, higher quality, longer life, and faster return to service.

Optomec’s a project group consists of 23 partners, including GE Aviation, Lockheed Martin, United Technologies Research Center, and Rolls-Royce, as well as a group of technical experts serving as lead contributors including EWI, Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology, TechSolve, the Pennsylvania State University Applied Research Lab, and Concurrent Technologies Corp. The term two-year project is valued at $4 million ($2.6 million public share and $1.4 million private cost share). This marks the third America Makes project awarded to Optomec this year.

The goal of the project is to develop a set of specifications and a knowledge base of best practices in advancing additive manufacturing methods to repair aerospace metal components. This includes definition of optimum powder feedstock characteristics, improvements in process monitoring and control, and recommendations for part repair and sustainment applications specifically for the Air Force.

At the core of the initiative is Optomec’s LENS metal 3D printing a technology developed at Sandia National Laboratories. Unlike powder-bed additive manufacturing approaches, the LENS process can add metal onto an existing substrate of almost any three-dimensional shape. Powder-bed processes require a flat, two-dimensional horizontal base. This makes the LENS additive manufacturing process well qualified to perform repair operations. LENS machines are already in use around the world conducting repairs of ground-based, high-value components for defense and other industries.

www.americamakes.us; www.optomec.com

Hexagon acquires Vero Software

Hexagon AB, a global provider of design, measurement, and visualization technologies, has acquired U.K.-based Vero Software, a maker of CAM software.

Well-known brands in Vero Software’s portfolio include Alphacam, Cabinet Vision, Edgecam, Radan, SURFCAM, VISI, and WorkNC. The company has large market coverage with offices in the U.K., Germany, Italy, France, Japan, U.S., Brazil, Netherlands, China, Korea, Spain, and India supplying products to more than 45 countries through its subsidiaries and reseller network.

The acquisition strengthens Hexagon’s software offerings, providing the means to make quality data fully actionable by extending newly developed metrology planning software (MMS) to include CAM.

Vero Software will be fully consolidated as of August 2014, subject to regulatory approval.

www.hexagon.com; www.vero.com

Röhm opens subsidiary in Mexico

Röhm GmbH, a global manufacturer of clamping and gripping technology for metalworking, recently opened a new subsidiary in Mexico to meet the sales, service, and support needs of its growing customer base in Mexico and Central America. The new Röhm Products Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V. location has the full support of Röhm Group and Röhm Products of America.

www.rohm-products.com

Metal Storm 2014 promotes manufacturing to youth

On June 13, 2014, Methods Machine Tools Inc., a supplier of precision machine tools and automation, hosted approximately 150 Massachusetts technology students at its Metal Storm 2014 manufacturing event at its Sudbury, Mass., headquarters. Vocational students from three technical high schools attended, as did undergraduate engineering students from Wentworth Institute of Technology.

Students were given tours of Methods’ technology center, viewed machine tool and automation demonstrations, and participated in discussions on manufacturing innovations. The tour of the technology center provided the students with the opportunity to view live demonstrations on more than 50 machines under power, including horizontal and vertical machining centers, turning centers and lathes, bridge mills, boring mills, automation cells, and electrical discharge machines. Students were able to participate in an interactive Learn the Robot demonstration, a simple way to show how robotics applies to manufacturing.

“It was very helpful for the students to see the relevance of what they are learning and how it applies to the real world. It makes a huge difference in their education,” says Clement Fucci, instructor, Westfield Vocational Technical High School.

www.methodsmachine.com

Tech Mahindra, NIAR-WSU collaboration

Tech Mahindra will collaborate with Wichita State University and its National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR-WSU) in multiple areas of engineering.

Tech Mahindra and WSU have signed a memorandum of understanding that outlines collaboration in aerospace engineering, certification, information technology (IT), and automotive testing.

Tech Mahindra plans to invest in the engineering talent available in the region to enhance their employability in the Wichita, Kan., aerospace community. The collaboration will ensure that Tech Mahindra has a local pool of trained aerospace, IT, and automotive engineers available to service its clients and facilitate cooperative initiatives in the area of innovation and R&D projects, including possible involvement with WSU’s Innovation Campus.

www.niar.wichita.edu

ETC ships 3rd, 4th research altitude chambers to USAF

Environmental Tectonics Corp., Southampton, Pa., has completed its shipment of the third and fourth research altitude chambers to the 711th Performance Wing at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio.

The altitude chambers, part of a suite of four sold to the U.S. Air Force, are currently undergoing installation and will be integrated into the facility with the two chambers currently onsite.

Valued at more than $37 million, the suite of research chambers allows flexibility for the design and configuration of test scenarios under a wide range of environmental conditions. Each of the four chambers will have its own unique internal layout and compartmentalization. Three of the four chambers will be man-rated, allowing human occupancy for ongoing initiatives. The fourth chamber will be used for equipment and research testing scenarios.

www.etcusa.com