3D printing for repair and replacement is an underappreciated but potentially very valuable application for this technology. The ability to add material only where necessary and to do so in an automated fashion allows worn surfaces to be rebuilt with less human labor, keeping items such as aircraft blades in service for longer. Additive manufacturing offers an avenue for manufacturing parts no longer in inventory or production, by skipping over tooling to arrive more quickly (and often, more affordably) at the needed component — it be a brush mat, bearing housing, mixer blade, clamp or tractor tread. But a 3D printed replacement part is rarely a 1-to-1 swap; changing to this production method almost always introduces additional benefits. In this episode of AM Radio, Pete Zelinski and I discuss these examples and more, plus why a 3D printed replacement is almost always an upgrade. 

This episode of the AM Radio podcast is brought to you by PTXPO.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Acme Manufacturing's automated aircraft blade repair system using Optomec directed energy deposition 3D printing
• Video showing Optomec's 3D printer applying material to a worn blade
• Tractor treads replaced with polyurethanes printed directly onto steel
• The 3D printed "carpet" made by OPT Industries to replace a brush mat for a vibratory separator
• Lincoln Electric's WAAM-printed bearing housing and mixer blade for a decades-old machine used in the production of flux
• 3D printed replacement clamp for an F-16 aircraft
• The "Mighty Duct" developed by HP and Siemens
• Helicopter oil collector upgrade produced by Allegheny Technologies Inc.
• AM Update newsletter