CRDM recently acquired by 3D Systems announces project.
Recently acquired by 3D Systems, CRDM Ltd has today announced it is leading a 30 month development program for developing the capability of Additive Layer Manufacturing.
Funded through the Technology Strategy Board the project will cost £1.25M and is being undertaken through a Consortium with partners including McLaren Automotive, Ultra Electronics, Delcam, Flitetec and Selex-ES.
The Automotive and Aerospace Part Production by Additive Layer Manufacture project has three goals. The first is the automatic application of CAD correction techniques to make sure ALM parts are manufactured with the same level of tolerance as traditional processes. The second is to ensure that ALM components undergo an automatic finishing process to give them the same look and properties as products from traditional manufacturing practices. The final goal is to help OEM users to develop Production Part Acceptance Procedures so that ALM parts can be directly accepted onto production lines.
“The economics of ALM have historically required that we consider parts which would be manufactured in low volumes, and normally require tooling,” explains Graham Bennett, the AA-PALM Project leader. “However, even though this market is still quite considerable recent, developments suggest we may have an opportunity to expand our focus to higher volumes. Once we are able to use parts manufactured by ALM for production applications, we eliminate the requirement to produce costly tooling.”
Funded by the Technology Strategy Board’s ‘Inspiring New Design Freedoms in Additive Manufacturing/3D Printing’ program, the project will start to produce deliverables towards the end of 2014. The Consortium hopes the project will be a success and that ALM will be regularly used within a variety of production processes in the near future.
