Laser communication manufacturer Mynaric has leveraged metal additive manufacturing to produce an optimised titanium gimbal fork.
The gimbal fork is ‘at the heart of’ the company’s Condor Mk3 laser optical terminal, which has been applied on satellites and other platforms for secure communications.
Mynaric has commissioned APWORKS to additively manufacture the part on an EOS M400-4 quad laser machine. The two companies are said to have worked closely together on the design of the part, with its geometry being optimised for weight reduction and printability. According to Mynaric, the redesigned part meets the technical requirements of the application, which include ‘very precise thermal and stiffness behaviour.’
The new design of the component allows four parts to be tightly nested on the build platform of the printer, with one laser of the M400-4 four-laser configuration dedicated to each part. This is said to have helped improve the business case of the application. To ensure a high level of quality control, multiple test specimens are printed alongside the gimbal forks.
Post-print, parts undergo heat treatment to relieve residual stresses and are separated from the build platform by a wire electro-discharge machining process. A further manual post-processing step is then carried out, as is inspection, before machining of the tight tolerance interfaces. After final inspection by the APWORKS team, parts are sent to Mynaric for painting, assembly and integration.
So far, more than 100 parts have already been delivered and integrated.
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