He shared that the advantage of additive manufacturing is to “ Design parts so that plastic material is supported . The complexity of the parts you can manufacture with additives is significantly more . With additive manufacturing , you can keep building ; simultaneously , it shortens the time and complexity of manufacturing .”
He added that there are no limits in additive manufacturing .
With aerospace regulations , “ Additive in aerospace has grown significantly ,” Mikel said . There are critical and non-critical parts , and “ Additive is widely used for non-critical parts .” He said that over time with “ lower costs , and disruption , and also the use of metal in additive parts , the adoption is slower with critical parts .”
But Mikel said that they use traditional manufacturing for applications that have yet to be ready for additives . In the case of mass production ,
“ China is still the name of the game .” But he said that because most aerospace work is not mass production — it is lower runs , with higher control and protection , “ You wouldn ’ t outsource to China .”
He said the newer aerospace parts that use vacuum and urethane casting are still used for traditional aerospace parts .
Both Mikel and Holt indicated that there are options for modern aerospace manufacturing . They can choose the best fit between 3D printing , injection molding , and vacuum casting .
The Seattle facility specializes in 3D-printed investment casting patterns , which has lowered the cost of production .
30 NORTHWEST AEROSPACE NEWS