EDITOR’S CHOICE
FASTER TOOLING & ASSEMBLY
3DPRINTUK
THE EXTREMES OF ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING
When Norway based Kongsberg Maritime,
a specialist in technology for use in extreme
conditions, was designing a chassis for a
subsea measurement instrument, it turned to
3DPRINTUK to help with the manufacture of
key components. MEPCA found out more.
Kongsberg Maritime is an international
technology group working in the maritime,
defence, aerospace and digital sectors.
Kongsberg is at the forefront of pushing
technology in extreme conditions, so it comes
as no surprise that additive manufacturing
has a role in their design process. As additive
manufacturing grows and becomes a viable,
recognised option for producing custom
parts with a finish close to injection moulded
parts, more and more design engineers
are exploring and adopting selective laser
sintering (SLS) technology to produce
innovative products. As a result of this
growth, the more engineers demand from the
technology, the more investment is made to
advance the capabilities of the method.
Kongsberg Maritime delivers products and
systems to merchant vessels and offshore
installations for positioning, navigation,
automation and handling systems, as well as
products and systems for seabed surveying
and monitoring, and fishing vessels and
fisheries research. 3DPRINTUK specialise in
low-volume production through additive
manufacturing and in particular SLS. By 3D
printing parts in SLS Nylon P12, and with
very few restrictions in design, manufacturers
can create components with reduced weight
while maintaining strength. Users of the
innovative method save on manufacturing
costs thanks to material savings and assembly
time reduction. In addition, clever design
means that the number of components
gets reduced and prototyping that used to
take weeks can be done in days, in multiple
variations, all branded with unique part
numbers.
Robert Kovacs, Senior Subsea Design
Engineer at Kongsberg Maritime approached
3DPRINTUK when they started a new project
to design a chassis for a scientific subsea
instrument used in underwater positioning
and mapping. “The part is a multi-functional
product chassis, not just a simple bracket to
join two things together. It has clever features
and functionality that we would not get
from a similar metal or injection moulded
part,” explained Robert. “The chassis flexes
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extensively to allow a heat shrink sleeve to be
placed around battery cells and a PCB, which
simplifies assembly tremendously. To secure
the product during transport and handling, a
tiny slide-bolt arrangement allows for a zip-tie
to be inserted, again greatly saving handling
time and reducing risk.”
Small printed extrusions act as standoffs,
screw guides and screw anchors which make
the whole assembly extremely rigid. Features
such as these cost nothing during printing
but save greatly on handling, assembly and
repair. “Right from the start, deciding to
3D print this pivotal part in a new design
meant that we were able to shrink the size of
the product while integrating features and
functionality that are simply not available
through other manufacturing methods,”
continued Robert. Robert was also able to
save money on the cost of other products by
nesting parts.
As well as price breaks for higher quantities,
3DPRINTUK allow users to nest parts around
one another to take advantage of any unused
space. The smaller the space users take up
within the printer, the less they are charged.
Summing up his experience of additive
manufacturing, Robert concluded: “I believe
that the biggest advantages when 3D
printing parts are the time savings thanks to
faster tooling and assembly, along with the
ability to make far more intelligent parts. We
would, of course, have these features and
advantages if this part was injection moulded.
But it is not possible to make an injection
mould tool with all these features in one part,
as it has too many details and undercuts in
too many different directions.”
3dprint-uk.co.uk