This week’s selection is artist Don Foley’s smooth SR-72 model.
aeronautical
Additive Manufacturing Team 3D-Prints Working Jet Engine
GE Aviation has side projects. Side projects are cool. The Angel Trumpet 3D printed jet engine is one such side project.
Stratasys Produces 3D Printed Parts For New Airbus Aircraft
Stratasys announced that Airbus has produced more than 1000 flight parts on its Stratasys FDM 3D Production Systems for use in the first-of-type A350 XWB aircraft, which was delivered in December 2014.
The Solarimpulse Has Been 3D’d
We were directed to a 3D model of the soon-to-be famous Solarimpulse.
First 3D Printed Jet Engine
A team of 3D print researchers has managed to 3D print an entire jet engine.
New Quality Control Techniques For EOS Metal 3D Printers
EOS manufactures high-end industrial 3D printers, some of which can print in metal. But how do they maintain quality control?
Boeing and Lotus Join Forces to Advance AM Processes and Materials
One makes planes, the other designs race cars. It would seem that on face value Boeing and Lotus Racing have little in common aside from a need for speed. However, just beneath the surface both companies rely on different permutations of the same physical processes to achieve success.
A 3D Printed Jet Engine That Kinda Works
Can you build a working jet engine using a 3D printer? Not really, but this looks a lot like a real engine.
3D Printing UAVs Onboard Aircraft
Future 3D printers may be much more advanced than we see today, but that hasn’t stopped engineers at BAE Systems from imagining what one could do with them.
More 3D Printed Airplanes?
3D Systems announced they’ve shipped a huge number of machines to the aerospace industry. What could this mean?
Low Cost, 3D Printed UAV Test Bed
3D Printing firm Solid Concepts has partnered with aerospace engineering firm Area-I to create a scale model of a 737 used to simulate real-world aerodynamics. Named the Prototype-Technology Evaluation and Research Aircraft (PTERA), the model craft serves as an inexpensive and safe bridge between wind tunnel evaluations and manned flight tests. During each flight… Continue reading Low Cost, 3D Printed UAV Test Bed
Stratasys Tech Flys UAVs
One of Stratasys’ clients is UAV Solutions of Maryland, who, obviously, manufacture UAVs. But they now do this with 3D printing. Their journey is similar to many manufacturers who encounter 3D printing: at first it’s a novelty, then it becomes something used for unusual situations and finally: 3D printing has now “crept” into… Continue reading Stratasys Tech Flys UAVs
Loci Remembers Your Flights in 3D
Loci is a fascinating dynamically generated sculpture by artist Andrew Spitz of the Netherlands. Each “Loci” is unique to the owner, who specifies a series of airline flights. These flights are then translated into abstract 3D flight paths and then printed to fit on a world map card. 3D models are digital beasts, and… Continue reading Loci Remembers Your Flights in 3D
Gigantic Titanium Printing: Aeroswift
A brief press release from CSIR, South Africa’s Council for Scientific and Industrial Research announced a three-way partnership to develop “titanium powder-based additive layer manufacturing for fabrication of large and complex aerospace components.” The other partners in this venture are Aerosud, a South African-based aerospace manufacturer and the more well-known Airbus. CSIR provides… Continue reading Gigantic Titanium Printing: Aeroswift
AirBus Envisions Gigantic 3D Printer?
The designers at Airbus propose creating a giant 80m x 80m 3D printer to produce entire aircraft. Whoa, that’s a near-outrageous statement, but it appears in an article published in Forbes, where Airbus seems to have a rationalization for such a project: their future visions cannot be easily made with conventional manufacturing approaches, as you… Continue reading AirBus Envisions Gigantic 3D Printer?
Flying a 3D Printed Airplane
3D printed parts have been in production aircraft for some years now, but what about printing an Entire Aircraft? That’s what researchers Andy Keane and Jim Scanlan from the University of Southampton achieved. The 2 metre wingspan unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) has both impressive design and performance: Almost 100Mph (160Kph) flight speed Near silent… Continue reading Flying a 3D Printed Airplane
Fabricating UAVs
UAVs, or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, seem to be slowly taking over air forces around the world. It turns out that a key contributor to some of these vehicles is Laser Sintered parts. Many parts can be fabricated using this technology, and they are “stable in hot environments and are tough, pliable, and robust in harsh… Continue reading Fabricating UAVs