Already using Big Area Additive Manufacturing (BAAM) to 3D print houses and cars with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and Local Motors, Cincinnati Incorporated is utilizing their extremely large format printer to produce vehicles adept for the land, sea, and air. Alongside a BAAM machine itself, Cincinnati Incorporated will be showcasing a full-sized Shelby Cobra, a scaled fighter aircraft, a kayak, and a Printed Utility Vehicle at this year’s Fabtech 2015, taking place in Chicago, Illinois, from November 9th to the 12th.
The BAAM machine used by Cincinnati Incorporated to manufacturer the Fabtech displays has a vast work envelope of 8 x 20 x 6ft, and has a heavy-duty extrusion rate of 100lbs/hr. Their BAAM machine is geared towards commercial applications, printing in numerous types of thermoplastics such as carbon and glass fiber reinforced ABS material (made by thermoplastic material manufacturer SABIC). A steel chassis and advanced linear drive motors make up the base of the BAAM machine, which extrudes various thermoplastics layer by layer in a large-scale format. Take the 12-foot kayak for example, which is produced with a mixture of materials in order to give it a sturdy and polished look.
“The kayak display will be shown as 1/3 raw additive material (ABS carbon fiber), 1/3 filled with gel coat, and 1/3 finished and painted, demonstrating the phases of finishing 3D printed parts,” says President and CEO of Cincinnati Incorporated Carey Chen. “These displays will have a huge ‘wow’ factor at the show because they show how large-part additive manufacturing can be applied in our daily lives.”
The other vehicles that will be displayed have already made headlines in the 3D printing community and mainstream press. The 3D printed Shelby Cobra was first unveiled when President Barack Obama presented a recent manufacturing initiative in Tennessee earlier this year. The Printed Utility Vehicle was shown off in September by ORNL as a part of their larger Additive Manufacturing Integrated Energy (AMIE) project.
The BAAM machine to be displayed at Fabtech will be a smaller scaled model (work envelope of 65”x140”x34” and extrusion rate of 38lbs/hr), and will be printing parts with SABIC’s ABS-carbon fiber material, which is the same material source used to 3D print the Shelby Cobra, kayak, aircraft, and the PUV. Fabtech 2015 attendees will have the opportunity to see one of these BAAM printers in action and also witness the result of utilizing this large-scale printing method to create vehicles fit for the land, sea, and sky. Cincinnati Incorporated and their BAAM system has a big implication on how large-scale additive manufacturing techniques will eventually shape the automobile, aerospace, and marine vehicle industries, just to name a few.
