Building Planes with 3D Printers
It is a known fact that 3D printing is the next biggest invention after the web and in near future it will be possible to create objects of any shape and size using this technology. Guitars, Car parts, blood vessels, organs, and even apparels are being manufactured with the help of 3D technology. It is only a matter of time before the 3D printers become large enough to print or to be more precise create large sized objects like the Airplane or even a space craft.
A brain child of the Airbus cabin engineer Bastian Schaefer who has been working on the idea for the last two years and designing the cabins of airplanes of the future. However the 3D printers which are going to be used tom manufacture such huge structures will have to be incredibly big. The biggest 3D printer of present times is the size of a dining table. This may seem a distant call and may not be possible in present times. However Airbus has plans in the pipeline to fully manufacture its planes using 3D printing technology by the year 2050.
However why is Airbus industry going for the manufacture of its planes by the 3D printing process? Well there are two reasons ; one is the considerable cost cutting and second is that the designs of the future planes from Airbus is so complicated and intricate that there would have to be a revolutionary change in the manufacturing process. The plane which Airbus intends to build would be just out of a science fiction flick. The aircraft will have a curved fuselage, a bionic structure and the outer skin will be transparent since it will be made with composites giving the passengers the view of the sky and all its elements like the sun, moon, clouds and stars. The 3D printer which will make it happen will be huge. It will be 80 by 80 meters, as big as a football field.
The biggest challenges which are faced by the 3D printing technology are the exorbitant costs which are involved. There are many hurdles which Airbus will have to clear before its dream becomes a reality. It will have to get through the stringent safety regulations before it can get into the process. This fact is only well known to Airbus and it has started in a small way by making certain cabin brackets using 3D printing. 3D technology is also extensively being used in the manufacture of fighter jets and the latest example is the Euro fighter Typhoon which has been equipped with a 3D printed air conditioners. In future 3D technology will have a big role to play in the Aero Space industry.
Our Rapid Prototyping Services include SLA, SLS, FDM, 3D Printing, DLP, Polyjet, 3d scanner, Direct Metal Laser sintering technologies etc with a rich and successful past of helping companies to save thousands of dollars in product designs, rapid prototyping and 3D scanning needs.
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