Robot 3D Prints a 500-Pound Replacement Part

For a cracked bearing housing on an industrial mixer, obtaining a replacement casting would have entailed considerable delay. Welding technology company Lincoln Electric uses the mixer, and others just like it, to make flux - a granulate used in welding. The company turned to its own Lincoln Electric Additive Solutions to use wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM), which involves metal deposition using a robot, to produce the 500-pound carbon steel component. WAAM’s capabilities for reorienting the part during deposition allowed for 3D printing the form without support structures, and additive manufacturing allowed for a design improvement to the part that will carry through to other flux mixer bearing housings that soon will also be replaced via WAAM. Learn more about The Cool Parts Show’s biggest metal AM part yet in our 50th episode.
This episode brought to you by Carpenter Additive. www.carpenteradditive.com/
#engineering #manufacturing

[@kidpiper9642]

They turned a mig welder into a 3D printer....... neat.

[@a.barrera5439]

Do they clean between each layer of weld?

[@Clasticon73i]

Not if you flood the print area with shielding gas

[@fusionsvt00]

WAAM