Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/674548
I DA U N I V E R S A L M ay -J u n e 2 0 1 6 11 LEGAL LINE Robert W. McIntyre IDA Association Legal Counsel Continued on page 52 A t a recent ConExpo, I noted that a trend with GET manufac- turers, and many others, is to provide samples of "heavy" products made of lightweight resins by 3-D printing technology. As in most emerging technologies, it is moving with the speed of money, and what was prohibitively expensive a few years ago is now a sub-$1,000 desktop gadget. is technology is shockingly simple: design an object in Solid- Works or similar 3-D engineering so ware, or scan in an object, like a piston or GET, with a CAT scan, laser probe or contact probe measuring system, and create the object digitally in a fi le. is fi le is then sent to the 3-D printer, which replicates the designed or scanned in object with a high degree of accuracy. How did this all start, and what new issues and potential problems has this fast-moving technology created? At the beginning, the technology and the hardware to use it was "OEM expensive" and was limited to using a light source to sequen- tially fuse thousands of thin layers of specially-treated paper together into a solid form, with the "shavings" falling away. OEM uses were to make paper engine blocks and heads to prove designs or to create manifolds and similar complex shapes in physical forms. is technology, which has been signifi cantly improved and expanded, is still being used for topographic maps and architec- ture. It now is accessible for under $5,000. e next step was aiming a laser into a pool of resin and solidifying the "design" as the laser traced the computer-driven image into a solid model of the image in the computer, a half millimeter line at a time. is was excruciatingly slow and, essentially, only useful for making toys or models of real objects, because the resins used, which reacted to the laser, had severely limited strength. Again, this technology was incredibly costly at the beginning, but now is in the sub-$1500 category. While the foregoing technologies and hardware have both improved far beyond their beginnings and cut the costs to a "hobby" level, the limitations of the strength of the material formed into the 3-D object still confi ne the concept to model or demonstration uses. While this part of the 3-D world continues to be incredibly valuable for prototyping and modeling, the next step – actually creating working parts in 3-D – is what now challenges today's technical and legal thinkers. Today, ready-to-fi nish, or even ready-to-install, parts made of metal, reinforced resins, and ceramics are coming on stream, and manufacturing costs are heading for the basement. How does this happen, and what are the implications for our industry? Let's start with "improved" resins. Still a liquid "plastic" material that fuses into a solid a er being bombarded with a laser, the diff erence is the discovery of stronger and more heat-resistant resins and the micro-dispersion of reinforcing materials, like carbon fi ber, Kevlar, s-glass, metal powders, and nano-reinforcements. e results are parts that can be made without molds, dies, molding machines and other similar machinery, in small numbers, for specialized uses... aerospace, motorsports, military and so on. Stunning examples are the complex and convoluted exhaust port to turbo manifolds, made out of a brew of metal, ceramic, carbon fi bers and resin for Formula One power units – designs so complex that they are not possible to make from metal tubing. Next up are static and dynamic ceramics, with static being parts that don't move, like fi xtures, insulators, housings and the like. Dynamic can be turbine wheels for turbos, pump impel- lers, and other parts that will live in hostile places. In this applica- tion, ceramics are mixed with a resin, "printed" into the shape needed and the resin baked out, leaving a 100 percent ceramic part that is 100.0000 percent on design dimensions and specifi ca- tions and can be made in reason- able quantities. The New Dimension