MINNEAPOLIS, Minn.—A recently unveiled, full-scale turbo-prop aircraft engine model, featuring a 10-foot long engine and propeller blade span of 10.5 feet, has reportedly set a new precedent for the size of models that can be produced using 3D printing. The model, said to indicate the potential of 3D printing while demonstrating how far 3D printing has advanced, is reported to be the world’s first full-scale turbo-prop aircraft engine model. It was produced using Stratasys FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling®) technology and unveiled at the annual Autodesk user conference in Las Vegas last December.
The engine, designed using Autodesk Inventor 2010 mechanical design and engineering software, was produced on Fortus 3D Production Systems and Dimension 3D Printers from Stratasys. In a statement released at the conference, Autodesk’s Gonzalo Martinez, office of the CTO, said that the use of Inventor software with FDM technology “takes design innovation to an entirely new level of sophistication,” and that the full-scale engine model shows that “with FDM, you can create realistic 3D models of nearly any design.”
The engine’s gear box includes two sets of gears, which operate two sets of propellers that move in counter rotation to each other. With an engine length of over 10 feet, a blade-span of 10.5 feet, and 188 components, the engine model is massive in size. It includes several large parts, such as six propeller blades, each measuring 4.5 feet.
According to Stratasys, building the physical model with FDM reportedly helped improve its design by identifying four opportunities to make components fit or operate with better precision. The turbo-prop engine was designed by Nino Caldarola, a freelance designer for Autodesk. He shared his concept with Autodesk, who wanted to bring a full-scale model to life using Inventor software and FDM technology. Caldarola’s design, said to be a hybrid of newer engine and classic engine design, was partially inspired by the Piaggio Avanti II aircraft engine, the TP 500. Caldarola worked with engineers at RedEye On Demand (www.redeyeondemand.com) prototyping and production service, a business unit of Stratasys, to make adjustments that would ensure an accurate physical model.
All 188 components were reportedly produced in 4 weeks and assembled in 2.5 weeks, resulting in a total production time of 6.5 weeks. Stratasys says that manufacturers using conventional fabrication processes “would expect to spend 9 months or more producing a model like this.”
With conventional fabrication processes, the full gearbox assembly would be composed of metal. For this turbo-prop model, the components were produced from ABS plastic, which provided the strength to support the large, heavy gear assembly. The model was built in Minneapolis and shipped across the country, which made a tough, durable construction material essential.
“It was spectacular seeing my computer design brought to life with a 3D model,” says Caldarola. “I worked under a tight timeline and across geographies with both Stratasys and Autodesk, and I am very proud of the collaborative process and result. Just a few years ago, a project of this scale would have never been attempted.”
“This project shows that 3D printing has made the progression to large format,” said Stratasys CEO, Scott Crump. “Hopefully, this project will help make manufacturers aware that a designer can conceive and design a product this significant, and then have it physically modeled in about 6 weeks.”
After creating complex models with additive fabrication, manufacturers can then use the CAD files to create perfect-mating jigs and fixtures to support production processes. “Having a full-scale physical model is a powerful communication tool for both the production-machining and production-tool-creation processes,” says Crump. “And manufacturers can realize incredible ROI for both of these processes.”
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