Here at 3D Rapid Print, one of the fastest growing 3D Printing companies in the Thames Valley, we like to keep abreast of the latest innovations in 3D printing.
On June 25th 2020, metal 3D printing specialists SPEE3D of Melbourne, Australia announced that their WarpSPEE3D 3D printer had been successfully trialled during an Australian Army field training exercise in the country’s Northern Territory. Circa a week after being installed at Robertson Barracks earlier that month, the WarpSPEE3D was transported to the Mount Bundey field training area 120km (75 miles) south east of Darwin for a 3-day-long experiment. There, it was moved between various locations and unloaded onto different terrains, with SPEE3D proclaiming that it was ready to print within half an hour of arriving at each test location.
SPEE3D contend that the WarpSPEE3D is unlike any other previous 3D printer of its kind, proclaiming that it can make metal parts at record-breaking speeds via firing metallic powders at speeds of up to Mach 3 onto a substrate attached to a robotic arm, such that the kinetic energy of the collision causes the powders to bind together. In November 2019 at the annual 3D printing exhibition Formnext, SPEE3D claimed to have set a world record using this technology, 3D printing a copper sledgehammer weighing circa a kilogram in just 10 minutes and 2 seconds.
Other examples of the military using 3D printing to speed up the replacement part supply chain include the French Army in Mali under Operation Barkhane, as well as the U.S. Marine Corps in the Middle East. (Operation Barkhane refers to an anti-insurgent operation led by the French military against militant Islamist extremist groups in Africa’s Sahel region, which has been ongoing since August 2014.)
3D printing is an amazing tool. It can grow your small business or start a mini revolution in an industry. Explore what it can do for you when you contact us today.
Disclaimer: Featured image of “WW2 Australian Army” (as it is known on Wikimedia Commons) was taken from Flickr’s The Commons and has no known copyright restrictions. (On Flickr it is known as “[Australian troops on parade, World War II].”) It is nonetheless attributed to the National Library Of Australia.
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