ADDITIVE @ FORD
Here's a look at
how additive
technology is
being thought
of—and used—
at Ford.
by Gary S. Vasilash
> Editor-In-Chief
This is a Shelby printed by the
Department of Energy's Manufacturing
Demonstration Facility at Oak Ridge
National Laboratory (ORNL) with the
Big Area Additive Manufacturing
(BAAM) machine, jointly developed by
ORNL and machine builder Cincinnati
Inc. (e-ci.com). Ellen Lee of Ford cites
this project as a positive indicator
of the potential of additive for the
automotive industry. She points out,
however, "they did have to do a lot of
post-processing." (The Class A surfaces
were achieved by work performed by
TruDesign [trudesign.net].)
"We do have a considerable array of
commercial- and professional-grade
equipment," Lee says. They have selec-
tive laser sintering (SLS), stereolitho-
graphy (SLA), fused deposition modeling
(FDM), and direct-metal power printing.
Of the last, Lee says that most of those
metal printers are in Europe, although
they are starting to use the technology
in North America.
"We also have some binder jet printing
of sand where we have produced sand
testing molds to make prototypes."
NO STRANGER TO
THE TECHNOLOGY.
"We at Ford have been using additive
manufacturing for over 25 years," Ellen
Lee, Team Leader, Additive Manufactur-
ing Research, Ford Motor Co. says.
Admittedly, much of the early work was
done on the classic rapid prototyping
application, the creation of models. But
subsequently, the applications have
expanded in scope, as has the array of
equipment that they have on hand to
produce models—and parts.
AD&P; > June 2015 > FEATURE > Additive @ Ford > Gary S. Vasilash > gsv@autofeldguide.com
32