Photo: Astro America
It’s been a while now since 3D printing made its way into the production processes of the automotive industry. Still, the reality is carmakers are just beginning to scratch the surface of what is possible using this tech.
Luckily, the Applied Science & Technology Research Organization (or Astro America), a non-profit that likes to get involved in the nation’s defense industry, believes it has a way of showing just how impressive (and helpful) 3D printing can be in this industry.
Earlier in April, Astro announced it was selected by the U.S. Army to “develop and deliver a hull-scale tool using metal additive manufacturing technology.” In words that make sense to us, that would be coming up with a huge 3D printer that can spit out combat vehicle hulls.
How huge? Well, Astro describes it as the world’s largest metal 3D printer for ground vehicle production, one that will be based on existing technology. What exactly will form the basis of this printer is not known at the moment, but Astro says it will not set about to reinvent the wheel, but scale existing methodologies.
When ready (and this is yet another unknown), the technology, nicknamed Jointless Hull Project, should be able to produce combat vehicle hulls sized 30x20x12 feet (9x6x3.6 meters). That’s about double the size of the current Humvee and might seem a bit exaggerated. Mind you, Astro America’s Principal Investigator, Larry Holmes, confirmed this is indeed so.
“The mission is to develop a large-scale tool capable of producing single, jointless combat vehicle hulls at a near net size of 30ft x 20ft x 12 ft in size,” he said in a statement.
“Additive manufacturing at a massive scale holds the potential to transform the way vehicles are built for the military while reducing supply chain fragility,” he added.
Earlier in April, Astro announced it was selected by the U.S. Army to “develop and deliver a hull-scale tool using metal additive manufacturing technology.” In words that make sense to us, that would be coming up with a huge 3D printer that can spit out combat vehicle hulls.
How huge? Well, Astro describes it as the world’s largest metal 3D printer for ground vehicle production, one that will be based on existing technology. What exactly will form the basis of this printer is not known at the moment, but Astro says it will not set about to reinvent the wheel, but scale existing methodologies.
When ready (and this is yet another unknown), the technology, nicknamed Jointless Hull Project, should be able to produce combat vehicle hulls sized 30x20x12 feet (9x6x3.6 meters). That’s about double the size of the current Humvee and might seem a bit exaggerated. Mind you, Astro America’s Principal Investigator, Larry Holmes, confirmed this is indeed so.
“The mission is to develop a large-scale tool capable of producing single, jointless combat vehicle hulls at a near net size of 30ft x 20ft x 12 ft in size,” he said in a statement.
“Additive manufacturing at a massive scale holds the potential to transform the way vehicles are built for the military while reducing supply chain fragility,” he added.
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