possible; one lab is currently at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan and another lab is at Camp Arifan, Kuwait.
Each lab is built into a 20-foot shipping container and two ISU-90 contain- ers, customized containers that hold a 3-D printer, supporting equipment and a computer-aided design (CAD) work- station. CAD is used to create virtual working models before they are sent to a 3-D printer. Once a design is perfected, it will be stored in an enterprisewide product data management (ePDM) sys- tem that RDECOM and the U.S. Army Materiel Command are creating. Other organizations will have access to the ePDM, fostering data-sharing and elimi- nating the need to make every design from scratch. Te labs are also stocked with traditional tools, equipment and software to design and fabricate metal and plastic parts.
“Te labs have an open-door policy so the Soldier can come in and describe his mission capability shortfalls, and the [Ex Lab] team immediately starts brain- storming ideas and solutions,” said Angel Cruz, RDECOM Ex Lab project lead. “If the item doesn’t work or fit right the first time, then the [Ex Lab] team can revise the design on the spot. AM allows us to produce different iterations of a solution very quickly in order to get it just right.”
Te on-site Ex Lab team includes an REF noncommissioned officer in charge, an RDECOM lead engineer, a support engineer and a machinist. Together, they develop solutions using textiles, elec- tronics, subtractive manufacturing and additive manufacturing. AM is used for parts that are difficult to machine or as a substitute for parts that would nor- mally be made using injection molding, which is expensive and requires special- ized equipment. Other projects require
MAKING IT BETTER
Angel Cruz, a mechanical engineer who is RDECOM’s Ex Lab project lead, displays an Ex Lab project to improve the infrared beacons issued to Soldiers for identification, recovery and site marking. Soldiers approached the Ex Lab to design an adapter for the beacon that included an on-off switch, provided mounting tabs and enabled quick, one-finger operation. The design went through several iterations as a result of the requesting unit’s feedback. (U.S. Army photo by Conrad Johnson, RDECOM)
traditional manufacturing or subtractive manufacturing, which takes away mate- rial by cutting, grinding, milling and other methods.
When the Ex Lab cannot complete the work because of a lack of subject mat- ter expertise, required supplies or time to complete the project, RDECOM’s Edgewood Chemical Biological Center provides reachback support across the RDECOM network of engineers, scien- tists and technicians.
RDECOM plans to develop AM in three phases. Phase one will use AM to repair or replace existing parts. Phase two will reduce multipart assemblies from a series of parts to one part. For example, the receiver on a machine gun comprises tita- nium parts that are welded together in a multipart assembly; the goal is to print all of the parts as one part using AM, thereby reducing the number of parts and cost. Phase three will use AM to cre- ate new parts that don’t already exist.
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