b'Additive Approach chanical properties that make it achallenge, and Jimmy took that on suitable material for titanium ma- and spent a long time optimizing the chining, such as a higher hot hard- deposition conditions, Dowey said.Sutton Tools and a senior lecturerness and resistance to thermal soft- To overcome the issues he faced and industry fellow at RMIT Univer- ening than all high-speed steelin getting the deposited metal sity, said Toton targeted a substrategrades, Toton added. layers to print properly and bond material that provides an intermedi- Printing with the material, how- strongly, Toton noted he employed ate high hot hardness between HSSever,wasnteasy.Creatingahigh-temperature substrate heat-and carbide. straight, long, thin cylinder withouting to manipulate solid-state trans-The substrate has thermome- any defects was quite an interestingformations with a microstructure during printing and prevent crack On-Site Training | Modular Fixturing Specialists | Lifetime Warrantyformation.Allofoptimizationofprint-ing doesnt come in the manual, PRODUCTIVITY Dowey said, adding that manufac-PRODUCTIVITY MINUSMINUSturers of additive equipment are THE COMPROMISE. becoming better at providing more THE COMPROMISE. information. It is a bit of a dark art.RMIT University Once the tool blank is 3D-printed via laser metal deposition, it is centerless-ground, and then the tools features are produced on a CNC grinder.While a conventional sintered blank might be 98% dense, Dowey said the 3D-printed blanks are fully dense. But that difference didnt cre-ate any issues when Sutton produced the tools. It was pretty straightfor-ward to make a cutting tool from it, he said, noting that about five tools were made. We followed conven-tional grinding practices.When reducing setup time is critical and precision is non-negotiable; ourDowey added that the selected xturing system is more than just tabletop accessories like toe clamps,tool geometry isnt one thats op-cap screws and parallel blocks.With our engineering support you havetimized for machining titanium but the ultimate xturing system for nearly any part that goes into a CNCone thats effective for cutting a va-machining center. riety of materials to demonstrate an Creating make-shift xturing reducesaccuracy signicantly and eliminatesthe ability to replicate results. Blucosxturing can be rebuilt a month, a year contributorsor a decade later to pinpoint accuracy.Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology+61 3 9925 2000www.rmit.edu.auModular Fixturing Visit BLUCO.com | Call 800-535-0135Sutton Tools Pty. Ltd.+61 3 9280 0800www.suttontools.com50JULY 2019 Titanium.indd 50 6/17/19 10:30 AM'