On this occasion we have to talk about a project related to 3D printing that has been developed and implemented by the researchers and engineers of the Oak Ride National Laboratory, which could be exhibited and demonstrate its capabilities during the celebration of the CONEXPO-COn / AGG of IFPE 2017, an event related to the world of construction where it was shown to the public what is the world's first excavator manufactured using 3D printing. .
As a detail, before continuing, tell you that the machine has not only been developed and manufactured by the Oak Ride National Laboratory, but that it has specified the collaboration from another series of entities such as the National Fluid Power Association, the Association of Equipment Manufacturers, the Center for Compact and Efficient Fluid Power and even the National Science Foundation, all of them top-level organizations located in the United States.
Oak Ride National Laboratory is the architect of the world's first printed excavator.
Apparently, at least that is what appears in the paper that has been officially published, the machine is made up of three different parts:
On the one hand we talk about the cabin, that is, the area where the driver sits and controls all the actions of the excavator. This has been designed by students from the University of Illinois and manufactured at the Oak Ride National Laboratory using its additive manufacturing area, specifically its machines capable of working with carbon fiber reinforced with ABS.
Second we find what would be the boom or shovel arm, this measures about 2,13 meters in length and weighs about 181 kilograms. This element was made entirely of low-cost steel using one of the machines in the Wolf Robotics Pack.
Finally we find the heat exchanger, an element that weighs about 6 kilograms and that has been made entirely of aluminum by one of the Concept Laser X-line machines.