The issue of spare parts and replacement parts may be a major issue for all defense forces, especially , Indian 3D printing service provider think3D reports that this has been a serious issue plaguing the Indian Navy.
Many of the machines present within the Navy are very old and, in most cases, these machines were imported. This has led to inconsistent and inadequate supply of spare parts, with long delays whenever a neighborhood gets damaged and wishes to get replaced .
Keeping the whole machine idle till the spare parts get replaced is costing Navy tons . to unravel this issue, the Indian Navy finally decided to show to AM technologies to urge the spare parts 3D printed and replaced on demand.
think3D has supplied various 3D printed spare parts to the Indian Navy and these spare parts are successfully tested and incorporated into several machines, especially , to unravel the Navy’s long-pending need for quick replacement of the pump impellers on board the ships.
During this particular case, think3D used 3D scanning to accumulate the 3D data and HP’s multijet fusion technology 3D print the part. The settings were thoroughly analyzed and modified to print the spare desired mechanical properties.
The part was then CNC machined and a metal bushing was inserted to make an interface between metal rod and plastic component. The part was then successfully tested within the real environment for the specified number of hours. Now the opposite major issue being faced by the Indian Navy is parts undergoing damage when the ship is off-shore.
In such scenarios, there's no way for the parts to get replaced on-demand. Either the parts are air-lifted to the ship or the ship is brought back to shore for fitting the parts. Both these scenarios are highly undesirable and price tons of your time and money for the Indian Navy.
To unravel this major issue, think3D and therefore the Indian Navy together deliberated an approach to possess a 3D printer mounted on the ship with the CAD designs of the spare parts pre-loaded into the machine in order that the operator can 3D Print the parts on-demand.
Thanks to the roll and pitch of the ship and constant vibration, operating a 3D printer on-board a ship features a different set of requirements than operating an equivalent machine on-shore. think3D is now closely collaborating with the Indian Navy to develop a custom system to satisfy this demand.
