Once a pipe dream and then a novelty, additive manufacturing (AM) has come a long way in the world of custom machined products. Building up layers of plastic or metal to create a part or tool is an innovative way of doing things – but it’s practicality has yet to be determined.
Piping Supplies Inc., a turn-key solution for pipe flanges and specialty machined parts when you need a small and responsive firm, is more than happy to consider AM as a future offering. At present, this sector of engineering and manufacturing is still proving its worth. As a flange manufacturer, it’s our job to stay on top of the latest technology and AM certainly falls into that category. The question remains: is it still too early to start using this untested technology for our products?
The public has largely been introduced to AM via 3D printers that produce small plastic components. Even if the final product is a small toy or knick-knack, it still represents a powerful design process. Plans produced with computer-aided-design (CAD) software can then be fed to a 3D printer to make individual objects. The layer-upon-layer construction of individual parts is unique to AM. With a focus on the design aspect and an eye for reducing waste, it’s a modernized revolution to the factory assembly lines seen a century ago.
Piping Supplies Inc., which specializes in steel and alloy pipe flanges, is also cognizant of the simplicity in the design and revision process. Updating CAD files to tweak a product is the perfect job for the tech-savvy workforce of tomorrow. What’s more, the tools required to produce objects made through AM are becoming more budget-friendly. This allows a flange manufacturer considering this avenue to begin marketing smaller runs of products – be it pipe flanges or other pipe making supplies. According to PTC.com, an industrial advisory firm, “nothing beats additive manufacturing for speed and economy” when making low-quantity products. Moreover, on-demand printing of objects “removes the need for warehouse space, personnel, and piles of obsolete parts.” Piping Supplies Inc. is proud to help clients who come to us with requests for custom and specialty-machined flanges. Knowing that overall roundness and bolt holes of these unique orders match exact specifications is why people choose us.
Times have changed. The machinist making small adjustments to a lathe when carving a part out of solid metal helped shape the future. Time will tell if that future is rampant with 3D printers churning out objects made through AM. For now, Piping Supplies Inc. will continue to consider this technology as a possible option when clients come to us with one-off projects for custom machined parts.