♪ music ♪ (steve krafft, reporting) here's a 3d printer it makes precision parts out of titanium powder this machine cost $1.2 million but before we get to this 3d printer let's check out this one it's a lot cheaper, and it makes things out of plastic like this incredibly cool fox 10 logo when you spin it, you can see the 10 on each end, and fox in the middle
how did the folks at titan industries in tempe make it? they started with a computer to make the design (joe manzo) so that part, we digitally made a block and then we made a "fox" and a "10" projections that we cut away the material in order to make that complex design (printer whirrs) (steve krafft, reporting) the printer follows the computer's instructions one super thin layer at a time
(joe manzo) so, 3d printing is as a term for a bunch of processes that essentially is manufactured direct from a digital file layer by layer, to build the part as opposed to taking a block of material and cutting away we build it additively, layer by layer (steve krafft) it's kind of like putting a bunch of wafers on top of each other? (joe manzo) yeah. it's like a 2d printer sheets and sheets of each cross-section
stacking them up in a three-dimensional card (steve krafft, reporting) the fox 10 piece took the printer three hours to make and it came out great same with this tiny plastic drone titan industries also made, using a 3d printer check it out (drone clicks, buzzes) (steve krafft, reporting) computer designed, controlled from a smartphone it even does flips on command making something this sophisticated, that's how precise 3d printers are
ok. now, let's get to this giant $1.2 million titanium powder 3d printer titan industries has teamed up with lai international precision parts maker what they're doing here is taking a special metal powder - titanium powder just as strong as steel, but only weights half as much an electron beam turns a tiny bit of that titanium powder, into metal (brian vetere) so inside, it get to about 3,500 degrees (steve krafft) 3,500 degrees?(brian vetere) yes. (steve krafft) that's like the - is that like the surface of the sun? (brian vetere) surface of the sun is a little bit warmerbut close
(steve krafft) that's crazy hotbrian vetere) it is. yes (steve krafft) and what does it do with all that heat? (brian vetere) melts metal (steve krafft, reporting) this super high-tech 3d printer makes a 90 micron layer that's about the thickness of a human hair layer, after layer, after layer three days later, the part is ready it's inside a bed of powder this "powder recovery system" cleans off the part
titan industries invited me to do the job but first, i had to put on a protective suit they call the "bunny suit" (steve krafft) now that i'm wearing all of this protective gear known as the "bunny suit", of course what i'm doing is blowing all of this titanium dust off of this part that was created with that 3d printer (steve krafft, reporting) the titanium powder is saved for future use and there's the part
parts like these are used on airplanes titan industries says right now one in 2,000 parts in planes is made by 3d printers but get this: in 10 years they expect one out of every three parts will be made this way it's also perfect for space satellites and rockets a good fit for the folks at titan industries (joe manzo) we're formerly rocket scientists and we decided to get into titanium 3d printing
we really specialize our engineering firm on this technology
3d metal printing at home,(steve krafft) you don't have to be a rocket scientist to do this? (joe manzo) you don't have to be(steve krafft) or do you? (joe manzo) but it helps in tempe, steve krafft, fox 10 news
