The ElemX printer is modular, and after operating aboard Essex during the RIMPAC 2022 multi-national fleet exercise last summer, the CONEX box was transferred to USS Boxer (LHD 4) to continue the evaluation. Now the Navy has installed two different kinds of metal 3D printers on Navy ships, with an aluminum system on the west coast, and a stainless steel system on the east coast.Ī Xerox Elem Additive Solutions ElemX liquid metal 3D printer was delivered in a container aboard USS Essex (LHD 2) in July 2022, becoming the first metal additive manufacturing machine installed on a U.S. The feedback we were getting from the fleet is that they need larger metal parts,” said Jim Pluta, additive manufacturing (AM) program manager at Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA). “We've been using polymer plastic printers on ships and submarines for several years, but they are essentially desktop units that make relatively small plastic parts. Many ships have 3D printers that make relatively small plastic parts. Imagine not having to carry multiple spare parts for every piece of equipment, or having to rely on a lengthy supply chain to get urgently needed parts from a supply depot.ĭesktop 3D printers are widely available, starting at about $300 for a home system. While there are many things one can do with AM, such as rapid prototyping, the holy grail has been the ability to fabricate parts at sea to repair things quickly. Printing repair parts on demand can save time, lower costs and reduce the need to carry extensive parts inventories. AM provides a flexible source of supply in being able to make parts instead of ordering them and waiting for them to arrive, especially for warships at the far end of the supply chain. For the Navy, it’s not practical to carry every replacement part for every system on a ship, and it can be difficult to forecast if or when parts will fail. Navy has long valued the potential of additive manufacturing (AM) and 3D Printing.ĪM refers to the depositing of material layer by layer to create an object.
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