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Melbourne additive manufacturing company SPEE3D has cooperated with the US Marine Corps to 3D-print critical parts in the field.
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The company successfully participated in the Marine Corps Annual Integrated Training Exercise (ITX) in July this year.
During the live fire exercise, the company’s WarpSPEE3D large-format metal 3D printer was deployed to print crucial parts that were broken, brought from ground support at the Marine Corps Air Station in California, and then flown to the live fire Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in California.
The metal 3D printer uses cold spray additive manufacturing to produce fast and scalable production from within a portable metal shipping container.
“Our involvement in ITX 4-23 is yet another testament to our commitment to partnering with the military worldwide to provide the best outcomes for rapidly printing 3D metal parts where they are needed the most; near the warfighter,” said Chris Harris, SPEE3D America defence vice-president.
“It's an honour to be invited, and we look forward to working with the United States Marines Corps for future training events.”
Chris Curran, Consortium for Additive Manufacturing Research and Education program manager, said the technology was impactful because of the ability to produce parts in a matter of hours, not days.
“For two consecutive weeks during Integrated Training Exercise 4-23 with the US Marine Corps Forces Reserve, SPEE3D repeatedly demonstrated their ability to 3D-print metal replacement parts, outdoors, in an expeditionary environment,” he said.
