Available in the UK through MT Squared, Gefertec technology employs the 3DMP method of additive manufacturing of metal parts and is the first to offer machining centres based on this technology.
Image caption, from L: Rolf Philipp (owner and managing director, Aircraft Philipp Übersee); Toni Liedl (general manager, Aircraft Philipp Übersee); Florian Kaulfuß (3DMP process technician, Aircraft Philipp Übersee), Thomas Kögler (sales & service, Gefertec)
3DMP combines arc welding method with CAD data, using the company’s bespoke software that takes CAD data and converts it into individual digital printing layers. After the build, a 3D scan checks quality, with this followed by milling to produce the finished part.
Says Rolf Philipp, founder and owner of Aircraft Philipp Übersee: “Developing new aircrafts nowadays requires a radical change in thinking, with regards to meeting climate targets and resource-optimised production. Applying this method will lead to radically improved buy-to-fly ratios and will, thus, contribute a great deal to economic and ecologic efficiency in future.”
A long-standing metalcutting company, Aircraft Philipp has for more than three years worked with this welding technology and is the co-ordinator in the joint research project REGULUS as part of the fifth aerospace research programme of the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy. The company can also build on additive manufacturing experience using powder beds at its Salzburg, Austria facilities. The Gefertec arc605 will be installed at its Übersee premises in Bavaria.
