3D Printing
News Videos Newsletter Contact us
Home / News / General Atomics Launch First 3D Printed Metal Parts
qidi

General Atomics Launch First 3D Printed Metal Parts

May 27, 2020

Drone manufacturer General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) has teamed up with GE Additive to develop their first metal printed component. The whole process from development to first test flight of the component took just six months.

The part in question is a NACA inlet printed in Titanium Ti6Al4V and was fitted to a SkyGuardian drone, where it completed its first test flight in February 2020.

The inlet was printed using laser powder bed fusion techniques, and was part of a project aimed at demonstrating rapid development and manufacture of a flight worthy component in an aggressive timeline. Given that the component was designed and flown in just a few months, we can say the mission has been somewhat of a success, given the traditional timeframe of developing and qualifying aerospace components (which can take many years normally.)

“We know firsthand that the ability to secure buy-in from multiple cross-functional stakeholders is often critical to the success of any metal additive program within an organization,” said Lauren Thompson, operations project manager at GE Additive AddWorks.

“By adding GE’s prior experience and perspective to the GA-ASI’s internal leadership efforts, the joint team was able to reach the required project momentum in order to meet their milestone”

“Combining our deep domain expertise of metal additive and best practices from our own additive journey with GA-ASI’s equally deep domain expertise of their RPA applications allowed us to move quickly and work within the timelines we had set.”

Related Story
GE Additive to Consult GA-ASI Aeronautics on Metal Printing

More Parts

Since partnering with GE Additive, he GA-ASI AM team has identified a pool of suitable components for metal additive manufacturing that could prove economically beneficial if they switched from traditional manufacturing methods to AM.

The NACA inlet was selected as the first 3D-printed part for the SkyGuardian program, likely due to its geometry and lack of criticality.

Inlet Redux

The original inlet was manufactured from three parts of welded formed sheet metal Titanium. The revised version is printed from one piece on a GE Additive Concept Laser M2 3D printer, and has resulted in a cost reduction per part of more than 90%, weight reduction of over 30%, and tooling reduction of approximately 85%. Reducing the parts count in this manner also has additional benefits including reduced inventory, reduced assembly costs and faster turnaround time.

General Atomics skyguardian inlet redux 3d printed

The teams at General Atomics are so impressed with these engineering gains, they have begun to apply the AM workflows to the other NACA inlets in the range of products, and have also ordered a dozen of the GE Additive Concept Laser M2 3D series 5 machines.

“With the GE Additive AddWorks team, we were able not only to achieve our short term objective of qualifying the NACA inlet, but we also worked together on a number of additional application development and qualification efforts, which are continuing into 2020 and beyond,” said Elie Yehezkel, senior vice president of Advanced Manufacturing Technologies for GA-ASI.

“It is important that we remain at the leading edge of manufacturing technologies for our products and our customers. This acceleration has driven the maturation of our metal AM strategy and has also informed how we plan to approach a much wider application space already in the pipeline.”

Images & video courtesy of General Atomics

Related Story
Metal 3D Printing: An Overview of the Most Common Types
Designing for Additive Manufacturing DFAM
Related Story
Designing For Additive Manufacturing (DFAM)
Share:
WhatsApp Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Buffer Reddit E-mail
About the author | Phillip Keane
Phillip is an aerospace engineer from UK. He is a graduate of Coventry University (UK), International Space University (France) and Nanyang Technological University (Singapore), where he studied Advanced Manufacturing at the Singapore Centre for 3D Printing.
Join our newsletter

Our newsletter is free & you can unsubscribe any time.

Latest posts

3D-Printed Insects Help Scientists Map the Limits of Mimicry in Nature

Researchers at the University of Nottingham have developed a method to 3D print life-sized, color-accurate insect models for biological research. The team, led... read more »

Environmental

University of Hong Kong Scientists Explore Growing Organs with 3D Printing Technology

Researchers at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) are working to combine 3D-printed respiratory tissue with lab-grown organoids to create functional airways for... read more »

Bioprinting
University of Hong Kong Scientists Explore Growing Organs with 3D Printing Technology

SHINING 3D Unveils EinScan Rigil with Tri-Mode Scanning for Pro-Level Flexibility

SHINING 3D has launched its newest flagship 3D scanner, the EinScan Rigil — touted as the world’s first 3D scanner featuring Tri-Mode operation... read more »

News
SHINING 3D Unveils EinScan Rigil with Tri-Mode Scanning for Pro-Level Flexibility

ETH Zurich 3D Prints Recycled Plastic Structure for Swiss Ice Cream Shop

ETH Zurich students have completed a 3D-printed ice cream shop in the Swiss Alpine village of Mulegns. The project, called Gelateria, was designed... read more »

Construction
ETH Zurich 3D Prints Recycled Plastic Structure for Swiss Ice Cream Shop

Hugo Launches 3D Printed Loafers with Zellerfeld

Hugo, the younger brand under Hugo Boss, has partnered with 3D printing company Zellerfeld to create a fully 3D-printed loafer. The shoe is... read more »

Fashion
Hugo Launches 3D Printed Loafers with Zellerfeld

3D Printed Resin Combines Rubber Flexibility with Plastic Strength, Surprising Scientists

Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin have developed a 3D printing method that can create objects with both soft and hard... read more »

News
3D Printed Resin Combines Rubber Flexibility with Plastic Strength, Surprising Scientists

LPE Supports Queen’s Propulsion Laboratory with 3D Printed Rocket Engine Chamber

Students at Queen's University Belfast have developed what they describe as Ireland's first student-built liquid rocket engine. The Kelvin Mk.1, named after Belfast-born... read more »

3D Printing Metal
LPE Supports Queen’s Propulsion Laboratory with 3D Printed Rocket Engine Chamber

Dassault Systèmes and Patrick Jouin Unveil New 3D Printed Chair

Dassault Systèmes and French designer Patrick Jouin have unveiled Ta.Tamu, a 3D-printed chair developed using the company's 3DEXPERIENCE platform. The project represents a... read more »

News
Dassault Systèmes and Patrick Jouin Unveil New 3D Printed Chair

Endemic Architecture Debuts 3D Printed Homes in Rural California

A development of five 3D-printed homes called Corduroy Castles is currently under construction in Olivehurst, California, a rural town in Yuba County located... read more »

Construction
Endemic Architecture Debuts 3D Printed Homes in Rural California

Social

  • Facebook Facebook 3D Printing
  • Linkedin Linkedin 3D Printing
Join our newsletter

Our newsletter is free & you can unsubscribe any time.

Featured Industries

  • Automotive
  • Aerospace
  • Construction
  • Dental
  • Environmental
  • Electronics
  • Fashion
  • Medical
  • Military
  • Snapmaker Artisan Premium 3-in-1

    • - Print size: 400 x 400 x 400 mm
    • - comes with enclosure
    More details »
    $2,999.00 Snapmaker
    Buy Now
  • QIDI Plus4

    • - Print size: 305 x 305 x 280 mm
    • - print temperature of 370°C
    More details »
    $799.00 QIDI Store
    Buy Now
  • QIDI Tech X-Max 3

    • - Print size: 325 x 325 x 315 mm
    • - fully enclosed
    More details »
    $799.00 QIDI Store
    Buy Now
  • QIDI Tech Q1 Pro

    • - Print size: 245 x 245 x 245 mm
    • - 600mm/s max speed
    More details »
    $449.00 QIDI Store
    Buy Now

Company Information

  • What is 3D Printing?
  • Contact us
  • Join our mailing list
  • Advertise with us
  • Media Kit
  • Nederland 3D Printing

Blog

  • Latest News
  • Use Cases
  • Reviews
  • 3D Printers
  • 3D Printing Metal

Featured Reviews

  • Anycubic Photon Mono M5s
  • Creality Ender 5 S1
  • The Mole 3D Scanner
  • Flashforge Creator 3 Pro

Featured Industries

  • Automotive
  • Aerospace
  • Construction
  • Dental
  • Environmental
  • Electronics
  • Medical
  • Military
  • Fashion
  • Art
2025 — Strikwerda en Dehue
  • Home
  • Join our mailing list
  • Contact us
Blog
  • Latest News
  • Use Cases
  • Reviews
  • 3D Printers
  • 3D Printing Metal
Featured Industries
  • Automotive
  • Aerospace
  • Construction
  • Dental
  • Environmental
  • Electronics
  • Medical
  • Military
  • Fashion
  • Art
Company Information
  • What is 3D Printing?
  • Contact us
  • Join our mailing list
  • Advertise with us
  • Media Kit
  • Nederland 3D Printing