This fixture tool for holding additive manufactured parts for machining was made within the same additive manufacturing build as the parts themselves.

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Production metal parts made via additive manufacturing (AM) generally need CNC machining as a secondary step. The metal removal needs might be slight, such as threaded holes and precise mating surfaces, but the machining can be difficult nevertheless because of the challenge of holding and positioning the organic-shaped additive part. Amplify Additive had this challenge with orthopedic implants made via electron beam melting (or EBM, a metal AM technology supplied by GE Additive ). More accurately, the machining supplier had this challenge. Engineering setups to hold the complex parts Amplify sent it would introduce lead time delay. In one extreme case (partly a result of disruption related to covid), Amplify faced months of lead time for machining work from this shop, making the lead time advantage of AM moot. To help, Amplify has begun to design and 3D print the fixture tooling for machining in parallel with the implants and provide both to the machine shop. The photo shows an example. The long stem of an implant fits through the precise opening in the top face of […]

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