Catching up back in the office and wanted to take a moment to share my experience at this year’s RAPID Show in Anaheim, CA at the Disneyland hotel. I always find it very important to get out of the office and gain new perspective. It’s also great to share ideas and get the feedback that you are doing valuable work! My week went a bit like this:
First, I arrived in Anaheim with my wife for the weekend. We are both hard working professionals, so this was a nice way to force a vacation 
Of course we are both engineers, so in order to see all the attractions most efficiently, my wife downloaded some software which gives an optimized plan based on day of the week and time of year. What this did not take into consideration was the weather…it was colder than Oregon 
Good thing was the parks were not so busy. Quick tip: Don’t ride Splash Mountain if there is any risk of not seeing the sun.
Anyway, we still had a blast. I must mention that I found 3D printed parts from a Z Corp machine in one exhibit http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5629398988870350309#
After dropping my wife off at the airport early Monday morning, I prepared for my presentation at the EOS NAUD (North American User Day). EOS talked about their new materials (including PrimePart ST) and systems (including the P760 and P395). I educated the group of laser sintering users about the good work we are doing in the UAV Industry. Everyone was impressed with the stability of our thin wall parts. Unfortunately, SLS sometimes gets a bad name because there are some pretty low quality parts on the market. We have the expertise and well-maintained machines to create strong parts with walls as thin as 0.50mm or 0.020” in certain materials. The 1mm wall fuel tank which has held 10psi of pressure for the last year was particularly impressive.
The next day, I spoke at the SME (Society of Manufacturing Engineers) RAPID Show to a group specifically interested in aircrafts. The sample parts were again a hit. I had the opportunity to educate some folks on the fact that polystyrene models can be created using laser sintering. I showed some examples of aluminum castings made using this process (though Titanium, Stainless, etc. can also be cast using this process). I was excited to see folks from Boeing, Northrop Grumman, and the Army.
On the last day of my trip, I had the honor of mentoring in the SME Bright Minds program where high school student are introduced to the Additive Manufacturing Industry. Many experts were in the room which lead to some great presentations and conversations. Of note was Mike North’s presentation which includes many of his adventures both caught on film and behind the scenes. All of the students and mentors were pretty excited about the AMP=D Electric 33 Hot Rod from Factory Five http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpqvpqklyk0
In general, it was so fantastic to see so many old friends and colleagues and meet some new ones as well!
Stay tuned as we have some exciting collaboration including a potential material breakthrough quite soon…
