Metal 3d printing goes non-planar!

Here are some more examples of 3d printing metal onto a curved surface using Continuous3D. The prints were designed by Bastien Deprez, an engineering student from France, who also operated the laser metal deposition system at the CSIRO labs in Melbourne.

Non-planar printing is about much more than printing onto cylinders. It can be used to repair or add features onto engineering parts with more complex shapes. It allows material to be built in directions that provide strength along the principal loading paths. This approach improves structural performance and addresses common challenges seen in conventional flat-layer printing, such as stepped surfaces. It also removes the need for additional support structures underneath overhangs that need to be removed later.

The potential applications are vast. For example, the photo below shows how additive manufacturing (a.k.a. 3d printing) can be used to create reinforcing patterns like isogrids and orthogrids—structures commonly employed to stiffen panels in aircraft, rockets, and spacecraft. Using 3d printing to add material only where it is needed to provide stiffness, rather than a subtractive process, which involves machining out all the triangular areas, saves a lot of material wastage.