As the year comes to a close, we want to take a moment to express our gratitude for your trust and partnership throughout 2024. Our clients were instrumental in making this year a success, and we’re excited to continue building on that foundation in 2025. From all of us at Akkerman, we wish you a joyful holiday season and a new year filled with health, happiness, and success!
Printing Parts in 3-D – Additive Manufacturing
Three-dimensional printing (3-D printing) was first created in 1984 by Charles Hull in Colorado using ultraviolet light rays to cure thin layers of resin to create 3-D shapes. The process was innovative, but very expensive and nearly did not grow as early investors thought the idea lacked business opportunities. Fortunately, Charles Hull persisted with his innovative spirit driving change across within the design and manufacturing environment around the world.
In 2009, major patents covering 3-D printing expired allowing the technology to become much more readily available and cost-effective. Recently, Akkerman invested in 3-D printing equipment for both the manufacturing and marketing teams. “The ability to display multiple pieces of Akkerman equipment at scale at a tradeshow is a great benefit when explaining a trenchless method to contractors, engineers, and municipalities.”, said Jason Holden – Vice President, CRO of Akkerman. Prior to 3-D printing, it would have been a major decision to prep and transport equipment to a tradeshow location due to the extreme costs involved. Using 3-D printed models at a tradeshow versus shipping full scale production equipment can save several thousands of dollars at each event.
How can 3-D printing benefit manufacturing?
In a manufacturing environment, 3-D printing is referred to as Additive Manufacturing since it has an ability to create geometric complex parts that would otherwise be difficult, costly, or impossible to manufacture. Many automotive manufacturers are using additive manufacturing in their processes. The Volkswagen Group creates 3D-printed parts that aid in their manufacturing processes such as simple handling tools or custom injection nozzles for liquid polymers. Cadillac used 115 3D printed parts in Celestiq EV mainly inside the cab from coat hooks to the radio knob. Parts created from a 3-D printer are created directly from a computer-generated model to a finished product in one step. For many of our nonstructural bolt-on parts, this could free up precious time allowing our work centers to focus on more important components such as pilot tubes, cutterheads, and rotating crusher cones. While additive manufacturing “piggybacks” off many of the processes that we already have in place, such as producing a computer generated 3-D model, many production steps can potentially be eliminated which reduces overhead costs, minimizes lead-time, and benefits our customers.
A wide range of 3-D printing materials is available and continues to grow. Akkerman currently has several different options that we’ve used for both production and rapid prototyping. One of our machinists, Kyle Mergen, had suggested 3-D printing a part within our pilot tube sonde housing adapter. Based on the use of this part, a high temperature nylon filament containing carbon fiber pigments was used to print the component. Another filament called ASA, like ABS used for plastic soda bottles, was used to prototype gauge mounts on the 4800 GBM system because of its resistance to chemicals, UV light, and was aesthetically pleasing versus a large chunk of welded steel. A flexible rubber-like filament call TPU is currently being used for the reusable block outs designed by Carter Gappa and used to reduce the amount of time required to prep various assemblies for paint. In the future, we can utilize conductive filament for electronic circuits, nonconductive ESD filament for boards, flame retardant filament, metal-infused filaments, and the list goes on….
One of our biggest limitations to 3-D printing is size. Our current size restriction is 10in3, which isn’t very large considering the type of equipment we manufacture. Even to produce scale models of equipment for marketing, it is oftentimes necessary to deconstruct the computer model into pieces for printing purposes. As technology advances, so will the cost-effectiveness of large rapid prototyping printers in the future.
As mentioned by Justin Akkerman – President of Akkerman, “The addition of the 3DPR work center provides Akkerman with a handful of new capabilities, but also sort of “piggybacks” off many of the same capabilities we already have.” The 3-D printing technology adds another manufacturing option for non-structural components and fits well into our production processes. We recently 3D printed an enhanced GRS cutterhead assembly after receiving Customer feedback. When the Customer visited, they were able to hold in their hands the model to fully realize the changes made. 3D models in CAD software are still great but when you’re able to hold the model in your hands it almost adds another dimension to the end user.
If you believe there could be a use for 3-D printed parts in your area of expertise, don’t hesitate to speak up. Innovation is all our responsibility and having the ability to rapidly prototype a component without bogging down additional work centers is one of the intended purposes.
About the Author
Matt Kressin is a Technical Sales Support Engineer for Akkerman and has been heavily involved in implementing 3-D printing within the company. During his five years with Akkerman, Matt has gained tremendous experience within manufacturing, on-site technical support and engineering departments. He is an outside-of-the-box thinker that enjoys learning something new every day.
Happy Retirement, From all of us at Akkerman!
Pete Moothart
Dave Crabtree
Pete Moothart and Dave Crabtree have been integral to Akkerman’s success, collectively contributing over 46 years of experience. Pete, known for his dedication creating top-notch technical manuals, has always brought a smile to the workplace and played a key role in enhancing the company’s technical documentation. Dave, with his vast technical expertise, traveled extensively, providing exceptional service across North America. Both men’s hard work, positivity, and dedication will be greatly missed as they embark on their well-deserved retirements.
As we part with these valued members of our team, Laura Anderson will be stepping in as the new Technical Publications Manager, while Jason Augustine will take on the role of Facilities Maintenance Manager and Rey Veraza will assume the roles and responsibilities of Sales Order – Shipping & Receiving, ensuring that the strong foundations laid by Pete and Dave continue to drive our future success. We extend our gratitude to them and their families for their contributions to Akkerman’s growth and success. Thank you for many years and many memories!
