Local innovators showcase additive manufacturing projects at Pentagon

Photo By Brian Melanephy | PORT HUENEME, Calif., -- The anti-corrosion bolt caps shown here were designed and printed using additive manufacturing (AM) at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Port Hueneme Division AM laboratory and displayed during the 3-D Print-a-thon at the Pentagon, March 15.  

PORT HUENEME, CA, UNITED STATES

03.21.2017

Story by Brian Melanephy 

Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division

PORT HUENEME, Calif., -- Three personnel from Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division (NSWC PHD) travelled across the country to display their creations at the 2017 Department of the Navy 3-D print-a-thon hosted by the Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Research, Development and Acquisition).
They landed in the metropolitan area of Washington, D.C. as a nor’easter was raging through the region, arriving just before the airport closed.
Mother Nature delayed the event by one day, which was originally scheduled for March 14, but she did not dampen their enthusiasm. Mark Jue, Andre Casanave and Alan Jaeger manned a booth in the 7th corridor on the 4th floor of the Pentagon, with a room full of creative people.
Jue was involved in both additive manufacturing (AM) projects on display.
Cassanave and Jue collaborated on a project to develop anti-corrosion bolt-head caps for topside fasteners on ships. Topside fasteners are currently covered in sealant, affectionately referred to as goo. This method of sealing and preserving the integrity of the caps is not 100 percent effective. When bolts seize due to corrosion, there is a high cost associated with repair.
The bolts often have a large amount of the goo on them, which looks like a glob. These globs are often large because Sailors think more is better and operate under the adage of “the bigger the glob, the better the job.”
Jue and Cassanave designed and printed a cap that is easy to use, easy to remove and durable enough to last for years. This easily-producible item has the potential to increase the lifespan of the bolts it protects.
The plan going forward for this prototype is to get AM devices (3-D printers) to the waterfront and make AM bolt caps a common twenty-first century shipyard tool.
The second project involved Jue and Jaeger. It was the development of a quad copter. A 3-D printed drone, which could be replicated aboard a ship with AM capabilities. This prototype was flight tested in the hangar bay of USS Essex (LHD 2). An asset like this, once brought from prototype to reality could be printed aboard a ship and used as a tactical unmanned aircraft in support of vessel boarding and search and seizure operations.
It would go from the lab to the warfighter, with design files e-mailed to a ship and the real-time printing of the copter or its parts. The prototype on display was printed in the NSWC PHD AM laboratory.

“Having the event at the Pentagon allowed principal investigators to interface with senior leadership and share ideas of where this technology can take the Navy as well as allow principal investigators to hear what leadership's goals are, Jue said."
Being in a room of “good-idea fairies” also provided the opportunity to get insight into what others were doing, and more. It also opened doors for future collaboration with others on larger projects.

• Date Taken: 03.21.2017
• Date Posted: 03.21.2017 12:47
• Story ID: 227556
• Location: PORT HUENEME, CA, US