How to use the laboratory

Post Process1

Nikon's technology supports manufacturers with high-precision nondestructive inspection. Measure the complex internal structures of printed products and detect any defects within them, all without disassembling. (193) As a matter of fact, it evaluates the shape, structure and materials design properties in order to obtain qualitative and semi-qualitative information on defects, geometry, dimensional stability and microstructure.

(187)

Nikon XTH225 ST

Support Platform – Non- destructive testing

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Post Process2

Excetek is the large wire EDM (Electronic discharge machine) in the lab that research staff use for cutting parts printed in metal from their metal build plates. The Excetek is often used for an hour or 2 after a metal print is carried out as a post-process

Excetek 400

EDM Wire Cutting

Machine

a team of specialized researchers who don’t need support during the use of the machines because they are completely independent. Perhaps, they would only need training at the beginning of the project to understand how to use the machine. The Ar-Lab, through the technical staffs, could be organize a training course at the beginning of each project.

Additionally, Principal Investigators must estimate the project costs and they must find funds to pay the entire amount of money required to run the project.

• Case 2 – Short Project: It would be possible for the Principal Investigators or for some researchers to want to develop a small project. In this case the researcher could need a small amount of materials and a short period of training to be able to use the printing machine. This service offered by the Lab could help the researchers to not waste their time waiting for the arrival of the materials and for the equipment processed by the Principal Investigator and to not waste their money buying a big amount of materials if they only need a small one. This mechanism could be supported by the Lab and could allow to the Lab to build up economies of scale for materials. As matter of fact, the lab may buy a large amount of materials and pay them less than the fixed price per kilo. In this case the Lab should guarantee a service composed by materials, equipment / consumables, technical support and preliminary training.

• Case 3-Additive Manufacturing Training Courses: After analyzing more than 100 AM laboratories in the four studied European countries, it has emerged that Ar-Lab, as many other organizations already do, could hold basic, intermediate and advanced courses on Additive manufacturing through the support of its staff. This would give a very important source of income through only sharing knowledge and would give more international visibility to Ar-Lab. In the same way, one could think of organizing training events such as conferences aimed at promoting the spread of Additive Manufacturing.

Furthermore, a further application case (Case 4) will be presented below, identified during the university market research for 3D Printing in the larger AM laboratories, but which Ar-Lab is not able to satisfy due to its nature which is not oriented to commercial purposes.

• Case 4 Not considered – Printing Service: If the Lab was equipped with a much higher number of 3D printers with their related materials and was composed by a higher number of technical staff to run the Lab, it could satisfy the needs of the market. There could be some researchers or private companies in need of prints only. The lab could get the STL

file previous sliced and ready to be print from the customers and then the Ar-Lab’s technical staff could be print it, respecting the established agreement. This would be another service that the Lab could offer to the market by giving the possibility to use and to spread the innovative technologies present in the Lab all over the Ireland/Europe.

However, this case was discarded because Ar-Lab is not a commercial lab but only for research purposes. As a matter of fact, the number of machines is insufficient to cover an on-demand service requested by the market, so this service will not be considered within the thesis and will not lead to any source of income.

Additionally, as we will see later in detail in all the cases presented, the following statements are valid:

1. In all the cases presented, the Trinity College must be incurred the following cost:

Electricity and all the other utilities costs and Laboratory insurance cost.

2. In all the cases presented, Ar-Lab must be incurred the following cost: Technical staff labor costs, Waste disposal costs, Maintenance costs of the machines and all the direct costs necessary for the use of the machines and for the additive production (materials, equipment, solvents,..).

3. The cost incurred by the Principal Investigators depend on the cases analyzed: In Case 1 the Principal Investigator has to bear an hourly cost of using the 3D printers lower than Case 2. This is because, as previously explained, it will be the Principal Investigator who will take care of buying the equipment, the material and all that is necessary for the development of the project. In reverse, in Case 2 the Principal Investigator will pay more the use of the machine as to develop the short project, it will be necessary to ask for material, equipment, assistance from the staff and the use of the machines.

4. The payment system between the IP and the Ar-Lab takes place through a technological platform. Automatically, on the basis of the hours booked for the use of the machines (Case 1) or on the basis of the experiments carried out by the technical staff or the researcher using the laboratory materials (Case 2), at the end of the month the PI receives the charge of the total payment of the service used at the laboratory.

5. The booking process for the use of the machines takes place via a technological platform.

Each researcher before using the machine must have pre-booked the machine by notifying the number of hours required