[INTERVIEW] 3D Printing Army Tools with Recreus’ Versatile Filaments

G-Tac Protection/Business is harnessing filaments from Spanish supplies developer Recreus in its defence and industrial manufacturing operations.

The French 3D printing service supplier started utilizing Recreus’ Filaflex supplies in 2021. Right now, it depends on the ultra-flexible thermoplastic feedstocks to manufacture a variety of products, from drone elements and specialised army gear to manufacturing facility security gear and robotic gripper parts.  

I spoke with Guillaume Mongour, G-Tac Protection/Business’s Director, to be taught why Recreus’ Filaflex filament is his go-to selection for mission-critical functions. “Recreus’ versatile filament labored so effectively I by no means regarded elsewhere,” Mongour instructed me. 

G-Tac Protection/Business, additionally recognized by its area title GTAC 3D, leverages Filaflex 82A, 70A, and 60A grades. The corporate can be trialing Filaflex Foamy materials in workshop exams to develop new technical functions. 

Mongour defined how Filaflex has elevated G-Tac Protection/Business’s operations. Recreus’ filaments have minimize prototyping prices by 75% and permit the corporate to fabricate elements that had been beforehand not possible to supply. Filaflex meets the strict requirements of the extremely regulated industries G-Tac Protection/Business serves, due to its food-safety certification and spectacular mechanical efficiency, Mongour instructed me.

These capabilities permit G-Tac Protection/Business to serve a variety of shoppers, from international producers like Nestlé Purina Petcare and Jacobs Douwe Egberts to specialised army gear OEMs.

G-Tac Protection/Business 3D printed manufacturing facility security parts. Photographs through G-Tac Protection/Business.

Why did G-Tac Protection/Business select Filaflex? 

Based mostly within the French countryside west of Lyon, G-Tac Protection/Business focuses on fixing complicated technical challenges. The corporate designs and manufactures specialised parts and mechanical assemblies. It additionally affords coaching in manufacturing applied sciences, together with 3D printing, serving to shoppers convey manufacturing in-house.

G-Tac Protection/Business more and more depends on Filaflex filaments to supply sturdy, high-precision parts that meet distinctive buyer necessities. Mongour’s firm first adopted the versatile thermoplastic filaments out of necessity, after struggling to supply the mechanical system of a drone-based sniper calibration system. Early prototypes produced erratic knowledge, brought on by vibrations from the drone’s propellers. “We wanted to combine an element that would isolate the measurement module from these vibrations,” Mongour stated.

Molding these exact, versatile prototype elements is an costly and wasteful course of. This led Mongour, a educated mechanical machinist, to think about additive manufacturing. His 3D printing filament provider advised Recreus’ versatile and semi-flexible supplies for this demanding utility. “I ordered a set of 750g filament spools for testing, and it labored. Filaflex met our wants, and I haven’t regarded elsewhere since,” Mongour added.     

Based mostly in Elda, Spain, Recreus launched its Filaflex filament in 2013. Since then, the corporate has expanded its TPU portfolio to cowl shore hardness ranges from 60A to 95A. These supplies stand out for his or her distinctive elasticity and adaptability, making them good for functions that require stretch, compression, or affect absorption. In addition they ship sturdy geometric stability and consistency, enabling high-precision, correct, and repeatable 3D printing.

Recreus’ flagship supplies ship industrial-grade efficiency at a aggressive worth. For instance, Filaflex 82A affords a formidable 650% elongation at break, resists fuels and solvents, and is each non-toxic and skin-safe. Filaflex Foamy options distinctive dynamic foaming expertise, permitting its 82A shore hardness to drop to 60A by adjusting 3D printing settings. It’s designed for light-weight elements and might yield as much as 40% extra prints per spool.

Filaflex 3D printing bolsters battlefield efficiency   

G-Tac Protection/Business’s additive manufacturing providers are assembly the rising demand for 3D printing in protection functions. The Loire-based firm helps army personnel looking for to optimize their gear, in addition to personal corporations specializing in army gear and operational coaching. 

Drones have emerged as an important weapon on the fashionable battlefield. Though G-Tac Protection/Business doesn’t manufacture these units, it does use Filaflex filament to 3D print drone equipment, such because the aforementioned sniper calibration system. 

Mongour emphasised that Filaflex is the perfect materials for these functions on account of its wonderful vibration absorption and light-weight properties. Certainly, weight can considerably affect the battery lifetime of a drone, making it an important concern for operators on the entrance strains. He additionally highlights Filaflex’s affordability, a compelling asset in defence manufacturing. “3D printing cuts prototype improvement prices by 75%,” he said. 

Recreus’ TPU filaments are additionally used to 3D print holographic sight protectors. These superior aiming units are mounted onto firearms and challenge a holographic reticle onto a viewing window. This permits troopers to intention shortly and precisely, particularly in close-quarters fight. 

Holographic sights are costly, costing as much as $700 per unit. Subsequently, protecting sleeves are important to forestall injury throughout transport or dealing with. G-Tac Protection/Business 3D prints these sleeves utilizing Filaflex 82A, creating light-weight protectors with skinny partitions and low-density infill. “We obtain sufficient elasticity to suit numerous fashions and types whereas retaining wonderful shock absorption and affordable manufacturing prices,” defined Mongour. 

Elsewhere, G-Tac Protection/Business is utilizing Filaflex supplies to supply shoulder pads for large-caliber weapons, ergonomic grips, and handgun handles for sport shooters.

Though G-Tac Protection/Business hasn’t but secured contracts with armed forces shoppers, Mongour is actively working to broaden the corporate’s presence within the protection market over the following three years. “We wished to construct a powerful basis in trade earlier than transferring into the extra unstable protection sector,” he defined.

Enhancing manufacturing facility security with Recreus’ versatile TPU 

Past protection functions, Recreus’ Filaflex filament has develop into a core a part of G-Tac Protection/Business’s manufacturing course of for industrial manufacturing shoppers. 

Pet care agency Nestlé Purina Petcare and international espresso and tea maker Jacobs Douwe Egberts belief G-Tac Protection/Business to enhance the protection of their personnel and the productiveness of their equipment. “It’s thrilling work that we supply out in shut collaboration with their enchancment technicians and engineers,” Mongour instructed me. As an example, his firm has used Filaflex to 3D print customized suction cups that enhance the effectivity of espresso manufacturing strains.  

The 41-year-old government additionally outlined a collaboration with a distinct meals trade consumer that wished to guard a slender passage between two conveyors. This firm has been utilizing a self-adhesive foam that served as a powerful visible deterrent, however provided no bodily safety in opposition to impacts. The froth additionally shortly disintegrated after cleansing, making a contamination threat that posed meals security and high quality points. 

“That resolution clearly didn’t fulfill him. So we provided to make customized protecting elements for the realm utilizing Filaflex,” Mongour recalled. The half wanted to satisfy the strict hygiene requirements of meals manufacturing. It needed to be watertight to forestall bacterial and microbial progress, brightly coloured for efficient pedestrian hazard signaling, and able to absorbing affect to scale back the chance of harm. It additionally needed to be food-safe and immune to the cruel disinfectants used throughout weekly sanitation.     

Filaflex 82A met all the necessities in lab testing earlier than G-Tac Protection/Business fine-tuned the shock absorption by adjusting safety thickness, infill sample, density, and wall thickness. After a six-month on-site trial with the primary put in elements, the client accepted the 3D printed security element. Right now, Mongour’s firm provides customized safety items to shoppers every month, as new “hazard conditions” are recognized.

The way forward for 3D printing at G-Tac Protection/Business

Mongour is bullish about the way forward for 3D printing in protection. He believes additive manufacturing will play an more and more essential position in adapting subject gear to particular missions and enhancing the R&D capabilities of particular person regiments. 

Nonetheless, this rising autonomy for army personnel “doesn’t imply our position as an answer supplier and fabricator will disappear.” Mongour famous that the adoption of 3D printing in army circles is restricted by time and mechanical experience. 

“For my part, creating dependable mechanical assemblies in army or civilian FabLabs requires designing particularly for 3D printing. That’s the most important purpose behind failed tasks,” Mongour defined. “The second challenge is the assumption that every part can and ought to be made through 3D printing.” As an alternative, G-Tac Protection/Business’s Director believes hybrid options usually provide the most effective strategy, with easy shapes made through machining and complicated geometries with 3D printing. 

“Sadly, 3D printer makers nonetheless push the identical line: “3D printing is straightforward—simply add the STL and hit print!” However in actuality, it’s not that straightforward, and many individuals surrender in consequence,” Mongour lamented. “In case you don’t design elements your self, you’re caught with what others design—and that’s the most important purpose for abandoning the expertise.”

Subsequently, Mongour believes 3D printing ought to be thought of a department of basic mechanical engineering. He’s assured that such a shift will proceed to see sturdy demand for G-Tac Protection/Business providers. 

Recreus Filaflex filament will proceed to play a key position in these operations. “I feel utilization will solely enhance, contemplating their current improvements,” added Mongour. He highlighted Filaflex 60A, which was just lately licensed as meals secure, opening up new alternatives for meals trade shoppers. G-Tac Protection/Business can be “very ” in Filaflex Foamy, which is at the moment present process exams on the firm’s workshop in Verrières-en-Forez. 

“Recreus evolves—and that offers us methods to evolve too,” Mongour added. “It’s a mutually useful partnership we’d be silly to move up.”

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Featured picture exhibits Recreus Filaflex Foamy and Filaflex 82A filament and 3D printed elements. Picture by 3D Printing Business.