AMUG Honors DINO Awardees, Competition Winners

The Additive Manufacturing Users Group (AMUG) presented its prestigious DINO (Distinguished INnovator Operator) Award for additive manufacturing expertise and service to three individuals at the 35th annual users group conference held in Chicago earlier this month. The organization also announced the winners of its annual Technical Competition, which recognizes excellence in additive manufacturing applications and finishing techniques.

AMUG representatives presented the DINO Awards in recognition of tenure in the additive manufacturing industry, years of service, contributions to the industry, and active support of the users group. Gary Rabinovitz, DINO Selection Committee Chair and Director at Large, said, “This award recognizes not only experience but also character and passion. Following a lengthy nomination and review process, the committee selected three deserving individuals from over 1,800 attendees of the AMUG Conference.”

The newly named DINOs are:

• Ben Arnold, Massivit 3D
• Matthew Donovan, Vulcan Form
• Nick Licari, Computer Aided Technology

Technical Competition winners were selected by a panel of industry veterans. Bill Braune of Dinsmore, Inc. and Nanci Hardwick of MELD Manufacturing were winners in the Advanced Finishing and Advanced Concepts categories. AMUG Members selected Jung Kyu Im and Daniel Goncalves of Custom Prototypes Inc. for the first-ever Member's Choice Award.

“With 32 entries, this was the largest AMUG Technical Competition we have ever held,” said Bonnie Meyer, Chair of the Technical Competition Committee.

AMUG Members cast votes to determine the winner of the Members' Choice Award. Of the 32 entries, they selected Jung Kyu Im's and Daniel Goncalves' entry titled “Metal 3D Printed Bathroom Faucet.” The custom design, which had floral inspirations, incorporates water channels within the organically shaped 'stems' that twist as they rise to connect with the 'flower' that discharges the flow of water.

The faucet and the accompanying handles were manufactured in stainless steel using laser powder bed fusion technology from Renishaw. In their entry description, Im and Goncalves said, “The complex shape could only be produced with powder bed metal 3D printing.” They also commented, “We had to design the water channels in a way that would avoid internal supports.”

Nine judges scrutinized every detail of the competition entries to select the winners in Advanced Finishing and Advanced Concepts, according to AMUG.

Bill Braune's winning entry in the Advanced Finishing category was “Mars Attacks,” a large, highly detailed homage to the hit film by Tim Burton. Measuring 34 by 23 inches., everything from the base to the Martians to the Las Vegas sign was 3D printed and brought to life.

Braune said, “The Las Vegas sign has 111 individual pieces, ninety of which are individual light bulbs that go around the sign.”  To create the model, Braune and his team invest over 200 manhours and countless hours of build time on seven different AM platforms.

Nanci Hardwick received first place in the Advanced Concepts category for “Metal 3-D Printing Raises the Bar for the Army's Jointless Hull Program.” The entry was a representation of what the U.S. Army plans to do with MELD Manufacturing's technology, which was chosen to be a part of the world's largest metal printer for the Jointless Hull Program.

The patented MELD method is a solid-state process that 'stirs' plastically deformed metal. The Army's program plans to have a printer with a build envelope of 20 x 30 x 12 feet, which is big enough to manufacture a monolithic hull, the company said. Hardwick's entry was a section of a hull made from aluminum and weighing over 200 pounds.

For Advanced Finishing, Mark Abshire took second place with his work titled “Adding a Colorful 3^rd Dimension.” Third place was awarded to Brent Wright of LifeNabled for “Curiosity Revealing and Animating Gears.”

Andreas Vlahinos of Advanced Engineering Solutions received the second-place award for “Avionics Heat Exchanger” in the Advanced Concepts category. Third place went to Jason Jones of Hybrid Manufacturing Technologies for his entry “Using PBF to Enable DED in a CNC.”