Arcam AB fka AMAVF

[Tom Joad]

Thank you mouser96. I come back from a break and find I'm getting raked over the coals over my correct usage of art. Jeez. Pdb2, Mouser is correct. My use of the word art to describe a set of skills that are not easily codified into a set or rules is not in any way suggesting I disapprove of anything that Arcam or the metallurgists are doing. For example, there's plenty of art in making a katana and there's plenty of very rule based knife and sword making that comes no where close to creating the edge you'll see on a traditional katana, nor will it come close to a lot of Japanese, blacksmith produced knives. Sharpening a blade is also an art. Here pdb2, sat a spell, contemplate what follows-

sharpen knife

Now I give you, pbd2, a task. I know Schick and Gilette are making millions of razor sharp straight edges and I'm confident that's done with robots, but imagine programming a robot to sharpen a curved knife edge. Try programming a computer to do things we don't even consider to be an art, such as: program a robot to tell the difference between a cat and a dog, to recognize and open a door, tell the difference between a bench with no back and a table, or negotiate what to cook for dinner with your mate (well, that last might be an art).

I don't know if building an Arcam machine is completely codified yet, but I know it's not possible to obtain every metallurgical goal with a (computer) program, a set of rules for a robot. Why does Arcam have a feedback loop built into their latest machines? I seriously doubt that's because anybody can operate it. I'm much more confident in saying that one has to have judgement, and one has to have knowledge of the intended result and how to interpret the present state of the build given by the Arcam machine.

NOR am I saying Arcam is at the level of Samurai sword builders! I am saying that Arcam offers, in my opinion, the best technology for "micro quality control of Ti alloy material," or you might say, offers the best technology for "Ti alloy micro metallurgy" as long as we have humans with enough judgement around to operate the machines. I also believe they offer a technology that has the most promise for complete, robot based manufacturing of Ti alloy products in the future, but please, why don't ya, give it a few more years before they eliminate all art and me a few more years before I it.