Training, experience, certification.
What are start up times for laser based systems? The metallurgy is no simpler. Each added layer is thinner so there are more added layers for laser verses electron beam for a given part. Laser 3d also requires heat treating afterwards. I'm quite sure there's training involved for all of that and getting the part right requires experience.
So again, does anyone know what the training-experience timeline for lasers is?
Also, I'm sure there's a process for a specific part and maybe a learning curve for that specific part but I doubt there's much that changes when a new part is made. It's the certification process that requires a rigid description for the process. If you're casting, heat the metal to "x degrees," cool at a specified rate, machine and heat treat if necessary. Compare that to 3d manufacturing and we're looking at point by point melt pools, and heated to what temperature? Melt pools are cooled at precisely what rate? Those problems are shared by electron beam and laser. Why there's no talk about laser having these problems is beyond me. That's why I believe laser and electron beam produced parts should have the same certification problems.
Anyone with knowledge of this?
