Navy, Electric Boat and Lincoln Electric open four large wire-arc printing cells for submarine parts

Lincoln Electric/SculptPrint large-format wire-arc printing

Four SculptPrint 1500 wire-arc cells in Cleveland, funded partly by the Navy's Maritime Industrial Base Program, will print large metal parts for Electric Boat. The aim is to cut delays from scarce castings as the Navy pushes toward one Columbia and two Virginia submarines a year.

• Each cell: ABB six-axis robot, two-axis servo positioner, about 526 × 478 × 440 cm envelope.
• Alloys include steel, stainless, nickel and 70/30 copper-nickel.
• Lincoln's largest government-funded investment in this technology to date.