Additive Engineering Solutions focuses on large-format polymer 3D printing for industrial applications

When a fully 3D-printed car was unveiled for the first time in 2014 at the International Manufacturing Technology Show in Chicago, it represented not only a technological breakthrough, but also a practical approach for applications beyond prototyping. This demonstration at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) inspired then-engineer Austin Schmidt to explore concrete use cases for large-format polymer printing processes in industrial manufacturing.

“I like to say, ‘Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s MDF will print one part for anyone, but two parts for no one,’” said Schmidt. “At the time I thought, ‘If they’re turning away a big company like Caterpillar, who else are they turning away?’”

This idea led to the founding of Additive Engineering Solutions (AES), based in Ohio, which specializes in large-scale polymer 3D printing. The foundation is the Big Area Additive Manufacturing (BAAM) system developed by Cincinnati Incorporated, a machine that originally emerged from laser processing technology. Instead of a laser head, a polymer extruder is used to deposit molten material layer by layer. The processes are controlled by the Slicer software developed at ORNL, which breaks geometries down into individual layers and calculates precise toolpaths from them.

“The Slicer software program takes an object, ‘slices’ it into layers, then fits toolpaths to each layer,” said Alex Roschli, ORNL lead software engineer for Slicer. “The toolpaths determine the motions of the 3D printer and where the material is extruded.”

One issue AES is working through now is to solve a “Goldilocks” problem with polymer 3D printing. “The printing can’t be too hot or cold, or we end up scrapping the whole job,” said Schmidt. “Something that took 24 hours to print, you could lose the whole thing at hour 22.”

“Switching over to 45 degrees, your tool paths for each layer can be shortened, so you have more room to work with that Goldilocks effect,” said Bader.

The transition from a research environment to a production setting brought several challenges for AES. One key difficulty lay in temperature control during the printing process.

“One of the problems is that by changing the angle, now your machine could run into the print bed” said Roschli. “There were other geometry issues too. Creating new software instructions for the machine to run with a 45-degree angled nozzle was a surprisingly complicated problem.”

“Our company now has four out of the 15 BAAMs ever made,” said Bader. “We’ve become a world leader in large-area polymer additive manufacturing.” Cincinnati Inc. has stopped producing the printers, so now AES is a go-to resource for BAAM support for other companies.

By adjusting the nozzle angle to 45 degrees, the engineers were able to partially solve this problem, enabling new geometries and shorter print times, while at the same time requiring more complex software adaptations.

Today, AES manufactures components for applications in aerospace, construction, and defense technology. Close collaboration with ORNL remains a central part of its development work.

Schmidt said ORNL’s support was essential to bringing their idea for a new kind of company to life. “It wasn’t just that they showed us how to use the machine, they pulled together the whole ecosystem needed to make it successful,” he said.

“Large scale polymer is still pretty niche, so it’s not a massive market, but it’s growing every year,” said Bader. “Within the last couple years, we’re really hitting our stride. And that’s because the market itself is finally catching up.”