Senior Design Addtive in Steel Competition

For my senior design project I was involved in additive in steel competition hosted by America Makes. This competition is a new division of the well-known Cast and Forged in Steel competition that’s been running since 2019. The aim of the 2024 challenge was to recreate the firefighter’s tool called Halligan bar using metal 3D printing

My team, “Bar None” worked with West Metro Fire Rescue Station 3 to develop a new 3D printed design that improves on the grip, weight, and built in marking features. We worked with Dr. Joy Gockel and other advisors to produce the Halligan bar. Our design process was a continuous series of prototyping, testing, getting feedback and implementing it. The iterative design process helped us learn faster and adjust our design.

Design

My role in the project consisted of preparing the design for 3D printing and collaborating with engineers at EOS to manufacture the part. I used nTop to design the internal lattice that reduced the final weight of the Halligan bar. I used the diamond pattern inside nTop because it is easily manufactured due to its 45 degree struts that pass the overhang requirement. The lattice pattern was applied inside the shaft area of the bar because the fork and the adz needed to be fully solid. The lattice reduced the weight of the Halligan bar by about 0.44 pounds

Manufacturing

To make the 30 inch Halligan fit on a build plate of an EOS M290 we split it into 4 pieces. I helped with creating the weld geometries that would print without supports to minimize post processing cost and time. The final design looked like a chevron that interlocks to transmit some of the load from the weld to the mechanical interaction between sections.  

Testing

I made the design layout in 3DXpert and worked with EOS engineers to optimize the build plate space to produce two Halligans and several weld tests and lattice samples.

Coming Soon