The latest video featuring BigRep‘s Head of Vertical Marketing, Gil Lavi shows a visit to Polymertal, near Haifa, Israel. The company specializes in producing metal plated end-use parts. In this video, the parts are produced in plastic by 3D printing. Using a BigRep system, Polymertal is able to produce large size components for aerospace applications.

3D printed metal-plated production can bring weight, cost and design flexibility advantages over existing solid-metal approaches. Polymertal metal-plated an aerospace fuel tank 3D printed on a BigRep ONE to create a product which may replace current solid-aluminum designs. This is one of many possible industrial applications of this technique for end-use production.

The large, complex hybrid Fuel Tank design was 3D printed on a BigRep ONE and then aluminum-plated by Polymertal. 3D printed parts can bring a host of benefits over traditional metal parts. These include reduced weight, reduced materials requirements and new design possibilities The fuel tank will be installed and tested on an unmanned aerial vehicle.