A panel of industry veterans selected Mike Littrell of CIDEAS, Inc. and Vince Anewenter of Milwaukee School of Engineering as winners of the annual Technical Competition.

The Additive Manufacturing Users Group (AMUG) today announced the winners of its annual Technical Competition, which was held during the groups 29th annual conference in Chicago, Illinois. A panel of industry veterans selected Mike Littrell of CIDEAS, Inc. and Vince Anewenter of Milwaukee School of Engineering as winners of the competition.

Mike Littrells winning entry in the Advanced Finishing category was an exquisite replica of a 1931 Cord Series L-29 Cabriolet. Specifically, it is a replica of #2929409 that was named "Matilda" by Mikes father, Gary, when he owned this amazing vehicle. In collaboration with Brian Yingling, who created the CAD models and performed detail finishing, CIDEAS brought this car to life using Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) and Stereolithography (SLA). According to Littrell, 99.9% of the car is 3D printed; the only exceptions are fabric and leather coverings, brass spokes, and brass nuts.
Andrew Graves, equipment partnership manager for DSM Functional Materials, said, "As a judge in this years AMUG Technical Competition my job was incredibly difficult. In the Advanced Finishing category, some of the detailed work, painting skills, and finishing skills were faultless. Ranking the entries really came down to who had truly pushed the boundaries of finishing techniques."
Vince Anewenters winning entry in the Advanced Concepts category was titled, "Tamper Proof Gages." Judges cited the practicality of the application and the ingenuity in resolving a common problem as reasons for the award. The gage was made for Capitol Stampings Corp. to allow shop-floor personnel to quickly perform several quality control measurements on two versions of a stamped part. The ingenious aspect is that Anewenters team elected to use a ceramic-filled SLA resin that would fracture if struck or dropped. Fracturing prevents a common problem of unreported gage damage, which can lead to unnecessary scrap and rework.
Graves said, "In the Advanced Concepts category, the challenge was really to find entries that genuinely pushed the envelope in terms of a unique or advanced use for additive manufacturing. This years winner in that category proved that thinking outside the box sometimes yields a solution that can be beautiful in its simplicity."
For Advanced Concepts, Ryan Van Deest of Caterpillar Inc. took second place with a working 1:9 scale model of the companys CAT 336 D2 hydraulic excavator. Third place was awarded to Richard Smeenk of Agile Manufacturing for a 58-inch, single-piece-construction boat console.
In the Advanced Finishing category, Patrick Walls of Laser Prototypes Europe Ltd. (LPE) was awarded second place for a recreation of the DeLorean time machine from "Back to the Future." Mike Scianna and John Warner of DSM Functional Materials took third place with a three-foot-tall replica of a samurai.
As winners of the Technical Competition, which recognizes excellence in additive manufacturing applications and skill in finishing additive manufacturing parts, Littrell and Anewenter each received complimentary admission to the 2018 AMUG Conference and a commemorative award. Judges for the Technical Competition were Graham Tromans, Andrew Graves, Tim Gornet, Judy Gill and Steve Kossett.
ABOUT ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING USERS GROUP (AMUG)
AMUG is an organization that educates and advances the uses and applications of additive manufacturing technologies. AMUG members include users of all commercial additive manufacturing/3D printing technologies used in professional capacities from companies such as Stratasys, 3D Systems, ExOne, Renishaw, Carbon, HP Inc., SLM Solutions, EOS, Concept Laser, and Prodways. AMUG meets annually to provide education and training through technical presentations on processes and new technologies. This information addresses operation of additive manufacturing equipment and the applications that use the parts they make. Online at http://www.am-ug.com.