Can You Print That? – Successful 3D Printing Seminar

On Wednesday, July 17, the IEEE’s Florida West Coast’s AESS Chapter and Life member’s Chapter held a presentation on 3D printing. The presenter, Douglas A. Coggeshall, President of Coggeshall Engineering Associates Inc. shared his experiences with setting up and running 3D printing organizations. During his career Doug has worked for Raytheon, Harris Corporation, Honeywell, Aerosonic, Ocean Optics, and DRS Navel Electronics. Doug is responsible for setting up the UTB 3D-Printing center of excellence at the U.S. SOCOM.

During his presentation Doug shared stories about arriving at SOCOM and discovering that they had a 3D printer that they were not using. Under Doug’s direction, the printer room was set up and the printer was put to work supporting a number of the different departments within SOCOM. Printing was done using plastic, rubber, and even metal.

Doug shared examples of 3D objects that had been printed. These included a drone that had been made out of plastic. He also showed rubber covers for military hand-held devices that had been created to show different strengths. A detailed discussion was held regarding how printed circuit boards can now be created using 3D printers.

Doug also raffled off several text books. A survey of the participants at the end of the presentation revealed that they had gotten what they had come for and everyone now felt that they had a better understanding of what can be accomplished using 3D printing.

A video of Doug’s presentation can be viewed here: