How D-J Engineering Brought Aerospace Tooling In-House
An aerospace and defense supplier replaced welded metal and MDF tooling
with large-scale printed tools on a Thermwood LSAM MT 1010,
cutting tooling lead times from months to weeks.
The Challenge
D-J Engineering takes on aerospace and defense work that other companies are unwilling or unable to do, supporting platforms such as the A-10 and B-52. Many of its programs run on short lead times, and the tooling step itself was often the constraint.
“A lot of our projects have really short lead times and the tooling step was a big hurdle to overcome early on.”
Ben Johnson, Engineering Manager, D-J Engineering
The Old Way: Welded Metal and MDF
A traditional welded stretch form block required four to a dozen individual components, each planned, programmed, machined, fabricated, welded, assembled and then match machined again. The whole process could take a month or two.
Mill fixtures were built by gluing up sheets of MDF or compressed plywood and milling them.
“Before the LSAM 3D printer, we did a lot of wood mill fixtures... It took a lot more time and a lot more effort, and just more of a pain to deal with.”
Mike Wilson, Tooling Designer, D-J Engineering
Why D-J Chose LSAM
D-J evaluated metal additive systems first and ruled them out on cost and cycle time. LSAM stood out for:
- Print volumes suited to the size of D-J's tooling
- U.S. manufacturing
- Included training, close to home
- Thermwood's support record
Thermwood worked alongside D-J on its first project, consulting on tool design and print settings, and has stayed involved since. D-J has gone on to produce large multi-piece tools that exceed the direct build limits of its MT machine.
“Working with Thermwood has always been just A-1 customer service. They don't just make the product. They go out there and they use the product. They know what they're talking about.”
Lucy Meadows, Tooling Planner, D-J Engineering
The Results
- Tools in weeks instead of months
- Stretch form blocks, mill fixtures and combination tools now printed in-house
- Quality that exceeds the wooden mill fixtures it replaced
- Repeat parts run off the same tools with little to no degradation
- Room to experiment: low-volume tools are fast and affordable enough to print, test and adjust
“With the LSAM print capability, we could have made these significantly faster, produced tools in weeks versus months, and expedited the delivery of this project greatly from what we already did.”
Tyler Hieber, Engineering Manager, D-J Engineering, describing a complex formed skin assembly D-J had produced with conventional tooling
“A Whole Other Tool Production Shop”
LSAM has changed how D-J approaches tooling. For every new tool, the team now asks whether it can be printed, and whether printing it makes sense.
“It's basically a whole other avenue. It's almost like a whole other tool production shop for us.”
Ben Johnson, Engineering Manager, D-J Engineering
What's Next
D-J will keep printing stretch form blocks and mill fixtures, and expects to expand LSAM into composite tooling, including master molds and layup tools.
“LSAM has completely upended what we can do.”
Tyler Hieber, Engineering Manager, D-J Engineering
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