3D Printing & Additive Manufacturing is a revolutionary tool for EOD First Responders. In the fast-paced industry that we work in, time works agains us when a crtical part is broken or that one-of-a-kind tool is unavailable. This course gives bomb squads the ability to quickly design and manufacture these parts and tools in their shop within minutes. This course is the first in a series of ongoing courses focused on the practical application of additive manufacturing practices, which are designed to stay up to date on printing trends. 

Additive Manufacturing is a 3-step process: 1 – Designing the required part or tool, 2 – Manufacturing the part or tool in house, and 3 – Sharing designs for parts and tools with other bomb squads. Regular designers don’t understand the purpose or nature of the tools used by bomb squads as they are unique to a small number of Law Enforcement and Military Units. The time it takes to describe parts or tools would require many hours or days of design and prototyping in order to achieve the correct print. 

WMDTech can teach the bomb technician to use a conventional (community standard) 3D CAD system to design and modify parts and tools as needed. This will save time and improve efficiency by keeping equipment and tools in the hands of the bomb techs protecting the community. The participant will learn the fundamentals of designing a 3D drawing and then converting that drawing into a SKF file format that can be used by the additive manufacturing software.

If you can draw a circle, a square and a line, then you can design almost any part or tool for explosive demolition, robots, render safe, etc. By the end of the first day, you will be producing your first designs with additive manufacturing.

The replacement parts and tools that bomb squads need are not toys, they are functional tools that save lives. As such, a bomb squad needs to have a versatile additive manufacturing capability that will allow them to use different materials based on the part or tool. Through WMDTech’s experience, we have seen many different types of Additive Manufacturing and have found a system that works  best for the specific requirements of the EOD world. Our selection of printers, FMD type additive manufacturing (3D printer) work best; giving you a wide range of materials to choose from. It is easy to use and best of all, very cost effective.