Watch the Video of GE cold Spray Technology - 3D painting works

3D Printing may be good for making new parts, earlier today we saw the first 3D printed metal gun, but what happens if you want to repair existing metal parts, rather than pricing new ones? A new technology, 3D painting is being developed that can repair existing parts. the technology is being developed by GE and it was previously known as cold spray.

“[W]hat’s particularly exciting about cold spray as an innovative, 3D process is that it affords us the opportunity to restore parts using materials that blend in and mirror the properties of the original part itself. This extends the lifespan of parts by years, or possibly by decades.”

The video below shows how 3D painting works, the metal is sprayed onto an existing metal part, and it can repair any damage to that part. There are a couple of benefits to 3D painting, which include safety, as it is done at room temperature, there are not the same risk that there are with welding or soldering.

What also makes the technology interesting, is that it can easily be scaled, the video shows a small machine repairing a small metal part, this can be scaled to larger machines to repair larger parts.

Via - GE, Gizmodo