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Aurora to use new AL250 for commercial printing

Aurora Labs has shared progress of its flagship commercial 3D printer, the AL250 laser powder bed fusion printing machine, “one of a handful of sovereign made 3D printing machines available for purchase within Australia.” It said the printer and parts will continue to be promoted to large prime and SME defence companies, and that finishing touches were being made ahead of use in A3D’s Industrial Printing Service “prior to the end of July.” Inconel super alloy 625 has been chosen to be the first material available  to customers. CEO Rebekah Letheby commented “We also plan to print select components for our micro gas turbine over the coming months using our AL250, as we  grow our capability to provide 3D printed products to a wide variety of customers including those in energy  generation, defence and aerospace.” 

Bluescope Steel Fined over grout spillage

BlueScope Steel has been issued a $15,000 fine by the NSW Environment Protection Authority after allegedly failing to comply with their Environment Protection Licence, which “requires activities to be carried out competently.” According to a statement from the NSW EPA on Friday, the fine relates to a February incident at Port Kembla Harbour, where refurbishment works were being carried out on a shipping berth. 13 cubic metres of industrial grout escaped from the berth after containment controls failed and entered Port Kembla Harbour, with Bluescope reporting the incident to the EPA. “The community, industry and government have all worked hard over the last few decades in progressively improving water quality in Port Kembla Harbour. We want to keep it that way,” said NSW EPA Executive Director Operations, Jason Gordon. “We expect all pollution controls to be operating efficiently and safely. If licensees fail to do so, we will take appropriate action.”

1 in 4 SMEs won’t benefit from federal budget, according to survey

According to new figures from a survey by Small Business Loans Australia, almost one in four SMEs (23 per cent) won’t benefit from new incentives offered in the 2024-2025 federal budget, while 94 per cent would have liked incentives such as tax cuts, lower-rate loans, and wage subsidies. Business loan comparison platform SBLA questioned an independent panel of 204 SME business directors and decision makers for the survey, with full survey results available here. Alon Rajic, the company’s founder and Managing Director, said figures could indicate that businesses are looking for immediate financial relief from their debts, as opposed to assistance in just managing them. “In the last tax year, nearly half (43%) of small businesses were not profitable,” he said. “Business owners need money back in their bank accounts to help alleviate or minimise their debts, not just manage them. This is reflected in our survey, with strong support for measures such as interest rate cuts to business loans and cuts to company tax rates.”

AMRF seeking technical staff

The NSW government’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Facility (AMRF) team is currently hiring for several roles as it prepares to open its First Building at Bradfield City Centre. The following positions are currently being advertised: Lead Application Design Engineer, Senior Machinist, Senior Manufacturing Engineer, and Senior Metrology Engineer. Further information is available at the linked job ads. (Editor’s note: AMRF was a sponsor of this year’s Australia’s 50 Most Innovative Manufacturers campaign, organised by @AuManufacturing.)

Flinders robot uses whiskers for sensing

Flinders University researchers are developing affordable, flexible and highly responsive “whiskers” to attach to robots, according to the university. The additional support of such sensors add tactile abilities to complement laser- and camera-based vision in guiding movement, such as in overcoming “a robot’s range-finder or camera blind spots”. Researchers are currently using “mechanical beam theory” to develop an optimal whisker shape so that robots could “touch and interpret the weight of objects they run into, potentially moving the obstacles out of their path and also avoid damage”, said Flinders College of Science and Engineering PhD candidate Simon Pegoli. “Every space is different, so giving robots effective tactile sensor systems to map their tasks and ‘visualise’ movement in their range will advance their abilities.” A paper in the Sensors and Actuators journal, Optimising electromechanical whisker design for contact localisation, is linked.

Golden Plains Quarry feeds material demands from wind farm

The newly-established Golden Plains Quarry is helping the construction of what will become the largest wind farm in the southern hemisphere, the Golden Plains Wind Farm. The wind farm will require close to 2 million tonnes of hard rock quarry materials, according to a statement on Friday by Victoria’s department of energy, and has provided material for 100 kilometres of access tracks and 122 hardstand areas where cranes and construction equipment will operate from in the project’s first stage. Stage one will represent 756 megawatts of capacity. The Golden Plains Wind Farm – East, phase one, is owned by TagEnergy (85 per cent) and the Ingka Group (15 per cent), and the quarry is a separate business.

Picture: Associate Professor Russell Brinkworth and Simon Pegoli (credit Flinders University)



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