Page 91: of Offshore Engineer Magazine (Oct/Nov 2014)

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Spotlight

By Sarah Parker Musarra said, explaining that the engineers imme-

Leaving an imprint on the industry diately understood Calnan’s solution.

In addition to alleviating designers of

Barry Calnan, 3D printing manager for something. 3D printing takes away a certain restrictions, Calnan learned that

Houston-based 3d-Printing Solutions, has lot of manufacturing restrictions and it having a 3D printed model immediately always seen things differently. opens up a lot of different ways of think- available can be a powerful communica- “As an engineering designer, keeping ing about a problem,” he says. Following tion and visualization tool.

an open mind has been my best tool,” a successful stint in Qatar as Ras Laffan Ultimately, Halliburton would patent

Calnan says. “Maybe that comes from Liqui? ed Natural Gas Co.’s electrical PDS two of Calnan’s designs.

being a rock and roll drummer and a lead, Calnan joined Halliburton where In April 2008, Calnan became a part- painter – I always question why things his second turning point occurred when ner in a 3D printing re-seller company, are the done the way they’re being done.” he once again thought, “how can we do AGS-3D, before joining Subsea Solutions

Calnan describes himself as hav- this better?” company 3d-Printing Solutions in 2010. ing to two turning points in his career, Charged with designing a downhole Nicknamed the “3D printing evangelist” the ? rst occurring when he was work- tool, Calnan disregarded a typical design by his peers, he has traveled the world, ing on Bantrel Inc.’s Newfoundland process. He used what he calls “the man- as an exhibitor at prominent confer-

Transshipment Project as a 3D AutoCAD ufacturing freedoms” he found through ences such as the Offshore Technology designer. Jokingly, Calnan says that 3D printing to design a tool that couldn’t Conference on how 3D printing can revo- he was dispatched because the com- be made any other way. lutionize the oil and gas industry. pany didn’t have anyone else to send. “Normally, you design the pads on a

However, he was soon made the com- drill sleeve, and then try to change the

For further reading, see page 48, “Worth pany’s youngest electrical plant design pads to whatever ? ow dynamic they are 1000 words.” system (PDS) CAD coordinator. looking for. I designed the ? ow and then

This early success helped him hone built the tool around the ? ow,” he said. “I

Scan this page!

skills that eventually de? ned his career just turned the design process around.”

Scan this page with your smartphone path. He continually looked for better The engineering team looked at him or tablet and the Actable app to see Barry and more economical ways to achieve a quizzically, unable to picture what

Calnan discuss a pivotal moment in his task. He said that when engineers with Calnan was describing. career, made possible through 3D printing.

three times as many years of experience “I had a model printed. I put it on the told him one of his ideas couldn’t be table and the light bulb just went off,” he done, he would just respond with, “Why can’t it?”

He also learned how to liaise between the engineers and design or CAD people, which he says can be tough because many people lack experience in both areas. “Basically, that’s what I’ve done during my entire career,” he said. “I hear what needs to be done and then go back to the design team and work with them to see how it can be accomplished.”

When 3D printing began to take off,

Calnan say that the transition into this line of work was a natural one. With his open-minded approach to problem solv- ing, he appreciated having more options afforded to him. “I’m not a ‘think in the box’ kind of person. Engineering is all about speci? ca- 3d-Printing Solution’s Barry Calnan has been referred to by his contemporaries as a tions and regulations when you design “3D printing evangelist.” Image from Barry Calnan/3DSystems.

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