Renishaw’s equipment, software and technical support fully assist 3D printing service providers to create end-to-end metal additive manufacturing services

As more and more manufacturers realize the advantages of metal additive manufacturing (AM) processes compared to traditional design and manufacturing technologies, the market for professional metal additive manufacturing services has developed rapidly. 3D Metalforge is an emerging additive manufacturing company dedicated to providing customers with a complete end-to-end metal3D printingService to realize the mass production of complex and high-quality metal parts for industrial use. Choosing an excellent metal additive manufacturing system is the key to its success. 3D Metalforge’s requirements for metal additive manufacturing systems include the need to have global support, adapt to Industry 4.0, and meet quality, flexibility and reliability requirements, and so on.

background

The metal additive manufacturing company 3D Metalforge was established in Singapore at the end of 2016 and is a sister company of 3D Matters. In Southeast Asia, with the rapid growth of market demand for high-precision three-dimensional metal parts manufacturing, many additive manufacturing companies have emerged, and 3D Metalforge is one of them.Market to metal3D printingThe demand for services has changed drastically, and it is shifting from focusing on short-term prototype manufacturing and one-time molding to mass production of industrial parts.

In order to meet market demand, additive manufacturing companies must invest in metal additive manufacturing systems to create specialized metals3D printingProduction process.

Mr. Matthew Waterhouse, CEO of 3D Metalforge, explained: “Customers never understood that some parts can actually be printed directly with metal powder, to realize the advantages of metal additive manufacturing compared to traditional manufacturing technology, and even metal additive manufacturing. The complexity and high quality of the parts that can be achieved by the process, their growth rate is amazing.”

At present, 3D Metalforge serves customers in the fields of ocean, oil and gas, precision engineering and general manufacturing with its ISO-certified production equipment.3D printingParts include impellers, antenna brackets, hooks and rotary joints, etc.

As a highly professional additive manufacturing company, 3D Metalforge provides customers with complete end-to-end metal additive manufacturing services, covering consultation and diagnosis, part design or redesign, high-quality part printing and post-processing processes (heat treatment, sawing, Sandblasting, polishing and finishing).

challenge

3D Metalforge has strict standards for purchasing metal additive manufacturing systems to cope with the rapidly evolving manufacturing industry. Faced with numerous equipment options, 3D Metalforge must ensure that the machine it selects can provide services that meet customer needs now and in the future. The selection criteria of 3DMetalforge are as follows:

• Print samples to demonstrate the ability of the additive manufacturing system to produce a variety of high-quality, high-precision, and high-complexity parts.
• Manufacturers of additive manufacturing systems must be able to provide local technical support, including pre-sales and after-sales.
• The system must be mature and reliable, because system reliability is essential for the production of industrial parts.
• The system must be simple to operate and easy to use.

Manufacturers of additive manufacturing systems must also have a wealth of manufacturing process knowledge and a clear understanding of 3D Metalforge’s typical operating methods.

3D Metalforge also takes into account the upcoming Industry 4.0 trend, requiring that metal additive manufacturing systems must be able to comply with the core principles of “Industry 4.0”, including data transparency, connectivity and human-machine interface.

Mr. Waterhouse said: “We believe that metal additive manufacturing is an indispensable part of Industry 4.0, and is the pioneer of future manufacturing reforms.” In Singapore and other parts of Asia, forward-thinking companies are fully fighting the industry 4.0 trend. , Our decision also needs to reflect this. “

solution

Hardware and support

Renishaw’s compact AM 400 additive manufacturing system is breaking through and meeting 3D Metalforge’s selection criteria. The processing volume of AM 400 is 250 mm x 250 mm x 300 mm. It is equipped with a 400 W laser system with a laser beam diameter of only 70 μm. The man-machine interface is highly graphical and visualized.

AM 400 adheres to Renishaw’s “open parameters” concept, allowing 3D Metalforge to freely optimize machine parameter settings for the metal powder being processed and the geometry of specific prints.The system has a first-class inert gas environment, and the SafeChange™ filter element processing system is installed, which can
Minimize the possibility of contact with powder and smoke.

Mr. Waterhouse said: “We have a long history of Renishaw’s precision measurement technology. The most important thing is that Renishaw is well-versed in manufacturing processes.
Learn about material settings, machine calibration, and our requirements for new production and operation methods. “

“The super high-quality samples printed by the AM 400 additive manufacturing system made us very satisfied as soon as they appeared. We believe that the metal3D printingTechnology and traditional processing techniques are complementary to each other, and AM 400 allows us to clearly see how it can help simplify post-processing procedures. “

software

Before printing the part, 3D Metalforge first uses Solid Works software for initial 3D CAD design, and uses it when needed
Autodesk software reviews part printability.

Then, use Renishaw’s QuantAM processing file processing software to optimize the support structure, align the parts, and set the final print file. After that, most of the printing work was completed with the AM 400 solution.

3D Metalforge also uses Renishaw’s InfiniAM Central software, which is a specially designed remote process monitoring software for additive manufacturing systems. InfiniAM Central allows near real-time observation of additive manufacturing on-site processing and viewing historical processing data, and displays system information in a highly graphical manner, facilitating intuitive and in-depth analysis.

result

AM 400 is the metal with the highest utilization rate in 3D Metalforge’s production plant within 18 months after the completion of installation and commissioning.3D printingmachine. Mr. Waterhouse commented that the running time, accuracy and reliability of the AM 400 are very good.

He gave an example of how 3D Metalforge can provide a complete end-to-end metal to a technology equipment company3D printingService: “The demand of this equipment company is to optimize its metal pallet parts and improve the performance of the product itself. Because the expected design goals cannot be achieved using traditional manufacturing techniques, customers turn to us for metal3D printingsolution. “

Since the original design of the part is not suitable for additive manufacturing, 3D Metalforge first redesigned the part. The mesh structure is adopted to reduce the weight, and the shape of the parts is adjusted to straighten the parts for easy printing. They printed several product prototypes and assembled them on the final product for testing before finalizing the part design.

Up to now, 3D Metalforge has printed more than 100 such complex metal parts on the AM 400 system, with a quality control pass rate of 100%. The additive manufacturing design not only reduces the weight of the part, but also improves the performance of the part.

3D Metalforge expects that there will be great opportunities in the field of additive manufacturing standards and certification, and the market’s demand for higher-quality industrial parts will be the future development trend. As more and more industries adopt additive manufacturing technology, it is expected that there will be more and more types of metal powders for metal additive manufacturing.

3D Metalforge hopes to continue to purchase more additive manufacturing systems to produce more size parts and use more types of metal powders. It also plans to open more factories in the fast-growing Asian market. At present, 3D Metalforge is exploring the market and enriching solutions in the United States, and believes that the United States is one of the largest markets for its specialty metal additive manufacturing service brands.

(Editor in charge: admin)