Hybrid Metal 3D Printer Enables Quick-turn Prototyping
IMTS: Matsuura Machinery’s Lumex Avance hybrid metal 3D printers are said to enable lights-out production for highly accurate parts from metal powders.
Matsuura Machinery says its Lumex Avance lights-out metal 3D printers produce highly accurate parts from metal powders that are melted and sintered via a laser while surfaces are precisely milled.
The company says the hybrid metal 3D printer enables the ability to “grow” and fine mill a metal component in layers with complex internal features as the layers are added, such as conformal cooling and integrated porous venting — in most cases, eliminating the need for EDM. This is said to typically reduces overall build time and ensures a highly suitable surface finish. Added conformal cooling can also improve cycle times as much as 50% and mold gas venting can be optimized, the company says.
The solution is said to enable quick-turn prototyping producing a wide range of parts and low- to mid-volume production runs. Products and shapes that were said to be previously impossible to manufacture (including ultradeep ribs, 3D mesh, hollows, free-form surfaces and porous structures) can now be manufactured via the Lumex platform.
Related Content
-
Bridge Production Is Real Production
Not prototyping — it is something far more than this. The chance to launch the product into the world using additive manufacturing as the initial process delivers important new possibilities, and even keeps on delivering advantages far into the product’s life.
-
Complete Speaker Lineup Announced for the 3D Printing Workshop at NPE2024: The Plastics Show
Presentations will cover 3D printing for mold tooling, material innovation, product development, bridge production and full-scale, high-volume additive manufacturing.
-
Sinter-Based Additive Manufacturing Finds a Place Alongside MIM, Press and Sinter at APG
Powder metallurgy company Alpha Precision Group (APG) is applying a particular class of metal 3D printing technology for both rapid iteration in development and flexibility in production.