DS-FEB24-PG40+41_Layout 1 19/02/2024 13:21 Page 2
3D PRINTING/ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING FEATURE
corners, manufacturers not only slash print time but also uphold a consistent print speed, ensuring top-notch part quality. Just like start and stops are not good on your car, accelerating and decelerating are not good for the printed parts’ properties or quality. And never do chamfers since they introduce two corners. Observe the corners, taking fillets and
fine meshed to get the maximum. The print time dropped from one hour 45 minutes to one hour 29 minutes without further adjustments.
optimiSe travel movementS
In High-Speed Extrusion printing, the significance of travel movements cannot be overstated. These movements, which occur in the XY plane, substantially impact print time. Unlike 3D printing methods such as SLA, where travel movements transpire in the Z direction, filament printing, and High-Speed Extrusion entail XY plane travel movements on each layer, compounding their effect. To optimise travel movements, the key
is to minimise the number of islands, and cross-sectional areas of a part that remain unconnected. This reduction decreases the number of travel movements, leading to a more consistent extrusion rate, enhancing quality, accelerating printing, and preventing issues like stringing and blobbing. Implementing this optimisation led to a
remarkable 24% acceleration in the print time for a representative fixture.
Observe that the results for the tool are
the same. However, the print time dropped from 42 to 28 minutes while achieving 20% weight savings.
StrategiSe toolpathS for thin WallS
When planning the toolpath for High-Speed Extrusion, designers must consider how the printer deposits the material. When designing thin walls, aligning the design with the extrusion width or nozzle diameter is imperative. For instance, if using 0.4mm or 0.8mm nozzles, the toolpath width should be adjusted accordingly to 0.4 or 0.8mm. Current-day software can adjust the build parameters for inconsistent wall thickness. However, it only compensates but does not correct the design. It will improve the build quality but not help with time or material. The best path is always fixing it at the design level.
By ensuring uniform extrusion, designers
maintain the highest quality and strength for part walls. The time saved is also substantial, with a 17% reduction in print speed recorded for a recent chip tray manufactured using this technique. By adopting these three approaches, engineers
ensure that manufacturers can significantly enhance the speed and performance of their parts. Designing specifically for High-Speed Extrusion translates into less time dedicated to refining 3D production processes and a swifter realisation of the true potential of industrial-scale additive manufacturing. Designing with build orientation in mind,
Z overhang optimisation is another critical component, but not specific to HSE only.
essentium
https://essentium.com
new technology mitigates the cost of recoating on build time and enchances additive manufacturing productivity
to the development of TEMPUS technology, a software-driven technology that synchronises the laser, recoater and elevator systems, using timing data to optimise the process productivity. As a result, its AM system users gain advanced control of laser positioning and timing, enabling the laser to start firing as soon as the recoater adds a new layer of powder to the target area. By optimising laser activity,
TEMPUS technology enables significant productivity gains that dramatically improve system cost- effectiveness. This almost entirely removes laser downtime caused by
Traditionally in laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) the laser will stop firing while the recoater adds a new layer of material. Recoating the build plate typically takes under ten seconds per layer, but with builds often made up of thousands of layers, these delays can add up to tens of hours over an entire build. Increasing the productivity of existing AM
systems is key to reducing cost per part. Here, Renishaw has focused on how to boost efficiency by utilising the recoating time. The company realised it could connect its
recoater and laser control systems, allowing the lasers to fire while the recoater is moving without the risk of hitting it. This concept led
spreading a new powder layer, saving up to nine seconds every layer. For manufacturers in serial AM production, TEMPUS technology delivers the highest productivity levels possible at scale. The proportional time saving depends on
the part geometry and number of lasers but, in some cases, users can reduce build time by up to 50%. If builds that previously took multiple shifts can now be built in one, manufacturers could double their production output using the same number of machines. TEMPUS technology can be retrofitted
onto both single and multi-laser RenAM 500 systems. The software integrates with
FEBRUARY 2024 design solutions 41
Renishaw’s existing QuantAM build preparation software, which enables efficient computer aided design (CAD) model preparation. With TEMPUS technology, once the
model is designed, users can optimise the speed of the laser and recoater, either using our preset parameters, or by adjusting settings themselves. According to the company, this productivity
upgrade will benefit existing AM applications and potentially other applications where AM was previously discounted due to perceived higher production costs.
renishaw
www.renishaw.com
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