Markforged recently hosted a webinar, entitled ‘Leveraging the Swiss Army Knife of Metal Printing’, where Senior Product Marketing Manager, Daniel Leong, outlined what metal fused filament fabrication (FFF) 3D printing is, why and when to use it, the common strengths and weaknesses, and 10 real world applications.
The process starts with FFF printing, but in reality there is a three-step process: printing, debinding and sintering. FFF printers print polymers out of a nozzle, and use highly specialised technology. It doesn’t use loose powder, is considered safe and affordable, and user-friendly from an acquisition perspective.
A wide suite of materials are available: 17-4PH stainless steel; H13, A2 and D2 stainless steel, Inconel 625 and copper. While it is capable of solving many different problems, and is more accessible than most other tools, it is often not the best tool for solving a specific problem.
Other weaknesses include precision tolerances, and it lacks the scale of really big and really small parts, which are mostly restricted from thumb to fist size parts. Additionally, resolution is constrained by nozzle diameter.
10 applications:
– Rapidly prototype designs in parallel. Streamline R&D by testing 20 design variations at once, print 20 iterations at one time and settle on a design that much faster.
– High cycle robotic grippers. Steel must be used to achieve tool longevity, and 3D printing enables cheap geometric complexity).
– Bespoke replacement parts in-house. Legacy cast parts with obsolete tooling face extremely high cost and lead times. For example, parts that aren’t made any more can be ‘brought back to life’, with what otherwise would’ve been costly and have taken a very long time.
– Solve red-hot issues on the factory floor. Don’t let delays on tooling components prevent moving production forward, simply print made-to-order components.
– Maximise performance with optimised materials. Recognise areas for process improvements that previously required high levels of efforts. Metal FFF design uses internal channels to deliver ultra-high performance design, e.g. a copper tool cooler can save 40 seconds of changeover time, in total, this is 111 hours a year.
– Satisfy customers with low volume parts. Leverage 3D printing’s design freedom to create optimised part performance with lower cost and lead time.
– Build hybrid tools to maximise performance. Combine steel for heat and with composite for size and lightweight properties.
– Manufacture consumable tooling in-house. Avoid unexpected downtime by removing supplier bottlenecks and taking control of cost and lead time.
– Complex parts for extreme environments. Use super-alloys to withstand the most severe conditions without relying on a third party supplier.
– Design and print specialised tooling. Incorporate process improvements in areas that previously were not economically viable; reduce part count and eliminate a welding procedure while delivering a more highly optimised tool.
RAPID 3D
+27 861 000 185
david@rapid3d.co.za
www.rapid3d.co.za
