[ad_1]
Based in 2019 as a three way partnership between Additec and Sicnova, steel 3D printer OEM Meltio develops and manufactures high-performance and easy-to-use steel 3D printing options that use its patented wire-laser steel deposition (LMD) expertise, which is a sort of DED. The corporate is predicated in Linares, Spain, and that’s the place I used to be final week, attending the launch of its new industrial 3D printer: the Meltio M600.
Let’s get the fundamentals out of the way in which: this new system combines wire deposition, good sensors, a bigger 300 x 400 x 600 mm totally inert workspace, and blue lasers to print much more demanding metals, together with, Inconel, nickel, stainless steels, titanium, and copper and aluminum alloys.
The M600 was developed to be the proper complement to trendy machine outlets, utilizing its 3-axis contact probe and help for a number of workholding options (like zero-point clamping) to print and restore elements, in addition to add options to current parts. Plus, the printer was designed to be very autonomous, in addition to simple to make use of. That’s why the tagline for the occasion was “Plug, Press Play, & Print.”
In his welcome speech to the gathered journalists and resellers from all over the world, Meltio’s CEO Ángel Llavero mentioned that the M600 is the “second technology” of the turn-key M450 3D printer, which was launched in 2019.
“The primary wasn’t the proper answer, so we listened to your issues and made a really, excellent product,” he mentioned concerning the new printer.
Meltio CEO Ángel Llavero addressing the room
The official launch occasion for the next-generation Meltio M600 was additionally live-streamed to AMUG 2024 in Chicago.
“We’re not going to be one other firm that’s targeted on powder mattress fusion processes. We’re going to solely concentrate on laser wire deposition,” Lukas Hoppe, R&D Director at Meltio, advised the assembled crowd concerning the firm’s historical past and mission.
Hoppe defined that wire-laser AM is cost-efficient, accessible, integration-ready, protected, and dependable. Meltio wished to show with its unique M450 that “laser wire deposition may very well be a straightforward course of,” and that plug-and-play steel AM was doable. Whereas it wasn’t simple at first to develop and fine-tune the corporate’s turnkey machine for close to web form printing, the corporate succeeded.
“It took over three years of downside fixing to attain a steady printing course of for our present expertise, and two extra years to get to the place we’re right this moment,” he continued. “In these 5 years, the elemental idea and setup of our machine hasn’t modified. It’s the identical lasers, the identical dials.”
Lukas Hoppe, R&D Director at Meltio
Meltio and its customers realized quite a bit from this preliminary machine, together with the truth that reliability is a very powerful facet above the rest; understanding course of dynamics is vital; and the printer itself is simply a part of the answer. The entire ecosystem is important for fulfillment.
“It’s concerning the software program, discovering native help in your machine, materials parameters, all of these items that want to return collectively. And when you don’t have all of those, you then’re not going to have the ability to promote an answer that the market actually wants,” Hoppe mentioned.
Then, Meltio Engine Mission Supervisor Alejandro Jiménez took the stage to introduce the Meltio ecosystem, made up of the next:
Meltio M450Meltio Engine CNC IntegrationMeltio Engine Robotic IntegrationMeltio Engine Robotic CellMeltio M600
“We had simply 9 individuals and one confirmed idea in 2019, and now we’ve developed greater than 16 options with a gaggle of 100+ individuals,” Jiménez advised the group.
Along with the machines themselves, the corporate’s ecosystem contains world companions, native help groups, software program, and 65 resellers that help Meltio from across the globe.
Alejandro Jiménez, Meltio Engine Mission Supervisor
By way of its software program options (Meltio Horizon slicer and Meltio Area), Jiménez introduced that the corporate was introducing Meltio Horizon 1.4, and Dashboard, a web-based cloud platform for print monitoring, administration, and extra. Then, Jiménez and Hoppe collectively formally unveiled the brand new Meltio M600 to thunderous applause.
“That is the machine we think about to be a game-changer for the way in which steel elements are produced all all over the world,” Hoppe mentioned. “This machine is totally new. The one factor it shares with any of our current merchandise is that it additionally makes use of the laser wire deposition course of. Every thing else has been modified.”
The brand new Meltio M600 was imagined to be the best 3D printer for the machine store, designed to supply an answer for fragile provide chains, lengthy lead instances, and costly inventory. Hoppe defined {that a} fundamental purpose the M600 is supposed for machine outlets is post-processing.
“3D printed steel elements all the time must be post-processed by standard manufacturing strategies,” he continued. “You’ll by no means have a 3D printer, at the least within the foreseeable future, the place you simply take out your completed parts. This post-processing, be it for trade or manufacturing, will all the time occur within the machine store. So the printer ought to find yourself within the machine store.”
The printer was conceived to maneuver steel AM outdoors of area of interest areas, and introduce the expertise to industrial manufacturing. Welding wire as a feedstock is cheaper and safer, and gained’t danger contaminating CNC machines, which makes it an awesome candidate for integration into machine outlets and onto the manufacturing facility flooring.
As Hoppe defined, the printer is totally inert and capable of print elements of 300 x 400 x 600 mm, and likewise contains a wire drum connection equipment and built-in 3 axis contact probe, the latter of which is used so as to add options onto current elements. It has a imaginative and prescient system, factory-calibrated deposition head, and may resume printing if energy is misplaced, because of full linear encoders. Plus, as the corporate mentions in its press launch, the M600 can print 24/7 with solely minimal operator interplay for autonomous manufacturing. It additionally options high-quality servo motors and ball screws for minimal upkeep, a dehumidifier to take care of fixed ambient circumstances, and a built-in filtration system.
Utilizing wire LMD, customers can print high-quality parts with materials properties which can be akin to what you’d obtain utilizing standard manufacturing, however with safer supplies. This was one of many qualities Meltio knew could be essential to machine outlets, together with workholding and hybrid manufacturing, excessive productiveness, ease of use and quick to program, a small footprint with a big workspace, minimal upkeep, aggressive price per kg of fabric, and a variety of authorized supplies.
Talking of recent supplies, the M600 can course of marine bronze, 5K and 6K sequence aluminum alloys, tremendous duplex stainless-steel and M7 metal, and copper chromium zirconium (CuCrZr), which is a demanding materials to print however has nice mechanical properties; Meltio really prints the nozzles for its printers on this materials. Hoppe mentioned that aluminum alloys are good for printing massive elements, however the decision isn’t as excessive. Although he did guarantee the viewers that “that is one thing we’re engaged on.” It’s essential to notice that, whereas the CuCrZr and aluminum alloys have been deemed printable on the M600, they’re not accessible but, as testing continues to be being carried out.
The printer’s blue laser deposition head is what really permits the usage of these new supplies. It’s much more particular as a result of it makes use of no fibers: the lasers are built-in immediately into the pinnacle. Most industrial lasers emit near-infrared mild, however the 450 nm blue lasers in Meltio’s new printer scale back power consumption, as a result of elevated absorption of brief wavelength mild. The corporate says these lasers enhance effectivity and enhance velocity, permitting the M600 to print 60% quicker than the first-generation M450, and obtain an annual throughput of three,200 kg. That equals roughly 30,000 watch bezels, 125 spline shafts, and 1,060 boat brackets.
Meltio additionally claims that its blue laser deposition head, which options new and improved sensors for print monitoring, is aligned on the manufacturing facility, because of power distribution and wire steering, and so no operator adjustment is required between materials adjustments; once more, plug-and-play steel AM. Clearly, if that is actually true, output from the printer might be extra constant and upkeep might be lowered.
“With this printer, we’ve been capable of shift a bit bit how the power is delivered, and capable of enhance a bit bit how the wire is delivered. Due to these two tweaks, we’ve really managed to make a printer that may come factory-calibrated. You don’t have to the touch it, and it’ll all the time work,” Hoppe mentioned. “This removes all of the variants between the prints. You will have one printer that might be precisely the identical if I set it up, if Alejandro units it up, proper? So this can be a huge step ahead.”
The ultimate portion of the M600 launch presentation targeted on the printer’s “actual success story.” Spanish cement firm Cementos La Cruz develops 3D printing options for building, in addition to low-carbon footprint cementitious supplies. The corporate, which is concentrated on the round economic system, has adopted Meltio’s expertise to print steel elements, and particularly used the M600 to manufacture a stainless-steel nozzle that permits the manufacturing of extra sustainable cement elements.
Picture courtesy of Meltio
Excessive management of fabric circulate is required for typical AM, however it’s much more essential in additive building. A printer’s nozzle is vital to reaching high-quality layers, and Cementos La Cruz acknowledged {that a} 3D printable design could be greatest to create the type of nozzle they wished. Utilizing Meltio’s wire LMD expertise, the corporate was capable of print nozzles that optimize the standard of layers, together with controlling the deposition of the concrete.
Concrete nozzles
Whereas the system itself was spectacular, the general occasion was additionally a hit due not solely to how the machine was introduced, however within the varied ways in which the Meltio crew was capable of educate the attendees. As you’ll study in a follow-up article, we had been capable of get into the high quality particulars of the M600 and the encircling ecosystem by a sequence of particular breakout periods that gave us new insights into the expertise.
Subscribe to Our E-mail E-newsletter
Keep up-to-date on all the newest information from the 3D printing trade and obtain info and presents from third get together distributors.
[ad_2]
Supply hyperlink
