Plastics are closely related to 3D printing, and materials are most popular, including PLA materials, with relatively low printing challenges. Other composites can be used for more advanced applications and have better mechanical properties.
One of the leading solutions for the 3D printing industry is large-scale 3D printing. The large-scale 3D printer for plastic products is based on melt extrusion technology, which is reliable, easy to use and maintain.
Now there is an obvious topic: where is the application of large-scale 3D printing, where is the benefit of using large 3D printing?
Design and concept modeling
For the design field, the size often limits the rapid manufacturing of the design product, with the feasibility of large parts of the rapid 3D printing, which makes the idea of design can be quickly transformed into reality, and applied to a variety of products. Post-processing can make The final model is closer to the product.
Advantages: shorten the time to obtain full-size prototypes. Those technologies that are manufactured by traditional methods, including wood, foam, and glass fibers, are not only time-consuming but also expensive. Large 3D printing technology not only saves cost, but also enables free-form Unique geometric shapes, and can accelerate the process of designing iterations.
Suitable for form: one-time 3D printing can be completed, or printed into several parts, and then assembled from.
· Entertainment and advertising
Through the large-scale 3D printing technology can create a unique marketing and promotional elements in the absence of 3D printing technology before the industry almost all parts and exhibits are hand-made compared with the traditional process, large-scale 3D printing greatly reduced Artificial labor, saving time and cost, and 3D printing technology also gave birth to the entertainment and advertising industry design products free ideas.
Industrial manufacturing
Industrial manufacturing is also introducing large-scale 3D printing technology, the combination of large-scale 3D printing and industrial manufacturing is not only possible, but also possible to solve unique challenges.
Mold and production
3D printing provides an effective way to produce one or more custom design products. In order to manufacture the final parts, a large mold can be obtained by 3D printing and used as a final tool for the composite structure. Once the resin is injected into the mold, The final parts are installed on the car after processing and finishing.
Advantages: Compared with the traditional non-3D printing method, through large-scale 3D printing technology can greatly shorten the end-use parts of the production time, and the use of CNC machine tools compared to the same parts, but also save a considerable amount of cost.
Another good example is the use of a similar large-scale 3D printing process to produce a new design for the lighting panel, which reduces manufacturing time by 50% compared to using the CNC and reduces costs.
Indeed, 3D printing technology has brought a new entry point for large-scale mold manufacturing. As early as 2014, LocalMotors company in the field of IMTS live 3D print complete electric car Strati, the use of 3D printing equipment BAAM by the US Department of Energy Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) developed high-speed large-scale 3D printing equipment.
Not only that, BAAM technology was also used in 3D printing submarines, which was developed by the Marine Corps (NSWC) and the Carderock Department's Disruptive Technology Laboratory (DTL) team, which began work in August 2016 (BAAM) to produce six carbon fiber parts of a submarine and then assembled into a 30-foot submarine using a large industrial 3D printer - a similar size submarine costing up to $ 800,000, 5 months to produce finished, while through the 3D printing, manufacturing costs 90% cheaper, not only that, but also save the production time.
And even the traditional industries such as the construction machinery industry, such as Volvo construction, Caterpillar, etc. are also exploring the 3D printing of its production and business brought 'beauty', how can more quickly, lower cost of the development of new products.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has partnered with the National Institute of Devices and the National Fluid Association to develop the world's first 3D print excavator that includes three components manufactured directly from 3D printing equipment : Cab, Boom and Heat Exchanger The excavator boom, about 2.1 meters long and weighs about 181 kilograms, is made of ORNL's newly developed large metal parts 3D printing equipment that uses low-cost printing materials as a printing material The arm has been designed with built-in passages for hydraulic components.The excavator's cab was designed by a student engineering team at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA, with a bionic cab design that was inspired by the large Naturally curved branches of the tree, the cab weighing about 68 kg, the design team said the cab compared to the traditional design of the cab weight loss of 25%, while the strength can be guaranteed Cab by the ORNL laboratory BAAM (Large Format Additive Manufacturing) 3D printing equipment and carbon fiber reinforced composite materials.
Those who design and develop new products that the manufacturing industry would have spent billions of dollars on startup will take years to fully market their products. The cost of 3D printing now is only a fraction of the cost, and time is fine Get greatly shortened.
Recently, a joint team of Purdue composite manufacturing and simulation centers, Thermwood Corporation, Applied Composites Engineering (ACE) and TechmerPM enabled the manufacture of helicopter components through the 3D printing of PSU composite molds.
It is understood that this may be the first successful application of carbon fiber reinforced PSU plastics to 3D printing processes and a one-time 3D printing and machining of helicopter molds through Thermwood's LSAM-Large Additive Manufacturing system. The LSAM system is an ingenious combination of an additive manufacturing process with a machined cutting process, with a rough outline of the model printed out in 3D, and the machining of parts to the exact dimensions by using a CNC milling machine, synchronized with the machining of the machined The large 3D printer used to make helicopter part molds has a construction volume of 10x20 feet.
In general, 3D printing with robotic hands is essential for 3D printing with robots in addition to Thermwood, as well as BAAM, MX3D, Thermwood, BranchTechnology, 3DSystems, LittleArm, ArevoL abs , And Stratasys.
The BAAM system was used by the Office of Wind Energy and Hydro Energy under the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the United States in 2016 to create a huge wind turbine blade mold that was printed in batches of up to 13 meters by the BAAM system in batches. 3D Science Valley's market research, similar to Thermwood, uses carbon fiber composite 3D printing technology for the molds, except that the 3D printing of the BAAM system is completed and the blade is covered with a glass fiber laminate to obtain a smooth Surface, and what Thermwood does is remove the excess plastic material by machining to get the exact mold surface.
However, Thermwood can be the forerunner of the industry in integrating 3D printing and cutting of plastic materials in a single unit, but more companies are already bullish on large-scale plastic products Of the Italian processing experts CMS and September 2017 announced in September with the German Fraunhofer Machine Tool and Forming Technology Research Institute (FraunhoferIWU) to establish a new partnership and jointly develop thermoplastic composite 3D printing and five-axis milling of the mixed Fraunhofer IWU will work closely with CMS to develop CMSKreator, which will combine high-quality thermoplastic composite parts with 3D printing and machining. CMSKreator will have a range of configurations and sizes that can accommodate a wide range of thermoplastic Plastic materials. 3D Science Valley understands that this device can be used in many areas and industries, and will be manufactured for precision prototypes or even special parts.
In addition to the melt extrusion technology, as well as the combination of melt extrusion technology and machining technology, another company from Israel, Massivit is resorted to their own big move, its large new 3D printing equipment called GDP, is GelDispensedPrinting (gel Print), this technique is somewhat similar to the FDM and SLA technology, the print speed is extremely fast, and can print out very large objects.
Unlike the liquid resin used in the light curing process, the material printed by the GDP technology is gel-like, because the gel is printed faster than the liquid, and the thickness of the printed layer is large, The glue itself can be self-supporting, so in the printing process almost no need to support the material, which also reduces the workload of post-processing support materials, and save the time to print the support of the 3D printer.As mentioned in the text, large 3D Printing can be used in the entertainment and advertising industries, Massivit has been involved in a number of large brands of large-scale project promotion, including Sony's advertising and angry bird's ghost death squads movie propaganda in the past these props and promotional supplies rely on manual processes including sculpture foam This is a time-consuming process, allowing a large number of personalized and localized manufacturing methods, very fit in the advertising and promotion of time-critical and personalized and full of demand.
It can be said that the development of the 3D printing industry is more and more to us to reveal more of the great wisdom brought about the big man.