Plastics are closely related to 3D printing and the most popular materials include PLA materials with relatively low print challenges Other composites are used for more advanced applications and have better mechanical properties.
One of the leading 3D printing solutions is large-scale 3D printing. Large 3D printers for plastic products are based on melt-extrusion technology and are process reliable, easy to use and maintain.
Now there is a clear topic: the application of large-scale 3D printing Where is the use of large-scale 3D printing What are the benefits?
Design and conceptual modeling
For the design world, the size often limits the rapid manufacturing of design products, with the feasibility of fast 3D printing of large parts, which allows the design ideas can be quickly translated into reality, and applied to a variety of products.Post-processing can make The final model is closer to the product.
Benefits: Shortens the time to full-size prototypes Those technologies that make the model through traditional methods, including wood, foam, and fiberglass are not only time-consuming but also costly. Large 3D printing not only saves money but also allows for free-form surfaces Unique geometry, and can accelerate the process of designing iterations.
Suitable form: can be a one-time 3D printing to complete, or print into several parts, and then assembled.
Entertainment and Advertising
Through large-scale 3D printing technology can create a unique marketing and promotional elements .In the absence of 3D printing technology, almost all the parts and exhibits in this industry are hand-made.Compared with traditional processes, large-scale 3D printing greatly reduced Artificial labor saves time and money, and 3D printing also spawns creative ideas for entertainment and advertising design products.
Industrial Manufacturing
Large-scale 3D printing technology is also being introduced in the field of industrial manufacturing. The combination of large-scale 3D printing and industrial manufacturing is not only possible but also may solve unique challenges.
Mold and Production
3D printing provides an efficient way to produce one or more custom designed products. To make the final part, 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, it is formed The final part is installed on the car after processing and finishing.
Advantages: Compared with traditional non-3D printing methods, large-scale 3D printing technology can greatly shorten the production time of end-use components, and save a considerable cost compared with the same parts produced by CNC machine tools.
Another good example is the creation of a new lighting panel design using a similar large 3D printing process, resulting in a 50% reduction in production time and a reduction in cost compared to using a CNC.
Indeed, 3D printing has brought a new entry point into the manufacture of large molds.As early as 2014, LocalMotors, a company that made a big splash in the world of IMTS, was able to print a complete electric car at IMTS site. Strati, a 3D printing equipment used by the BAAM, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to develop high-speed large-scale 3D printing equipment.
Not only that, the BAAM technology was also used in 3D-printed submarines developed by the Destructive Technology Laboratory (DTL) team of the Marine Corps (NSWC) and Carderock, which started working in August 2016 to pass Using a large industrial 3D printer, BAAM, to produce six carbon fiber parts for a submarine, it was assembled into a 30-foot-long submarine, a submarine of similar size costing up to 800,000 U.S. dollars for about 3 to 5 months to complete the production.And by 3D printing, manufacturing costs cheaper by 90%, not only that, but also saves production time.
Even traditional industries such as construction machinery are like Volvo Construction, and Caterpillar is also exploring the 'beauty' 3D printing can bring to its production and business, how to develop new products faster and at lower cost.
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 channels 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 a 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 produced by 3D printing, machining of the part to the exact dimensions by using a CNC milling machine, simultaneous 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 robots is essential for 3D printing with robots in addition to Thermwood, as well as BAAM, MX3D, Thermwood, BranchTechnology, 3DSystems, LittleArm, ArevoLabs 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 produce 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 is the forerunner of the industry in integrating 3D printing and cutting of plastic materials into one piece of equipment, but more companies are already bullish on the blending of large plastic products in the market research at 3D Science Valley. Expert CMS announced a new partnership with the Fraunhofer Institute of Machine Tool and Forming Technology (Fraunhofer IWU) in Germany in September 2017 and has co-developed a hybrid 3D printing and five-axis milling system for thermoplastic composites. The Fraunhofer IWU will collaborate with the CMS Work closely with CMSKreator to develop high-quality thermoplastic composite parts in combination with 3D printing and machining CMSKreator is available in a range of configurations and sizes and accommodates a wide range of thermoplastic-based materials 3D Science Valley learned that this device can be applied in many areas and industries, and will be for the manufacture of precision prototypes and even the production of special parts.
In addition to melt extrusion and the combination of melt extrusion and machining, Massivit, another Israeli company, has come up with its own big move. Its large new 3D printing device, called GDP, is GelDispensedPrinting Print), a technique that is somewhat similar to the compounding of FDM and SLA techniques, which prints extremely fast and can print very large objects.
Unlike the liquid resins used in the photocuring process, the GDP technology prints materials that are gel-like because they print gels and are faster than liquids, and thicker printed layers, combined with coagulation The glue itself is self-supporting so almost no support material is needed during the printing process, which also reduces the amount of work required to post-process the support material and saves time for the 3D printer to print support material.As mentioned in the main text, the large 3D Printing can be used in the entertainment and advertising industries and Massivit has been involved in large-scale project promotion for several major brands, including Sony's advertising and Angry Birds ghostbusch movie promotion, which used to rely on manual processes including sculpting foam This is a time-consuming and labor-intensive process, and 3D printing is a digital process that allows a large number of personalized and localized manufacturing methods to fit the tight, personalized and time-critical needs of advertising and promotion.
It can be said that the development of the 3D printing industry is revealing more and more to us the great wisdom brought about by the big ones.