Manual post-processing slows down production rates and adds significant cost to the manufacturing process. Digital manufacturing could enjoy a significant increase if the post-processing problem can be solved, and believe me, people are trying to solve it. Last summer, industrial 3D printing company Rize introduced its Rize One desktop 3D printer, intended to completely eliminate the need for post-processing, and a few months after, Rize hired industry expert Todd Grimm to construct a detailed report on the impact of post-processing. PostProcess Technologies released their new Hybrid Series line of advanced, automated post-processing systems, and MakerBot released several helpful step-by-step guides if you just couldn’t get past needing post-processing techniques.
“We see developing solutions for the post processing of 3D printed parts as key to helping 3D printing displace some forms of traditional manufacturing. It appears to us that this has been a poorly resourced area of the industry, hence our focus on all aspects of post processing,” Joseph Crabtree, CEO of AMT, tells 3DPrint.com.
“We have already developed our PostPro3D technology and the Innovate UK award will allow us to build our next generation intelligent machine that integrates into the digital manufacturing chain. PostPro3D addresses one aspect of the post processing chain, and in the coming months we will be announcing our other complementary technologies that the team has been working on.”
As the project kicks off, we are certainly looking forward to learning about these complementary technologies that are set to ease the process of post-processing. Each member of the consortium is set to bring unique knowledge to the table in this endeavor.
“We are delighted to join the consortium and bring our expertise to developing PostPro3D,” said Professor Neil Hopkinson, Director of 3D Printing at Xaarjet Ltd. “We see this project, in conjunction with High Speed Sintering, as an important step in the development and commercial delivery of industrial 3D Printing.”
The PUSh process works with thermoplastic polymer 3D printed parts, and underwent successful trials with Nylon 12, Nylon 11, TPU, TPE-210, and several other proprietary materials. It’s able to work on intricate structures and complex lattice features with no part-size restrictions, and is currently being developed, with a commercial partner, into a scalable automated manufacturing solution. Once PostPro3D is completely integrated into the digital manufacturing chain, the consortium says that for the first time, the technology will let 3D printing truly compete with, and displace, traditional methods of manufacturing. Using this process, the University of Sheffield was able to achieve a surface roughness Ra value of 3 microns for Nylon 12.
“We are excited to be involved with the project to develop the PostPro3D machine,” said Atomjet CEO Rob Harvey. “Our machine building skills are ideally suited to industrial digital manufacturing equipment.”
“The Innovate UK funding award is a significant step in the development of the proven PostPro3D technology which provides the ‘missing piece’ in the digital manufacturing chain,” said AMT’s Crabtree. “We are looking forward to working with OEM industrial partners to implement this technology into their 3D Printing digital factories.”
Innovate UK is investing up to £4.5 million in collaborative, industrial research projects that are dedicated solely to AM innovation; the Connected Digital Additive Manufacturing Innovate UK funding award is just one part of that investment. The overarching goal of the competition is to assist companies in overcoming barriers in AM business growth, and I would definitely call post-processing a barrier. The competition also encourages these companies to continue exploring and developing wider capabilities in digital manufacturing, as well as gaining more productive, competitive future business propositions. Discuss in the AMT forum at 3DPB.com.