Additive Manufacturing Technologies to Present Post Processing System at Formnext

Held in Frankfurt this year from November 19-22, Formnext offers a massive opportunity for manufacturers to present new innovations—and 3D printing hardware is front and center for many of the over 600 exhibitors at the always impressive conference. Additive Manufacturing Technologies Ltd. (AMT) will be presenting their Digital Manufacturing System, and in fact, visitors to Formnext will be the first to see this new comprehensive post-processing system.

The AMT team is familiar with the wide range of industries looking forward not only to using the wide range of new materials, software, and hardware being launched—but they realize that many customers must also budget in time, effort, and significant funds for post-processing efforts.

“Post processing those parts is also a vital component of the equation, one that can account for up to 60 per cent of the cost of the parts,” explains the AMT team in their recent press release to 3DPrint.com about their appearance at Formnext.

As AMT continues to build a strong foundation within the 3D printing realm, their ultimate goal is to create post-processing solutions that are automated, safe, and sustainable.

“This industrial post processing solution goes a long way to mitigate many of the current issues with finishing AM parts to injection molding standards and improving mechanical properties of the parts by way of its unique BLAST technology,” states AMT.

“The final part of the equation addressed by AMT within the DMS is a fully automated inline inspection system for quality assurance / quality control (QA/QC). The PostPro3DMet is an advanced machine learning metrology system, developed in conjunction with the University of Nottingham.”

And while so much of post-processing and finishing techniques are still manual, AMT strives to offer comprehensive and automated technology. DMS ‘unpacks the AM machine’ in terms of automation that ‘frees up the bottleneck’ often associated with 3D printing—holding up the process at the end. With DMS, the PostPro3DDP system also de-powders the printing process without any blasting media or chance for contamination of material. Added ‘intervention in the process chain’ is also avoided. The mini and color options, AMT flagship products, can be presented independently as an automated solution but offer greater value as part of the DMS from AMT.

 “As a company we are making a big statement at Formnext this year where we will demonstrate the innovation that sets AMT apart as a solutions provider for true industrial additive manufacturing. It is gratifying to see that post processing is being more widely acknowledged as a bottle neck in the AM process chain, with a growing number of companies focused in this area. However, AMT’s unique solutions combine market leading technology, machine learning capabilities, dedicated automation systems and superior research and production partnerships,” said Joseph Crabtree, CEO at AMT. “It is this approach that means we offer more than just a process or just a machine, which is what you may find on other booths at Formnext. AMT’s Digital Manufacturing System exemplifies this perfectly, with a comprehensive solution that links all of the post processing stages together through intelligent, digital connectivity and innovative hardware to unlock the potential of AM for cost-effective, high volume applications across industry.

“Visitors to our stand will be able to see the DMS in action for themselves, as well as gain insight into the importance of post processing in terms of our actual stand, which features more than 6000 3D printed and post processed parts. Sustainability was a key driver here — the stand is light and completely modular, meaning that it can be reused in configurations that suit any future events while being easy and carbon-efficient to transport.”

Additive Manufacturing Technologies Ltd. has had a role in many different 3D printing projects lately, from experimenting with innovations like novel hydraulic pumps; however, they have also been involved in procuring added funding to continue their work. What do you think of this news? Let us know your thoughts; join the discussion of this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com.

AMT will be demonstrating the capabilities of its DMS on Booth E61 in Hall 12.1.

[Source / Images: Additive Manufacturing Technologies press release]