Just a few short months ago, Texas-based industrial 3D printing solutions provider Essentium, Inc. launched its newest High Speed Extrusion (HSE) 3D printer, the HSE 280i HT, which is built on independent dual extrusion system (IDEX) technology and is said to deliver high print speeds of more than 500 mm per second. Now, the company is planning to head up to Chicago, Illinois soon to give its new HSE 280i HT 3D printing system its first public debut and demonstration in the US at the upcoming RAPID + TCT 2021 event, to be held at McCormick Place from September 13-15. The industrial-level printer, which Essentium calls a “first-of-its-kind,” was designed specifically for the demands of the busy factory floor, leveraging a non-slip, high-torque extrusion system with all linear servo motors to help enable full-scale production runs in demanding industries like automotive, aerospace, electronics, and more.
As a recently commissioned third-party study from Essentium reports, 84% of the respondents feel that companies actively investing in 3D printing will have a definite competitive advantage over the next five years; it seems Essentium would agree, as the company announced this sprint that it was expanding to meet the demands for high-speed 3D printing, just months before it acquired Collider and its hybrid DLP 3D printing. But, 20% of the executives who responded to the study believe that industrial-scale 3D printers are too expensive to invest in, and 37% thought the same thing about 3D printing materials.
Essentium, which is ISO 9001:2015 and ITAR certified, says that its new HSE 280i HT 3D printing system takes care of these issues with its high-throughput production ability, large-scale build volume, and compatibility for high-temperature materials, though I’m not sure how that addresses pricy materials. But regardless, this high speed IDEX system can offer both functional prototyping and full-scale production, along with high-performance engineering materials, which is necessary for industrial manufacturing companies in the aerospace, automotive, consumer goods, and electronics industries.
“The manufacturing industry is increasingly moving toward a leaner and more agile future enabled by AM. This is the beginning of radical change, where billions will be saved through new economic and production models,” Essentium’s CEO Blake Teipel said when the HSE 280i HT was first introduced. “But this change requires continuous and unrelenting innovation to be able to do things not done before, to make parts that haven’t been made before – and manufacture things that haven’t been manufactured before.”
Essentium’s HSE 280i HT 3D printer.
Back to materials, Essentium also found in its research that 96% of manufacturers are looking for more control through open 3D printing ecosystems, and the new HSE 280i HT is an open-material printer. It’s able to print with materials from other companies, such as BASF, as well as materials from Essentium’s own portfolio, like Nylon, PEEK, and TPU. Users can print multi-part builds at industrial speeds, even ones with tricky geometries, thanks to the printer’s “true IDEX system” that’s independent on the Y and X axis, and it also comes standard with five different build modes: independent mode, single head mode, support mode, copy mode, and multi-process mode.
To get a look at Essentium’s new HSE 280i HT printer for yourself, come visit the company at its Booth #E7625 at RAPID + TCT in just a couple of weeks.