A 3D printing company has reportedly cut its part setup time from five hours to 10 minutes with the adoption of automating technology.
3T Additive Manufacturing, which processes both metal and polymer, used products from Metrology Software Products Ltd (MSP) and Renishaw to complete the setup and alignment for a full batch of parts in the machine during the day and leave the machine to run overnight.
This includes Renishaw's OMP600 machine tool probe and MSP's NC-PerfectPart software which reportedly make it easier to identify and correct errors in part positioning and machine performance before machining.
3T had previously been a prototype producer, but more recently it has become established as a serial production company.
‘We have been able to increase our machine utilisation that could not have been achieved any other way and make the most of the investment in our five-axis machining centers,’ said Martin Jarvis, production engineer at 3T. ‘We now have the potential to use our machines at full capacity – an increase of 157% compared to our average weekly usage before. We are also now able to machine a whole batch of parts in one day compared to one single part previously.’
This story uses material from MSP, with editorial changes made by Materials Today. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of Elsevier.
