The company Titan Robotics which is behind the 5-printhead Cronus 3D printer has introduced a new Pellet Extrusion technology to take large format Additive Manufacturing to the next level. The technology was showcased at RAPID + TCT 2018, installed inside a new line of Additive 3D printers and used to print the hexagonal facias decorating the stage inside the keynote theater.
With typical filament feedstock, material capabilities are reserved only for polymers that have been and can be extruded from a wire. By using pellets instead, Titan Robotics taps into a mine of readily available materials that have been tried and tested by the injection molding industry.
This significantly expands the material possibilities of its FFF extrusion-based technology, covering everything from soft, rubberlike materials to high-performance plastics, including 50% glass fiber reinforced nylon and 50% carbon fiber filled PEI.
Pelletized feedstock stock is also especially suited to large-scale applications. The 3D printer manufacturer WASP Project uses this type of material in its large-scale3MT 3D printers, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) favors this material form for projects including the U.S. Navy’s 3D printed submarine and this Caterpillar Excavator.
Up to 5Gs acceleration
Titan Robotics demonstrates Direct pellet fed 3D printing in a custom model of its flagship Atlas 3D printer. The pelletized Titan Robotics Atlas is installed on top of the line servo motors from motion control experts Yaskawa America, a subsidiary of Japanese robotics company Yaskawa Electric Corporation.
With that collaboration,
Yaskawa Atlas is capable of printing at speeds up to 350 mm/s, reaching up to 5Gs of acceleration.
Moving between prints inside an enclosed build chamber, the nozzle moves at a rate of one meter per second.
The 3D printer is also capable of real-time feedback and automatic monitoring to ensure print repeatability.
Following the demo at RAPID + TCT, pellet upgrades are available, through the company’s website, for any existing Titan Atlas model. Clay Guillory, founder and CEO of Titan Robotics, comments,
“We’re really focused on having an accurate, robust machine that can do big parts really quickly and reliably, over and over again,”
“OUR CUSTOMERS WANT SOMETHING THEY CAN TRUST…THEY CAN’T AFFORD TO WASTE TWO WEEKS OF PRINT TIME ON A REALLY LARGE, MISSION CRITICAL PART.”
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IndustryALL3DP Bulent Yusuf May 4th, 2018 Fasten Your Seatbelts GM and Autodesk Using Additive Manufacturing for Lighter Vehicles https://all3dp.com/gm-and-autodesk-using-additive-manufacturing-for-lighter-vehicles/ visited on May 5th, 2018;
Photo credits: Beau Jackson.
TITAN ROBOTICS logo http://www.titan3drobotics.com/ visited on May 5th, 2018;
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