Page 16 - Industrial Technology January 2020

DESIGN ENGINEERING

connection

BEARINGS, SLIDES AND LUBRICANTS

REVOLUTIONARY TECHNOLOGY MEETS ROBUST ENGINEERING

n early 2015 an East German StartUp, AIM3D set out Rene Zielke, who is head of plant development. “In order products; both the quality and product features were
to revolutionise the 3D printing world by creating a to avoid shock during printing, the support of the print bed right,” says Zielke, explaining the decision to use Hepco’s
3D printing machine that would offer the potential to must also be constructed so that it is completely stable. GV3 system. “We also found it very helpful to be provided
Ieventually become a standard tool on every “In addition, since the mechanism for raising and with a sample we could experiment with, something we
workbench. One unexpected challenge in this quest to lowering the print heads is such a visible interface did not expect as we are not yet a bulk buyer.”
develop a flexible and economically efficient 3D printing between the user and machine, it was important to us that It took two years of development work to complete the
machine was finding a suitable provider of a high quality the linear guide looked and felt high-quality,” adds Zielke ExAM 255 but now AIM3D is ready to move into serial
linear guidance system that would fit their needs. who was involved in the printer’s development right from production and is awaiting the patent for its CEM E-1
The founders of AIM3D aimed to drastically reduce the the start. While the AIM3D engineers aimed at drastically Extruder print heads. The printer can process almost any
cost of the additive manufacturing of metal parts. In their reducing the cost of additive manufacturing, they did not injection-moulded granulate up to a diameter of 3mm.
experience, the widespread use of additive manufacturing want to do so by compromising on quality. However, “The really special thing about the E-1 Extruder is that the
had so far failed because of high material and machine finding this combination of features at an acceptable price customer does not have to purchase expensive polymer
costs. Many 3D printers only accommodate a single proved more challenging than expected. They looked at a filaments or metal powders,” explains Radon.
material and often rely on expensive materials for printing. number of providers for linear solution guidance systems The ability to use standard injection granules makes
“It was our ambition to create ‘the’ machine tool of the but nothing quite satisfied their high demands until they the process a lot less expensive. Additionally, the same
21st century that has a place in any company, much like came across HepcoMotion. material can be used for prototypes and final manufacture,
a lathe or milling centre in the 19th century,” says Robert making the transition from prototype to finished product
Radon, head of development for mechatronics. Considerable loads and high acceleration more economical and faster for the end user. “In my
When the team around AIM3D started building the HepcoMotion’s Mark Völkers advised the AIM3D team on opinion, we are the only company so far to have developed
first prototypes of its 3D printer, the ExAM 255, they were the most appropriate products for their application: “There such a universally employable 3D printer,” concludes
convinced that finding suitable linear guides for their was not much space in the printer and the guides are Zielke.
requirements would be straightforward – it did not seem subjected to considerable loads under high acceleration The prototypes have been well received, particularly
an extraordinarily complex task. However, it soon became whilst still needing to work reliably and accurately. Here, from the automotive industry where glass-fibre filled
apparent that this was not the case: “To make the printing Hepco’s slimline bearings and the NV20 slide from our plastics are commonly used. In this industry, margins are
process as accurate as possible, it is crucial that the two GV3 linear guide system was the best solution.” low and there is a constant need to adapt. Here we have
print heads are perfectly HepcoMotion’s slimline bearings are directly mounted to a 3D printer that no longer relies on its own ecosystem,
aligned, even at fast the two changeable printer heads, and along with but works with readily available, standardised
speeds,” explains HepcoMotion’s NV20 slides, they ensure that the materials and tools.
printer head is moved up and down at a speed of
2.5m/s with absolute precision. The x-y movement is
achieved by three ball screws; two on the x-axis and one
on the y-axis. The Z movement for the print happens via
two ball screws. The ExAm 255 uses two print heads in
order to easily deal with possible material changes. During
the printing process, the second print head that is not
being used, is constantly being lifted by 10mm so it does
not collide with the object to be printed.
One important benefit of the GV3 range is the ability
to readjust the bearings and therefore to remove play that
develops from wear over the life of the product. “So
instead of having to dismantle and change the linear guide
and the bearing you can simply readjust our bearing which
is obviously much more time efficient and low cost,” says
Völkers. And Zielke adds: “The ability to adjust and
readjust was extremely important for us since even the
smallest deviations in the range of microns are
unacceptable in the end product.”
The GV3’s self-cleaning action, was also an important
feature in this environment where dirt and debris are a
constant presence. Thanks to the specific shape of the V
guides, dirt particles are constantly being pushed away
through the movement of the bearings during the print
process. This self-cleaning feature ensures a long system
life even in dirty environments like the printing process.
“Ultimately, we were quite simply convinced by Hepco’s

MORE INFORMATION: www.hepcomotion.com • hepco@hepcomotion.com • Tel: 01884 257000

INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY • January 2020
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