Domin and Renishaw worked together with the objective of developing a new, stable, state-of-the-art technology suite for the fluid-power sector. The company visited Renishaw’s AM Solutions Centre in Stone, Staffordshire, to develop its understanding of AM and discover how the technology could help it produce highly efficient drives for customers.
“Metal AM allows you to stretch the art of what is possible in the fluid-power sector,” explains Marcus Pont, general manager of Domin Fluid Power. “After spending years on testing different prototypes and designs we’ve developed our knowledge in AM, which will enable us to produce efficient parts for customers. For example, we’ve designed a drive that is 25% of the original size, 25% more powerful and produced at a third of the cost.
“At Renishaw we’re always looking for opportunities to be involved with developing emerging technologies that make positive changes in the industrial world,” says Martin McMahon, AM lead technical consultant at Renishaw. “We’ve worked with Domin throughout the whole process, from investigating material properties, to exploring the advantages of using the latest production technologies, such as the RenAM 500Q.
“AM is a key technology for Domin,” continues McMahon. “It gives the company the ability to build complex parts, free of tooling and with minimal operations and assembly. Trying to integrate this complex functionality into such a small design would not be possible using conventional manufacturing techniques.”
The RenAM 500Q features four 500 W lasers to speed up the printing process by up to four times, improving productivity and lowering cost per part.
