At its recently opened R&D centre in Exeter, the company has created a high-performance electro spindle that will provide precision milling and post-processing of polymer 3D prints.
After eight months of development, the technology is now set to be fitted to future ZEUS 3D robotic systems by the company and will give clients the opportunity to ‘enjoy the speed of additive manufacturing’ with the precision of subtractive machining – all in one 6-metre x 6-metre cell.
The tool is applicable for high-quality moulds across a range of industries, such as automotive, aerospace and marine applications, where speed to market is increasingly important, Rapid Fusion said.
“This CNC milling tool has the potential to be a real game changer for manufacturers and has been designed in partnership with a number of end users to ensure we deliver exactly what they need,” Martin Jewell, R&D Director at Rapid Fusion, said in a statement.
“3D printing can give unrivalled speed and creates moulds near net shape, within 3 to 4mm. Certain applications need even greater precision and this is where you can call in a CNC milling tool to remove the excess material. Going forward, we’ll be able to offer this in one turnkey solution.
“The advantages are huge. We now know we can deliver repeatable quality, and, on one trial project, we reduced the lead time for a mould tool from six to eight weeks to just five days. That is some saving.”
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The latest CNC million tool comes equipped with a tool charges, which allows users to easily swap between it and the 3D printing pellet extruder on a robot set-up. It can also efficiently handle engineering-grade materials, such as glass and carbon-filled PEI and peek polymers.
Rapid Fusion, a sister business of 3D printing hardware firm EVO 3D, launched its first bespoke cell – Apollo – earlier this year, which has already received significant interest for its ability to offer faster speeds than existing FDM printers (nearly 200 times quicker).
The company is just a few months away from releasing a second cell that will include the CNC milling tool, with orders already placed by a 3D printing production specialist in the UK and a construction supplier in the EU. The technology is completely designed, developed and manufactured in the South West of England.
“Everyone knows the UK is a fantastic breeding ground for ideas and innovation, yet we don’t commercialise enough of the new things we come up with. We’re trying to change this and the CNC milling tool will be an important weapon in our product portfolio for achieving that,” added Jewell.
“When integrated into our new robotic platform, clients will be able to tap into the best of additive and subtractive manufacturing in one solution, benefitting from a host of time, cost and operational benefits – not to mention significant environmental savings from using less material and energy.”
