Essentium, the manufacturer behind the High Speed Extrusion (HSE) 3D printer series, has deployed its technology to deliver significant cost and time benefits to electronics manufacturerVIRTEX。
通常，Virtex通过传统制造方法生产用于塑料外壳中的电路板和电子设备的定制固定装置，但是由于公司试图扩大组件的生产，这种技术将被证明是不可持续的。为了克服这些局限性，该公司转向Essentium，使用其HSE 3D打印技术生产固定装置。
据报道，与Essentium合作，Virtex能够将生产固定装置的成本降低99％，并将零件的交货时间降低近两个星期。
“The flexibility of additive manufacturing was one of the biggest benefits for us,” said Ian Denefe, Manufacturing Engineer at VIRTEX. “The fact that we could reverse engineer existing fixtures, print them quickly, and rapidly modify them or replace them made it an ideal solution.”
Essentium的HSE技术
Essentium first launched itsHSE platform在2018年，目的是解决传统FDM/FFF 3D打印机的速度和强度弊端。
第二年，公司开始scaling the production of the platform并扩展了与化学公司等关键行业参与者的现有关系巴斯夫和软件开发人员Materialise。The three companies have since worked together toadvance high-speed additive manufacturingand introduce an open-model for the technology.
Over the past couple of years, Essentium has introduced severalnew high-temperature filamentsfor its HSE platform, includingthree new composite filamentssuited to aerospace, defense, and electronics applications, and most recently its new high-performancePEKK 3D printing filament。
Essentium launched its independent dual extrusion (IDEX) FFF 3D printing system, theHSE 280I HT, in March to enable manufacturers in the aerospace, automotive, and electronics sectors to produce high-volume functional prototypes and production parts. Soon after, the company announced a partnership with威奇托州立大学’s国家航空研究所(NIAR) to利用其HSE 3D打印平台to produce tooling, spare parts, and eventually flight-worthy aircraft parts for the aerospace industry.
7月，Essentium宣布了计划进入基于树脂的DLP 3D打印市场的计划acquisition of Collider, the developer of the ‘Programmable Tooling’ hybrid additive manufacturing process. The acquisition will continue to strengthen the firm’s offering to the automotive, aerospace, medical, and manufacturing industries, and the company’s growth has also been shown in the expansion of its team, having同比全球人数增加一倍。
电子制造的加速速度
Through its latest partnership with VIRTEX, Essentium has further proven the capabilities of its HSE 3D printing technology for the electronics sector.
VIRTEX manufactures electronics components for customers across the aerospace, military, medical, and other industrial sectors, and needed to find a technology capable of meeting the demand for 3,000 custom fixtures per month. Achieving this figure with the firm’s current conventional manufacturing techniques was deemed unsustainable due to the large lead times and costs accrued as production scaled.
为了找到一种更具成本效益的生产固定装置的方式，Virtex转向Essentium，以利用其HSE 3D打印技术。两家公司共同设计和生产能够执行的定制固定装置及其机械加工的固定装置，但成本节省和上市时间提高。
Essentium’s HSE 3D printing platform and the firm’s PCTG material were chosen for the task, due to the need for a build volume able to accommodate 18” x 6” parts. Leveraging the technology, VIRTEX was able to print the set of custom fixtures in less than two days and reduce the lead time of the parts by almost two weeks.
对于花费5,000美元的相同固定订单，3D打印的替代方案仅为30美元，据报道，制造成本降低了99％。
“As additive manufacturing goes mainstream, it is increasingly possible to manufacture crucial parts at speed and scale not previously seen,” said Blake Teipel, CEO of Essentium. “Given its greater design freedom, accelerated time to market, and significantly lower tooling costs, AM is fast becoming one of the most effective ways to meet the demands of electronics manufacturers.
“We will continue to work with customers like VIRTEX to unlock innovative new possibilities in electronics design and production.”
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Featured image showsEssentium’s HSE 3D printing platform. Photo via Essentium.
