Thomas More University of Applied Sciences presented the Mobile Print Lab at Machineering. A Kuka robot with a pellet extruder is installed in a large trailer. With this, the university of applied sciences wants to visit both companies and secondary schools.
Visitors to Machineering in Brussels might hardly ignore Thomas More’s Mobile Print Lab. The large format 3D printer had a prominent place at the start of the fair. A print head – for pellets – is mounted on the Kuka 3D printer. The entire installation is programmed and controlled via Siemens NX, both the robot and the extruder, the Pulsar from Dyze Design. Depending on the plastic and the nozzle, you can print up to 2.5 kg of material per hour with this water-cooled extruder. Slicing is done in Siemens NX. The third crucial component that the Belgian researchers have linked is a Beckhoff PLC.
We want to make technology sexy
Demonstrate large format 3D printing
Thomas More has several reasons for developing the Mobile Print Lab. First of all, there is a new project for large-format 3D printing of, among other things, plastic seat shells for wheelchairs. Together with the business community, the researchers are investigating whether the patient’s posture can be scanned, following which a custom-made seat shell is automatically designed and printed. In addition, they want to reuse the materials. Because of the changes in the patient, the seat shells have a limited lifespan.
Read more regarding 3D scanning and 3D printing at Thomas More in this article
Making technology sexy
The second goal for which Thomas More uses the Mobile Print Lab is to bring design technology in general and 3D printing in particular to the attention of both young people and manufacturing companies. We want to make technology sexy, says the university of applied sciences, so that more young people choose construction and drawing. With the Mobile Print Lab, which can be easily connected to a car’s towbar, the researchers want to visit both companies and secondary schools. They then demonstrate locally what is already possible when it comes to large-format 3D printing. To make the robot printer ready for immediate use, the researchers printed tools to fix the robot and print head during transport.
