2023-09-04 14:17:23
As a supplier of drive and automation systems, Festo also sees opportunities in the AM industry. Florèn van Olden, AM sales specialist, points to the precise motion controls that Festo develops and produces for the semiconductor industry, among others.
“Too many components in many printers come from the consumer market. You can see this when you look at the printers on Formnext. We have many options to create more reliable repeatable and accurate machines. Our products can really make a difference there.” Everything that moves in and around the 3D printer is an application that Festo focuses on in the AM industry. Festo hopes to make FFF printers more accurate with the servo motors, precision gantry and a tripod drive.
As an automation specialist, Festo focuses on the industrialization of the AM process.
Electric cylinders, servo drives used, for example, by Bond 3D and Concr3de and precise butterfly valves for powder and gas dosing fit the powder bed systems. The same applies to the handling of inert gases in an AM system. Festo also has experience in carrying out such a step in a controlled manner. “This allows not only inert gas to be switched, but also chemicals and powders as used in the various AM processes,” explains Florèn van Olden. These are components that are used, for example, in the food industry for baker’s flour, in the oil and gas industry for gas and in the drinking water industry for water. The VZQA pinch valve is such a product that can switch both gases and powders without coming into contact with highly mechanical switching parts or lubricants. One of the Festo customers from the AM industry is DMG Mori, which uses a complete Festo system for handling inert gas flows in its metal printers.
Read the article here regarding why Festo now 3D prints 40,000 parts per year
This consists of a mounting plate with the valve terminal VTUG including Ether-CAT bus connection, the valve VZQA, the maintenance unit MS4 and the proportional pressure regulator VEAB. The VTUG valve terminal is the pneumatically and control-wise suitable valve terminal. The VZQA valve precisely controls the inert gas argon and the discharge of the gas mixture during flushing. The system works so accurately that it keeps the pressure and oxygen content in the build chamber within very narrow limits, exactly what is needed in the AM system. Festo has also played a role in the development and engineering of automation systems in the 3D metal printer. This mainly concerns simulation tools Party. With these solutions, Festo wants to support printer manufacturers to make the AM process more reliable. Florèn van Olden: “Because when our customers grow, we grow with them. That is the best way to grow.”
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