Freeformer upgrades slash print times

Freeformer Industrial 3D printers in Arburg’s Freeformer line use a special plasticizing screw to melt standard resin pellets for the additive manufacturing process. The machines use up to three printer heads to apply tiny plastic droplets layer by layer, making possible the production of multi-material and multi-color parts, or parts with support structures made from a different material. Users can precisely and freely control the droplet size and layer thickness.  

What’s new? Optimized software. The company has upgraded the software so that its water-soluble Armat support materials are applied to form lightweight grid structures.  

Benefits Speed. The enhancements can reduce build times by as much as 55 percent. Arburg cited the example of a complex model of a toggle-type clamping unit that a Freeformer produced at the K 2016 trade show; production time was more than 200 hours. The same component now can be built in 92 hours, and the support material can be removed in 10 minutes.  

Arburg Inc., Rocky Hill, Conn., 860-667-6500, www.arburg.com