With the launch of two new 3D printing technologies, plastics machinery manufacturer KraussMaffei Technologies GmbH is adding a fourth pillar to its current portfolio of plastics production options.
At an unveiling event Oct. 19 at its booth (Hall 15, D24/C24) at K 2022, the company revealed that it was stepping into additive manufacturing with the introduction of its new, room-sized powerPrint and the smaller precisionPrint machines; the first targeted at large-format industrial additive manufacturing, the second at industrial scale automated production.
“Using our expertise from series production of plastic parts, we are designing efficient system concepts and appropriate solutions for every component, regardless of the technology,” KraussMaffei CEO Michael Ruf said. “It’s taking our capacity for productivity, quality and efficiency in industrial plastics processing and applying it to additive manufacturing solutions.”
The powerPrint is an extruder-based system that processes thermoplastic granulate, explained Michael Helneder, head of Additive Manufacturing Customer Success at KraussMaffei. “It can handle objects up to 10 cubic meters in size. We saw a lot of applications in the modern market for this large-format production.”
Its fast printing speed also enables short throughput times for these large components, he emphasized. The powerPrint can also process fiber-reinforced plastics and compounds.
The precisionPrint, by contrast, is an automated, stereolithography-based solution that uses printing resins to produce parts with high surface quality and detail resolution, that are cured by laser.
According to Helneder, it offers cost-efficient production and high outputs, with nearly no material loss and “great design possibilities.”
The machines are being supplied as complete solutions, helping customers to achieve material and cost savings, with no expensive test prints needed—”first time right,” said Helneder.
The printers are not yet available on the market. Beta testing will first be conducted next year, after which they will be released to a wider audience. KraussMaffei expects the machines to actually hit the market sometime in the second or third quarter of 2023.
This content was originally published here.
