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Industrial 3d printers south africa
Polymer Plastic 3D Printers | Rapid 3D
Additive Manufacturing with Plastics. Modular 3D Printing Solutions for Plastic Parts.
As an industrial production method, 3D printing offers tremendous design and manufacturing freedom. The most complex of shapes can be designed and produced in the highest quality, quickly and cost-efficiently, even for small batch sizes. In this way, the process provides a solution to inventory, pressures on product turnaround times and small-batch challenges faced by many manufacturers.
Spare parts management comes with a long list of challenges: tying up cash flow, high storage and logistics costs, overproduction due to minimum production volumes, and long manufacturing times.
Examples of this are trains, trucks, and buses that are usually in service for 20+ years. When there is a need for spare parts, most are usually discontinued. The polymer 3D printing process is the answer, enabling decentralized digital manufacturing and virtual inventories.
Spare parts made from plastics (or metals) can be produced on demand by a 3D printer (or 3D printing service bureau), without tools and in the exact quantity required, without a minimum purchase volume. This gives you flexibility, frees up cash-flow, speeds up part lead times, and improves cost-efficiencies: no overproduction, savings on tooling, logistics, and warehouse storage costs.
The on-board info screens of the intercity trains (ICEs) of the Deutsche Bahn are equipped with 3D-printed thin-walled fluorescent tube holders. This allows Deutsche Bahn to manufacture new spare parts in small quantities whenever they are required.
What are the Polymer Plastic 3D Printer Technologies?
Polymer plastic additive manufacturing covers a range of technologies;
- Powder Bed Fusion (PBF) – Selective Laser Sintering (SLS
- Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), sometimes called Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF)
- Vat Polymerization – SLA (Stereolithography), DLP (Digital Light Processing) and MSLA (Masked Stereolithography)
- Material Jetting – Material Jetting (MJ), Drop on Demand (DOD)
Polymer 3D Printers by EOS – Flexible and Cost-Efficient Production of High-Quality Polymer Parts
Rapid 3D is the Certified Partner for EOS Polymer Systems in sub-Saharan Africa and South Africa.
EOS has over 30 years of polymer PBF expertise in the combination and interdependencies between high-quality metal powders, process parameters, and systems.
EOS 3D printers are available from entry-level models, characterised by outstanding part quality to reliable medium build volume production systems supporting the widest range of materials to multi-laser, large part volume with high throughput machines capable of series-production 3D printing at industrial scales. These polymer 3D printers can be flexibly automated and integrated into existing production environments.
With the EOS range of SLS Polymer systems, you benefit from validated parameter sets for optimal product properties, and a comprehensive selection of materials including PEKK Polyether ketones, PA11 Polyamide 11 Nylon, PA12 Polyamide 12 Nylon, TPE Thermoplastic Elastomers, PS Polystyrene, PP Polypropylene. Strength, impact resistance, temperature resistance, dimensional stability or biocompatibility – the vast majority of requirements are covered by EOS materials
All EOS materials are delivered with a certificate documenting the results of comprehensive QA testing, not just of the powder itself, but also of test parts built on a dedicated system with a dedicated process.
International standards for the materials used in additive manufacturing have not yet been established, but they are a must-have for production. That’s why EOS has adapted the well-known Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) to 3D printing – a first in the industry.
EOS Quality TriangleEOS’ Quality Triangle – gives you confidence that each AM part is built with integrity, and that support can be provided for all industries and applications.
The EOS 3D printing materials, systems, and process parameters fit together optimally. With the right EOS materials, you can realize the target property profiles in the best possible way for your products. This gives you certifiability, regulatory compliance, and lot traceability.
Durable Goods, Jewellery & Dental 3D Printers – In-house End-to-End 3D Printing Solutions
From tough engineering plastics to castable waxes and resins, polymer 3D printing covers many industry applications.
As an example, in South Africa and worldwide, jewellery manufacturing has been transformed by 3D printing. SLA 3D printers print 100% wax material, delivering durable, high-quality jewellery patterns, giving jewellery designers reliable performance and results throughout existing lost-wax casting processes and equipment.
The dental industry is now starting to benefit from the technology, producing surgical guides, dental models, and orthodontic splints.
Mass production, one-size-fits-all, long lead times, large inventories — these are the hallmarks of durable goods manufacturing. Today’s consumer wants products that are unique, personalized, and available immediately in a wide variety of styles. This demand is putting manufacturers under significant pressure to rethink traditional manufacturing models, striving to respond with increased factory automation and connectivity, greater product personalization, and more responsive just-in-time manufacturing.
They are finding answers to these challenges by combining traditional work flows with polymer 3D printing.
Rapid 3D is the Certified Partner for 3D Systems and Certified Partner for Markforged in sub-Saharan Africa and South Africa.
Prototypes, tools and production parts
FDM and SLA printers work with a wide range of materials, with a range of sizes and price points, which are designed for prototyping, end-use part production, casting patterns, moulds, tooling, fixtures, and medical models.
SLA 3D printers are able to deliver highly detailed, tiny parts just a few mm in size, all the way up to 1.5 m long parts—all at the same exceptional resolution and accuracy. Even large parts remain highly accurate from end-to-end, with virtually no part shrinkage or warping.
SLA 3D Printed Automotive Dashboard – Source: 3D SystemsTolerances on SLA parts are typically less than 0.05 millimeters, making it an excellent choice when precision is your top priority. Delivering the smoothest surface finish of any additive manufacturing process, the quality of SLA parts makes this versatile technology great for:
- Master patterns for vacuum casting
- Sacrificial patterns for metal casting
- Tools, moulds, and dies
- Functional prototypes and models
- High clarity, transparent products, and components
- Complex assemblies
- Wind tunnel models
- Under the hood components
- Rapid production of flow test rigs
- Mass customization
- Custom assembly jigs and fixtures
Reinforced FDM, also known as, Continuous Filament Fabrication (CFF) parts are exceptionally strong, supremely stiff, ultra-lightweight, and incredibly versatile.
Formed from the combination of two materials, composite parts are incredibly strong and versatile. The fabrication process enables you to print parts that are an order of magnitude stiffer and stronger than typical nylon 3D printed objects.
Continuous carbon fiber and kevlar parts stand up to the toughest applications. Stronger than 6061 Aluminum and 40% lighter, these parts are perfect for manufacturing equipment, jaws, tooling, and end-use parts.
- Fiber Part Reinforcement
- Carbon Fiber Reinforced Part
- Fiberglass Reinforcement
- Fiberglass Reinforced Part
As strong as aircraft grade aluminum and over 40% lighter, Markforged CFF parts are more than capable of replacing machined metal tools, fixtures and prototypes.
Precision plastic, elastomeric, wax and composite parts
MultiJet Printing (MJP) technology produces high fidelity, true-to-CAD parts, with fast print times, easy operation, and simple post-processing for high productivity and true simplicity, from file to finished part.
The wide range of materials covers a wide set of applications for concept modeling, fit, form and function testing, functional prototyping, fluid flow analysis, rapid tooling, jigs and fixtures, casting patterns, and medical applications.
Does Plastic 3D Printing make sense for your operations? Talk to us …
Metal 3D Printers | Rapid 3D
You are here: Home / Metal 3D Printers
Additive Manufacturing with Metals. Systems and Solutions for End-to-End 3D Printed Metal Part Production.
As an industrial production method, 3D printing offers tremendous design and manufacturing freedom. The most complex of shapes can be designed and produced in the highest quality, quickly and cost-efficiently, even for small batch sizes. In this way, the process provides a solution to a tooling challenge faced by many tool and mould makers.
In many industries, producing specialized tools and parts is one of the most resource-intensive manufacturing processes. Conventional processes are typically expensive, time-consuming and technically very challenging.
The metal 3D printing process is the answer.
Production with additive manufacturing has proven to be ideal. We successfully added conformal cooling channels to the tool insert. Heat is now dissipated much more quickly. As a result, the production cycle was reduced from 14 to 8 seconds, increasing monthly production by more than 56,000 units.
Arumugam Narayanaswami | Purchaser | Salcomp (using EOS Technology)
Series Production Metal Additive Manufacturing
Metal-based additive manufacturing covers a range of technologies; Powder Bed Fusion (PBF), Metal Binder Jetting (Powder-fed Directed-energy Deposition), and Laser Cladding. DMLS® (Direct Metal Laser Solidification) is the proven PBF technology for cost-efficient production of high-quality metal parts, in series-production metal 3D printing.
DMLS technology is primarily used for series manufacturing in demanding industries such as aerospace, automotive, medical, tool, and turbomachinery. These industries require certification, reliability, repeatability, and uniform part quality comparable to conventional CNC, metal casting, or forging processes. It is better suited to production requiring a high degree of automation and scaling than Metal Binder Jetting and Laser Cladding.
Metal 3D Printers by EOS – Flexible and Cost-Efficient Production of High-Quality Metal Parts
Rapid 3D is the Certified Partner for EOS in sub-Saharan Africa and South Africa. EOS has over 30 years of DMLS expertise in the combination and interdependencies between high-quality metal powders, process parameters, and systems.
EOS 3D printers are available from entry-level models for small and delicate parts to multi-laser machines capable of series-production 3D printing at industrial scales.
These metal 3D printers can be flexibly automated and integrated into existing production environments.
EOS metal systems employ validated processes, unique in industrial metal 3D printing, and the most comprehensive portfolio of metal materials, including aluminium, cobalt chrome, case hardening steels, copper, nickel alloys, precious metals, biocompatible titanium, refractive metals, stainless steel and tool steels.
EOS Quality TriangleEOS’ Quality Triangle – gives you confidence that each AM part is built with integrity, and that support can be provided for all industries and applications.
For more clarity and transparency, EOS has adapted the well-known Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) for 3D printing – unique in the industry. Giving you certifiability, regulatory compliance, and lot traceability.
In-house 3D Printed Metal Part Production
Many manufacturing and service operations require custom, low volume tooling, jigs, and fixtures.
Applications include custom design tooling, rapid prototyping of metal parts, bringing low volume metal part production in-house, and producing replacement parts on-demand.
Having in-house metal 3D printing capabilities helps manufacturers bring products to market quicker, reduce their manufacturing costs, simplify their external supply chains and the associated intellectual property risks.
For factory floors, manufacturers can benefit from tooling design innovations enabled by 3D printing, eliminate tooling spend, and keep production lines going with 3D-print-on-demand replacement parts.
Metal X 3D Printer by Markforged – In-house End-to-End Metal 3D Printing Solution
Rapid 3D is the Certified Partner for Markforged in sub-Saharan Africa and South Africa.
The Markforged Metal X, an affordable metal 3d printer for the workshop. It can print an injection mould in about a day and a half. You can take a 20-year-old injection mould, put a 3D-printed insert into it and you can retool it in under a week.
The Metal X delivers metal parts overnight using an FDM based technology — ADAM; Atomic Diffusion Additive Manufacturing that uses a bound metal powder rod that transforms into a dense metal part.
This technology can be used to create anything from tooling to industrial replacement parts to injection moulds to working prototypes. It’s also possible to 3D print moving assemblies.
3D Printed Tool Steel Application – Source: MarkforgedDue to the nature of powder bed processes, it’s difficult to engineer completely sealed hollow parts. The powder needs an exit point (a hole) so that, once the print is complete, the powder is not trapped within the printed component.
The ADAM process uses a binder that can be burned away. It is therefore possible to print closed objects with complex internal geometries, such as hexagon (honeycomb) infill patterns, which can significantly lighten the weight of a part, while maintaining structural integrity. This geometry is not possible using traditional subtractive manufacturing processes or powder bed fusion (PBF).
The ADAM technology is up to one fifth the price of competitive metal additive manufacturing technologies — and up to a 100x less than traditional fabrication technologies like machining or casting.
Does Metal 3D Printing make sense for your operations? Talk to us …
South Africa Invented a 3D Printer to Turn Ugly Vegetables into Attractive Food
06/15/2018
Science in the CIS and the world
Let's remember how you choose vegetables or fruits in a grocery store, what do you pay attention to? Isn't it true that you try to choose the most beautiful fruits, avoiding those that have spots or a strange configuration? This is exactly what so many people do, and this is what leads to a huge amount of food waste, as unattractive products remain on the shelf until they go bad, writes agroxxi.
ru.
For example, food waste is a huge problem in the United States - the USDA estimates that 30 to 40 percent of the nation's food supply goes to waste. By the way, some substandard fruits do not end up in supermarkets at all, because companies believe that customers will not buy them. Even in not the richest countries in the world, this problem is relevant.
Here are some statistics for South Africa:
- Approximately 30% of edible fruit and vegetable crops are screened for sale simply because of their appearance.
- 44% of all food scrapped is fruits and vegetables. Also, 26% of grain, 15% of meat and 13% of root crops, tubers and oilseeds fall into the waste.
- In the South African food supply chain, 26% of food waste comes from agricultural production, 26% from post-harvest processing and storage, 27% from processing and packaging, 17% from distribution and retail, 4% from to the consumer level.
These facts were taken into account by the young company Studio H, which was developing a food printer in South Africa.
To demonstrate what can be done with a printer, Studio H has collected ugly fruits and vegetables rejected by supermarkets and customers, processed them into puree, and then 3D printed them in an attractive way.
“3D printing could be the perfect way to reduce food waste,” said a spokesperson for the studio. - In order to experiment with the environment, we developed the program Salad 2.0. We have added gelatin to mashed sub-standard fruits and vegetables to 3D print the concentrate into colorful 3D forms in the form of high nutrient jelly. Imagine how happy the kids will be!”
South Africa, food printer, vegetables
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Industrial 3D printers Total Z
FDM and SLS 3D printers, drying and post-processing equipment
About company
FDM 3D printers
Industrial 3D printers Total Z PRO series
450-PRO 950-PRO
Total Z High Performance LPRO Series 3D Printers
1000-PRO-LL
Total Z G3 Series Desktop 3D Printers
250-G3 250-G3 (2X) XL250-G3(2X)
Total Z G5 Series Desktop 3D Printers
G5
SLS 3D printers Total Z
SLS-250
Portal systems for 3D printing with granules
Total Z AnyForm FGF
Total Z machines for drying and post-processing
Total Z D5Vacuum drying chambers
Help prepare plastic for printing.
Remove moisture from hygroscopic materials. Reduce the risk of plastic "boiling", extruder breakage, deterioration of the surface quality of the product.
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Total Z MPC-310Acetone baths
Equipment for chemical post-processing of finished objects. Helps to achieve a glossy and smooth product surface.
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Total Z UB-450; 500; 650; 950; 1200;Ultrasonic baths
Machines for physical and chemical post-processing of models. Remove the supporting plastic from the surface of finished products. They clean the material in places inaccessible for manual processing.
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Our capabilities
The equipment complies with Russian and international standards
Consumables for printers and equipment are always in stock
We participate in R&D, cooperate with research institutes
We work with defense enterprises and government customers
Operational warranty service
Departure and training on the territory of the customer
Implemented projects by industry
Aviation industry and special products
Supply of an industrial 3D printer for the project of the MS-21 passenger aircraft of Irkut Corporation.
Supply of high-temperature 3D equipment for the laboratory of additive technologies of VIAM.
Supply of a 3D printer for printing with experimental materials for the production of the Central Institute of Aviation Motors.
Shipbuilding
Selection of samples of engineering plastic for the project of printing body elements for a shipyard.
Auto industry
Supply of equipment for 3D prototyping to the plant of the AvtoVAZ group.
Rocket and space
Supply of the first production equipment for 3D printing to the Center for Additive Technologies of JSC RCC Progress.
Foundry
Fabrication of a matrix using FDM 3D printing for the production of piece metal parts that have been discontinued or to replace parts with a long delivery time.
Education
Production of a desktop 3D printer for schoolchildren and students in collaboration with a team of developers of teaching materials for classrooms.
Electronics
Implementation of 3D equipment at the Simvol East Kazakhstan region.
Prototyping of lighting equipment for the Pyaterochka grocery store chain.
Agroprom
Complex equipping of the research agro-engineering center with equipment.
Aviation industry and special products
Supply of an industrial 3D printer for the project of the MS-21 passenger aircraft of Irkut Corporation.
Supply of high-temperature 3D equipment for the laboratory of additive technologies of VIAM.
Supply of a 3D printer for printing with experimental materials for the production of the Central Institute of Aviation Motors.
Shipbuilding
Selection of samples of engineering plastic for the project of printing body elements for a shipyard.
Auto industry
Supply of equipment for 3D prototyping to the plant of the AvtoVAZ group.
Rocket and space
Supply of the first production equipment for 3D printing to the Center for Additive Technologies of JSC RCC Progress.
Foundry
Fabrication of a matrix using FDM 3D printing for the production of piece metal parts that have been discontinued or to replace parts with a long delivery time.
Education
Production of desktop 3D printers for schoolchildren and students in collaboration with a team of developers of teaching materials for classrooms.
Electronics
Implementation of 3D equipment at the Simvol East Kazakhstan region.
Prototyping of lighting equipment for the Pyaterochka grocery store chain.
Agroprom
Complex equipping of the research agro-engineering center with equipment.
Services
3D printing
Casting
Reverse engineering
prototyping
Upcoming Events
New models of Total Z industrial 3D printing systems in Moscow at the Interplastica exhibition
Interplastica is a key event for the plastics and rubber market, which annually brings together experts from all over the world at one business platform.
