Rosler AM Solutions
Knaus Tabbert AG produces a range of motor homes, caravans and panel trucks, and their innovative designs and drive systems allows safe, comfortable and sustainable travelling. At its German headquarters in Jandelsbrunn, Bavaria, the company is constantly utilising its experience to improve the materials and designs of its vehicles.
This includes the search for new technologies to use such as additive manufacturing (AM) which led to the discovering of Solution S1 by AM Solutions.
Up to now the de-powdering and cleaning of PA 12 Components, produced by a powder-bed printing system has been done manually in a blast cabinet, which requires a lot of labour and time, and the results are highly erratic and inconsistent.
As a result of this, AM Solutions - a division of the Rosler Group that specialises in post processing solutions for 3D printed products - began running comprehensive processing trails with different components at The Customer Experience centre for AM Solutions, which after conclusion of the successful trials, the customer chose the S1 shot blasting system.
The shot blast machine was specifically developed for the post processing of plastic components produced by the powder bed printing method and the plug and play S1 is the only machine on the market that allows time-saving and cost-efficient de-powdering as well as surface smoothing and homogenisation of 3D printed products using one machine, which can be done by the simple change of blast media.
It is equipped with a basket which rotates during the finishing operation and allows easy loading and unloading of the work pieces and fully automatic batch processing. Throughout the process the basket remains within the machine housing, which combined with the door sealing system, prevents any powder spillages into the surroundings and the control panel can be easily switched to manual without retooling.
Manuel Laux, Head of AM Solutions - 3D Post Processing Technology said: “More and more companies from different industries are choosing the S1 for post processing of their 3D printed components and this is a confirmation for our product strategy, showing that our 3D post processing products are in full compliance with the requirements of the market.”
Mario Meszaros, Development Engineer for Knaus Tabbert added: “The fact after surprisingly short cycle times the components came out of the machine perfectly clean and without any powder residues was very impressive and with the underlying operating data I prepared a ROI calculation, with the results quickly convincing our management.
“Even with only three print jobs per week in the S1, we already achieved a ROI after roughly two years, however it Is safe to assume that the quantity of 3D printed products will increase significantly, which will dramatically reduce the amortisation process.”
The standard version of the S1 also features a system which automatically monitors and records all relevant process parameters. The blast media has an integrated cleaning and recycling system and also an explosion protected design with the short blast media with ATEX complainant motors and valves.
Mario added: “I am absolutely convinced that the simple, effective and efficient post processing possibilities of the S1 will further promote the use of AM in our company.”
