If you sift through issues of TCT from a decade ago you’ll no doubt come across a story on Trumpf’s entry into the additive manufacturing sphere. The German manufacturing company – considered one of the leading manufacturing companies in the world with a turnover of €2.34 billion in 2012/13 - launched their TrumaForm back in 2000 and by 2004 their Direct Metal Deposition system was making waves.
Sisma display
Trumpf consider that this machine was ahead of the time, that the market wasn’t mature enough and the knowledge base for use was not significant enough. In May of this year Trumpf announced their re-entry to the market as a joint-venture with Italian laser company Sisma.
Euromold 2014 marks the first time team TCT have seen the fruits of this partnership as Sisma present the MYSINT100 metal additive manufacturing machine capable of printing parts in Bronze, Cobalt chromium and Stainless steel.
The parts on display with the machine, it must be said, are accurate and impressive, no finishing process is required thanks to some of MYSINT100’s proprietary processes including a better circulation of the nitrogen flow and compartmentalisation of components in order to avoid contamination of parts.
Sisma parts
These parts do not require finishing
A quick chat with Lisa Marta Micheletto of Sisma’s business development department reveals that the machine has been part of a three-year project using Sisma’s substantial in-house knowledge of laser technology.
The machine, which has a build volume of 100 x 100 mm, is clearly a machine built to highest specs. Adriano Bernardi of application development for Sisma’s additive manufacturing told TCT:
“So what we have tried to do is make a make a machine that is simple to use with very low maintanence. It is very simple to even change the powder, the materials. Services need material change to be very flexible, they need the turn around to be quick so with a new piston system we have made it very simple to switch materials and avoid contamination. We also concentrated on the flow of the gas it is important to remove the oxidation to achieve the best density, there are several sensors that monitor the speed of the flow, the life of the filter… these sensors automatically adjust the power of the pump to maintain the same speed of gas flow throughout the process. This is really important to remove the dust, which can cause problems with the lens of the machine."
"We have tried to make the machine simple for maintenance, every mechanical movement is totally protected from dust, that’s why the machine is split into two parts."
MYSINT100 is an impressive debut and we're assured that the machine, though small is scalable and we're sure that Trumpf will have a keen eye trained on the reception from EuroMold.
