New Machine Dimension for HACO

Haco A/S, has taken delivery of a huge Droop+Rein portal milling machine from Starrag to meet the needs of next-generation offshore turbines with rotor diameters that exceed 220 m. The special features of this 870 T colossus include its XXL size and unusually large basement section across two storeys.

“Never before have we built such an extensive tunnel system for a production plant; it’s reminiscent of ancient catacombs and even I’ve never seen anything like this anywhere else,” explains Starrag’s senior consultant sales/renewables Hubert Erz. “This expensive and elaborate investment for our customer facilitates service access and day-to-day collaboration.”

Laying the foundation involved processing 850 m³ of concrete and 100 T of steel.

“The foundation forms the base for the machine tool, and its stability and design help determine the level of precision that’s achievable with the machine,” says

Henning Albrechtsen, owner of Danish family-owned company. “In addition, the tunnel system within the foundation provides good access to all relevant machine assemblies and thereby ensures optimal ease of servicing.”

The company already owns five Dörries vertical turning lathes, helping it grow to become one of the leading Danish manufacturers of large components for the wind power and offshore industry. With the new machine, Haco and a Danish partner will machine front and stator sheets, and brake discs for wind turbines. The companies will also produce other, primarily welded, components and multiple steel rotor housings with weights of between 50 and 90 T and diameters of almost 11 m.

The machine has a clearance of 12.6 m between stands, while the gantry axis travels over a distance of 14 m and the tool slide allows a maximum stroke of 3.5 m.

For further information www.starrag.com

BIEMH 2024 attracts almost 38,000

The organiser of the BIEMH 2024 international machine tool exhibition in Bilbao, Spain, reports that 37,164 visitors from 67 countries attended the event held earlier this month.

With a total of 1604 exhibitors from 29 countries and 3716 products and services, large machinery in operation was the main attraction at BIEMH 2024. ‘ADDITƐD’, the International Additive Manufacturing and 3D Fair, and the BeDIGITAL and WORKinn Talent Hub took place alongside BIEMH 2024, welcoming 2831 students and 406 teachers. The next edition of the BIEMH will take place on 2-6 March 2026.

More information www.bit.ly/3KM68Ja

GROB opens sixth plant in India

With the opening of its sixth production plant in India, machine tool builder GROB is strengthening its presence in the local market. The€8m, 5000 sq m plant in Bengaluru (formerly Bangalore) is another important milestone in the GROB Group’s efforts to secure the growth of the company and thus the jobs of employees at all facilities.Core business at the factory will be the manufacture of machining centres and automation, employing 130 people at peak output.

GROB recognised the potential of this rapidly growing market early on after the opening of the Indian automotive market to foreign car manufacturers at the end of the 1990s. The company established its first sales and service branch on the South Asian subcontinent as part of the first delivery of a flexible production system in 2007.

More information www.grobgroup.com

Versatile tool for factory floor unveiled

Markforged has unveiled its newest industrial 3D printer, the FX10. The FX10 empowers users to print the right part when and where it is needed, reducing costs and cutting lead times from months to days compared with traditional manufacturing methods.

“We engineered the FX10 to be the best tool for the manufacturing floor,” says Shai Terem, CEO of Markforged. “The FX10 allows manufacturers to slash original part replacement costs in comparison with traditional methods and keep production lines running without worrying about supply chain issues or spare parts inventory. The FX10 can accelerate the digitisation of the manufacturing floor by increasing the adoption of digital inventory to build supply chain resiliency. Our customers now have the potential to save even more capital by reducing physical inventory and boosting production yields while decreasing operating costs.”

Designed with flexibility in mind, it is possible to expand and upgrade the printer’s modular systems with additional capabilities. For example, the FX10 has been designed to incorporate a printhead integrated vision module to capture detailed part images and data to further ensure part quality and optimise printer performance. The fifth-generation Continuous Fiber Reinforcement (CFR) print system delivers high print quality in a heated print chamber, allowing for print speeds that are nearly twice as fast and print sizes that are up to twice as large as previous Markforged industrial series printers. This capability enables the replacement of metal parts with advanced composites.

“The FX10 is another important milestone in our mission to bring industrial production to the point of need,” states Terem.“It enables our customers to address even more industrial applications with clear return on investment. Coupled with our ‘Digital Source’ platform, we are truly starting to bring the vision of distributed manufacturing into reality.”More information www.markforged.com

UltiMaker launches industrial-grade 3D printer

UltiMakerhas released the UltiMaker Factor 4 industrial-grade 3D printer, an end-to-end 3D-printing solution for light industrial applications.

With support for engineering materials, direct-drive dual extrusion, on-board print quality reporting, temperature-controlled build volume, UltiMaker 4 delivers high levelsof predictability and minimal variance. Built upon more than a decade of dedication to openness and accessibility, the machine will support one of the widest material portfolios on the market for a variety of applications, including end use parts, functional prototyping, manufacturing tools, and small batch manufacturing of auxiliary components and spares.

Factor 4 offers a temperature-controlled build volume of 330 x 240 x 300 mm and uniform bed heating, ensuring consistent performance across the entire build plate. Designed for the manufacturing and industrial sectors, it launched with a new high-temperature print core that allows engineers to print up to 340°C, enabling a broader range of high-performance, temperature-resistant, and durable materials. These include the new UltiMaker PPS CF, a high-temperature composite material.

The machine uses the heated bed and actively controlled chamber airflow to manage the build volume temperature up to 70°C, ensuring optimal material-specific processing conditions and consistent part quality wherever the 3D printer is located. It is tested to achieve over 95% print completion success and dimensional accuracy within ±0.2 mm or ±0.2% of the feature nominal length.

The latest print profiles for Factor 4, available on Cura 5.7.1, enable the printing of engineering materials such as PET-CF and nylon with productivity levels similar to tough PLA and PETG, effectively doubling print speed when compared with the UltiMaker S series.

More information www.ultimaker.com/factor-4