Renishaw has enabled Cookson Industrial, a UK-based specialist in precious metal additive manufacturing (AM), to reduce the cost of 3D printing platinum rhodium, one of the world’s most expensive metals. Cookson Industrial can now efficiently produce platinum rhodium components on Renishaw’s RenAM 500S Flex AM system.

Cookson Industrial, a division of Cooksongold and a subsidiary of HM Precious Metals, brings over 30 years of expertise in the design and production of precious metal alloys. The company set out to redefine platinum rhodium’s use in additive manufacturing. However, with platinum rhodium prices averaging £80,000 per kg, minimising material waste was crucial to making production commercially viable.

To meet this challenge, Cookson Industrial selected Renishaw’s RenAM 500S Flex, a laser powder-bed fusion system for R&D applications. Renishaw’s AM engineering team worked closely with Cookson Industrial to adapt the system to the specific demands of platinum rhodium production. As standard, the RenAM 500S Flex is capable of achieving powder waste levels as low as 1.5%. However, to align with Cookson Industrial’s requirements, customisations were needed to reduce it to less than 0.5%.

“Achieving near-zero wastage of platinum rhodium powder was a top priority,” explains Jason Morgan, senior applications engineer at Renishaw. “We collaborated with Cookson’s engineers to identify and eliminate potential ‘powder traps’ within the system, followed by rapid testing and redesigns to minimise waste while maintaining performance.”

Renishaw’s customisations included modifying internal system components to prevent powder accumulation, such as removing overflow bellows and optimising the rear overflow vent. Additional measures included chamber redesigns and the creation of specialised casings and covers, resulting in a 95% reduction in powder waste.

More information www.renishaw.com

The new Stratasys Origin Two 3D printed was introduced to the UK market with a roadshow event hosted at SYS Systems in Derby earlier this month. Visitors could get up close to the Origin Two and witness P3 technology in action, with live prints showcasing speed of production and ease of use. They could also get hands on with finished components, to emphasise accuracy and surface quality, as well as the benefits of utilising Origin machines for low-volume production. 

Stratasys applications engineer Lauren Grundy delivered an insightful presentation into the latest technological advancements in the Origin Two and how it offers benefits to users, while senior applications engineer Matt Jones took a deep dive into the machine itself, showing off the key features.

Rob Thompson, group sales director of SYS Systems’ parent company Carfulan Group, says: “The Origin Two UK roadshow event was a great success and provided our visitors with invaluable knowledge to take away about this new machine. While FDM and PolyJet 3D printing are long-standing features of our offering at SYS Systems, we’re finding that P3 and Origin is becoming an increasingly viable option for manufacturers requiring detailed low-volume parts such as connectors, housings and similar components.”

Powered by a new 5K DLP projector, the heart of any DLP system, SYS Systems says that Origin Two delivers the highest accuracy and smoothest surface finish of all resin technologies. It combines 38.5 µm pixel size and tight 2.5 standard deviation projector uniformity, to deliver accuracies up to ±50-100 µm consistently across builds and printers.

More information www.sys-uk.com

A UK 3D-printing specialist is targeting a £3m opportunity after launching a new CNC milling tool that will offer manufacturers the best of both worlds. Rapid Fusion, which employs eight people at its recently opened Exeter R&D centre, has created a high-performance electro-spindle that will provide the precision milling and post-processing of polymer 3D prints.

Eight months in gestation, the breakthrough technology will be fitted to the company’s future Zeus 3D robotic systems, providing clients with the opportunity to enjoy the speed of additive manufacturing with the precision of subtractive machining – all in a single 6 x 6 m cell. The tool is suitable for use on high-quality moulds across a range of industries.

“This CNC milling tool has the potential to be a real game changer for manufacturers and has been designed in partnership with a number of end users to ensure we deliver exactly what they need,” explains Martin Jewell, R&D director at Rapid Fusion. “3D printing can give unrivalled speed and creates moulds near net shape, within 3 to 4 mm. Certain applications need even greater precision and this is where you can call in a CNC milling tool to remove the excess material. Going forward, we’ll be able to offer this as a single turnkey solution.”

He adds: “The advantages are huge. We know we can deliver repeatable quality and, in a trial project, we reduced the lead time for a mould tool from six to eight weeks to just five days.”

The CNC milling tool comes equipped with a tool changer, allowing users to swap between it and the 3D printing pellet extruder on a robot set-up. It can also handle engineering-grade materials, such as glass- and carbon-filled PEI and PEEK polymers.

More information www.rapidfusion.co.uk