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With the P 500, EOS presents a new SLS printer
At this year’s Formnext (November 14 – 18, 2017, Frankfurt am Main) we can expect another innovation in the field of SLS printing, as was recently learned. With the P 500, the Krailling-based supplier EOS wants to push access to reproducible component quality, hotter materials and complete automation up to Industry 4.0, according to Fabian Stöver, product manager for polymers at EOS.
More platform than machine
In front of a small group of customers and journalists, Stöver made it clear that the P 500 should not simply be a new machine, but a platform. In concrete terms, this means: Once on the market, the EOS P 500 is not simply finished, but should develop over time.
The SLS printer will initially only be used for plastics, but over time it will also be expanded to include metals. The current 2 lasers will also be followed by more, so that the P 500 can be completely integrated into a production process and thus – at least sometime in the future – a fully automated solution for the Industry 4.0 will offer.
The EOS P 500 can already heat plastics up to 300°C, which means that it can be used for high-temperature polymers such as those used in the aerospace and automotive industries.
SLS printer with built-in quality management
Several elements in the P 500 are intended to monitor the quality of the manufactured components. First, a new variant of EOSprint will take care of the data preparation and process management before the printing process. This will be CAM software that is only compatible with 3D metal printers so far.
During the actual printing process, the quality is also monitored by a camera, both optically and by thermography. The component is scanned in its individual layers and displayed on my monitor, deviations from the templates are marked. A scroll function also enables the operator to view each print layer separately.
EOState, specially developed software, monitors the system status and external production conditions. It ensures that the construction process is stopped and the operator is informed as soon as something deviates from a predefined corridor.
2 overlapping lasers, which are currently being constructed to ensure that errors do not occur in the first place. A triple filter serves the same purpose, especially with regard to materials with strong outgassing behavior.
We at 3D Activation will of course make the impressive possibilities of the P 500 available to you as soon as possible. You can read more about innovative printing processes and numerous other topics related to 3D printing in our blog.
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