Julian Ware, UK & Ireland Sales Manager for ABB Robotics explains how robotic 3D printing is increasingly finding favour in low-volume, specialised applications.
Prototypes remain an important area of application for 3D printing, but companies recognise that many of the advantages that make 3D printing so useful in that context are also beneficial in other applications. Defence, aerospace, automotive, consumer goods and construction are some of the industries where 3D printing is finding a home, especially as the range of materials that can be processed using this technology continues to grow.
Additive manufacturing offers several key advantages over competing, conventional technologies such as injection moulding or metal casting.
Save money and time
First, the cost of getting started producing a new part is very low compared to traditional formative manufacturing. Competing technologies often require a unique mould or tooling for each new part and these are expensive. Thousands of identical parts must typically be made to recoup the cost. In contrast, robotic 3D printing does not need any specialised tooling. The cost of making a 3D printed part depends only on the amount of material used, the time it took the machine to print it and any post-processing needed to achieve the desired finish.
3D printing also allows easy fabrication of complex shapes, many of which cannot be produced by other manufacturing methods. Better still, additional complexity does not make the process any more expensive.
Taken together, these savings make it cost-effective to customise products in a way that would not be possible with other manufacturing techniques.
One good example comes from ABB Robotics, which not only makes robots that industrial users can deploy to carry out 3D printing but has also adopted it as a way to make customised parts for some of its own systems.
YuMi® is ABB’s double-armed collaborative robot. It can work alongside humans in a production environment and is particularly good at tasks in industries such as automotive or electronics where small components must be manipulated and inserted into larger assemblies. Components come in all shapes and sizes so there is currently no cost-effective universal grasper that can perform all these manoeuvres effectively. ABB therefore needs to provide a range of customised graspers.
The developers initially sent ‘finger’ designs out to be milled, but they found that 3D printing them was quicker and cheaper. This enabled a lot more variants to be tested more quickly as the products evolved. This accelerated feasibility studies (as frequently required by customers) and helped to fast-track the validation process, enabling many iterations to be tested and delivering a final product in a fraction of the time. As a result, the design time from final 3D design to final print was reduced to just a couple of hours.
As can be seen from this example, the time savings are already substantial when manufacturing a one-off part, whether as a prototype, a spare or a customised order. Recent developments also promise to make 3D printing even quicker and easier.
For instance, ABB has introduced 3D printing capabilities to its RobotStudio simulation and offline programming software. This enables users to program robots for additive manufacturing in just 30 minutes. Part of the PowerPac portfolio of RobotStudio, the 3D printing feature supports a variety of processes, such as welding and printing with granules or concrete. It is ideal for low-volume, high-mix printing.
The right tool for the job
While it offers many benefits, 3D printing is not the right technology in every application. Components may be more brittle because they are built in layers, for example. The need for post-processing – mainly support removal or surface finishing – means printed parts are rarely ready to use straight from the printer. And, of course, printing cannot compete with traditional manufacturing when it comes to big production runs.
Its reputation has also suffered from having been massively hyped up in the past, when pundits predicted that the domestic appetite for 3D printers would see them installed in everyone’s homes. However, it is now clear that 3D printing offers genuine advantages in many industrial applications and we can expect to see its use continue to grow over the next few years.
For more information, visit www.abb.com/robotics.
