High-tech companies from the North joined forces in 2011 and formed the Innovatiecluster Drachten. Their goal: to make the area in and around Drachten better known as an innovative, technological and knowledge-intensive region. The results are not lacking. The companies exchange knowledge, are together more attractive for (scarce) technical personnel and share costs. The Additive Manufacturing (AM) project, better known as 3D printing, is a good example. Five companies from the innovation cluster - Philips, Neopost, Irmato, Norma and BD Kiestra - are participating in it. What advantages does the partnership offer?
“Our company deals with Electro Chemical Machining,” says Kees de Regt, System Architect at Irmato. “The nice thing about 3D printing is that you can immediately build the complex shape of ECM tools from a CAD file. In ECM technology, moreover, an even supply and distribution of the process fluid is essential. With AM, the flow channels necessary for this can be shaped much better than is possible with existing fabrication techniques.”
3D printing in metal, however, is not yet cut-and-dried. It is more difficult than 3D printing in plastic. Kees de Regt: “Every company is looking for its own way in this. Irmato, however, does not have sufficient strength and resources to develop this technology entirely on its own. The other companies in the innovation cluster have more expertise. The innovation cluster has brought different parties together. Together, you can achieve more than each one separately.”
Martin Pater, Innovation Manager Norma Group, can agree: “Norma specializes in material removal. We are constantly looking at smart, new technologies that match our competencies, such as 3D printing. In doing so, you build up material and need to chip (remove) less. With the innovation cluster, we unite our strengths with those of major players, such as Philips and Neopost. We are not competitors, but reinforce each other. The cooperation is an optimal form of knowledge sharing. The Netherlands is lagging behind in the field of 3D printing in metal; with the innovation cluster we can catch up.”
New chances
“Together you get further,” agrees Klaas Stuiver, Manager Tooling & Prototyping at Neopost. “The cooperation is immediately also the strength. It offers a lot of potential to help each other get further. Where otherwise you often don't get any further and have to reinvent the wheel yourself, you can now quickly determine the right direction together within the cluster and expand from there. Moreover, as an innovation cluster you are a much more interesting partner for the suppliers of 3D printers. Together you can further develop the technology and exert influence.”
The ultimate goal of the project is to set up a 3-D ‘shared facility’ in Drachten. Here, companies can 3D-print all kinds of parts and tools with metal. According to Klaas Stuiver, 3-D printing with metal offers many opportunities and advantages for business. “You can build your first prototype relatively quickly and make sight models. You can also make parts that were previously impossible to produce. One of the many benefits you can realize with Additive Manufacturing in metal is a huge weight and material savings. This is because you only need to print the contours, creating hollow spaces. It also makes more sense to print organically shaped parts. Weight saving is an important topic for moving parts: the heavier parts are, the more power and effort it takes to accelerate and decelerate them.”
Creating assemblies with integrated functions in one go is also a possibility. As an example, Klaas mentions a Bahco wrench. This consists of five separate parts that are then assembled. “With Additive Machining, you can print the entire wrench at once in an assembled state, which saves a lot of time.”
In addition, there is now the ability to produce a part without expensive tools and dies. “Additive Machining is not a replacement for existing production techniques,” Klaas said, “but it is a good addition. In most cases, you will continue to need the existing techniques in addition to making via AM.
Among other things, surface finish is another issue. Because parts are built by fusing together very small powders, in a variation of 5 microns to a maximum of 60 microns, you see that reflected in the surface roughness.”
More efficiency
Lucas Boelen of Philips CL scouts for new emerging manufacturing technologies, such as 3D printing. Why is Philips using Additive Machining in metal? Lucas: “It's suitable for injection molds, for example. With 3D printing, you can apply all kinds of curved cooling channels directly under the surface. This cools a product faster and increases the efficiency of injection molding. With traditional techniques, such cooling channels are not possible. A second advantage is that a 3D printed mold can be combined with Rapid Heat Cycle Technology. With that, you can produce beautiful high-gloss injection molded products.”
Major advantage of the innovation cluster, he says, is synergy. “3D printing offers new opportunities. At one company, knowledge of finishing techniques is high, while another company has a strong competence in metallography. The merging of these competencies and resources creates value for all parties in the project. In the innovation cluster, you then learn from each other. Moreover, we share investments and also support each other with the use of certain equipment. For example, we make our electron microscope available for research into the surface of 3D printed metal. And apart from that, it's also just nice to cooperate with other high-quality technological companies in the area!”