In the additive manufacturing area at Fakuma 2023, scheduled for October 17 to October 31 in Friedrichshafen, Germany, Arburg will present a high-temperature version of its new Freeformer 750-3X, processing Ultem 9085 original plastic granules. A TiQ 2 from innovatiQ will demonstrate the 3D printing of operating equipment and robotic grippers from fiber-reinforced filament.

The compact 3D printers from the TiQ series process filaments and are an ideal first step into the world of additive manufacturing. The Freeformers produce resilient functional components from original and certified plastic granules, including in hard/soft combination. These high-end machines are suitable for sophisticated applications in areas such as medical technology, the automotive industry and aerospace.

Processing of high-temperature plastics

At Fakuma, a new high-temperature version of the Freeformer 750-3X will be producing geometricallyThe Freeformer 750-3X has three discharge units and additively manufactures resilient functional parts, including in hard/soft combination and from original plastic granules. Source: Arburg sophisticated ventilation ducts from original material Ultem 9085. To achieve this, the temperature of the build chamber can be raised to 200° C, and the granules are plasticized at up to 450° C.

The high-end machine has three discharge units and, from the outside, is indistinguishable from the Freeformer 300-3X. However, at around 750 cm², the part carrier is around 2.5 times larger. This means that larger functional parts can be produced with plastic granules using Arburg Plastic Freeforming (APF) and small batches can be additively manufactured on an industrial basis. Many APF components will be on display at Fakuma, including orthopedic insoles as two-component parts that can be individually adapted to the footbed.

Data processing and the Gestica controller, which was developed and manufactured by Arburg in-house, have been optimized in terms of process stability, component quality and build time. The result is significantly reduced costs per part and lower material usage.

For seamless documentation and traceability of each individual part, there is the "ProcessLog" customer portal app. This allows a wide range of process and build job data from parts manufactured using the APF process to be displayed in clear graphical form and documented — which in turn ensures transparency, high part quality and can significantly reduce rejects and error rates.

Compact 3D printer processes fiber-reinforced filaments

The second machine exhibit is a TiQ 2, which can process fiber-reinforced filaments based on PA and PP, for example, using the fused filament fabrication (FFF) process. This 3D printer is particularly economical and also ideal as an entry-level additive manufacturing solution thanks to its open material system. The compact production machine has a CNC controller, metal chassis and an enclosed safety area.

Items on show at Friedrichshafen will include resilient suction pads and mechanical grippers made of fiber-reinforced PA and PP with individualized fingers for picking up components, mounted on robot arms. In addition to the additive manufacturing of end-of-arm tooling (EAOT), the open material system is perfect for the cost-effective 3D printing of devices and other operating equipment. All 3D printers from innovatiQ are operated using the intuitive GestiQ-Pro industrial controller. The optional SmartMonitoring system allows several printers to be monitored simultaneously during production.