Additive manufacturing is a hot topic for many manufacturers right now. But what makes binder jetting different? In this post, we’ll break down the top 8 advantages of binder jetting.
1. High Speed
With high-speed, single-pass print technology, we can produce high-quality metal parts at high speed- meaning hundreds of metal parts per day. This is in contrast to a cast part which can take a number of weeks before a part can be produced. This build simulation for a pump part shows how hundreds of components can be quickly printed in one batch.
2. Superior Print Quality
Our system produces high-resolution parts with incredibly fine feature detail. Surface finishes as low as 4µm Ra out of the furnace, and <0.1µm Ra with mass finishing are possible. Components are fully dense, solid parts, no debind or infill required. Customers are particularly interested in the potential to produce parts with little or no machining required- a big time and cost saving, made even more compelling with current supply chain uncertainties.
3. High resolution
Our Desktop Metal binder jet system features high resolution prints. With 1600×1600 DPI native, and over 670M drops per second, we deliver high-speed, high-resolution 3D printing.
4. Flexible manufacturing
Wall Colmonoy can cost effectively 3D print low-volume batches of complex parts due to elimination of tooling. We produce hundreds of near-net-shape parts every day with dramatically reduced labor costs and expanded geometric flexibility. We can respond quickly to the need for variations and improvements.
5. Fewer steps
Reduce the complexity of making a part. Parts that previously required multiple steps can now be produced in one, avoiding the costs of complex assembly. A good illustration of this advantage is the production of our knives for aseptic packaging.
Using traditional methods like investment castings and machining, the blade and holder would be manufactured as separate pieces – a process requiring as many as 40 individual steps - before being joined into a single assembly. Using the Desktop Metal Shop System™, we are able to 3D print via binder jetting the blade as a single piece. This decreases the number of manufacturing steps to fewer than 10, significantly reducing lead time and cutting part cost by as much as half.
6.Less waste
Improve your environmental footprint, using only what is needed for the final part. Binder jet parts have zero waste, as left over powder is reused.
7. Design freedom
Create internal channels, thin walls, overhangs, unsupported arms and curved surfaces to make the most of the design freedom offered by additive manufacturing.
This nozzle, made for use in our own atomization process, features internal channels to increase the velocity of the gas. This part is designed not only to reduce the potential for satellite particles in inert gas atomization, but also to create conditions for the generation of supersonic inert gas speeds from subsonic supply.
8. Reduced inventory
Instead of holding a vast inventory of thousands of products- print what you need at the time when you need it. The responsiveness of our binder jetting system means you can have a part printed within a few days.
Wall Colmonoy Limited
Alloy Industrial Estate
Pontardawe, Swansea,
Wales (U.K.) SA8 4HL
E: additivemanufacturing@wallcolmonoy.co.uk
T: + 44 (0) 1792 860647
