Metal Laser Sintering/Milling Hybrid
March 1, 2015
The LUMEX Avance 25 can place porous structures freely, making effective gas venting possible and improving the quality of molds such as seen in this electric tool mold.
The LUMEX Avance 25 is a metal laser sintering/milling hybrid from MC Machinery Systems designed to provide one-machine, one-process manufacturing of complex molds and parts. "It offers a 65% reduction in manufacturing time and a 50% cost reduction compared to traditional mold building," said a company spokesperson. "Special 3D CAD/CAM software is used to build conformal cooling channels and vent points, which eliminate hotspots, shrinkage and warpage, resulting in consistently accurate molded parts."
The machine pours metal powder into the distribution bar and then spreads a layer of powder across the table and the base plate, filling in the low spots so the powder layer is level. The 400-watt Yb fiber laser, located above the table, follows the design determined by the 3D program and sinters the powder to the baseplate. Once 20 layers have been sintered together, the cutters begin milling the first 10 layers while the second 10 layers are cooling from the sintering process. The milling is done 10 layers at a time in three stages - rough, semi-finish and finish cutting to final size, but in reverse order from the bottom up.
"With a reduction in production time and the number of set-ups, the result is more parts per hour coming out of the mold with better accuracy," said the spokesperson.
For more information contact:
MC Machinery Systems, Inc.
1500 Michael Drive
Wood Dale, IL 60191
630-616-5920
sales@mcmachinery.com
www.mcmachinery.com
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