AddUp, a joint venture created by Michelin and Fives in 2016, has announced the introduction of FormUp®350 metal 3D printer – a laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) technology. The FormUp 350 allows to operate in complete safety, to produce perfectly reproducible series of parts at levels of productivity never achieved before, by relying on a modular and scalable architecture. FormUp 350 delays the machine obsolescence and keep up a high level of performance.
FormUp 350 Metal 3D Printer
Lasers
The new generation of FormUp 350 metal 3D printer can produce parts using four 500 W lasers simultaneously, each laser covering the entire surface of the tray. The bidirectional coating system reduces non-productive times by 40% faster powder spreading cycles than mono-directional spreading. The powder supply is done in masked time, using the autonomous powder module mentioned above.
Applications
Specific manufacturing recipes can be developed for each application, to find the best balance between productivity and quality for each part. AddUp provides support to our customers with a unique application service on the market, based on the expertise developed in our parts manufacturing activity.
AddUp benefit from 40 printing machines installed in Europe to date, as well as a strong experience in post-processing and finishing of parts (heat treatment, machining, etc.), allowing us to supply our customers with finished parts that are ready for use.
Safety
It can be used safely with all types of metal powders, reactive or not, with fine or medium granulometry. Operators will be able to work in complete safety using an innovative autonomous powder module developed exclusively with the AZO company, ensuring the storage, conveying, recovery and sieving of the powder, with all operations being carried out automatically in a closed circuit in an inert atmosphere. Exposure to fumes and smelting residues is controlled, using an automatic passivation filter system that ensures safe waste disposal. The passivation of soot and powders recovered during filtration is done by adding a calcium carbonate powder. This removes the risk of flammability from the waste and it can be processed safely.
Software
The AddUp NCore software embedded in the machine is capable of processing large production files of more than 80 GB in one go, enabling complex parts to be produced.
AddUp Dashboards, a software solution for traceability and analysis of all production data, allows the tracking of 80 manufacturing parameters and the automatic editing of production conformity reports. In terms of monitoring, we have developed a system for monitoring the quality of the fusion, continuously measuring the power emitted by the laser and the temperature of the fusion, and real-time analysis technology of the powder spreading quality, which checks the absence of defects on the surface of the powder bed in less than a second and triggers a second run of the coating system if necessary.
Quality
The new generation of FormUp 350 metal 3D printers allows us to meet all the quality requirements of our customers, covering all industrial fields from aeronautics, space or luxury, including motorsports, defense, medical. All the parameters of the machine are accessible according to the needs of the users from a simplified standard use to an expert mode use.
Configurations
The modular design of the FormUp 350 metal 3D printers allows our customers to configure and upgrade the machine according to their needs and to benefit from the latest technologies at any time, without replacing the machine.
We offer four configurations:
- STARTER, which brings together the essentials for research and development activities, designed for the use of non-reactive powders of medium grain sizes.
- EFFICIENCY, perfect to get started in additive manufacturing with confidence, with a wide range of powders (fine or medium, reactive or non-reactive).
- PRODUCTIVITY, the perfect answer for a high level of productivity and a high level of industrialization, with four lasers and an autonomous powder module.
- ADVANCED, designed for «expert» users who are looking to achieve the highest levels of productivity, quality and monitoring of the manufacturing process.
AddUp operates a fleet of nearly 40 machines at its Cébazat, Strasbourg and Salon de Provence sites in France. This allows AddUp to accelerate the control of the process from an industrial point of view and thus improve the design and performance of its machines.
About AddUp: Since its creation in 2016, as a result of a collaboration agreement signed by Fives and Michelin in September 2015, AddUp has developed a unique expertise in metal additive manufacturing. The company has invested in the design of 3D metal printing machines in the two most dominant complementary technologies on the market.
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