The Engineer – UMaine breaks record for world’s largest polymer 3D printer
Manufacturing unit of the Future 1.0 (FoF 1.0) is 4 occasions bigger than UMaine’s MasterPrint, which made it into the file books in 2019.
Unveiled at UMaine’s Superior Buildings and Composites Heart (ASCC), FoF 1.0 has been designed to print objects as giant as 96 ft (29.26m) lengthy by 32 (9.75m) ft vast by 18 (5.48m) ft excessive, and might print as much as 500 kilos (226.796kg) per hour.
In response to UMaine, it presents new alternatives for eco-friendly and cost-effective manufacturing for industries together with nationwide safety, reasonably priced housing, bridge building, ocean and wind vitality applied sciences and maritime vessel fabrication.
MORE FROM ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING
In use, FoF 1.0 can dynamically change between processes together with large-scale additive manufacturing, subtractive manufacturing, steady tape layup and robotic arm operations. Moreover, FoF 1.0 and MasterPrint can collaborate by sharing the identical end-effectors or by engaged on the identical half.
In an announcement, ASCC govt director Habib Dagher mentioned: “FoF 1.0 opens up new analysis frontiers to combine these collaborative robotics operations at a really giant scale with new sensors, high-performance computing and synthetic intelligence to create born-certified methods that meet prime quality requirements.”
The printer will allow numerous initiatives, together with the event of biobased feedstocks from wooden residue and the creation of sustainable, reasonably priced housing. For nationwide safety, the printer is anticipated to allow advances in light-weight, quickly deployable buildings and vessel applied sciences.
The FoF 1.0 unveiling comes forward of this summer season’s deliberate groundbreaking of the Inexperienced Engineering and Supplies (GEM) Manufacturing unit of the Future, a brand new analysis laboratory with the first purpose of growing extra sustainable manufacturing practices with the introduction of next-generation options and biomaterials.
“Maine wants an estimated 80,000 further properties by 2030, many particularly for households with incomes at or beneath the world median earnings. This new know-how permits UMaine-ASCC to scale-up its analysis and manufacturing of its revolutionary biobased 3D printed dwelling know-how,” mentioned Maine Housing’s growth director Mark Wiesendanger. “This effort creates one other means of manufacturing high quality reasonably priced housing, whereas additional driving prices down, and utilizing considerable wooden residuals from Maine’s sawmills.”
