A Sheffield business has invested £100,000 in new technology to keep it at the cutting edge of industrial 3D printing.
Addition Design, based at the Advanced Manufacturing Park Technology Centre in Sheffield, has welcomed a new Stratasys F370 CR FDM Composite Printer as part of its investment package.
Tom Fripp, director at Addition Design said: “This new 3D printer is a welcome addition to our business. The investment will improve the quality of change parts and format parts that we are able to produce.
“It will open up new opportunities for us to be able to deliver higher performance parts with reduced lead times. Customers will also benefit from the unique combination of Addition Design’s additive design capabilities with very high performing materials.”
Addition Design is one of the first businesses in the country to invest in the new technology.
Fripp added: “During 2022 we saw strong demand from pharmaceutical clients and subcontract packers for our fast turnaround change parts.
“The existing 3D print systems at Addition are very good for volume and precision work but the change parts and format parts tend to be large, robust components on low volume. The new printer is better suited to this application. However, it also takes things a step further by allowing us to print carbon fibre reinforced components, hugely increasing the performance of the parts that we can produce at Addition.
“It also extends our offering into new markets including forming tools and high performance automotive. Industrial 3D print technology is at the forefront of enabling businesses to minimise downtime and improve profitability, what’s not to love about that?”
The Stratasys printers supplement traditional fabrication technologies, allowing industrial manufacturers to replace metal components with high-strength 3D-printed composite parts. This accelerates throughput while avoiding the opportunity cost of using production resources or the lead time of outsourcing.
The product was launched to market in 2022 to make work-holding fixtures, soft jaws, and component parts with composite 3D printing in a fraction of the time and cost it takes to machine a metal equivalent.
Chris Andrews, Regional AM specialist, SYS Systems, said: “The last 18-24 months have put immense pressure on the manufacturing sector, and the F370 CR represents a fantastic mew addition to the Stratasys range to help alleviate some of these challenges.
“We see more and more companies everyday substituting machined metal for strong and rigid 3D printed carbon fibres, not only reducing weight and cost but freeing up your team with 24/7 reliable printing, thanks to being built on the existing and widely adopted F123 Series platform.”
