SUPER-SIZED AM

Build Size Capabilities Trend Bigger

by Cassandra Balentine

Larger build sizes are trending for three-dimensional (3D) printing. While no official measurement classifies a 3D printer as “large,” it is a feature gaining traction in the printer landscape today.

“As suppliers educate customers and engineers on advancements and expansions in greater geometric and material freedoms, solutions that were not possible just a few months ago are being developed and employed,” says Mark Norfolk, president, Fabrisonic. These expanded capabilities motivate designers and engineers to push the boundaries of existing machines, driving innovation. “As AM machine capacities and capabilities increase, engineers are leveraging these larger fabrication platforms to accommodate parts with a larger form factor to address cost and performance objectives.”

In 3D printing, larger sizes generally refer to build size—the maximum size of the object that can be printed in a single run. “This is an important factor for many applications as it determines the size of the objects that can be created and influences the efficiency of the printing process,” explains Max Siebert, cofounder, Replique GmbH.

Beth Wyatt, director of marketing, MELD Manufacturing Corporation, points out that larger size can refer to both print and printer size—but the two aren’t necessarily synonymous. “To print a large size part, the gantry and the print bed will need to increase in size to accommodate the part. But the parts that make the printer work don’t necessarily have to be larger.”

Larger size can also refer to larger volumes. For example, Hanifeh Zarezadeh, 3D product manager, Photocentric Inc., sees an increased demand from digital mass manufacturers, which means lots of small parts made without tooling.

Meeting Industrial Demands

A variety of industries benefit from larger sized AM machines, including aerospace; energy, oil, and gas; automotive; defense; industrial manufacturers; construction and architecture; and medical applications. Many of these industries require larger part production, which is a primary driver of 3D printers with larger build capabilities.

“The technology is maturing,” admits Michael Mignatti, VP, printers, UltiMaker. He says improved reliability, build times, and materials allow more people to think about 3D printing as a solution and larger build volumes help improve the solvable applications.

1. Fiberneering offers three versions of its XXL DLP printers, ranging up to one cubed meter in building volume.

"When you want to create a certain part of large dimensions, but you only have a 'small' printer, you need to assemble the various prints, resulting in significant extra work, but also all kinds of secondary issues derive from the assembly," shares Jasper Bouwmeester, CEO, Fiberneering.

"Larger parts are driven by companies who wish to make single large items as opposed to assembling them from numerous separately made parts with all the extra time, potential error, and costs that brings," states Zarezadeh.

Larger sized 3D printers allow for the creation oflarger objects that may not be possible with smaller printers-at least not without following with a post-processing step like gluing or welding. "This is particularly important in industries such as aerospace or automotive, where large components are in need. Most importantly, larger sized printers can increase the efficiency of the printing process, as they allow for more objects to be printed in a single run. This results in lower base and labor cost. Also, it eliminates the need for assembly of smaller parts, as you can fuse/ unite together many parts to a single unit, which reduces total cost of parts significantly," points out Siebert.

Blake Teipel, Ph.D., CEO, Essentium Inc., sees increased demand to manufacture large scale, complex components and prototypes. In fact, he cites independent global research conducted by Essentium on the current and future use of industrial 3D printing, which revealed that 81 percent of manufacturing companies have increased their use of AM by more than halfin the last year. The survey results showed that AM use has evolved from simple prototyping to manufacturing aids and tooling-74 percent; complex and integrated prototyping-52 percent; and full production runs-44 percent.

Dr. Kartik Rao, strategic marketing director, Additive Industries, notes a clear interest from AM system manufacturers to keep growing the size of the build chambers to increase the application size, and says that overall, the total build envelopes for AM are increasing. "Previously, powder bed fusion (PBF) was limited to roughly 300 millimeter (mm) cubes as build envelopes. Current market reports indicate that the PBF build envelopes that have the largest market size are now in the range of 300 to 600 mm," he explains.

Larger volumes are also possible with bigger build capacities. "Productivity goes up quite significantly as the batch wise nature ofthe printing process is divided over a much larger number of parts," states Bouwmeester.

Automation is another consideration, according to Doris Logtenberg, marketing and communication, CEAD industrialprintmagazine.com

Group. “This is due to the complex, labor intensive, and time-consuming nature associated with traditional manufacturing methods for producing large composite parts. These traditional manufacturing methods typically require an around-the-clock, skilled workforce that is increasingly challenging to find.”

As a result, companies often choose to outsource part of their production to different regions around the world. However, there is a growing trend to bring production processes back in house. “Implementing large-scale 3D printing into the production process enables automation of the workflow and simplifies the production of complex parts. By replacing traditional manufacturing methods with large-scale 3D printing, manufacturers can streamline their operations and decrease the reliance on manual labor, reducing costs and lead times. It also allows companies to switch from large stock inventories to local, on demand production strategies. Besides the above, one other reason for the growing interest in large-scale 3D printing is the heightened emphasis on reducing environmental impact. By bringing production processes back in house, carbon emissions can be reduced. Moreover, the materials employed in large-scale 3D printing, such as thermoplastics, can be recycled and repurposed,” offers Logtenberg.

Kyle McNulty, SLA product lead, Formlabs, points out that creating large prototypes and parts was once a very expensive endeavor, but as 3D printing—and now large format 3D printing—is more accessible and affordable it helps companies print bigger prototypes and parts directly in house, significantly reducing the costs and turnaround times associated with outsourced production. “Investing in a large format 3D printer can more quickly have a positive return on investment due to the high cost of outsourcing large parts. Users eventually create prints that exceed the build volume of a desktop 3D printer.”

Waste reduction is another driver. “Traditional manufacturing often involves subtractive processes. This leads to significant waste, especially when producing large parts. AM adds material only where needed. This reduces material waste, resulting in cost and time savings along with environmental benefits,” comments Wyatt.

Norfolk says designers, design engineers, product engineers, and product managers have fully realized the benefits of printing smaller parts using AM.

Technical Ceramics

The use of technical ceramics is one factor driving demand for larger capabilities in additive manufacturing. This is a result of many companies shifting from metal parts to ceramic materials for space, defense, oil, and gas applications, with ceramics being more durable and longer lasting than metal parts when it comes to extreme applications.

Kareen Malsallez, marketing manager, 3DCeram, says the use of technical ceramics has transcended the realm of prototyping and is now integral to production processes. “Consequently, there is a growing demand for ever-expanding build platforms to meet these production needs.”

“We are noticing that there is a need for larger, three-dimensional (3D) printed ceramic parts across many industries—in this context, meaning larger in the sense of bigger in volume. With industries now well aware of the enormous flexibility offered by 3D printing, combined with the advantages of ceramic material over metal, we have seen this significant rise in demand for larger sized ceramic applications printed with the established Lithoz lithography-based ceramic manufacturing or LCM technology, particularly focusing on fully dense parts with thicker walls and often using dark ceramic materials,” seconds Isabel Potestio, director of sales and marketing, Lithoz.

Those who understand the extensive geometric and material freedom that ultrasonic AM (UAM) offers are driving industry innovation to build machines that can accommodate parts and devices with larger form factors. As these geometric and material freedoms are leveraged, 3D printing is seen across a wider range of parts, devices, and components, often combining several parts into one continuous part and flattening the bill of materials (BOM). Innovation leaders that leverage the ability to bond

Companies Mentioned

dissimilar metals without creating brittle intermetallics while each metal retains its original physical properties are seeing the ability to combine parts made of different materials, further reducing the part count and BOM. This ability to form one part from many smaller parts without the restriction of a homogeneous metal composition will see form factors grow and, therefore, require larger fabrication machines.”

All the above factors contribute to increased efficiency, freedom in design,

See cost savings, reduced environmental footprint, and improved competitiveness for businesses, adds Logtenberg.

Semantics

When it comes to defining what larger means, it is a bit complicated as there is no official measurement to help categorize build sizes.

It really depends on the application and purpose of the particular part, notes Jeffrey DeGrange, CCO, Impossible Objects. “We consider our technology capable of printing large parts, but there are also 3D printers available today printing houses, shipping vessels, and more.”

Giorgio Olivieri, applications manager, Meltio, says each manufacturer generally refers to internal benchmarks when talking about builds. For example, at Meltio, larger is anything that exceeds the build envelope of its Meltio M450 unit—or 145x168x390 mm.

Mignatti suggests large format 3D printers refer to industrial-sized printers with a build volume of 400x400 mm or more.

“I would consider anything above 400 mm to be ‘larger’ in size for PBF machines for metal. Typical starter printers are in the range of 300 mm build plate size,” advises Rao.

Bouwmeester considers anything with a build volume of 0.2 cubic meters and up as a large printer. “Traditionalsized printers typically have dimensions up to 20 centimeters (cm) and resulting volumes are significantly less,” he states.

“The definition of a larger 3D printer varies based on industry requirements and specific applications,” agrees Teipel. However, a typical measurement for larger printers may include a build volume exceeding 200x200 mm in any axis. This contrasts with more traditional-sized printers, which often have smallerbuildvolumes."

4. At Meltio, larger is anything that exceeds the build envelope of its Meltio M450 unit—or 145x168x390 mm. 5. Photocentric’s Liquid Crystal Titan is a good solution for customers that regularly want to print a certain volume of large items.

Siebertpointsoutthatwith3Dprinters,youcanprintupto2000xl000xl000 mm."Howeverthisdependsonthetechnology and material. In comparison, traditional industrial 3D printers' build envelopesare typicallyaboutthesizeof amicrowave."

Build size is tied to the type of 3D printingtechnology.Forexample, 3DCeram offers stereolithographytechnology (SLA)withUVlasers."Whatsetsourapproachapartistheutilizationoftop-down printing,whichgrantsusthefreedomto achieve large printingplatformswithout sizelimitations,"offersKareenMalsallez, marketingmanager,3DCeram.

"Unlike other technologies such as digital light processing, which is restrictedbythesizeoftheprintingplatform due to its inherent limitations, our top-down SLA method enables us to overcome these constraints. This means we can offer customers the advantage of printing larger parts without compromising on size or scale," notesMalsallez.

Similarly, Zarezadeh shares the uniquefeatureofliquidcrystaldisplaybased 3D printersisthattheycurethe wholebuildareasimultaneously. "This means customers can fit and print as manypartsaspossibleontheplatform, and they print at the same time. Mass manufacturing for Photocentric certainly starts in the thousands of single items, but we see the sweet spot as being achieved in the tens and even hundredsofthousandsofeachpart. In practicealotofpartsarethesamesize, inprintingterms."

While specific terminology and measurementsofbuildsizesmayvarywithin theindustry,Logtenbergsayslargersizes aregenerallydefinedbybuildvolumesexceeding15to20cm."However,atCEAD, wecategorizelargersizesasanindustrial-sized 3D printer. In the AM industry, industriallarge-scale3D printing istypically referred to when the print volume isaroundonecubicmeter. Itispossible to print both smaller and larger parts, depending on the part design and the specificsystembeingused. Asageneral guideline, we consider a minimum part sizeof40cmineitherthexorydirection (width or depth), but we always assess thefeasibilityofeachprintindividually."

Sincethereisnostandard measurement, it's difficult to compareandcontrastpricing.

"Largeformat3Dprinters are significantly more expensive than desktop or even professional level printers. Factors to consider in the cost not only include the size, but the cost of the materials and the need for dedicated staffto operate and maintain,"commentsMignatti.

Olivieri says most manufacturersscaleprice withsize,asinsometechnologies an increase in sizemeansanincreasein complexity and number of critical components-such as laser sourcesandrelatedequipment.

Rao adds that price does not scale linearly with build plate size. "The reason for this is that the challenges with larger platforms, such as consistent gas flow across the bed, laser coverage acrossthebuildplates,andlaserredundancyaren'teasytoscalewithsize."

Teipeladmitsthatthepriceofalarger sized 3D printermayvarydependingon factors such as build volume, technology, and additional features. "Generally, larger sized printers tend to have a higher price point due to increased material and equipment costs. However, the return on investment is justified by the ability to produce larger parts, often at high temperature and faster printing speeds, and streamline manufacturing processes."

While the investment in a large printer is typically bigger, Bouwmeester stresses that productivity also significantly increases. "The cost per unit volume produced over time is probably the most significant parameter when someone considers a larger printer."

''After the initial investment, large format printers eliminate the time and cost associated with outsourcing large format prints or using traditional manufacturing methods. Outsourcing a large format print greatly increases both the costs of the project and timeline to complete. The ability to print in one large print has decreased costs associated with the manual labor required for printing smaller parts and constructing them together to create the final product," explains McNulty.

Another factor to consider is that in production environments, cost of labor involved in changing and cleaning printers is a significant contributor to the total product expense. "Larger printers allow more parts to be produced at once and hence reduce the labor cost," adds Bouwmeester.

Material costs are also a factor. "When it comes to large or small parts, we see no major difference in price. Material costs per part are still too high compared to injection molding, so as adoption increases, we anticipate lower costs," suggests DeGrange.

Bigger Builds

There is increased demand for larger build sizes amongst 3D printer manufacturers. This is largely driven by the need for bigger components, but also higher volumes.

"BecauseAMhassurpassedtherealm of mere prototyping, manufacturers are now seriously considering 3D printing as a true production tool. It should be noted that we, as manufacturers, have worked diligently and made significant progress, particularly in making production costs more compelling. Industrial professionals are well aware of the advantages of producing through 3D printing, and as they witness the expansion of printing platforms, they naturally consider the production of large parts," shares Malsallez. "They make a simple calculation regarding their investment and choose tools that offer them the most possibilities, allowing the production of both large parts and large series of small parts. They also benefit in terms of maintenance costs, as it is more cost effective to have a high-capacity machine than numerous small machines."

While there is no standard definition that classifies a 3D printer as larger, the trend is clear and predicted to continue.

For more on larger build sizes in AM, check out industrialprintmagazine.com for a web-exclusive series. /PM