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Carlo Gavazzi is an international group active in designing, manufacturing and marketing electronic equipment. Automation components are the core activity of Carlo Gavazzi. Almost 1.5 years ago, this company complemented its performance with 2017's most advanced desktop-class "Zortrax M200" 3D printer. After this device has been proven, the company decided to purchase the "Zortrax M300 plus" and finally the "Zortrax Inkspire" 3D printers. Seeing the success story of this company in 3D printing, we talked to their engineer Lukas Salasevičius and shared his impressions.

„Key things where we apply "Zortrax" 3D printers – is a 3D prototype for new electronics component holders, fixers, housings and other parts used in the R&D department", says Lukas. Engineer mentions that 3D printing is already going step by step to production. „3D printing speed and quality allow printing to be applied not only to prototypes but also to final products."

„3D printing is a daily companion of us. Printers work continuously every day." Lukas also clarified that the first "Zortrax M200" FDM printer has already worked for 2949 hours and it's just the beginning! The younger "Zortrax M300 plus" and the "Inkspire" SLA printer are a little behind.

L. Salasevičius says that 3D printers have changed their working habits very strongly. „In particular, the production of holders involved in production operations has been strongly accelerated. Some of the products are difficult to produce in other ways, even in milling. For this reason, 3D printing has almost taken over the production of those parts. Our employees are satisfied that they no longer limit the technical nuances as they used to be in CNC. Angles and rounded edges do not restrict design and let them create solid objects."

The company estimates that the first printer has paid off in the first 6 months of use and has greatly increased its productivity. Lukas emphasizes „We are really satisfied with these innovations and want to even further expand our 3D printer amount." The most important advantage according to Lukas is the time. „After the creation of the 3D model, we only need to print it, and printing requires little human time. Contrary to the production of CNC machines, they must be handled by a person and human resources are expensive. Also, before the purchase of 3D printers, the production time for the new item was one week and more. From now on, 3D printing allows us to shorten this time to two or even one days."

Speed, Quality, Freedom - all this describes 3D printing capabilities nowadays in business!

Many manufacturers who are developing new products or upgrading existing ones are well aware that 3D printing is their right hand. This is also proved by one of us and „UAB Telemed" project - a realization of the ultrasonic device head prototypes. „UAB Telemed" has been working in the field of ultrasonic medical equipment design, production, and repair for 26 years. In their work, prototyping is a daily process.

The stereolithography 3D printer „Form 2" was chosen for printing these prototypes. We chose it for the ultra-smooth, high-quality surface finish after printing. The thickness of this 3D printer layer can be as low as 25µ. Ensuring high quality and accuracy is essential in the manufacture of medical devices and their prototypes, so „Form 2" 3D printer perfectly meets all customer expectations. The surface of the printed product is very close to the final product. This facilitates product testing and improvement. For 3D printing was used standard white light-sensitive resin.

Production of prototypes with the help of 3D printers not only saves production costs but also significantly reduces working time. After designing a new prototype, you only have to print it out. Unlike CNC milling or other production techniques, 3D printing is free from design constraints, rounded edges, or complex structures do not pose any problems in production. Also, it requires less human resources - a programmed 3D printer can work independently without any additional maintenance.

3D printing technology: SLA (stereolithography)

3D printing material: liquid resin

Size (mm): 143 x 75 x 33

3D printing is a great solution not only for single products but also for small series production. This is evidenced by the growing need for companies in different fields to print not only one at a time but 50, 100 or even 500 items.

We always say to our customers that 3D printing will never go over mass production, but we keep our advantage in small series. Products casting of small series is a real luxury. Mold production and other technological nuances bring a high price, bearing in mind that the required quantity of products is low. Most often, for this reason, cheaper alternatives are sought and one of them is 3D printing.

In this article, we present one of the small production orders. 3D printing of 7-piece impeller prototypes has been performed. 3D printing was done by SLS industrial 3D printer. The products were printed from one of our strongest plastics - polyamide (PA2200).

This production method not only saves the cost for the customer but also greatly speeds up the production of small series objects. 3D printing prevents the production of expensive casting molds, thus achieving the highest work speed.

3D printing material: PA2200

3D printing technology: SLS (Selective Laser Sintering)

Product Size (mm): 71 x 71 x 28

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