Posted on 07/24/2014 2:01:17 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
CNC firm’s 3D printing adapter to combine additive and subtractive processes in one machine.
CNC machine maker, Hurco, announced that it recently filed a U.S. patent application for a new technology that combines 3D printing and CNC machining. According to the company, it has developed an additive manufacturing adapter that will allow Hurco machines to 3D print directly.
“We designed an additive manufacturing adapter that, in combination with proprietary Hurco control software, effectively turns a CNC milling machine into a 3D printer,” said Gregory Volovic, President of Hurco Companies, Inc. “With this new additive manufacturing capability, users may go from print to plastic prototype to finished metal part on one machine without repeated set-ups and without multiple prototyping utilizing costly metals and raw material.”
Presumably, the adapter is based on the FDM process, but the company says it’s working on developing the technology to include other additive manufacturing processes.
Hybrid machines, combining both additive and subtractive processes, are at the forefront of manufacturing technologies. Similar initiatives include the Matsuura Lumex Avance-25, which provides both metal laser sintering and 5-axis machining and Trumpf’s DepositionLine, a laser welding technology that adds metallic material to existing components, the company says.
Hurco says it will unveil the 3D printer adapter at the International Machine Tool Show in Chicago later this year, to coincide with the introduction of its latest machines and CNC machine control.
www.hurco.com
If it’s a Hurco then either way it will be a POS. Had one, sold it, never own one again.
I’ll wait until someone like DMG or Kitamura bring one to market so I know it will work.
“Similar initiatives include the Matsuura Lumex Avance-25, which provides both metal laser sintering and 5-axis machining and Trumpf’s DepositionLine, a laser welding technology that adds metallic material to existing components, the company says.”
Matsuura have some good machines on the market, if I was looking to buy one now they would be given the chance to quote. If for no other reason than playing one Japanese machine against another in a bidding war is always fun because they won’t drop their price against anything else except another Japanese company to undercut them.
Interesting concept to be sure, but why tie up your machining center when you can just buy a 3D printer for roughly the same as what they will charge you for the extra feature though? You have the model in ProE or Solidworks anyway, posting it to either machine takes about 10 seconds and you can make money off of both at the same time then.
This is good stuff. 3D printing/Machining makes gun control impossible.
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