Equipment Update

EQUIPMENT UPDATE

Prototype production plant also supports mass manufacture of circuit boards

A circuit-board manufacturer has recently opened a new prototype production plant in Rot am See, Germany. A variety of services are offered at the plant including laser direct imaging, lamination, etching and plating. Developed by Würth Elektronic (Niedernhall, Germany; www.we-online.com), the €15-million facility enables the company to produce prototypes and simple as well as complex circuit boards with Micro Via, FLAT comp or flex-rigid technologies. With support for mass production also offered, the production plant is designed to manufacture prototypes and models quickly and flexibly. A variety of circuit board designs can be produced ranging from double-sided to high-order multilayer configurations.

The production processes in the prototype plant are divided into modular process steps and units to facilitate flexibility. Certified to ISO 9001:2000, the manufacturer follows stringent environmental-protection measures.

The company also offers a service known as WEdirekt that enables customers to order prototypes as well as simple circuit boards online. It can be accessed at www.wedirekt.de.

Platform for pilot runs achieves fast cycle rate

An assembly automation platform provides efficient pilot runs for medical device manufacturing while assuring the required level of quality control and compliance with the requirements of a US FDA–validated production environment. The KSPilot from Komax Systems (Dierikon, Switzerland; www.komaxgroup.com) facilitates easy integration of manual positions as well as fully automatic stations. The chassis uses a free-pallet transport loop that allows output of the platform to achieve a 3-second cycle rate. Tooling can be cam driven, pneumatically actuated or numerically controlled. Operating at elevated cycle rates, the system can duplicate the operating environment of future high-speed lines. Tooling integrated onto the KSPilot has common mechanical, electrical and software interfaces with the firm’s high-speed cam-driven platforms.

Vibratory finishing machine creates parts with smooth surfaces

A finishing machine is said to reduce the time required to remove surface roughness from prototypes. Offered by 3T RPD Ltd (Newbury, UK; www.3trpd.co.uk), the vibratory finishing machine supports a selective laser sintering process. The gentle action of the vibratory process smooths the surface of multiple batch parts simultaneously, providing a high- quality finish either for end use or as a preparation for the application of a coat of primer or colour-matched paint, vacuum metalising or resin impregnation. The degree to which the parts are smoothed can be controlled by the amount of time they spend in the machine. On average, a two-hour cycle is sufficient for large batches of small to medium-sized parts, which is considerably faster than the use of individual hand finishing techniques.

Unlike more-aggressive tumbling machines, this process can finish some of the internal features of components such as holes and voids, depending on the geometry of the object. The system can accommodate parts up to approximately 500 × 300 × 300 mm.

A variety of other equipment for rapid prototyping, SLS selective laser sintering and 3-D printing is also available from the manufacturer.

System can produce prototypes from an array of materials

Engineered to provide accurate, repeatable performance, 3-D production systems from Stratasys (Frankfurt, Germany; www.fortus.com) can produce durable prototypes and parts using a variety of production-grade thermoplastics. The company’s fused-deposition modeling technology enables advanced production-grade thermoplastic materials to be used to create parts that are 30–300% stronger than those produced with 3-D printers, even when using the identical materials. The manufacturing process is also suited for direct digital manufacturing.

Key features of the company’s Fortus 400mc system include high accuracy; additional capacity to support long, unattended builds; high resolution and feature detail capability plus multiple throughput options. Material options that are supported by the Fortus 400mc unit include ABS-M30 and ABS-M30i thermoplastic, ABSi thermoplastic, polycarbonate and ABS thermoplastic blend, polycarbonate thermoplastic, PC-ISO thermoplastic, ULTEM 9085 thermoplastic and polyphenylsulphone thermoplastic. The system can be customised to optimise material packages and build-envelope sizes.

Compact 3-D printer produces durable models

A desktop 3-D printer from Objet Geometries Ltd (Woluwe, Belgium; www.objet.com) is designed to allow manufacturers to create durable models at minimal cost. The Alaris 30 printer produces detailed parts with a smooth surface finish. The system offers network support, allowing several designers to work on a project at the same time. Multiple models or a number of small parts can be formed simultaneously.

The jetting heads slide back and forth, depositing a single layer of photopolymer onto the build tray. The print heads synchronously jet identical amounts of material onto the tray. Each layer is immediately UV cured. Complex geometries and walls as thin as 0.6 mm can be produced.

Low-cost products are available for prototyping and testing equipment

Supplying equipment for device manufacturing and testing, Machine Solutions Inc. (MSI; Flagstaff, AZ, USA; www.machinesolutions.com) offers a variety of low-cost products for prototyping devices and testing equipment for prototype comparison. The HH100 handheld crimping tool, for instance, incorporates the same proprietary segmental crimping mechanism as MSI’s production equipment, but in an easy-to-use mobile version. The SW150 element swaging equipment is compact and suited for forming metal bands of a range of materials and diameters. For the prototyping of balloons and catheter assemblies, the company offers the TB700 Hot Box. These systems are compact, versatile and use the same core technology from the company’s higher-volume manufacturing equipment. According to the firm, this common core technology leads to a smoother and faster transition from prototype to mass production.

Also available from MSI is the Interventional Device Testing Equipment (IDTE2000). The IDTE2000 is suitable for comparing deliverability of varying device designs and testing critical performance features. The IDTE also offers an integrated video system, which allows designers to view their testing frame-by-frame and to evaluate all aspects of a prototype’s performance.

Low-pressure dryer can reduce risk of physical degradation

A low-pressure dryer (LPD) for prototyping projects can be used to accelerate the polymer drying process, thereby reducing the risk of thermal, chemical and physical degradation. LPDs from Summit Systems Ltd (Tamworth, UK; www.summitsystems.co.uk) use a vacuum to lower the boiling point of water from 100° to 56°C, thus accelerating the polymer drying process. The dryer reportedly offers a reduction in energy consumption of 70–80% compared with other material drying methods. The moisture is rapidly extracted from the heated material, leaving it in an optimum condition to be moulded or extruded. Difficult-to-dry materials, such as glass-reinforced nylons, lens-grade polycarbonates, polyurethanes and various other materials, can be dried quickly and efficiently with the unit. The low-pressure dryer is said to reduce tool change times by an average of 2.5 hours.

The firm’s LPDs are fully automatic and are equipped with a fail-safe alarm. Three material canisters are internally mounted on the carousel, enabling a continuous drying cycle. The low-pressure dryer is said to take up much less space than equivalent desiccant dryers. The control panel features thumbwheels for setting the drying temperature and cycle time.