Roush—the Michigan-based product developer—is the first service supplier in North America to install the Concept Laser Xline 2000R, the largest powderbed metal additive manufacturing system of its kind.
The acquisition of the Xline 2000R aligns with the company’s endeavor to expand its additive manufacturing capabilities to accommodate multiple industries, including aerospace, automotive, defense, energy, entertainment, medical, and consumer products.
The Xline 2000R from Concept Laser has a build envelope of 800 x 400 x 500 mm for large-scale production.
Larger build platforms bring two major types of benefits. The first, is that additive systems with large build platforms can produce larger parts, such as structural components or engine combustion and propulsion components. These parts can then be redesigned without conventional production design restrictions. This allows for a various design benefits such as lightweighting or combining of parts for a myriad of reasons.
For example, printing an engine block with an incorporated heat exchanger could save welding and post processing costs than if they were printed separately. These “design for additive” strategies, depending on application, can also contribute to increased component reliability and ease of maintenance or repair.
Secondly, with a largest build platform, manufacturers can also print large amount of small parts.
“The Concept Laser Xline 2000R is really built for production and it has a consistent through put, it has two modules that actually rotate 180 degrees. So when you're done printing, it turns around. You can immediately start another print while you are pulling the previous print out and removing the powder and starting post processing. The big envelope definitely opens up a lot of doors for larger components but also we can print many small components at a higher volume than other pieces of equipment,” said Brandi Badami, business development manager for additive manufacturing at Roush.
Read the full story at SAE.org.