July 29, 2015 | By Alec

In the ever-expanding making market, it looks like a new desktop FDM 3D printer is unveiled about once a week. While there are few huge differences to be found between of them, one Houston, Texas-based hardware manufacturer has just unveiled a very remarkable model. Called the Cosine Additive Machine1 3D printer, this 3D printer realizes the unusual combination of high quality printing (layers as small as 0.100mm) with composite materials and a very large build space of 1100x850x900 mm. A perfect option, in short, for startups and small businesses looking for high speed and high quality iterations.

The Houston, Texas-based Cosine Additive specializes in building high quality hardware solutions for professional users. In their own words, they are aiming to be a hardware platform provider as well as a leader in the polymer additive manufacturing market. This high quality 3D printer would certainly fit that purpose, and was built with the purpose of removing making restrictions on the use of thermoplastics. ‘This approach allows collaboration with industry leading polymer firms to develop the next generation of materials for additive manufacturing.  By focusing on particular industrial use cases,  great value can be had through their innovate system,’ they write about themselves.

But just when looking at the characteristics of Cosine Additive’s 3D printer, there is plenty to be impressed about. It’s large print bed is obviously very attractive at 1100 x 850 x 900mm, but what you often gain in height you sacrifice in quality. With layers as small as 0.1 mm, that shouldn’t be a problem in this case. Complete with a heated print bed and a completely enclosed chamber, users can doubtlessly rely on the quality of the results. The machine is also very fast, being able to 3D print as much as 3.5 kg of filament per day, for which the developers are looking into creating use 25 kg filament spools for days of unsupervised printing.

The key to this high quality is in the industry-quality hot end, that can be heated up to a tremendous 450 degrees Celsius, opening the way for a very wide range of 3D printable materials. Whereas large 3D printers usually stick to PLA to avoid warping, the AdditiveMachine1’s hardware combination can applied to a number of composite mixtures, including materials such as Polycarbonate, Nylon, PBT, HIPS, PETG, Acetal and PVA.

Perhaps more importantly, (chopped) additives can be mixed in to the 3D printable filaments to ensure higher tensile strength and better results. Additive options include the use of carbon fiber (chopped or continuous), carbon black ESD, glass fiber, stainless steel powder, bronze powder, mica and even glass spheres. Just one example of a polycarbonate and carbon fiber composite mixture can be seen above. This fantastic range of material options definitely suggests that the AdditiveMachine1 is exactly the ‘open materials platform’ its manufacturers are envisioning. They have further said that a wide range of other materials could potentially also be used without the need for proprietary cartridges.

Just one example given of the qualities these material options offer is the sample of Techmer Electrafil® J-50/CF/10 seen above. ‘ The material consists of 10% short strand carbon fiber in a Polycarbonate matrix. This material exhibits 120% greater modulus and 19% greater tensile strength than Ultem 9085.  Fiber ratios up to 30% on on the development road map. Polycarbonate offers many advantages over previously 3d printed materials such as ABS and PLA. Polycarbonate has a very high melting point and is stable at temperatures over 100°C,’ the Texan developers explain.

This fantastic material has been used to test the miniature payload fairing tube visible above. ‘This 2kg 16" model was printed in approximately 12hrs on the Cosine AM1 printer platform.  Filament based printing allows ultra precise volumetric control and near net form surface finishes. Unique head technology allows previously unseen deposition rates that can be up to 15lb/day,’ they say. Further applications in the automotive and aerospace sectors are definitely among the manufacturing options, they further argue.

In short, the AdditiveMachine1 3D printer has all the qualities necessary for industrial use, and the 3D printed examples certainly emphasize that further. While this unfortunately means that is 3D printer is far beyond the reach of regular makers such as you and I – no price tag is known, but we suspect it’s into the tens of thousands – it’s definitely an interesting option for professional users and businesses. Learn more on the Cosine Additive website here.


 

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MRPEasy.com wrote at 7/30/2015 9:17:43 PM:

Fantastic news. Volvo prints some track parts already, reducing production time 90%.



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