Industry: Technology – automation
Application: Custom parts, prototyping
Benefits of 3D Printing:
– Print functional parts
– Print prototypes
– Time to manufacture reduced
– Costs reduced by well over 80%
Hartfiel Automation use 3D printing to assist with product development. They specialise in pneumatics, motion and mobile control systems, which are suitable for a wide range of applications. They switched from traditional manufacturing techniques to 3D printing in 2017 to reduce costs.
Using 3D printing, they save around $120 for every component they manufacture. With their Ultimaker, the average cost per component is $4 versus the $125 per component when using an external vendor.
What’s more, the time to manufacture parts has been significantly reduced. With 3D printing, it takes 3 to 5 hours versus the 1 to 2 weeks with an external vendor. 3D printing has revolutionised their manufacturing process.
It’s also allowed them to free up their own design process. The Hartfiel Automation team can develop new product iterations in CAD and print prototypes the same day. The ability to have a new prototype in hand within hours is extremely useful. It allows the team to test what works in the real-world in addition to what works in software.
“In a matter of minutes to hours, we can have an idea printed and ready for client presentations – much faster than machining or using a third-party source. Lead time to present ideas is dramatically decreased with Ultimaker and it provides more control,” says Brian Hagar, Outside Sales, Hartfiel Automation.
The team use two Ultimaker 2+ Extended 3D printers for workflow. With these, they create functional parts and prototypes. They use these physical models to make new tweaks to products and to give customers a hands-on visualisation. The Ultimaker printers have proved to be completely reliable. They produce consistent parts with outstanding accuracy. The technology itself has proven to be extremely useful too. They haven’t looked back since adopting it.
3D Printer: Ultimaker 2+ Extended
This information was first published on the Ultimaker website.