Now, thanks to Markforged’s continuous fibre reinforcement technology, it’s possible to 3D print composite parts that are stronger than aluminium.
This isn’t to be confused with standard composite materials that contain “chopped” carbon fibre. The Continuous Fibre Reinforcement (CFR) process takes a filament of carbon fibre, fibreglass or Kevlar and cuts it precisely to measure. Then, extruding the fibre from a secondary nozzle, it is ironed into the base material of the print. This unique process grants the finished part the strength of the embedded fibre, similar to the way steel rebar is used in concrete. Combining this strength with the non-marring, corrosion resistant base material called Onyx makes it an excellent candidate for manufacturing jigs and fixtures.
You may be thinking “I can do that with a CNC machine” – and in many cases you would be right. But using the right tool for a job is essential to efficiency; there’s no sense using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. CNC machines are excellent for producing metal components and products to sell, so it makes sense to save their capacity and support them by manufacturing jigs and fixtures for jobs with a 3D printer.
It's a similar story for machine operators. With a shortage of skilled machine operators in the UK, manpower has to be used carefully to be as productive as possible. Once they start working, Markforged 3D printers will continue to work unmanned until the job is done. With automatic material changeover no human intervention is required even on large prints, and thanks to extensive testing Markforged 3D printers are extremely reliable.
In this article, we highlight real world examples of 3D printing being used to support traditional manufacturing processes, with a focus on welding jigs printed with composite materials.
If you’d like to test a jig yourself, you can request a sample part from Mark3D UK.
3D Printed Welding Jigs for the Automotive Industry
SDHQ Off-Road, based in Gilbert Arizona, designs and develops custom products for use in off-road vehicles.
By 3D printing with Markforged printers, they were able to accelerate their research and design (R&D) process to develop custom off-road truck racks to secure critical equipment. Foreman Kevin Ketchner welds steel plates into custom fixtures to hold the end products together during welding. This required a lot of time and manual labour. Despite his many years of experience and expertise, the process was inherently fraught with dangers for reduced quality - imperfect bending, crooked gluing, corrosion, unrepeatability and human error.
Kevin quickly realized that ‘the process of making the printed fixtures was much faster and easier’. His Mark Two 3D printer eliminated the problems that the welded jigs had. Fixtures no longer had to be made by hand and could actually be designed to better secure the parts to be welded. In addition, the nylon and carbon fibre composite print material, Onyx, is corrosion resistant and the team can easily reprint fixtures if they fail.
When there is no room for error, customized fixtures with precisely matched geometry help locate parts reliably and repeatably.
For this application alone, SDHQ Off-Road reduced the cost of manufacture from $800 to just $10, and the time to manufacture from 156 hours to just 12 hours. These represent a cost saving of 99%, and a time saving of 93%.
Since then, SDHQ Off-Road have found many other applications for their Markforged 3D printers. You can see their full story here on the Mark3D website. You can also request a sample part for your own application to test with your own hands.
3D Printing Composite Fixtures for Laser Welding
In another example, German manufacturer Primetall reduced the manufacturing cost of their laser welding fixtures from €1200 to just €140 with 3D printing.
Primetall GmbH from Dillenburg in Hessen provide customer-specific solutions made of stainless steel and has many varied customers in different areas of industry. In addition to medical technology, laboratory technology and gastronomy, their customers also come from the aviation and packaging industries. The core business is sheet metal processing, working as a contract manufacturer. They provide services in laser cutting, CNC punching, bending, high quality welding and the finishing of parts.
Primetall GmbH were faced with the challenge of sourcing many different fixtures for a new laser welding system. Instead of making them out of aluminium with traditional methods, they decided to look at what alternatives were available. To achieve the high speed required of the rotary axis, the devices had to be made as light as possible. They also needed to find a way to integrate a gas duct into the part, which hadn’t been possible before. Historically, these kinds of fixtures were very expensive to produce.
The Markforged 3D printers were able to embed a continuous carbon fibre filament into the fixtures, for additional strength, via a second nozzle in the print head. The fixtures produced were light, but nevertheless highly stable and performed well in the hot environment, making them just as capable as the original fixtures made of aluminium.
The optimised design means the mounting points for the zeropoint clamping system can be attached directly to the fixture, thus reducing machine set-up times. A further advantage of additive manufacturing is that a gas duct can now be integrated into the fixtures, to guide a forming gas to the correct location. Forming gas is an important factor for clean welding, so being able to guide the forming gas exactly to where it’s needed is an added bonus. Primetall only use one connection for the supply for these fixtures, where previously this would have been made in a multiple of piece parts. Raphael Willgenss, Operations Manager at Primetall GmbH, said ‘we are practically drilling around corners!’.
You can read Primetall’s full story here on the Mark3D website, or request a sample jig or fixture for your own welding job.
Tube Bending Dies and Welding Fixtures
In a third example, Toivalan Metalli reduced the manufacturing costs of much of their tooling by 90% since 3D printing with Markforged.
Toivalan is a well-established Finnish machine shop whose main customers are machine builders, construction shops, and the mining industry. From their perspective, no metal job has ever been too big or too small to take on. They have the tools and the flexibility to meet their clients’ needs for custom components. Their services encompass laser cutting, pipe bending, welding, and a range of additional offerings.
Despite their investment in new, cutting-edge machinery, there was still one major issue to address: their ability to take on low-volume, custom projects. With many jobs requiring a different bending tool, the cost of a part could jump to as much as €4,000, due to the need to purchase specific tube bending dies from major suppliers. This was proving not only costly, but most importantly, slowed down projects due to associated dependencies and supply chains.
Instead of paying a premium for low-use steel prototypes, Toivalan Metalli now have the capability to print composite tools on their Markforged ® X7 printer – tools strong enough to withstand several bending runs before having to purchase the final die. The original intention was for the custom tools to endure approximately ten bending runs. However, by adapting the design and integrating off-the-shelf hardware, they now yield nearly 500 runs, with 25 – 30mm diameter, 1.5mm wall thickness steel tubes at a bend radius of 70mm.
Prior to utilizing the X7, Toivalan Metalli ordered up to four different tools each year, only taking on high-volume jobs that would justify the high tooling costs. Now, they have the capability to print their own functional prototype bending tools for low-volume production as required. By printing the tools on the X7, the price per part has dropped significantly to €300 – €400, with a maximum lead time of just one week.
You can read Toivalan Metalli’s full story here on the Mark3D website, or request a sample part for your own application.
