November 10th, 2020 — Formnext — Farsoon is excited to introduce the development of the Polymer Powder Management System (PMS) as well as the 403P series External Cooling Station (EC Station). By taking the pain points of plastic production from our customers around productivity, safety, efficiency, and operational ease, it led us to the development of new post-processing solutions towards a more advanced, and streamlined industrial plastic AM workflow.
By working closely with key industry partner WeNext, a leading manufacturing and rapid prototyping service provider in China, the PMS and EC Station were designated to meet user’s challenges including production speed, powder management, process control and cost reduction. With joint development cycles from the beginning, both systems are in a pilot program at WeNext with 11 Farsoon 403P and Flight-403P plastic laser sintering systems.
Figure 1: Multiple Farsoon 403P series platform system in operation at WeNext facility. Image courtesy: WeNext
“A truly industrial workflow is the key to fully unlock the potential of large-scale additive manufacturing,” said Andy Zhang, co-founder and deputy general manager of WeNext: “As one of the early adopters of industrial plastic 3D printing technology in China, we are now faced with the increasing competition towards quality, lead-time and cost management amongst the service bureau industry. We are exploring all possibilities improving our machine up-time and production capabilities, to offer our customers high quality, repeatable parts at an economic cost. Now we are well on the way thanks to Farsoon.”
Polymer Powder Management System (PMS)
The all-new Farsoon PMS is a polymer powder handling system is developed for industrial plastic AM productivity pairing with Farsoon’s full product line of polymer 3D printing machines as well as accessory equipment.
Farsoon’s PMS system integrates multiple powder handling process including used powder recycling & storage, new powder supply, high-speed mixing and sieving. The robust powder-handling capacity of Farsoon PMS system enables a streamlined workflow in minutes with minimum down-time of the 3D printing machines, improved throughput and lower cost per part. Pilot programs using Farsoon FS3300PA and FS3300PA-F materials can achieve powder refreshment rate as low as 20% enabling significantly reduced cost of operation as well as minimizing powder waste for improved environmental sustainability. The Fully Sealed & automated powder-handling process of the PMS enables a clean and safe production environment without direct contact of operators with powder. The PMS system features excellent powder measuring accuracy for optimized process control; user-oriented interface with customizable options including mixing ratio, processing volume, mixing time and mixing velocity to suit different processing needs. The PMS system can also be paired with a mobile Powder Delivery Unit (PDU) which transports the prepared powder directly to the printers. Once there the PDU’s integrated pump transfers the powder into the printer’s powder feed cartridge.
Thanks to the robust capacity of powder-handling, a single Farsoon PMS system can service multiple printers and breakout station for maximum production throughput.
Figure 2: Farsoon polymer powder management system (PMS) workflow
403P Series External Cooling Station (EC Station)
The Farsoon 403P series External Cooling Station (EC Station) developed for Farsoon’s flagship plastic production system 403P series offers efficient cooling and maximizes yield at the same time. Similar to all powder bed systems the 403P requires a significant cooling time after completing a build in order to guarantee part quality. Traditionally this process takes place within the printer, taking up valuable machine time which could be used for production. Designed for cooling the build cartridge part cake without the need for long cool down time inside the main system the external cooling process is protected under a controlled inert gas atmosphere for uniform cooling of the powder cake, ensuring optimal finished part surface, color, size accuracy and performance. The users can further optimize the cooling process by controlling the consumption of Nitrogen and cooling time to suit the applications needs.
Figure 3: external cooling station (EC Station) workflow
“The comprehensive know-how of Farsoon in plastic additive manufacturing allows us to quickly adapt the latest technology innovation towards increased production volume, faster turn-over cycles, and lower cost per part,” says Andy Zhang, “with the improved industrial workflow we are now receiving more projects, and our 11 Farsoon machines are running at almost full capacity. We are now planning on more Farsoon accessory equipment to further enhance our productivity.”
With a team of experts from material, machine, production and application, Farsoon strives to offer customer a higher degree of productivity and process control for additive manufacturing. With the philosophy “Open for Industry”, Farsoon will continue bringing industrial customers innovative value-added solutions that are faster, more capable and more cost efficient.
Farsoon is eager to work with additional partners globally to pilot the Polymer Powder Management System and 403P External Cooling Station. Inquiries and interested customers are welcome to contact globalinfo@farsoon.com, or reach us at Formnext Connect 2020 virtual event for more details!
About Farsoon Technologies:
OPEN FOR INDUSTRY – Farsoon is a global manufacturer and supplier of industrial level polymer and metal laser sintering systems. Farsoon is the leading supplier of industrial AM technology in China with increasing growth in the international market. In 2017 Farsoon released the first of a new line of machines under the revolutionary Continuous Additive Manufacturing Solution (CAMS) Concept, and established Farsoon Technologies-Americas in Austin, Texas, USA. In 2018, Farsoon Europe GmbH was established in Stuttgart, Germany to expand direct operations to Europe. Farsoon is committed to developing AM towards its true manufacturing potential and providing customers with best-in-class systems, materials, software, applications and services.
About WeNext:
WeNext is a leading rapid prototyping and 3D printing service provider located in Shenzhen, China. With a manufacturing hub covering 25,000 square meters, WeNext keep investing in high quality, latest industrial equipment for enhanced manufacturing capabilities. Machines on current factory floor including 65 CNC machines, 10 injection molding machines, and 130 3D printing machines including SLS, HSS and SLA technologies.
