Conveyor Belt Heated Chamber FDM Printer
This project is still currently a work-in-progress and will be consistently upgraded and modified as over a 1-year period in order to increase reliability and part-production speed by 15%. This will be done by conducting rigorous testing of printing over 20hrs and checking on parts quality control. The concept of the printer is to combine the benefits of a heated 90 degree chamber to aid the printing of high-temperature materials such as Carbon Fiber Nylon Composite and ULTEM/PEEK. This coupled with a Conveyor belt print bed allows for an infinite Z-Axis layout which expands the ability to print long parts out of these engineering-grade materials. The parts will then be collected at the front of the printer automatically without the need for post-processing or constant maintenance, creating an automated manufacturing line of sorts.
The printer itself is a highly-modified IdeaFormer IR3 with an entirely different direct-drive extruder, titanium heart break and ZODIAC CRB nozzle for high-abrasive printing. The conveyor belt itself will be switched out for a proprietarily-developed woven carbon fiber belt that allows for more effective adhesion due to higher heat transfer while the heating elements are strategically positioned to allow for better printing and material layer integration. Future upgrades include running Klipper firmware and using the Octoprint management system while introducing dual-extrusion for support material by implementing a new hot-end that would need an in-house developed cooling unit architecture.
The plan is to introduce this system to SME in the engineering / design service sectors that can leverage on its abilities to print and prototype products with engineering grade materials that can showcase the design with the functional capabilities of the materials engineering grade properties like tensile strength, temperature resistance and ESD flame retardancy. It will also bring about a new wave of small batch manufacturing allowing for minimum viable products to be launched to the market faster which is all part of Singapore’s plan to achieve a smart manufacturing city by leveraging additive manufacturing integration with industry 4.0.
