The EVO Project machine on show at EuroMold 2014
The opening morning of Euromold 2014 saw a new addition to the newly expanded two-tier Renishaw booth (Hall 11, E128): The EVO Project. The UK-based company expects the project to deliver a production-focussed, single material system in the second half of 2015. Bob Bennett, Sales Manager for Renishaw's AM division explained: "The EVO Project is purely a Renishaw product and represents a move towards a highly-focussed production capable system. While the AM 250 will continue to be sold with the flexibility to run multiple materials, the EVO Project brings the engineering expertise of Renishaw to bear on a new AM platform for the first time."
Reliability, repeatability within the same machine and reproducibility across systems are key to gaining a foothold in the production market and Renishaw believes its decades of metrology and process management experience make it best placed to solve these issues.
The EVO Project system is expected to run a 500W laser in a 250 mm x 250 mm x 350 mm build chamber, with integrated materials handling and sieving. Builds in excess of 10 days are anticipated to be possible using the in-built powder sieving and recirculation. A new, larger touchscreen and reportedly more intuitive controls will be available to further enhance the use of the system in a production environment.
The system will begin beta testing soon and is set to be manufactured in Renishaw's Miskin, South Wales production facility.
Visit www.renishaw.com/evoproject to follow the project's development.
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Renishaw’s EVO Project – additive manufacturing for industrial use
Renishaw is pleased to unveil the machine that it is developing specifically for production manufacturing. Provisionally named EVO Project, it is the first additive manufacturing system designed and engineered in-house at Renishaw and reflects the company’s 40 years of experience in supplying high quality equipment to demanding global manufacturing businesses.
The new machine, which has a strong emphasis on automation, monitoring technologies and reduced operator interaction, is designed for single material industrial production. Powder handling is almost entirely hands off, whilst powder recirculation, recycling and recovery are all carried out within the inert atmosphere of the system, protecting both the user and the integrity of the material.
The EVO Project machine incorporates a high power 500 W laser which will aid productivity whilst still maintaining precision and surface finish. It also boasts a class leading high capacity filtration system, a large 19” HMI user interface and intelligent workflow to further reduce the need for operator interaction.
The new machine, which is planned to be available in the second-half of 2015, is designed to complement and not replace the current Renishaw AM250 system which is better suited for flexible manufacturing and research applications where changes between materials are a requirement. The AM250 has an interchangeable hopper system which allows various materials to be used on the same machine.
Renishaw continues to develop the AM250 system which is also benefitting from some of the developments made for the EVO Project machine. This has led to the recent introduction of the PlusPac™ upgrade pack which offers improvements to Z-axis seals and chamber lighting, plus substantially improved gas recirculation and filtration.
At Euromold 2014, taking place between 25th and 28th November in Frankfurt, the Renishaw stand will feature an EVO Project machine, AM250 system and an AM250 fitted with the PlusPac upgrade.
For further information on the EVO Project please visit www.renishaw.com/evoproject and sign up to receive updates on machine developments. A short video is also available at http://youtu.be/HyP2aP7BHRkt .
