Solukon
Solukon’s SFM-AT350 launched in November 2021, and has since gone on to become the ‘best-selling’ depowdering system in the mid-range segment according to the company. Solukon has now announced that with new upgrades, the system has become ‘even smarter and more transparent.’
The SFM-AT350 is a depowdering system for medium-sized parts up to a height of 420 mm and a weight of 60kg. Solukon says the system offers high freedom of motion, a compact structure with optimised chamber volumes and minimal inertisation time.
The company says that since the launch of the system in 2021, a trend towards increasingly complex parts in 3D printing is detectable. Solukon says that to be ready for all geometries, however challenging, it is continuously developing and refining its systems.
The first upgrade to the system was the SPR-Pathfinder depowdering software. The company says that now the software is available for the mid-range segment, it is no longer necessary to program complex cleaning sequences, and instead they can be calculated quickly and easily.
Based on the CAD file of the build job, SPR-Pathfinder calculates the ideal motion sequence in the Solukon system for removing excess powder from complex interior structures. Solukon says the calculations are based on a flow simulation that analyses the part’s digital twin. The individually calculated motion sequence is then read by the Solukon system, which in turn runs the programmed paths.
Read more:
Solukon launches SPR-Pathfinder software for intelligent depowdering
Solukon launches powder collection unit for metal 3D printing powder
Rivelin Robotics & Solukon team up to launch system for powder removal and finishing at Formnext
Reichenbacher and Solukon collaborate to combine unpacking and depowdering of metal 3D printed parts
“Smart, software-supported depowdering is also the key to serial cleaning with the SFM-AT350 and therefore, real serial production,” said Andreas Hartmann, CEO and CTO at Solukon.
The next upgrade to the system was the introduction of piezoelectric excitation in the depowdering system. Users will now have the choice between two different excitation forms, the pneumatic form in conjunction with a vibrator and optional knocker, and piezoelectric excitation.
The company says that since piezoelectric excitation originates directly at the heart of the rotary table of the system, the part can be shifted to the optimal vibration range with high precision. As the frequency constantly controls and regulates itself, the risk of exciting the resonance frequency and damaging sensitive structures is avoided according to Solukon.
“The requirements for depowdering increase as part complexity, material complexity and diversity increase. Growing production quantities are also an influential factor. At the same time, our customers want us to provide systems that are very easy to operate. After experiencing a breakthrough with the launch of our smart SPR-Pathfinder software, which calculates optimal part motion, we have achieved a further milestone upon launching the SFM-AT350-E: For any depowdering challenge, we can now offer the optimal frequency excitation,” added Hartmann.
As the company did with the SFM-AT800-S and SFM-AT1000-S, the SFM-AT350 and SFM-AT350-E are both available with an enhanced Digital-Factory-Tool (DFT). The enhanced DFT includes several new features that the company says will be announced at a later date.
Solukon is launching the SFM-AT350-E with SPR-Pathfinder at Formnext 2023 in Frankfurt.
