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LARGE SCALE 3D PRINTING WITH ROBOTS
When ABB asked me to help with their first large scale 3D robot printer with concrete, I honestly had no idea what I was getting into. 3D printing? With robots? Up until that point, I had little knowledge about 3D printing – at most what I had read about it on the internet. Nice, but what are we really going to use it for?
Fast forward three years, and everything has changed. ABB has developed and launched its 3D Powerpack, which solves many of the challenges surrounding 3D printing with robots. Think of extra tracks, external axes and positioners to minimize the limitations of a robot. Many customers are now working with this powerpack, others have developed their own software with impressive results, and there are now several suppliers for generating print paths for large-scale 3D printing.
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I now work with all kinds of companies that have such a 'printer' in-house – from large production sites to innovative start-ups, and with materials ranging from concrete to plastics with special additives.
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I had the chance to teach my customers how to use and safely integrate those big iron things, better known as robots. But at the same time, they taught me a lot: material specifications, useful RobotStudio tricks that I would never have discovered otherwise, and perhaps most importantly – how to use a robot in a non-traditional way. On the latest printers, we have integrated the extruder into custom software, so that users are ready for the future and can implement specific functions themselves.
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It is interesting to see how large scale 3D printing continues to develop, with more and more specific questions and innovations. And I will continue to do my best to make all those big ABB robots that are suddenly called 'printers' run optimally.
Read the full article about the Rawidea 'printer' on: 3D Print Magazine
Photography: 3D Print Magazine
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You can read the full article about the Rawidea 'printer' at: https://3dprintmagazine.eu/.
(Photos taken by 3D print magazine)
