Cases
The Krypton measuring system: a prototype ready to use
Materialise uses the R.I.M. technology to produce small series of production parts. This Rapid Manufacturing approach is especially useful for the production of metrical housings, as was the case for the Krypton K600-CMM measurement system.
A portable measuring unit.
The K600-CMM is an accurate measuring system for checking design, production and dimensional quality in industrial environments. It is a mobile co-ordinate measurement unit based on a hand probe (Space Probe®) and a camera system. This portable unit enables users to measure on-site, combining high accuracy and ease of use. The camera measures position and orientation of the hand probe using infrared light-emitting diodes. The X, Y and Z co-ordinates of the hand probe are calculated on-line.
Front panels. The making of.
The front covers of the camera system were made by Materialise, using Reaction Injection Moulding. R.I.M. allows the production of small series of large parts at low cost in a very short time. With this series production technique tool modifications are easily applied: they don't ask for new high investments, which is an important factor when follow-up orders are placed with minor part adaptations.
R.I.M. is perfectly suitable for the making of machine covers and housings, which have a considerable wall thickness and a relatively simple geometry. With R.I.M. large and small wall thicknesses can be combined without leaving sink marks and inserts can be encapsulated directly in the parts.
A stereolithography master part.
To make the cover panels for the K-600 Krypton machine by R.I.M., first a stereolithography prototype was made in Poly1500, on our Mammoth machine. Dimensions of the part: 1120x126x37 mm. Using this stereolithography piece as master part, a mould was constructed.
The mould.
For R.I.M. different mould types can be used; the selection of a certain mould type depends on the requested quality of the parts, the number of parts (lifetime of the mould) and their complexity.
For the making of the front covers for the K600, a resin tool was created. This kind of mould is mostly used for producing large parts like car bumpers, dashboards,… The main advantage of this mould type is its weight: the mould halves consist of layers of resin charged with glass fibres, giving the tool an ultimate strength. In this kind of resin tool with fibre reinforcement, up to 300 R.I.M. parts can be produced.
Finishing of the parts.
The first parts were ready in 3 weeks. After hardening, the moulded R.I.M. parts were finished and lacquered. This was possible as the surface finish of the R.I.M. process permits a high quality painting.
Finished and painted, the panels were ready to be assembled to the measuring system. And they looked great...
So why R.I.M.?
Because R.I.M.
- is extremely feasible for large parts
- has small lead times
- allows easy tool modifications and R.I.M. parts
- are cheap to manufacture
- have very small lead times
- have properties close to the final product
- can be in a wide range of materials
- can be large and very large parts
- an be flame retardant
- have good thermal and electrical properties
- can have significant wall thickness variations
