Milton Keynes-based
WAAM3D Ltd, a company founded in 2018 by a research team from
Cranfield University, has sold a RoboWAAM Advanced deposition system at this year’s
Formnext 2023, taking place 7-10 November in Frankfurt. This brings the number of systems sold by WAAM3D to 19 worldwide since 2020. Industrial AM is owned by MOMEK Robotics, Testpartner and Kunnskapsparken Helgeland and works with petroleum, process and mineral industry, aquaculture, and power industry customers to deliver more sustainably produced large-scale metal components.
Dr Filomeno Martina, CEO and co-founder of WAAM3D said: “We are delighted to work with Industrial AM and be its first choice for large-scale metal AM capabilities. Its use cases are incredibly varied and interesting, and the Norwegian market is an exciting one. The incredible wealth of experience in related technologies brought by Industrial AM and its backers matches perfectly with our pursuit here at WAAM3D for non-stop innovation. We look forward to working with Industrial AM on future projects with real end-use applications.”
Industrial AM’s Thomas Borgen added: “We are excited to be collaborating with WAAM3D. The purchase of their RoboWAAM Advanced platform will be game-changing for our work with world leading clients in the oil and gas, process and mineral, aquaculture, and renewables industries. We are very pleased to be a pioneer in the growing industry of large-scale 3-D metal printing here in Norway and with WAAM3D we are buying not just a machine, but the company’s leading-edge processes and expertise as well.”
Many innovative solutionsRoboWAAM Advanced is WAAM3D’s prime technology demonstrator platform. Since its award-winning launch in April 2022, it continues to be developed further, and has received high levels of market validation, thanks to its many innovative solutions, including: real-time ShapeTech – this is a brand-new interferometric sensor which reconstructs the 3-D profile of the deposited structure, extracting the layer height value all around the component. It gives immediate confidence in the consistency of deposition and in the achievement of key geometrical targets, while 3-D printing is in progress, eliminating the need for lengthy laser scans or touch-probe quality checks.
The system also features: double-point temperature measurement capability — leading the deposition to ensure consistent 3-D printing conditions; and trailing the deposition for in-process parameters checks, as well as electronic wire positioning for increased process stability; dual wire feeder for increased deposition rates; a fume management system (FMSTM) with on-board fume confinement, filtration, and treatment; global shielding for deposition of reactive materials with fully automatic purging, atmosphere maintenance, and evacuation cycles, with the alternative of a new local shielding option for out-of-chamber deposition; a process camera for remote melt-pool imaging, combined with CCTV for safe machine supervision; and bulk wire storage and large spool capability (70kg), for longer up times and reduced operator’s intervention; and standalone plug and play installation on the shopfloor with full health & safety compliance.
Industrial AM has also chosen to adopt the full suite of WAAM3D’s software which includes: ‘WAAMPlanner’ which turns a parts pre-form into executable RoboWAAM code and includes planar and non-planar slicing, 2-D and 3-D sectioning, and layer grouping and is capable of best-in-class tool-path-planning with dedicated AM approaches and multi-material and multi-process capability.
‘WAAMKeys’, which eliminates defects and keeps the layer height under control. It carries out automatic parameter calculations, with advanced thermal compensation modules to achieve a target layer height, regardless of changes in geometrical features.
‘WAAMSim’, which visualises RoboWAAM’s deposition environment and includes a virtual, gaming-inspired environment for collision detection and offline tool-path-plan validation. ‘WAAMCtrl’, which is an all-encompassing operating system for RoboWAAM and incorporates an operator’s dashboard, the component’s digital twin, interactive data navigation, and historical database with complete 3-D printing process record (parameter by parameter, including all dependent variables such as temperature and shape), seamlessly integrated onto WAAM3D’s hardware and sensors.