3D printer til 'rapid prototyping' af elektronikdesigns

Farnell element14 har introduceret den første 'plug and print' 3D printer fra Robox, der er ideel i forbindelse med hurtig opbygning af fysiske prototyper af elektronikkonstruktioner (in english).

A proprietary dual-head print nozzle design improves print speeds by up to 300% compared to other printers. One nozzle is designed to print in detail, while the other is able to ‘fill in’ larger areas at much higher speeds; the Robox’s needle-valve system stops ‘ooze’ and ‘stringing’ from the nozzles, ensuring speed and quality. The Robox can print super-fine 0.02mm layers.
Robox users can pause a print part-way through and swap out the filament being used – allowing for multi-colour 3D printing.

A proprietary bed probing mechanism automatically detects and corrects the gantry to ensure it is always parallel and the first layer of whatever is being printed adheres evenly; the bed itself is made from a unique material, which adheres to the hot plastic while a print is taking place, but allows the user to ‘pop’ the printed object off when the plastic it is made of cools and shrinks slightly post-print.

Microchips on the rolls of filament let the printer know exactly what material it’s working with; a pioneering closed-feedback loop and dual-pinch-wheel extrusion system makes sure that the filament is fed to the print-head evenly.

Supremely easy-to-use software that means it really is plug and print. Users simply ‘add’ .stl models to an on-screen visualisation of the print bed and hit ‘print’; the software also allows users to create 3D printing projects incorporating multiple print jobs represented on a range of ‘tabs’.

The Robox has space for a second extruder that will eventually allow dual-colour printing and/or the ability to print with different materials simultaneously. Its unique HeadLock system means that different heads can be quickly assembled to perform a range of different functions, meaning that the Robox is more of a micro-manufacturing system than a 3D printer.

Chris Godfrey, Global Product Director Test & Tools at Farnell element14, explainss:
- 3D printing is an exciting new technology that has many implications for the electronics sector. 3D printing allows short production runs to be more efficient than ever before facilitating rapid prototyping in design which reduces the design engineer’s time to market.