Thanks to the technology of SLS additive manufacturing (Selective Laser Sintering), Ecoparts located in Rüti near Zürich (Switzerland) can achieve functional prototypes in metal and small series of complex parts with very short delivery time.
"Ecoparts is the only company of its kind in Switzerland," says Mr. Kündig its director. Working with two EOSint M 270 machines produced by EOS (recently represented in Switzerland by Springmann) this small structure is specialized in the manufacturing of complex metal parts by laser sintering.
Still little known technology The principle of building the parts is simple, a thin layer of metal powder is deposited on the working surface (250 mm x 250 mm), and a laser moves in X and in Y to merge metal on selected locations. Once the "cut" at this level of the part is fully sintered, a new layer of material is deposited and the laser moves to selectively sinter metal at required locations. The part is thus constructed layer by layer. Huge advantage, shapes are not limited by conventional technologies of machining by material removal. Mr. Kündig says: "For example we produce parts that include curved Interior cooling channels. To achieve such parts without additive manufacturing, we should resort to casting which is incompatible with the notions of prototypes and small series, both in terms of costs and deadlines".
Very short deadlines "According to our workload, an urgent complex part may be provided within a few days" says Mr. Kündig which adds that the normal delivery times are around two weeks. This reactivity is one of the reasons why many leading-edge companies use Ecoparts’ services (especially in the medical). They often pass through long design and validation processes and when it is time to produce the parts, the production deadline is an important element of differentiation.
The benefits of the process at Ecoparts’
- All possibilities of design
- Very short manufacturing time
- Flexibility and reactivity
- Very high quality parts
- Reduced costs
Are you looking for a partner to make this kind of parts?
Ecoparts AG Generativer Metall Aufbau Neuhofstrasse 6 CH 8630 Rüti Tel. + 41 55 260 18 00 Fax + 41 55 260 18 01
Are you interested in additive manufacturing solutions? Springmann SA Machine-tools Route of 110 cliffs CH-2008 Neuchâtel Tel. 032 729 11 22 032 725 01 01 Fax
We will go into deeper details into our next issue.
