Huge 3D printer uses fibres, making prints much stronger

A
construction hall on the outskirts of Delft was the scene of a special
presentation, last November. A crowd gathered around a large box that was
hidden from view by a curtain. It gave the visitors the idea that some exotic
beast was ready to put on show. And in a way it was, because behind the curtain
stood one of the biggest 3D printers in the world.  

The company CEAD from Delft constructed the machine with the name CFAM 3D printer. What makes this printer special, next to its size, is the fact that it can print two materials simultaneously. It combines ‘ordinary’ 3D printing materials with long, continuous fibres of glass or carbon. The fibre runs precisely through the middle of the plastic in every print round. This makes the prints produced much stronger, making it useful for heavy industries such as shipping.

It wasn’t
easy to construct the system in such a way that the fibres are properly
embedded in the print. A reel feeds the fibre to a print head, which also
applies the melted print plastic at the same time. “This required a great deal
of trial and error before we got the system working really well,” explains CEAD
founder Maarten Logtenberg. With a print surface of 4 by 2 by 1.5 metres, it’s
the largest printer in Europe actually available on the market. The printing
speed is impressive with an average of 15 kilogrammes of material per hour.

CEAD began
working on the printer last year. The company quickly found two investors who
were interested: a producer of custom-made plastics and maritime company Royal
Roos. These two investors will also be the first to get a printer. Royal Roos
is a company that focusses on marine engineering and salvage consultancy.They
also take care of the preparation and supervision of demanding repair and
modifications projects in the offshore and marine industry.

Royal Roos
and CEAD were neighbors in the former building where CEAD was located. During
their time together, Fulko Roos, founder of Royal Roos, saw great potential in
the development of CFAM and the team behind it. Royal Roos develops new
products for the maritime industry, a challenging market with complex issues.
“We want to bring innovations to the market quickly”, says Roos.
“Fast and accurate 3D printing of large and strong (ship) parts was so far
not possible. With this new 3D printer this will work. We are, for example,
investigating how to use this technology to produce gangways. 3D printing is
not only fast, but, if linked parametric design, you can also calculate the
cost price in advance. Moreover, it is possible to recycle materials.”

One of the
first things using the printer to print a scale model of a ship for trials in
the water tanks at the Maritime Research Institute Netherlands. “These models
are usually made of wood, but that requires a lot of work and man-hours. It
will be much easier with the printer.”

With his
3D-printer Fulko Roos founded Royal3D, subsidiary company of Royal Roos.
Royal3D  provides print services for the
maritime industry. “We want to be able to offer technically advanced integrated
solutions related to 3D printing largely for the maritime industry. While
achieving this Royal3D strives to reduce our ecological footprint,” says Roos.
The company will use a large proportion of the profits for future research and
development, making next models of the name CFAM 3D printer even better. Ultimately,
the printer can be used to produce sections of ships, for example, that are
currently made using moulds. In case of unique parts in particular, such moulds
are basically too expensive. In such cases, the printer is faster and easier.

CEAD
founder Logtenberg says that the printer will ultimately be produced for less
than one million euros. In addition to investments from Royal Roos and Poly
Products, CEAD received a subsidy from the European Commission as part of the
Horizon 2020 project.

This article was previously published in Maritime Holland magazine, issue 7, 2018