Page 25 - 3DMP Spring 2022

Automation Takes the Hurt Out
of Post-
Processing
With automated technology performing in the field, post-processing of AM parts no longer must be a time- and labor-consuming chore.
FEATURE 3D
BY LOUIS A. KREN, SENIOR EDITOR
This past November, a survey of additive manufacturing (AM) users revealed the three top pain points related to post-processing: length of time to finish parts, consistency of finished parts and throughput limitations. These findings, courtesy of the Annual Additive Post-Printing Survey: Trends Report 2021, from PostProcess Technologies, offer rea- sons why post-processing has been labeled the necessary evil of AM. Unques- tionably of utmost importance in the pro- duction cycle, post-processing nonethe- less can drop challenges and roadblocks galore in time, manpower and costs.
“Post-printing as a portion of AM oper- ational expenditure has trended up year over year,” the report, released each year since 2019, reads. “Respondents who say that they spend greater than 26 percent
of their overall budget increased from 23 percent of all respondents in 2020 to 30 per- cent in 2021.”
Automotive
AM suppliers rep-
resent the highest
spenders, with
nearly 50 percent
reporting that
they spend 26 percent or more of their budget on post-processing. And, a fifth of respondents do not track expenses related to post-processing—surprising given the significant space it occupies in the full AM production chain, and the real opportunity that such knowledge offers for AM users to improve.
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SPRING 2022 • 3D METAL PRINTING | 23
Finland-based Lillbacka Powerco Oy employs an automated finishing machine as an alternative to blasting techniques to deliver required surface finishes consistently, without the need for time- intensive and potentially hazardous deburring.
Technology gains can ease post-pro- cessing bottlenecks and costs, with soft- ware, machine and quality-control advances allowing for more efficient designs and less need for the finishing speed bumps known as support struc- tures. But the truth is, AM parts in nearly all cases require some amount of post-