AM industry: Project partners: People & Companies

Designated Project CAMPFIRE (Certified Additive Manufactured Parts Finished with Intelligent Robotics Engine), Sheffield, U.K.-based Rivelin Robotics is collaborating with five partners to deliver a digital postprocessing solution for the automated finishing of 3D-printed parts. While the parts — and the application of them — are very different in specification, there are many factors that unite these companies, not least their frustrations with the traditional operations available to them for postprocessing parts, Rivelin reports.

Presented here are insights from the five partners: C.L.&E. Attenborough Ltd. in Nottingham, U.K.; GKN Aerospace Services Ltd. in Birmingham, U.K.; Materials Solutions Ltd. in Worcester, U.K.; Saint-Gobain Abrasives in Stafford, U.K.; and Yaskawa U.K. Ltd. in Washington, U.K.

Attenborough Medical and Attenborough Dental design and manufacturer implants. CEO Ed Attenborough stated: “The postprocessing phase of metal AM implants is a major bottleneck in our overall process. As our business has grown and volumes continue to increase, finding a solution to overcome this bottleneck is imperative. Apart from the time it takes for each part with increasing volumes, other challenges include the fact that different medical implant sizes can vary and the parts themselves tend to be small, delicate and fragile. It is not uncommon for parts to break during support removal or warp due to external forces applied to the part during the manual removal process.”

Rivelin Robotics at CAMPFIRE collaborator GKN Aerospace for deployment training in Bristol, U.K. Image courtesy of Rivelin Robotics