“Additive manufacturing reinvented” – this is how German plastics machinery maker Arburg (Loßburg; www.arburg.com) has introduced its world premiere “freeformer” at “K 2013”, a development it says will kick off a completely new era. The fog surrounding the much publicised announcement was lifted one day ahead of the fair’s official opening, when Arburg unveiled the new printer, which it says “opens the door to completely new possibilities in plastic parts production”.

The main feature of the new printer is that it allows the production of fully functional parts either individually or in small-volume batches from 3D CAD files without needing a mould. As in injection moulding, the polymers are melted, which opens up the possibility of using standard thermoplastics instead of expensive specialty grades. The parts produced by the freeformer are said to have a rigidity of up to 80% of injection-moulded parts.

The machine, which measures 130 x 230 x 250 mm, enables the production of complex geometries and moving hard or soft combinations without any support structure, Arburg said. A mobile printer, the freeformer not only operates in a clean and quiet manner, but is also environmentally friendly, the group added.