AMCM acquires Solukon SFM-AT1500-S for depowdering large metal AM parts
Solukon, based in Augsburg, Germany, has announced that AMCM GmbH, Starnberg, Germany, is one of the first customers to purchase its SFM-AT1500-S depowdering machine. The SFM-AT1500-S, currently the largest depowdering machine from Solukon, can accommodate parts with dimensions of 600 x 600 x 1,500 mm or 820 x 820 x 1,300 mm. The machine will be used in tandem with AMCM’s large-scale M 8K Laser Beam Powder Bed Fusion (PBF-LB) Additive Manufacturing machine, which can produce parts up to 820 x 820 x 1,200 mm.
Andreas Hartmann, CEO/CTO of Solukon stated, “The exchange with our OEM partners is one of our guiding principles. With AMCM, we have always shared the approach of pushing the boundaries of what is possible for our customers. This has enabled us to launch a depowdering system for components weighing up to 2,100 kg in record time.”
Solukon worked closely with AMCM throughout the development phase of the new depowdering machine. This collaboration allowed the ideas and requirements of Martin Bullemer, Managing Director at AMCM, and his team to be directly integrated into the design. The result is the SFM-AT1500-S, a machine tailored to requirements of the AMCM M 8K AM machine.
The difficulty in cleaning large metal parts is not only the extremely high weight of the components (up to 2,100 kg). Complex internal structures also make powder removal a challenge. To address these challenges, SFM-AT1500-S equipped with the SPR-Pathfinder. This software is intended to eliminate the need for manual programming during powder removal by using a CAD file to calculate the optimal movements for the component within the Solukon machine. Users can also use the SPR-Pathfinder during the design process to check whether their complex components will be cleaned. This capability offers users the opportunity to save time and costs throughout the entire production process while reducing the risk of production errors.
“SPR-Pathfinder is a tool that every customer would certainly like to have, and so do we,” explained Martin Bullemer. “The software is indispensable for complex components because the exact movement pattern for very complex geometries cannot be generated using human imagination alone. The software eliminates the need for any human programming effort.”
