Turkish construction machinery manufacturer HİDROMEK is using LOOP PRO 3D printers to produce end-use parts for its agricultural vehicles.
To reduce downtime and avoid possible related costs, Hidromk chose to use 3D printing in its car manufacturing process to help reduce the time and cost of traditional production methods.
Using the FFF 3D printer LOOP PRO, HôDROMEK can manufacture fully functional parts without extensive post-processing. The reduction in post-processing time reduces the cost of installing each end-use part into the vehicle.
Hakan Telışık, manager of the Hidromek design studio, said: “The surface quality is very good.” He talked about the advantages of printing 3D parts on LOOP PRO. The parts are very strong and practical; they can be used with little or no post-processing. ”
HMK 130CS soil compactor with end-use 3D printed parts. Video via HİDROMEK
LOOP 3D and LOOP PRO 3D printers
Loop 3D is a 3D printer brand established by Teknodizayn, a Turkish 3D printer manufacturer. Teknodizayn is headquartered in Ankara and has more than 10 years of experience in the 3D printing industry. It has served as a distributor for many 3D printer and 3D scanner manufacturers. Its current product portfolio includes 3D printers from UnionTech and HP, and the company also offers 3D scanners from Artec.
With ten years of experience, the Teknodizayn team decided to create its own 3D printer through the LOOP 3D brand. Based on practical knowledge, 3D printers can meet the needs of customers in vertical industries such as heavy industry, aviation, and government agencies.
The first beta model of LOOP PRO was produced in 2017. After a series of improvements, the final version of the 3D printer was approved and premiered at the Formnext 2019 trade fair in Frankfurt. LOOP PRO is an FFF system with a build volume of 500 x 350 x 500 mm, and has a modular print head, magnetically connectable build plates, laser-assisted print bed calibration, and material adjustment unit. In addition, the 3D printer is also equipped with LOOP 3D CLOUD (slicing and management software), which was developed in cooperation with 3DPrinterOS, a cloud-based 3D printer software developer based in San Francisco, USA.
“We are pleased to support manufacturers like Loop 3D to enter the market faster by reducing R & D time. The end result is that customers can buy 3D printers with a performance of more than 200,000 euros. This means that customers can Buy a 10-fold printer at the same price and start low-end production with incredible scale and quality, “said John Dogru, the founder of 3DPrinterOS.
3D printed end-use components save time and costs for
HİDROMEK
HİDROMEK initially began manufacturing life accessories for agricultural tractors. In the next few years, the company began to manufacture heavy construction machinery, and since then, its product range in this area has continued to expand.
Their machines now include backhoe loaders, hydraulic excavators, wheel loaders, graders and soil compactors. These machines have about 2,000 employees and are produced in six production plants, including 4 plants in Ankara, 1 plant in Izmir and the plant in Thailand.
In order to meet the strict timetable involving a large amount of investment, Sidromk tried to shorten the manufacturing time. Therefore, the company uses LOOP PRO 3D printers to help produce many end-use parts.
An example of an end-use component that HİDROMEK has 3D printed is the housing of the control unit on one of its HMK 130 CS compact rollers. The control unit is equipped with operator controls for the vehicle, with built-in electronics. To ensure the functionality of this critical component, the enclosure must meet strict tolerance and durability requirements.
The standard process for housing development is labor and capital-intensive work. One stage of the design process requires the production of a master mold and silicone mold. By using the Loop PRO 3D printer, HİDROMEK3D can reduce the unit cost of the control unit housing by 80%.
Overall, the size of the model is 390 mm x 100 mm x 95 mm, and it takes 48 hours to 3D print at a cost of $ 54. Parts made of LOOP 3D’s Dynamide carbon fiber and glass fiber filaments have passed HİDROMEK certification tests and can be used directly in the company’s heavy vehicles.
“We are honored to collaborate with the heavy-duty automotive industry and Hidromek, which is a challenging test for our DYNAMIDE © CARBON FIBER and GLASS FIBER materials-which we successfully passed through the combination of LOOP 3D hardware and software Another test. The LOOP 3D software has an intuitive and user-friendly interface that takes only a few minutes to complete the model preparation. It is an honor to work with 3DPrinterOS to achieve this goal. “Said Erkan Ustaoğlu, co-founder of LOOP 3D.