经过Nick Allen, Managing Director, 3DPRINTUK
3D印刷部件现在在最终用途应用中常见，但并非所有这些都用于严格的环境，如行星海洋，总行星海洋，位于坎伯利，英国。
Planet Ocean is a specialist in the provision of high-quality, marine scientific instruments for research, survey, naval, and operations support. The company represents some of the world’s foremost manufacturers of oceanographic and marine meteorological equipment covering a wide spectrum of disciplines from radar wave measuring systems, to seabed assessment systems, and autonomous underwater and surface vehicles. ecoSUB Robotics — a company spun out of Planet Ocean to engage in the design and manufacture of underwater vehicles — regularly uses 3DPPRINTUK as a supplier for a number of key 3D printed parts. These 3D printed components have to operate in saltwater, in very low temperatures, and under extreme pressure some 2,500 m below sea level, while at the same time remaining water-tight and intact.
Notes Jeremy Sitbon，首席机器人工程师 - 澳如eCOUB机器人的海洋机器人系统，“我们在水下车辆中使用的零件必须具有强大且坚固的，绝对符合设计意图。3D打印在注塑成型上是首选，我们发现该技术更通用，设计自由使我们能够创新伟大的零件。此外，我们的卷很低（也许每月10份），所以注塑成型不经济。添加到3D打印的事实中，我们可以为各个客户端定制设计，选择清晰。我们使用3D打印进行原型和生产应用。对于我们来说，我们订购的原型和生产部件具有竞争力地定价，高品质和快速交付，以及3DPrintuk的原型和生产部件我们发现了所有这些等等。我们关系成功的关键是驻留在3DPrintuk团队内的内在知识和经验。他们有一个'可以做'态度，以及他们对AM（DFAM）设计的理解，以及3D打印过程的管理，以最大化效率，从而降低每个部分的成本对我们至关重要。“
All the 3D printed parts used by ecoSUB Robotics for production are trialed in small prototype batches and integrated into the marine vehicles before production quantities are ordered. The reason that cost is important to the company’s design team is that they see enormous potential for their underwater vehicles not just to be used by professionals within the military and oil and gas sectors, but also research scientists gathering important information about climate change. Price is key to making this advanced technology available to a wide user group. ecoSUB Robotics takes advantage of both the MultiJet Fusion (MJF) and Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) services offered by 3DPRINTUK to maximize the benefits of the different polymer powder bed fusion (PBF) processes.
Sitbon continues, “We are constantly on the lookout for the most cost-effective 3D printing solution for our underwater vehicles, but we cannot compromise on quality at all. There are two different kinds of parts and components in the vehicles, external parts that can be seen, and internal parts that cannot. The external parts need to be yellow for the sake of visibility, and we use SLS for these as the technology produces whiter parts than MJF, and in our opinion, this makes the addition of a color that much more definite and striking. MJF parts are somewhat greyer, and this makes the processed color less vivid. For parts used internally, which do not need to be colored and do not need to be aesthetic, we use MJF parts as they are typically less expensive. So, I guess we have the perception that SLS as a process is more versatile when finishing and dyeing are required, but as we are convinced over time that MJF improves in this respect, we will most likely shift all parts to MJF due to price considerations and the fact that more exacting tolerances can be made repeatably with this 3D printing process meaning improved detailing on parts..”
ECOSUB机器人可以通过SLS和MJF看到优点和缺点，但发现MJF部件在后处理前似乎更好地完成，这将是外部彩色部件的优势，当通过SLS制造时倾向于弄脏，看起来很肮脏随着时间的推移和沉重的用法。
Sitbon总结道，“SLS和MJF的评估将继续，我们很乐意被引导到哪种过程用于内部和外部申请。由于一些车辆使用的恶劣环境，所选择的材料的完整性是一切，我们都惊讶于这两个过程，可以承受强烈的寒冷，高压和盐水的腐蚀性，仍然通过严格的水密性测试。“
3DPRINTUK
www.3dprint-uk.co.uk.
Filed Under:Make Parts Fast
