Project co-financed by the POR FESR Toscana 2014-2020 Action 1.1.5 – Sub-action a1
RS 2 2020 Call for Proposals – “Research and Development Projects for MSMEs”
The MAMBO 5 RELOADED R&D project (Metal Additive Manufacturing by Optimized 5axis Rotary Elements – Laser or Arc Direct Energy Deposition) involves the study and creation of a new product suitable for Metal Additive Manufacturing, i.e. 3D printing of metallic materials characterised by extreme ease of use and oriented towards deposition technologies without polluting metal powders. The product is aimed at all machine tool manufacturers for prototypes or for processes that would not otherwise be feasible with traditional types of subtractive-only processing.
Compared to the current state of the art of Metal Additive Manufacturing technologies, the project proposes the following innovations:
- the use of machine tools equipped with a rotary worktable allows the elimination of disposable supports (see below), with a consequent reduction in deposition time and material waste;
- the use of electric arc welding techniques allows the use of filler material directly from metal wire, without the need for highly polluting powders that require a great deal of energy to produce;
- the specialized software that calculates the deposition path is extremely simple to use, suitable for workshop personnel and does not require specific training for Additive Manufacturing;
- The final cost of the machine that can be built with the product is almost an order of magnitude lower than the cost of combined deposition and milling machines available on the market (for the same size of the parts that can be produced), and makes Additive Manufacturing technology accessible to both small and medium-sized enterprises that do not intend to face investments of millions of euros, and to companies that do not limit themselves to prototypes, but that need to produce small or medium series using Additive Manufacturing.
