Slovenian company for prototyping, 3D printing and injection moulding is offering its services under manufacturing agreement

A company from Slovenia was founded in 2014 and its main activity is additive manufacturing: prototyping, 3D printing, injection moulding and post-processing. With unique combination of 3D printing (of manufacturing tools) and injection moulding, they are important actor on a domestic market and thorough Europe. They cooperate with more than 100 companies, start-ups and inventors from Slovenia, Croatia, Austria and Germany. Products are used in industries like automotive, consumer goods, electricity and electronics, house and medical appliances. The company is constantly investing in state-of-the-art equipment (hardware and software), technologies and knowledge. Despite the common advantage of injection moulding, that allows high-volume production, the company uses 3D printing for emerging needs where small quantities of a specific product are needed. This is relevant when the final product is not defined yet and several iterations or modifications are needed first, especially for testing product properties. For these purposes they use: 1. Stereolithography as a technique of additive manufacturing that utilizes ultraviolet laser beam for aiming and illuminating surface of photopolymer resin to create a single layer and where new layers are added to previous layer(s). Thickness of each layer is usually set from 0,05 to 0,25 mm. As a result, the final object is eventually formed and is also treated in the ultraviolet chamber. This technology is used when final products require accuracy in manufacturing and good mechanical properties, along with fine detail features and strict requirements of surface finish (e.g. in prototyping). With selection of adequate materials, it can be used also for the low-volume production. Company uses three different printing systems for volumes of 600x600x500 mm, 450x450x400 mm and 250x250x250 mm. 2. Selective laser sintering also relies on forming object layer by layer, but here is polyamide powder mechanically fused in layers of specified thickness, while high-power laser sinters the powdered material until the object is finished. Formed object remains in the device for some time with the powder and is later cleaned and preferably also painted or polished. The process is accompanied with previously made 3D computer model, designed with CAD (computer-aided design) software. Company uses this technique when complex geometries without any design obstacles are required, ultraviolet stability is crucial and final products with appropriate surface resolution represent a goal of the process (i.e. functional prototypes, low-volume production). Two printing systems allow the company production of objects of volume 200x250x330 mm or 340x340x620 mm. For their services company uses professional software for 3D printing and computer-aided design, while for postprocessing they also utilize vibratory finishing, tempering oven, painting chamber and dye colouring system for black colour. In material selection the necessary properties are water, thermal, chemical, wear and mechanical resistance, temperature stability, biocompatibility and approval for food contact, stiffness, elasticity, toughness, etc. Which material will be selected in the end, relies heavily on what the final product will be and what will be its use. To select the most appropriate solution, the company provides consultancy to their clients. Usual solutions are different types of thermoplastics (polyamide, polyether-block-amide and other). The company is already present on some foreign markets, but they would like to strenghten their position on the international markets even further and gain further insights in the emerging and diverse needs on this field. They would like to cooperate with new companies, that require production of complex and unique products, especially when the required quantities are low. Envisioned form of cooperation will be manufacturing agreement.