Nexa3D
Machinery : Additive Manufacturing : 3D Printer
Nexa3D is a leading provider of ultrafast 3D printing solutions. Our photopolymer and thermoplastic range of industrial 3D printers offer unrivaled speed and throughput, superb surface finish, all on an open material platform. Our patented Lubricant Sublayer Photo-curing (LSPc) 3D printing process unlocks productivity gains by as much as 20x greater than those of conventional SLA or DLP processes. We offer a range of polymer solutions, spanning from a desktop resin 3D printer, industrial 3D printers, and a thermoplastic laser sintering solution for serial production.
Assembly Line
Dissolving Molds: A New Way to Think About Injection Molding
Rather than mimic the conventional functionality of a tool, something new is in the game: dissolvable molds. The soluble tooling technology uses the same printer but different materials, allowing for a flexible workflow—from geometry to molds to parts.
The dissolving aspect provides design flexibility, Mason notes. Even for complex parts with undercuts and non-ideal parting lines, the mold design can be completed in 30 min., which eliminates the need to anticipate and address the pain points of a part before testing it. Mason says the speed of this approach is exceptional and molds are ready to use in less than an hour.
The dissolving aspect allows for experimentation and testing. Unlike traditional molds where changing the gate location can be costly, using the 3D printing process means each shot can have a different gate configuration. Mason says this is a liberating feature that enables a multitude of design iterations with minimal time and material costs.
Nexa3D acquires Addifab
Nexa3D, a specialist in ultrafast polymer 3D printing hardware, has completed the acquisition of Addifab, the originator of Freeform Injection Molding, a proprietary and patented digital tooling process that couples the design freedom of 3D printing with the mechanical performance of injection molding using thousands engineering materials.
Rail Giant Alstom Turns to Nexa3D’s NXE 400Pro to 3D Print Replacement Footrests
Alstom, one of the largest railway companies in the world, faced trouble with finding replacement parts first hand when outdated footrests threatened to sideline many of its fleets. The company needed a way to fix its trains quickly, and do so in a cost effective manner. Alstom’s solution? 3D printing. The business sought Lorenzo Gasparoni, its 3D printing and 3D scanning product leader in Italy, to establish additive manufacturing (AM) practices to help keep its aging trains operational while reducing the time needed to service the carriages.
Alstom is no stranger to 3D printing and had previously partnered with BASF Replique and Stratasys to use AM to solve sourcing issues in the past. This time, however, it wanted to stay internal to its manufacturing and service center in Sesto San Giovanni, Italy, and needed Lorenzo Gasparoni for the job. The two have been in working together since 2019, but, in mid-2022, a new project arose: the use of 3D printing to produce hundreds of footrests to replace older counterparts.