Cincinnati Inc. and a US laboratory have signed a partnership agreement to develop a large scale additive manufacturing system capable of printing polymer components up to ten times larger than currently producible, at speeds 200 to 500 times faster than existing additive machines.
The research agreement between Cincinnati Inc. and the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, aims to introduce new capabilites in the machine tool sector. A prototype of the large scale additive machine is in development using the chassis and drives of Cincinnati’s gantry style laser cutting machine as the base, with plans to incorporate a high speed cutting tool, pellet feed mechanism and control software for additional capability.
As one of the oldest US machine tool makers, with continuous operation since 1898, we view this as an opportunity to start a new chapter in our history,” says Andrew Jamison, CEO Cincinnati Inc. “Over the years, we’ve supplied more than 40 metal working machine tools to Oak Ridge and its subcontractors. Now, working together, we intend to lead the world in big-area additive manufacturing for prototyping and production.”
