New OGM bureau service uses Advanced Manufacturing Technology, which combines Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS) with High Speed Machining (HSM) to make parts that require little or no post-processing.
At the forthcoming MACH exhibition, Oxford-based OGM will showcase a radical Hybrid Additive Manufacturing (AM) bureau service, which offers a step-change in finished part quality from an existing Powder Bed Fusion process. The company will be unveiling the service on LUMEX’s stand H6-762.
OGM has already successfully used this new technology to manufacture conformal cooling channels and injection moulding inserts with cycle time reduction and improved part quality, but also plans to offer sophisticated end use parts.
“We are the first company in the UK to offer this new bureau service based on metal HYBRID additive manufacturing,” says Marcel Gowers, who recently joined OGM from the aerospace and defence sector in order to lead the bureau service. “We’re excited to inform MACH visitors about the service and explain how it can enhance their part quality and dramatically reduce lead times”.
While Direct Metal Laser Sintered parts can be made quickly, they exhibit a rough surface finish which then requires post-processing, such as CNC machining to obtain flat surfaces and holes etc. Using OGM’s new bureau service, customers have the option of having a fully CNC finished part, or they can select specific features, geometry or surfaces that they wish to have machined.
As well as improving exterior surface quality, it also ensures that internal features – such as holes, tubes or flow channels – are smooth, making it ideal for applications that require fluid flow, such as injection mould tool insert cooling channels or nozzles for the food, aerospace and automotive industry.
For complex injection moulding tooling inserts, it can eliminate the costly, time-consuming process of Electro Discharge Machining (EDM), further helping to bring down production costs and drastically reducing lead times.
OGM is a specialist in manufacturing injection moulded parts, so offering an AM bureau service is a new departure for the company.
The machine that creates the parts has a build volume of 250 x 250 x 300mm, making it large enough to make medium-sized mould tools or volumetric part production. It was originally bought in order to produce mould tool inserts – but will now also be used to make a host of end-use production parts.
“This is a new business venture with many exciting new possibilities,” says Gowers. “We’re looking at projects that need to print thousands of precision components.”
Visitors to MACH 2018 will find OGM on the LUMEX stand H6-762.