“It is never too late to set things right”, my mom would say. Epson, a Japanese company led Seiko Epson Corporation, and known for the development of precision technologies and digital technologies that connect people, things, and information, has entered the AM scene.
The brand debuts at a time when the market is described as exciting, and profitable for most segments. Epson will provide on this market industrial 3D printers, which could process commonly available third-party materials. The machine stands out from the crowd thanks to a unique material extrusion method that features a flat screw (an inline screw with a flattened configuration) like that found in Epson’s precision injection molding machines.
“This extrusion method enables the printer to be used with a variety of common third-party materials, such as resin or metal pellets, which are generally available at lower cost than other materials, environmentally considerate biomass pellets, and PEEK materials, which can provide high heat resistance. In addition, the amount of material injected is precisely controlled by regulating the pressure within the head and by regulating the action of a valve in concert with the modeling speed. The temperature at the surface of a piece being printed must also be controlled in order to obtain the required strength. Epson employs a unique mechanism to precisely control this temperature and achieve both strength and accuracy. This 3D printer is thus engineered to manufacture strong, accurate objects with commonly available materials, facilitating printer use in the production of industrial parts for final products. It is ideally suited to mass customization, as it can produce small batches of parts tailored to customers’ needs with higher quality, shorter lead times, and at a fraction of the cost of traditional manufacturing processes”, the company explains.
Epson is aiming to commercialize the printer after first making needed refinements while utilizing it internally to volume-produce certain parts for commercial and industrial equipment.
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