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Laser Prototypes Europe, or LPE is a specialist in rapid prototyping and manufacturing.

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It has just purchased a V600QH from Sodi-Tech EDM to support the 3D printing of metal parts at the company.

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This new acquisition is already performing its tasks 50% faster than an existing Sodick machine that was installed in 2017.

Belfast based Laser Prototypes Europe undertakes DMLS or direct metal laser sintering to print complex components in short cycle times to provide a huge competitve advantage for LPE and its customers.

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The DMLS process requires a lot of heat and energy to sinter the powder, which creates in-built stresses that can lead to distortion of the part.

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To counter this effect, heatsinks and anchors must be added to the component.

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After 3D printing, wire EDM is used as a finishing process to remove the heatsinks and anchors and achieve final tolerances.

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It is for this very process the company invested in the

V600QH from Sodi-Tech EDM.

LPE was established in 1991 by its current Managing Director Tom Walls.

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It was the first UK company to install an EOS rapid prototyping system and it has continued to invest in the latest technologies and materials.

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This enables the company to provide a complete metal sintering service, in-house metallurgy, stress relieving, wire EDM, bead blasting and five-axis machining.

\u201cAdditive Manufacturing presents a unique problem for EDM: the density and shape of the support structure makes DMLS parts very difficult to wire without continuous wire breakages.

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In addition, there are lattice type structures within the parts, and sometimes powder can be found in pockets, all of which add to the challenge.

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Unfortunately, wire breakages occur fairly frequently.

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Tom Walls says "For this reason, we need wire EDM machines with quick re-threading and re-positioning, which is why we use Sodick.\u201d

LPE installed its first Sodick wire EDM in 2017, an

AQ537L model.

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While this machine has performed well, such has been the company\u2019s growth trajectory that wire EDM became a bottleneck.

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Tom Walls says \u201cWe also thought it was a risk to continue running with just one wire EDM.

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The machine hasn\u2019t missed a beat, but if anything, unforeseen was to happen, it would have a major impact on lead times.

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So, to both increase capacity and mitigate risk, we decided to invest in a second Sodick.

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The reliability of our first machine has been such that there was never any chance we would look elsewhere.\u201d

The high resolution (down to 0.015mm) and production standard resolution (0.06mm) can be offered to cater for different customer demands and due to LPE\u2019s focus on quality.

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All DMLS parts are subjected to stress relieving before making their way to the Sodick wire EDMs.

Referring to the latest addition, Tom Walls says: \u201cThe way the wire is driven has been improved, delivering better control if it thinks it might break.

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Also, if the wire does break, it is much faster at re-threading and getting back to its cut position, which contributes to higher productivity.

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Performing wire EDM on a row of 20 DMLS parts would previously take around 4 hours, but we can complete them in half that time using the V600QH.

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Both the machine interface and software are also better.\u201d

Installed in late July 2019, the Sodick VL600QH wire EDM with linear motor technology has the capability to accommodate tall workpieces thanks to 500mm of travel in the Z axis.

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LPE, which is both ISO:9001 and ISO:13485 registered, estimates it will grow by a further 10-15% this year as demand for metal additive manufacturing continues to ramp up.

Tom Walls concludes by saying \u201cThere are many factors that set us apart from our competitors.

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For instance, all customers receive a rapid quote, a dedicated project team and ongoing support and advice from a designated sales contact.

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Moreover, our knowledge is second to none, which is why we are continuing our research with universities and industry, and currently support four PhD students and four post-doctoral students with their research in advanced process control and powder development for metal laser sintering.\u201d