^ CAM milling machine - can shape almost any machinable material. Very impressive, needs to be programmed to create forms (can't import from the likes of Rhino3D). Drummond Masterton down at the 3D Digital Design research cluster in Falmouth has down some impressive work using a similar device.
^ This thing does one thing and does one thing well - grinds large lumps of metal flat
^ Little multi-axis milling machine for soft materials such as wax, can accept STL files which can be exported from Rhino3D and the like.
^ Stereolithography machine, the cover and the orange filter are to stop the light-sensitive resin from going off. Two types of resin are available - a general purpose one and a more fragile one that can burn out in lost wax casting. Objects are built in layers and suspended upside down. Build times are extremely fast - 25mm an hour and independent of detail or density are each layer is exposed in one go.
^ The new EOS M270 Direct Metal Laser Sintering machine. Very posh, it replaces the M250 and improves on it by providing a completely sealed work chamber, variable width Yb-fibre laser, and not forgetting a rather stylish stainless steel screen surround. The M270 is capable of fully melting materials which means it can be used for titanium, stainless steel, cobalt chrome as well as the bronze alloy.
Objects can be imported as STL files.
^ Build times are slooowww. This took about 16 hours an the maximum height can be little over 10mm!
^ It is a fantastic bit of technology but is not without its constraints the main ones being the slowness=high cost and the extensive support structure required for any part of the component that projects horizontally.
All in all it was an interesting tour and gave some food for thought.
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