£1 Million Strategic Expansion Plan Extends Service Portfolio at 3DPRINTUK

New additive manufacturing process, new machines producing bigger parts, new flexible material option and new finishing services are all available now following a strategic expansion by London 3D printing bureau 3DPRINTUK.

3DPRINTUK, a leading service provider of polymer powder bed fusion (PBF) 3D printing processes, has now fully executed an impressive £1 million strategic expansion plan. This followed considerable investment in equipment that allows the company to offer an ever-expanding range of services and materials for its customers. The final piece of the jigsaw was the introduction of the MultiJet Fusion (MJF) 3D printing process, with the acquisition and installation of the most advanced polymer MJF system available — the 5210. This machine is the first of its kind to be installed in a UK 3D printing service bureau.

A collection of 3D printed parts produced using the HP MJF 5210 system, dyed black.
A collection of 3D printed parts produced using the HP MJF 5210 system, dyed black

Explaining the reasoning behind this machine acquisition, Nick Allen, 3DPRINTUK’s CEO, said:

“We’ve been watching MJF mature since 2015 and have been waiting for the right moment to add it to our offerings. We believe the time is right to invest in MJF as it now meets the demands of our customers and their applications with the 5200 series. It is important to distinguish the investment in the 5210 system over previous systems in the original 4200 series of machines because it marks a considerable step forward with the MJF process. This is based on our extensive in-house testing of parts from both series, and there are big improvements with the 5210 in key areas such as part quality, repeatability, Z-axis scaling, heating control and accuracy.”

A collection of SLS 3D printed parts, colour dyed
A collection of SLS 3D printed parts, colour dyed

Adding the MJF process to the company’s repertoire follows a series of recent announcements throughout 2020 that expand on the expert services 3DPRINTUK have provided for almost a decade with the Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) process. This includes the addition of a new SLS flexible material, new colour dyeing options and two new large-scale EOS P396 machines that allow for the production of larger parts while also significantly increasing overall capacity.

Furthermore, 3DPRINTUK has also invested in new post-processing equipment from DyeMansion, which enables them to offer a shot peening service for low, medium, and high volumes of SLS or MJF parts that greatly enhances the surface finish.

Black SLS 3D printed parts with a shot peened finish
Black SLS 3D printed parts with a shot-peened finish

On the expansion plan, Allen continued:

“During the height of the Covid pandemic, we made a pragmatic decision that we would use this time to augment our 3D printing services in order to offer broader and more flexible manufacturing options for our customers. By adding a new process — one a significant number of clients have asked for —increasing our capacity and being able to produce larger parts, we are now in a position to meet all of our clients’ demands for their batch production applications with polymer materials. The additional finishing options only strengthen our service offering and means that we can offer a comprehensive service from a single supplier. Throughout the whole of lockdown, when many supply chains were stalling, we were able to continue to provide a reliable service without compromising on quality for a range of projects, including those supporting the pandemic response.”

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