German industrial 3D printer manufacturer EOS has just unveiled the latest addition to one of their flagship models. The M 300-4 DMLS Printer made its debut at the 2018 International Manufacturing Technology Show, with the company touting its vast increase in productivity over the M 290. Much like the other M 300 series’ machines, it uses a laser and powder dosing system.
The EOS M 300-4 is the four laser system in the group. It houses a build capacity of 300 x 300 x 400 mm. and is a modular platform. It offers the customers a great deal of flexibility in automation and manufacturing environment requirements. The company states that it offers two different modes of dosing. “Bottom-up dosing to become independent of materials particle size distribution” and “automated, top dosing to enable a closed loop solution.”
It is also compatible with EOS Shared Modules making set-up, unpacking the print bed, component transportation and sieving much easier. The idea behind this is to aid users and provide a high degree of flexibility and automation for production. The machine can thus switch between different Shared Modules for versatility. Modules allow for manual unpacking solutions or automated solutions among many others. EOS launched the shared module idea with Daimler and Premium AEROTEC.
EOS M 300 Series
Prices for the various EOS M 300 systems can be from €700,000 ($812,522) to €1.6 million ($1.86 million) for the highest automated solutions. As mentioned previously, each device in the series uses a varying number of lasers, corresponding to the number in it’s name. The lasers can run at a wattage of 400 to 1,000 depending on the solution. They are also all compatible with the EOSPRINT 2 process management software and real-time monitoring platform EOSTATE.
The company states that “the system offers the highest industrial grade connectivity with real time information and connection of CAD software (e.g. Siemens NX and interfaces like OPC UA).”
Pankl Racing Systems AG has already signed up as an early customer for the new line. Stefan Seidel, Pankl’s CTO states “We are very pleased to be able to use the latest EOS system […] The platform impresses with maximum productivity, quality and precision as well as its potential for automation. Thus, the system fits perfectly into our approach of the automated factory and is key to meet the high requirements of our customers […] in the automotive sector.”
Featured image courtesy of EOS.