EDITOR’S CHOICE
COST SAVING POTENTIAL
3DPRINTUK
ADDITIVE MANUFACTURE AND FOOD
PACKAGING MACHINERY SYSTEMS
One industry that has taken a fresh look at
additive manufacture for machine parts is
food packaging. Whether the requirement
is end-of-arm tooling with complex
internal vacuum lines not possible with
conventional machining or unique machine
parts, that provides a specific function,
these can easily be achieved with additive
manufacture.
3DPRINTUK work with many machine
makers including Brillopak, CPACK and
Astrapc, all specialists in their respective
field with one similarity, they have all
adopted additive manufacture into their
supply line.
CPACK is a specialist packaging machine
systems manufacturer. Based in Burnley
their production facility is home to a team
of designers, programmers and sales staff
all focused on delivering outstanding
machines and exemplary customer
service. CPACK are at the forefront of food
packaging technology and are always
looking for ways to improve machine
design as well as exploring new ways
to save on part costs without sacrificing
quality.
Additive manufacture isn’t new to CPACK;
as one of the first in their industry to
use additive manufacture their initial
experience was that parts were far too
expensive to produce from other suppliers.
Having met with their Director Charles
Reilly, 3DPRINTUK were certain they could
help bring down some of their part costs
and deliver a standard of part that would
exceed their expectations of additive
manufacture.
Working with their team, 3DPRINTUK
were able to demonstrate how they could
take advantage of their pricing system; by
breaking down larger parts into smaller
pieces (ready to assemble post print) and
how to nest parts together which has even
more potential for generating a cost saving.
Nesting works by filling unused space
around larger parts or by arranging parts to
take up a smaller space within the printers.
By nesting parts, it meant that in some
cases CPACK could get two parts for the
price of one.
“We use SLS printing services when
parts are too complex or too costly to
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PECM Issue 39
Above, CPACK - Pleat finishing press tool. Below left, Pleat mould 3D printed in Nylon PA2200.
Below right, Astrapac - Water tight cap on heat sealer machine.
manufacture using traditional methods.
The flexibility and level of detail possible
with SLS printing is unmatched for the
price. 3DPRINTUK have provided excellent
support to our technical and purchasing
staff, and using their website to quickly
quote parts couldn’t be easier.” Ben Chaffer,
CPACK
Another company taking advantage of
Low volume production with 3DPRINTUK
is Astrapac. Established in 1974, Astrapac
specialise in the manufacture of bag sealing
machinery. In addition to designing and
building a wide and diverse range of Heat
Sealers Astrapac are also the sole UK and
Ireland representative for the technically
advanced Gandus Medical Heat Sealers /
pouch sealers. All models in the Gandus
range are built to European medical
standard ISO 11607 and many models are
fully validated, a requirement in the medical
sector for seal quality control.
The problem with manufacturing a variety of
specialist machines is that they each require
their own bespoke parts. Two applications
where 3D printed parts have proven ideal
are: a domed cap (pictured) that seals the
arm to make it water tight and custom end
caps for a safe and professional finish to the
sealing arms. For 80 complex small nylon
parts with an approx size of 25mm x 45mm
x 26mm the cost with 3DPRINTUK were only
£63+vat. With no additional tooling costs
and viable batch production from 1 – 10,000
units, the benefits of additive manufacture
speak for themselves.
www.3dprint-uk.co.uk