Questions with Daniel Graczak

1. Medical device manufacturers always want to reduce the cost of manufacturing medical devices while delivering the precision these devices demand. How does additive manufacturing this ocular fixture device on a DMG MORI SLM laser powder bed fusion system and finishing on the DMG MORI NTX 500 mill turn center speed up production and reduce manufacturing costs?

The printing process can print multiple parts at one time. It reduces the amount of material needed and speeds up the process by pressing play and walking away. There’s no human intervention from the time you press the button to the time you pull the parts out of the machine. You get a near net-shape product – or in many cases final geometry – when you open the door after printing your parts. You minimize setup and tooling costs. There’s a lot you take out of conventional manufacturing.

2. Was this ocular fixture device previously produced via subtractive manufacturing or was this a new medical device designed specifically for production via AM with finishing on the NTX 500?

This was a product that was previously designed for subtractive machining on which we did some light redesign for additive processing. We started by assessing the cycle time for a traditional machining process and we were at 2 hours and 30 minutes to produce this traditionally across five different milling and turning platforms we offer. Then we considered how we could reduce the cost to manufacture the part by integrating additive manufacturing.

3. What benefits are gained by producing this part via AM?

We reduced the need for additional employees. Traditionally, it would have been manufactured with five different operations. Now there are only two – off the printer (depowdering was done using the internal vacuum on the machine), over to the robot, which loads it into the NTX 500, where you machine the final part.

4. What manufacturing is done on the NTX 500 after the part is made via AM?

The NTX 500 offers a multi-access mill-turn lathe. You have an upper B-axis which is a milling head, milling spindle, and then the lower turret that offers conventional lathe functions. We offer a lot of internal processing, such as measuring inside the machine so the part is complete when it’s removed so it can go to your finishing process.

5. Where should medical manufacturers start when considering adding AM into their operations?

They can reach out to DMG MORI and set up a meeting with their local area sales manager or come into any of our showrooms and talk to any of our sales people on the floor. We can give them ideas on the products they bring in or help them with any processes that may be giving them trouble. Many manufacturers don’t have the personnel to give them that foresight, and that’s what we offer at DMG MORI. We have all the machines, we have all of the personnel from beginning to end to help them with their process.

DMG MORI
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