Additive Manufacturing
Additive Manufacturing – driven by Kurtz Ersa
Entered the world of additive manufacturing a little more than a year ago with the Alpha 140 and now already installed the prototype of its much bigger brother "Flying Ray". In August 2020, with the signing of the cooperation agreement between Kurtz Ersa and LMI, the foundation stone was laid for the products of the metal 3D printing in the Future Business division at Kurtz GmbH. The first product available was thus the best-price 3D metal printer Alpha 140.
Cost-effective entry into additive manufacturing
ZTogether with our colleagues from LMI, we have further developed this entry-level printer to an industry standard that enables customers - regardless of company size - to enter additive manufacturing at a competitive price. The interest of our existing and new contacts, who were reached via numerous advertising measures, was enormous. We were able to carry out countless test prints and hold numerous live and online demos. Everyone was and is consistently enthusiastic about the possibilities of additive manufacturing, the cost-effective entry-level option and the easy handling of our Alpha 140 with the usual 100% Kurtz Ersa industrial quality. In addition to our in-house showroom, interested parties also have the opportunity to experience the Alpha 140 live in operation at LMI in Aachen.
Our foreign colleagues at the Kurtz Ersa, Inc. plants in the USA and Kurtz Ersa Asia in China have also recently received an Alpha 140 and now have corresponding demo areas. This means that we are always available locally for our customers and interested parties at the same time and in the same language.
Alpha 140 goes America
Immediately after announcing our cooperation with LMI and thus our entry into additive manufacturing, our long-time friend, partner and customer Versevo Inc. from the USA (Hartland, Wisconsin) showed great interest in our Alpha 140 and its possibilities. With an ongoing commitment to always be at the forefront of technology and provide value to customers, we were able to quickly convince Versevo of our Alpha 140, and we received the order in June 2021.
After just under four months, including sea transport, the Alpha 140 reached its destination in the USA, where it was installed and commissioned in line with its simple plug'n'produce concept. This means that nothing stands in the way of generative and bionic components for Versevo's customers, and Versevo can now take advantage of the almost unlimited possibilities of metallic 3D metal printing. Have fun and success with our Alpha 140!
Flying Ray - Next Level of Metallic 3D Metal Printing
Parallel to the launch of the Alpha 140, the development of the revolutionary 3D multi-head printer "Flying Ray" was in full swing: With installation space dimensions of 1,500 x 1,000 mm and an installation height of 500 mm, the Flying Ray will set new standards in the industrialization of additive manufacturing in the metallic sector.
The highly innovative and disruptive process concept, which is fundamentally based on the laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) process, has already been evaluated by means of an assembly prototype and is now being tested in a machine prototype under real conditions. In mid-November, we were able to present the concept, the current status and the further planning of the Flying Ray at the 3D industry trade show formnext in Frankfurt am Main - the feedback was overwhelming: All interlocutors definitely want to be among the first in the first quarter of 2022, when the functionality of the multi-head system will be presented at demo shows at the Kurtz Development Center ETC in Kreuzwertheim.
