Feeding 3D printers

One way of make the feeding to feed the 3D printer in an efficient way is to use a vacuum conveyor. Vacuum is used first to convey plastic, pigments, additives or other material in powder or granules pellets into a hopper. The plastic pellets are then heated and forced under high pressure into a mould cavity. The parts are formed in the mould cavity and in some cases, vacuum is drawn in the cavity to aid the process and give the products better definition. Finally, after the parts have been formed, they are removed from the mould with suction cups and pumps that are usually attached to a robot arm.

Key advantages with Piab vacuum conveyors:

• Over 50 years of experience of using vacuum conveying to move powder and granules.
• Increased uptime thanks to the hygienic design of the conveyor makes it easy to clean.
• Improved working environment as the vacuum conveying system is a closed system with no dust contamination.
• Create safe environments as the conveyors meets industry standards of ATEX Dust and Gas.
• The conveyors are available with all material in contact with the conveyed product are in compliance with FDA, EC No. 1935/2004 and EC No. 10/2011.
• Meets application requirements as there are product families especially for pharma, food and chemical industries.
• Available to convey up to 14 tons/hrs and 30 meters.
• Flexibility to be able to convey particles from 0.5 micron and up.
• Compact size makes it a great solution when space is at premium.
• Flexibility in which vacuum source to use, the conveyors works equally well with an ejector pump or with a mechanical pump.