Huge 3D printer uses fibres, making prints much stronger

A construction hall on the outskirts of Delft was the scene of a special presentation, last November. A crowd gathered around a large box that was hidden from view by a curtain. It gave the visitors the idea that some exotic beast was ready to put on show. And in a way it was, because behind the curtain stood one of the biggest 3D printers in the world.  

The company CEAD from Delft constructed the machine with the name CFAM 3D printer. What makes this printer special, next to its size, is the fact that it can print two materials simultaneously. It combines ‘ordinary’ 3D printing materials with long, continuous fibres of glass or carbon. The fibre runs precisely through the middle of the plastic in every print round. This makes the prints produced much stronger, making it useful for heavy industries such as shipping.

It wasn’t easy to construct the system in such a way that the fibres are properly embedded in the print. A reel feeds the fibre to a print head, which also applies the melted print plastic at the same time. “This required a great deal of trial and error before we got the system working really well,” explains CEAD founder Maarten Logtenberg. With a print surface of 4 by 2 by 1.5 metres, it’s the largest printer in Europe actually available on the market. The printing speed is impressive with an average of 15 kilogrammes of material per hour.

CEAD began working on the printer last year. The company quickly found two investors who were interested: a producer of custom-made plastics and maritime company Royal Roos. These two investors will also be the first to get a printer. Royal Roos is a company that focusses on marine engineering and salvage consultancy.They also take care of the preparation and supervision of demanding repair and modifications projects in the offshore and marine industry.

Royal Roos and CEAD were neighbors in the former building where CEAD was located. During their time together, Fulko Roos, founder of Royal Roos, saw great potential in the development of CFAM and the team behind it. Royal Roos develops new products for the maritime industry, a challenging market with complex issues. “We want to bring innovations to the market quickly”, says Roos. “Fast and accurate 3D printing of large and strong (ship) parts was so far not possible. With this new 3D printer this will work. We are, for example, investigating how to use this technology to produce gangways. 3D printing is not only fast, but, if linked parametric design, you can also calculate the cost price in advance. Moreover, it is possible to recycle materials.”

One of the first things using the printer to print a scale model of a ship for trials in the water tanks at the Maritime Research Institute Netherlands. “These models are usually made of wood, but that requires a lot of work and man-hours. It will be much easier with the printer.”

With his 3D-printer Fulko Roos founded Royal3D, subsidiary company of Royal Roos. Royal3D  provides print services for the maritime industry. “We want to be able to offer technically advanced integrated solutions related to 3D printing largely for the maritime industry. While achieving this Royal3D strives to reduce our ecological footprint,” says Roos. The company will use a large proportion of the profits for future research and development, making next models of the name CFAM 3D printer even better. Ultimately, the printer can be used to produce sections of ships, for example, that are currently made using moulds. In case of unique parts in particular, such moulds are basically too expensive. In such cases, the printer is faster and easier.

CEAD founder Logtenberg says that the printer will ultimately be produced for less than one million euros. In addition to investments from Royal Roos and Poly Products, CEAD received a subsidy from the European Commission as part of the Horizon 2020 project.

This article was previously published in Maritime Holland magazine, issue 7, 2018