Functional mounting bracket for energy chains directly from the 3D printer

• What was needed: Connecting elements and drivers for the energy chains in the igus large-capacity 3D printer
• Manufacturing process: Filament extrusion (FDM)
• Requirements: Similarity to the energy chain material, exposed to tensile and bending forces
• Material: igumid P190
• Industry: 3D printer
• Success through collaboration: functional individual pieces could be produced within a few hours, the 3D printer can be made more compact and less expensive thanks to the special pieces

The application at a glance:
Energy chains are installed in igus' own large-volume 3D printer, which are intended to guide the cables in a cable-break-proof manner. These cables connect the print heads to the control system, linking temperature sensors, heating elements and stepper motors. The chains are firmly connected to the carriage at one end and with the other end they are moved back and forth with the print head. Individual components were required for assembly, to which the energy chain can be attached and connected. The engineers of the 3D printing team did not miss the opportunity to produce these individual one-off pieces using the fibre-reinforced filament igumid P190 in the filament extrusion process (FDM). The FDM process made it possible to print the individual parts within a few hours, which could be tested directly on the large-format 3D printer coming from the 3D printer.

In order to be able to safely guide the cables for temperature sensors, heating elements and stepper motors for the print heads of the large-volume 3D printer while it is printing, two individual mounting brackets were required for the energy chain. These should be similar in material properties to those of injection-moulded energy chains and be able to withstand any tensile and bending loads well. Elsewhere, custom-made moving ends were needed to install the energy chains on the printer's moving components. The required mounting brackets and moving ends did not correspond to standard dimensions and had to be manufactured separately.

The most obvious and fastest solution was to 3D print the parts with the igus filament igumid® P190.Sheet metal bent parts would have been an alternative, but the 3D-printed parts were convincing due to their lightweight, quick availability and flexible implementation in printing. This made it possible to print precisely fitting special elements that could be attached directly to the ends of the energy chains from the 3D printer within a few hours. The individual solutions have the great advantage here that the energy chains can be installed in a more space-saving manner. The igus filament igumid® P190 impresses with its similarity to the material of the energy chains from injection moulding, as well as its high strength due to the carbon fibre reinforcement.

Additive manufacturing is a resource-saving, tool-free process for industry that offers new possibilities for the production of individual components. The layer-by-layer addition of the material via - as in this application example - a nozzle that can be moved completely freely in two orthogonal axes opens up the playing field for geometrically more daring and complicated structures than would be possible without considerable expense, e.g. in injection moulding or milling. Individual geometries, lightweight structures and a high degree of functional integration are possible without major effort.

In 3D printing, 4K is not about resolution, but about the number of plastics that can be processed for a component in one print run. At igus, processing of up to 4 plastics for a 3D-printed component is possible.Of course, each individual plastic has a special function.Thus the igumid® P150 and igumid® P190 filaments were developed to act as particularly stiff and strong partner materials for the tribologically optimised iglidur® filaments i150 and i190, and to manufacture especially versatile wear parts.The igumid® P190 filament has twice the strength of iglidur® i190, which leads to an excellent service life of the components when combining the two materials in multi-material printing.It is suitable for lightweight components, as the carbon fibre reinforcement guarantees maximum strength and rigidity even with a low material input.