Designfax weekly eMagazine

Subscribe Today!

Archives

View Archives

Partners

Manufacturing Center
Product Spotlight

Modern Applications News
Metalworking Ideas For
Today's Job Shops

Tooling and Production
Strategies for large
metalworking plants

Make your own bearings:
igus presents the world's first printable bearing material filament for 3D printers

Plastics expert igus has introduced the world's first plastic filament for 3D printers enhanced with tribological, or low-friction, properties. The material, 50 times more resistant to wear and abrasion than conventional 3D-printer materials, is ideally suited for creating custom bearings.

igus has been researching filaments for 3D printers in order to provide customers with more flexibility in their design ideas. Now, for example, customers can design custom parts or manufacture prototypes, while still being able to rely on the dependable, tested service life of igus plastic materials.

This exciting new product, which has already completed countless tests in the igus test lab, is the first filament for 3D printers specifically developed for motion control applications. Currently, igus carries 45 different high-performance plastics as optional materials available for iglide products, with a further 100 custom materials suited to specific, demanding customer needs. Moving forward, the new filament will give customers more flexibility for the design of their application's bearings; even prototypes can be produced quickly and cost effectively. igus also offers access to 3D models of igus products in STL format, which can easily be downloaded and used directly as input data for 3D printing.

The wear-resistant filament for 3D printing was voted as best material in the polymer category by the Additive Manufacturing jury at Material ConneXion in August in New York City.

The global material and innovation consultancy Material ConneXion has also inducted igus' 3D tribo-filament into its polymers library, voting it best material at the monthly jury in August. The Material ConneXion's material library features over 7,500 cutting-edge materials in eight categories, which designers, students, and other subscribers to the library use as a resource in developing their projects. Material ConneXion's international network of specialists provide a global, cross-industry perspective on materials, design, product development, and innovation.

Samples of igus' filament will be sent to the various locations of the materials library, which is located 8 cities, including Bangkok, Milan, Tokyo, and New York City. The material, according to Fiona Anastas, Materials Specialist with the firm, sparked discussion on the value of "performance vs. 'pretty' 3D printing materials."

3D printers as a cutting-edge technology
3D printers are able to print full-size, three-dimensional objects. This up-and-coming technology is able to reduce the high tooling costs of part production, and it helps eliminate waste because only the desired object is printed. With the proper computer software, any printed component can be customized to the exact shape and size desired, making otherwise impossible-to-find parts available and affordable. For more information on the tribo-filament, or to learn about igus components in the 3D printing industry, please visit the igus tribo-filament page at www.igus.com/3Dfilament.

Source: igus

Published August 2014

Rate this article