Aitiip Technology Centre Enhances Production Efficiency with New S1 Shot-Blasting Machine

Aitiip Technology Centre, one of Europe’s largest laboratories for advanced manufacturing technologies, has significantly boosted its production efficiency with the installation of an S1 shot-blasting machine from AM Solutions – 3D Post Processing Technology. This investment automates the previously manual post-processing operation, resulting in improved quality, enhanced operational efficiency, and increased production capacity.

Aitiip is renowned for providing innovative, custom-engineered solutions for a variety of 3D printing applications, from prototyping to producing individual finished parts. As production volumes have grown, the importance of post-processing has escalated, not only for achieving high-quality surface finishes but also as a critical cost factor in the manufacturing process.

Pablo Murillo, Chief Development Officer at Aitiip, explained: “Before the S1 system, all post-processing tasks were done manually. This created exceptionally high labour costs and limited our operational flexibility. With the automated S1, we have significantly increased our production capacity.”

The newly installed S1 shot-blasting machine has transformed the company’s post-processing workflow. After unpacking, components produced through powder-bed-based 3D printing are directly loaded into the S1 machine. The S1 system, a versatile 2-in-1 solution, not only cleans the components but also creates the final surface finish in a single operation, using just one processing medium. The continuous rotation of the parts during the blasting process ensures a gentle yet thorough finish, providing consistent results across all components. This advancement has not only saved considerable time but also enabled the company to process a wider variety of 3D printed parts.

Mr Murillo continued: “With the S1, we can now offer 3D printed parts for various assemblies in products already on the market. This was impossible with our previous manual post-processing method. The consistent and high-quality finishes we achieve with the S1 ensure that our parts meet customer specifications without the need for additional processing. This has significantly reduced post-processing times and costs, making the entire operation faster, cleaner, and more efficient.”

Previously, the manual process could take between 4 to 6 hours to remove powder from around 300 parts produced in a single ‘HP cake.’ With the S1, this time has been reduced to just 30 minutes, dramatically improving the speed of the process.

The S1 shot-blasting machine also offers the flexibility to be used in both manual and automatic modes with a wide range of blast media. Mr Murillo concluded: “AM Solutions’ expertise in surface refinement and their professional support in Spain has been invaluable. We are so satisfied with the S1 that we plan to pursue additional projects with the same supplier in the future.”