Stratasys, a provider of applied additive technology, and Eckhart Inc., a builder of lift-assist and torque-mitigating tools to help automate assembly processes, have announced an exclusive, three-year collaboration agreement to advance the adoption of 3-D printing for factory tooling in North America.
Eckhart says that additive manufacturing (AM) processes can help the tooling industry in three ways:
- Lightweighting and ergonomics: AM can produce organically shaped parts that are lighter than conventional designs produced in metal, while still being strong.
- Line-of-sight improvement: AM can be used to design voids in a tool. Reducing unneeded material allows the operator to see more of the assembly operation.
- Simplified build structure and simplified bill of materials: With AM, an assembly of numerous parts can be redesigned into a single part.
Eckhart’s 3-D printing laboratory is located in its recently opened Advanced Technology Center in Warren, Mich. The lab includes printers using Stratasys’ proprietary fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3-D printing process.
“Our intent is to completely replace existing metal tools with 3-D printed equivalents,” said Eckhart President/CEO Andy Storm.
