3DPrintUK Adds HP MJF 3D Printing to Services in £1M Expansion

3DPrintUK has recently expanded its offerings to become the first service bureau in the UK to provide advanced HP MJF 5210 parts. The prototyping and low-volume 3D printing production specialist now includes MJF alongside its leading polymer powder-bed fusion solutions.

Established in 2011 in London, UK, 3DPrintUK has achieved £1-1.5 million in turnover in 2019 and has produced over 1 million parts thus far. The company has been executing a £1 million expansion plan, and as part of it shifted its headquarters to a larger 10,000 square foot premises in March this year, and as recently as last month, invested £400,000 to add two large-scale EOS SLS systems to its existing fleet of nine EOS 3D printers to bolster its offerings for large volume parts in batch production. The company was also the first in the UK to add the DyeMansion DM60 to its post-processing and finishing offerings, which enables a carbon black finish for 3D printed parts, and has consequently been able to expand its palette of colored part offerings.

Understanding Filament Properties

HP MJF 5210 Double the production capacity                                                                                                                        (Images courtesy of 3DPrintUK)

The 5210 is the latest in the line of MJF 3D printers from HP, which was able to bring major improvements to their MJF platform having had customer feedback from the 4200 series on industrial shop floors for over two years now. The 5200 series nearly doubles the production capacity for MJF and addresses several of the heating, cooling and efficiency issues that were prevalent in the 4200 series. The series has seen tremendous uptake by service bureaus, with Weerg Italy placing their largest order yet for six MJF 5210 machines last year.

Material Comparison and Selection

Bidirectional printing with HP 5210. (Images courtesy of 3DPrintUK)

3DPrintUK had been following the developments with MJF since 2015, and believed the moment was right to add the MJF technology platform to their existing expertise in SLS.

According to Nick Allen, 3DPRINTUK’s  CEO: “We’ve been watching MJF mature since 2015 and have been waiting for the right moment to add it to our offerings. We believe the time is right to invest in MJF as it now meets the demands of our customers and their applications with the 5200 series. It is important to distinguish the investment in the 5210 system over previous systems in the original 4200 series of machines because it marks a considerable step forward with the MJF process. This is based on our extensive in-house testing of parts from both series and there are big improvements with the 5210 in key areas such as part quality, repeatability, Z-axis scaling, heating control and accuracy.”

Print Settings and Optimization

HP5210 aesthetic for white powder with a white finish                                                                                                         (Images courtesy of 3DPrintUK)

The broadens 3DPrintUK’s offerings in polymer parts for prototyping or production, with SLS and MJF comparing well against each other in different areas. See also: ABS 3D Printing Settings Guide: Temperature, Enclo…. Now it’s “customers can either specify their chosen production systems or, utilising the expertise of 3DPRINTUK, make use of the company’s quoting system that will funnel priority requirements to ensure the best possible outcome in terms of the quality and functionality of the parts together with value for money and delivery times.”

Installation of the MJF systems was quickly followed by extensive testing to ensure consistency and reliability in production.

Strength and Durability Testing

Shot-peened and dyed HP MJF Nylon part                                                                                                                              (Images courtesy of 3DPrintUK)

Earlier this year, the company had been supporting efforts to fight the pandemic by producing face shields at volume, at 6 minutes per shield, and to produce ventilator parts with the UK Cabinet and manufacturers using their EOS SLS-based fleet of 3D printers.

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