The Advanced Digital Design and Fabrication Lab (ADDFab) is available for use by academic institutions, industry, and the local community.
ADDFab has an array of cutting-edge, industrial-grade, 3D printers.
ADDFab has three primary goals in serving this diverse customer base: (1) Engineer and print great parts in metals and polymers, (2) support academic research, and (3) provide training and educational opportunities.
1. Engineer and Print Great Parts
Two metal printers utilize fine metal powders to build parts as large as 25x25x30cm with detail as fine as 250um. The EOS M290 is a powder bed system that uses direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) to build parts layer by layer while the LENS 450 is a directed energy deposition (DED) system which deposits lines of metal and can produce parts from custom metal alloys.
Three polymer printers span three different printing technologies. The EOS P110 is a powder bed nylon printer that uses selective laser sintering (SLS) to produce parts. It has a build area of 23x20x30cm and can produce detail as fine as 250um. The primary advantage of the SLS process is that it does not require support structures for overhanging parts, so it can print extremely complex and delicate geometries with ease.
The Connex350 is a multi-material printer that can print both flexible and rigid materials in one part, and even mix the materials to adjust material properties and colors. The Markforged printers extrude nylon filament in a fused filament fabrication (FFF) process and can print in nylon infused with chopped carbon fiber (Onyx), or embed a continuous strand of fiberglass, Kevlar, or carbon fiber into each layer.
For customers who need engineering or design support to get parts (or ideas!) ready for printing, we offer engineering consulting on an hourly basis with either undergraduate students or experienced engineers.
2. Support Academic Research
The ADDFab facilities are available for use as-a-service where our staff does all of the printing, but also for dedicated use on a daily or weekly basis. Training is available where students and faculty can learn to use the equipment and then use it to conduct their own research on additive manufacturing.
We also provide printing services and engineering support for faculty in all academic departments.
3. Training and Educational Opportunities
ADDFab supports undergraduate and graduate courses in additive manufacturing by printing parts, providing tours, and training students on how to use the equipment. We are actively partnering with student groups and secondary schools as well.
For industry and the local community, ADDFab hosts a series of workshops on additive manufacturing. These are intended to broaden the understanding of how 3D printing will affect the manufacturing industry and to provide hands-on skills using industrial-grade 3D printing technology. Both types of courses are offered throughout the year.
If you have questions regarding how to work with ADDFab on a future project, please contact us at addfab@umass.edu. We look forward to working together!