Talented Mr. Simon: How Unique Abilities and 3D Printing Can Change the Production Process

Simon Grabowski is a young talented technician who has only recently begun his professional career. A few months ago, Simon began assembling 3D printers. Today, a young man creates tools designed to optimize the production process in one international technology company. How did he do it?

Talent, Common Sense and 3D Printing

As the son of a dressmaker, Simon understood from childhood that standardization is the road to nowhere. In the modern world, we need more than ever before a personal approach that meets our needs and goals. And this problem is not only faced by private consumers: companies around the world are forced to accept the new rules of the game. Fortunately, Simon not only learned the right lesson from childhood, but also discovered the talent for creating useful personalized things. The only difference is that his working tool was not a sewing machine, but a 3D printer.

The young man, on an intuitive level, realized that the field of 3D printing has a great future. Additive technology is one of the fastest growing industries in the global economy. Between 2018 and 2024, global market volumes will grow by more than 23%. We can say that Simon was in the right place at the right time, but this is only one factor in his success. Most importantly, the young man ended up where he wanted to be, because he was not afraid of change.

Simon’s introduction to 3D printing began at the College of Electrical Engineering. The local workshop had a 3D printer – a simple, cheap FDM model. At one time, this technology was the most popular and most affordable, so it is not surprising that 10 years ago the college could not offer its students anything else.

Despite a rather modest set of functions, such a printer made it possible to recreate the missing parts for electronic devices: casing, latches and other important elements. For Simon, this device was a real discovery. Thanks to 3D printing, the young man was able to design and print small electronic components with virtually no limits. After graduating from college, Simon decided to devote his life to 3D printing and explore this industry along and across.

From production conveyor to R&D

Soon, Simon got a job at Sinterit, a Polish company manufacturing 3D printers based on selective laser sintering (SLS) technology. Such devices have much more options than training FDM printers, but the process of their production is very complicated. Even today, we can count the companies that managed to produce a compact SLS 3D printer on the fingers of one hand. Fortunately, one of them is based in the Polish city of Krakow.

Simon has come a long way working in the printer industry Lisa and Lisa pro and studying the features of their assembly.

Characteristics of Sinterit Lisa

A source top3dshop.ru

Features Sinterit Lisa Pro

A source top3dshop.ru

Quite quickly, the young man noticed that some processes can be accelerated and optimized. The scourge of many innovative industries, such as rapid prototyping, is the lack of standard tools and solutions. Such manufacturers do not have stores where printers are calibrated. Each company creates its own product, which most often looks just awful, approximately like the first personal computers. As a rule, these are bulky devices with many protruding wires and an unsuccessful design. Simon set himself the task of modernizing such devices – to give them a new shape and a safe and ergonomic shell that will ensure long trouble-free operation. Soon, the young man was promoted and transferred from the production department to the R&D department. The game started.

“Chamber Tester”

The first device, modernized by Simon, was called the “Chamber Tester”. This mysterious name hides one of the key nodes of the 3D printer’s SLS. Those who are not familiar with SLS technology may not know that the printing process involves layering and sintering a special powder. This powder comes from one part of the printer to another, and these elements are called cameras. The cameras are equipped with platforms that move up and down. It is their coordinated work that is responsible for the correct application height of each layer. In the case of Sinterit printers, the minimum layer thickness reaches 0.75 mm. The “chamber tester” was developed by Simon as a convenient device replacing a large box, the prototype for which was custom-made packaging of electrical appliances.

– It took me 12 hours to create a new device. During this time, I changed the electronics and created my own circuit of the future device, ”says Simon. Then I printed the finished project on a Lisa 3D printer and assembled the device. All this took a little more than one working day. As a result, I managed to make a device that was completely ready for work, ”adds the developer.

Temperature under control

The next step was the creation of a tester for the pyrometer. Pyrometers are highly sensitive instruments that measure the temperature inside the printer. Maintaining a constant temperature is one of the key conditions without which the operation of the SLS 3D printer is simply impossible. Before printers are sent to customers, each pyrometer is thoroughly tested. Simon came across a tester that looked like a bundle of electrical wires connected to a printed circuit board. As you might guess, this design was very fragile and inconvenient to operate.

After Simon upgraded the device, the new tester became much more functional, but most importantly, it turned out to be much more reliable. As with the “chamber tester,” the entire process of remaking, printing, and assembling took only 12 hours.

Not only electronics

Despite his knowledge of electronics and relevant work experience, Simon perceives the manufacture of printers as a process, each stage of which must be improved. And it’s not just about high technology. For example, does the appearance of the nozzle nozzle for applying silicone make any difference?

It turned out that yes. Even applying silicone is not at all such a simple task as it might seem at first glance, especially when it comes to details designed for high-precision and minimalistic applications. Instead of wasting time retraining individual workers in the production hall, Simon developed a personalized nozzle that made the process of applying a layer of silicone to the printer’s main gland much easier, eliminating the risk of error.

If Frederick Taylor, the author of The Principles of Scientific Management, could familiarize himself with Simon’s ideas, he would probably like them. Innovation has many facets, but nothing can replace ordinary common sense, hard work and the simple use of modern technologies such as 3D printing.

Simon Grabowski is only 23 years old and, despite the fact that the passion for additive technologies does not last long, the young man received the necessary knowledge and experience, allowing him to discover completely new areas. Other technicians and engineers who wish to gain new knowledge should follow this example. The modern world opens up dozens of opportunities that were not available to previous generations. We must take this opportunity to change the world around us.