When using the Calibur3 metal AM system, a small amount of local powder sintering occurs near the part due to the nature of the 'hot part' process. This sintered powder breaks down easily and can be fully recovered and re-used in the next build. To assist production users in the safe and clean recovery of this material, CaliburDPR provides an enclosed environment that accommodates the whole Calibur3 Build tank on a moving table within the enclosure. The moving table displaces the loose powder, which flows through the CaliburDPR system to be used as blast media to blast the locally sintered material free from the part's surface.
CaliburDPR also features a cyclone to separate the unwanted fine powder from the primary powder feedstock, and an integrated sieving system, to remove large particles that cannot be re-used. The system also features a high strength magnet to capture any ferrous contaminants. The refined metal powder flows directly into the Calibur3 powder hopper, ready for re-loading onto the Calibur3 system.
The process works by first loading a clean empty hopper onto the Calibur DPR and opening the valve so the powder can flow into the hopper. Once the build has finished on the Calibur3 system, the entire build tank and completed part is removed from Calibur3 and transported to the CaliburDPR using the Wayland mobile pedestrian lift. Next, the tank is loaded into the CaliburDPR with the moving table in the up position.
The user is then guided through a semi-automated sequence via the CaliburDPR user interface to secure the build tank and then displace and recover the loose metal powder before using the media blast function to clean the part surface. CaliburDPR is intended as a production scale system, where users are dedicated to a single material and want an efficient and contained powder handling solution.
For companies interested in processing smaller quantities of high-value metals or different materials — for application / material development for example — users can opt to use the vacuum cleaner and Clean Powder Cyclone collector instead of the CaliburDPR, as a small-scale flexible solution where multiple materials are processed. Multiple clean powder cyclones can be dedicated to each material type and used with a single vacuum cleaner. The powder is collected in a tank that can be decanted and passed through a stand-alone sieve for refining.