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ment. Within 2 hr. of the printer’s arrival, “I was printing things,” recalls Vickery. “It was a very easy startup from my standpoint.”
Press-Brake Tools Reveal AM Benefits
Recent work on a press-brake tool illustrates the printer’s positive impact. A customer had asked Centerline engi- neers to bend and form a custom sheet- metal part. Because the customer needed only two parts, the engineers expected tooling costs to exceed what the customer was willing to pay.
“To make a special die for a press brake is very expensive—we’re talking $1000 to $2000,” Vickery says.
So he and the Centerline team sug- gested a 3D-printed punch and die, but the customer believed that AM tools would not form its parts.
Centerline set about printing the punch and die via the Mark Two, using Markforged’s Onyx composite mate- rial, which boasts 1.4 times the
With cost and lead-time savings enabled by 3D printing, Centerline Engineered Solu- tions was able to meet customer requirements for production of a limited-run part via development and printing of a press-brake tool. Employing the technology, Centerline has printed everything from fixtures for inspection, welding and assembly to custom tooling and end-use parts shipped out to larger clients.
Fabrication: Press-Brake Tooling
strength and stiffness of ABS plastic material, according to company offi- cials. In producing the tools, Center- line personnel paused printing mid-
way through to reinforce critical points with steel inserts, then continued. The resulting tools provided a pleasant surprise for the customer, as, backed
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