November 3, 2022
Evonik is continuing its materials campaign in 3D printing. The specialty chemicals company is launching three new INFINAM photopolymers for industrial 3D applications expand the photo-resins product line launched last year for use in common UV-curing 3D printing processes such as SLA or DLP. With a total of seven new photopolymer formulations, Evonik has diversified the additive manufacturing material landscape in less than two years. Photopolymers product line continues to grow INFINAM RG 2000L is a photo resin for the demanding eyewear industry. The clear liquid formulation cures quickly and is easy to process. A low yellowing index – even after prolonged UV irradiation – not only makes the high-performance material attractive for additively manufactured eyewear frames, but it is also suitable for applications such as microfluidic reactors or transparent high-end prototypes for observing the inner workings of complex assemblies. The excellent light transmission of INFINAM RG 2000 L also opens up further applications such as lenses, light guides, and illumination covers. INFINAM RG 7100 L was specially developed for DLP printers and enables the…
November 2, 2022
Capral introduces LocAl®, a lower-carbon primary aluminium option available across Capral's locally manufactured extruded aluminium products. Providing Australian manufacturers access to cleaner, greener, more sustainable aluminium for their projects. The LocAl offer includes two lower carbon aluminium options: LocAl Green with carbon emissions of 8kg CO2e/kg Al* and LocAl Super Green at 4kg CO2e/kg Al* - amongst the lowest carbon aluminium available globally. In 2022, Capral committed to reaching Net Zero emissions by 2050, a significant step change, driving rapid innovation and cultural evolution throughout the business, most notably within procurement and operations. The introduction of LocAl demonstrates a deliberate shift in Capral's procurement strategy for primary aluminium billet. Luke Hawkins, General Manager of Supply & Industrial Solutions, said this is a strategic change for Capral, “driven by our desire to make lower Carbon aluminium accessible to Australian manufacturers. The market is looking for this product, and as Australia's largest extruder of aluminium, we must make it available. In 2022, 22% of the primary aluminium billet Capral uses in its eight local extrusion presses had a carbon content lower than eight kilograms CO2e per kilogram…
November 2, 2022
Conflux Technology has released its first product - an ultra-high-performing Water Charge Air Cooler (WCAC). Conflux Technology has used its rich and extensive knowledge in additive manufactured (AM) heat exchangers to deliver a premium WCAC product that rivals and out-performs other leading WCACs, applicable to motorsport and high-end automotive markets. As AM technology advances, industry leaders are recognising the complementary power of digital inventory and mass customisation. “The Conflux WCAC embodies how we deliver what motorsport and elite automakers ask for – a definitive performance advantage. A product is rapidly configured to our customer’s prioritisation of performance, size, and packaging requirements. AM lets us supply the WCAC with low lead time and competitively priced.” says Dan Woodford, Chief Product Officer at Conflux. This technologically advanced product has already made an impact in European motorsport circles as the superior WCAC; consistently eliciting demonstrable enthusiasm from leaders in the field over its fine features, incredible geometry, and highly competitive pricing. Conflux Products deliver industry-leading performance; are scalable and configurable to unique boundary conditions, performance, and packaging requirements. "I am really excited about the product roadmap for…
October 31, 2022
Leading materials handling manufacturer Enmin is manufacturing electromagnetic drives in Australia. These drives offer a unique handling method for controlling the flow of food products, ingredients, and bulk material. Products can be screened, sized, or accurately metered to ensure a smooth, uniform, and fully variable flow. With minimal moving parts, next to no ongoing maintenance, and low energy consumption it’s a reliable, low-cost method of product handling. The drives are designed and constructed to meet the rigorous requirements of the food and pharmaceutical industries such as maximum hygiene, ease of cleaning, and continuous 24/7 operation. The cyclic operation is controlled by a range of electronic controllers that will vary the feeding rate in a manner to suit the specific application enabling high-speed filling coupled with pinpoint accuracy. The controllers are available in different enclosures or as standalone for incorporation into central panels. As production lines evolve and other components are updated to achieve higher throughput, older and less efficient drives cannot match the required capacity increase. “Fitting one of our new generation drives will ensure that a higher conveying speed can be achieved to…
October 26, 2022
Australian manufacturers will now gain access to a ground-breaking new composite 3D printer at the Swinburne University of Technology, from global market leader Markforged. The Markforged FX20 printer is primarily designed for high-strength end-use parts in the aerospace, defense, automotive and energy industries. The FX20 prints nearly five times larger builds and is up to eight times faster than Markforged's existing line of composite printers. The FX20 printer at Swinburne’s Aerostructures Innovation Research Hub (AIR Hub) will be the first and only FX20 printer openly accessible to industry in Australia for use in research and development, helping promote new aerospace development and support the continued growth of the sector locally. It also features a heated build chamber capable of maintaining a temperature of up to 200°C to print flame-retardant, high-performance thermoplastic material. Shai Terem, President and CEO of Markforged, hosted the Australian launch of the FX20 3D printer at Swinburne’s Hawthorn campus as part of a three-city launch tour in Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney. “With this combination of hardware and software, users can create end-use, mission-critical parts and build resilient and sustainable supply chains that extend directly…
October 26, 2022
Hybrid Systems Australia has unveiled its new rapidly deployable stand-alone power system (RD-SPS) at the All-Energy Expo in Melbourne. The award-winning SPS experts have delivered a new skid-mounted system comprising the latest solar PV technology, batteries and backup diesel generator that can provide energy to customers in under an hour from delivery. The modular design, manufactured and engineered in Western Australia, uses the same platform that has been successfully installed at more than 110 sites across Western Australia and can be combined with rapidly deployable PV arrays, existing PV installations or temporary ground-mount arrays of up to 36 kW peak. The system also incorporates the company’s new Hybrid Integrated Power System (HIPSTM), an outdoor-rated enclosure that contains the battery inverters, solar charge controller, battery and control system, which has been designed with 24/7 remote operation in mind. Mike Hall, Executive Director for Hybrid Systems Australia, said the company is pleased to introduce an innovative SPS solution to the market that can be operated remotely, transported, and installed very quickly, and that is proven to operate effectively in some of Australia’s harshest conditions. “It’s a…
October 19, 2022
Technofast Founder and CEO John Bucknell began innovating with farming technology, before applying similar principles to create Technofast’s hydraulic tensioning technology now used globally by mining, sugar, cement, food processing, quarrying and other applications. Another Australian farmer is following in the footsteps of the inventors of the stump-jump plough by achieving international renown for his ingenuity for down-to-earth solutions for problems encountered by producers globally. Queensland farmer John Bucknell’s hydraulic bolts are now used around the world in applications such as nuclear reactors, boilers, turbines and mining and energy equipment where speed, accuracy and even, precise fastening of multiple sets of bolts is required. The idea originally stemmed from his desire to find a quicker and more secure way to fasten bolts used to tighten gang bolts on large disc ploughs on his family’s property near Nindigully, Queensland (about 500km west of Brisbane). Just like brothers Richard and Clarence Smith of Yorke Peninsula who invented the stump jump plough in 1876 to allow farmers to cultivate land without removing rocks and stumps, John used his disc plough to break in new country, ready for…
October 17, 2022
Vehicles used in mining and remote area transport are subjected to some of the harshest conditions and usage imaginable. They need to be built extra tough, have improved ground clearance, improved gross vehicle mass (GVM), and be super reliable to meet the extraordinary off-road demands of remote and difficult terrain travel. Based in Carrum Downs Victoria, EnduroCo provides 4x4 conversions for the Toyota Hiace and Toyota Coaster buses and vans. These vehicles offer the perfect 4x4 minibus or van transport solution for mining sites with the ability to traverse all harsh and difficult-to-navigate terrain in absolute safety and confidence. From the outback to sand and beach environments, whether it be for passenger transport, tourism, off-road ambulance, disaster recovery, search and rescue or even law enforcement vehicles, the EnduroCo 4x4 conversions provide the build quality, reliability, comfort and affordability which has been tried, tested and manufactured to withstand the harshest Australian conditions. EnduroCo’s impressive customer list includes mining operators such as BHP, BMA, Golding, Harmony Gold PNG, Glencore and Thiess. All the components for the EnduroCo 4x4 conversions have been designed locally by EnduroCo…
October 13, 2022
Australian industry will soon have access to an innovative cutting tool manufacturing platform, thanks to a research collaboration between leading tool manufacturer ANCA and Australia’s national science agency CSIRO. The nine-month project costing just under $1m, which is supported by the Innovative Manufacturing Cooperative Research Centre (IMCRC), is developing a new additive manufacturing (3D printing) process for tungsten-carbide tools. The additive manufacturing technology will enable affordable, high-performance tools to be manufactured using one platform, replacing the current production process of mould pressing, sintering, brazing, and grinding. Now in the advanced phase, the research is focused on refining the additive manufacturing technology ahead of ANCA taking the hybrid manufacturing platform to market. Dean McBain, Research & Technology Manager at ANCA, said the project had the potential to transform the way tungsten-carbide brazed insert tools were made in Australia and across the world. “ANCA’s collaboration with IMCRC and CSIRO has accelerated the development of an innovative additive manufacturing technology which we believe has the potential to disrupt the $2.2bn global cutting tool market,” he said. “Successful completion of this project will allow ANCA to…
October 10, 2022
Established in 1966, Plucks Engineering Ltd (Plucks) is a second-generation family business that differentiates itself as a flexible, customer-centric agricultural manufacturing and repair engineering company. Ideally located in Rakaia between Christchurch and Ashburton in New Zealand, Plucks is perfectly poised to deliver overnight – if not the same day – and their workshop designs and develops fast, flexible farm and heavy machinery. “We are firmly rooted in agriculture and specialise in the manufacture and repair of a vast range of agricultural machinery - ranging from cultivation, drilling, heavy water ballast land rollers, square bale feeders and general repairs of most agricultural machinery,” Neil Pluck, Managing Director for Plucks explains. “We produce a large range of dairy effluent products, ranging from concrete enviro saucers, pumps and rafts, effluent main lines, travelling effluent irrigators, pond stirrers, and dairy effluent screening equipment. Around 60 – 70% of what we do is focused on effluent.” Pluck says that the company looks for expertise, knowledge, and skill when searching for the ideal supplier. “We rely heavily on our suppliers to complete our product offering.” Pluck underpins the importance of suppliers’…
October 7, 2022
A specialist supplier of steel tube and pipe, Austube Mills, part of the InfraBuild Group, is benefitting from a low-maintenance, time-saving, and safe hydraulic clamping solution for its steel slitters at its Acacia Ridge plant in Queensland. Austube Mills Acacia Ridge, which has been manufacturing and producing steel solutions since 1984, installed Technofast EziTite clamp nuts, which provide reliable and precisely repeatable force, on its steel slitters to allow the rotating slitter blades to cut through kilometres of black steel. Once the steel is cut to width, it is shaped into rectangular, square or round tubes on tube rolling mills, which are subsequently used in a huge range of applications in industries such as construction, manufacturing, mining, transport, and agriculture. “The Technofast solution is not just more reliable – it’s safer, too,” says Austube Mills Manufacturing Superintendent, Michael Thomasson, who has been working with the company for more than 30 years, starting as a fitter, and holding roles such as maintenance planner, maintenance superintendent and manufacturing superintendent. He has a Mechanical Engineering Diploma and Graduate Diploma in Maintenance Management. “I remember the…
October 6, 2022
Spare Parts 3D (SP3D), with offices in Paris (HQ) and Singapore, has been helping companies adopt Additive Manufacturing (AM) in their supply chains as part of the solutions to address spare parts problems: spare parts obsolescence, long lead time, high cost of inventory, MOQ etc. AM adoption brings up multiple obstacles that can be overwhelming: incomplete part data (lack of dimensions, materials, drawings), lack of in-house AM knowledge, picking which part to print, estimating how much savings can be achieved, dealing with limited manpower, etc. Spare Parts 3D has developed DigiPART, a powerful AI-based software solution to facilitate the creation of Digital Inventory and enable the adoption of AM in industries. DigiPART identifies the parts that are technically 3D printable and those that make business sense, thus getting tangible results faster and creating value for your company and supply chain. It sifts through very large inventories, does not require drawings, and has been designed to operate with partial data set. Results are fully transparent and traceable. In last two years,…
September 26, 2022
Leading international welding equipment manufacturer, Kemppi, has released its new MIG/MAG MasterMig welding machine models 353 and 355. Designed in conjunction with professional welders, the new MasterMig range delivers a range of features to help enhance industrial welding productivity and quality. The 358 model is scheduled for release later this year. The new, compact and powerful Kemppi MasterMig range comes with Weld Assist as standard. This feature lets users set-up welding parameters quickly and easily to save time and improve productivity levels. By simply selecting the joint type, welding position, and material thickness, users are ready to weld. Equipped with memory channels, the MasterMig range also lets users save chosen parameters for fast retrieval. The ability to save customised settings means welders do not have to go through an initial setup for every job. At the turn of a knob, they can highlight the desired setting and proceed to weld. Highly convenient, this feature saves precious time, while helping to increase productivity. For greater welding productivity and control, the MasterMig 355 and 358 models can switch on the new MAX arc performance…
