Hybrids on the up

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Cost considerations

Graw points out that any form of AM machinery remains prohibitively expensive for many manufacturing companies, with metal based units typically costing between €500,000 and €1.5m. However there are operational costs savings can go some way to justifying the price tag for hybrid machines, particularly in terms of maintenance, power and space utilisation if they replace two previously separate units.

Prices will inevitably come down as more hybrid technology comes to market and suppliers build them in greater quantities, with the cost of the required lasers proving a particular challenge.

“Volume will obviously help but if you look at the majority of [hybrid] machines now most use lasers as the main power source and that is the single most expensive component by a significant margin. As those [laser] prices drop the technology becomes more affordable,” says Jones.

“AM will always be several times more expensive and much more time consuming,” says Graw. “Hybrid machines, just as any other AM technology, will only be relevant in this environment if manufacturing costs improve significantly, which is not going to happen very fast.”

Upgrading CAD/CAM applications used in the design process could also help to reduce costs by optimising hybrid machine tool manufacturing processes, and HMT is currently collaborating with Delcam and other software vendors to embed more intelligence into their applications.

“Most CAD/CAM solutions do not anticipate that you can add anything, and as a result they function in same way as they do for milling,” says Jones. “They start with a big block and then do whatever to start cutting away at it. Putting more intelligence in that software so that it looks at things from more holistic standpoint means you could start with half the bullet size and save on machining time.”

One way for manufacturers to make the initial capital outlay on hybrid machine tooling technology more palatable is to retrofit existing milling units with hybrid features.

In the US, the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining is currently working with companies including Lockheed Martin and Benet Labs to evaluate whether retrofitting additive capabilities to a legacy Fadal 4020 milling machine can result in lower costs for smaller manufacturers.

“Starting as a retrofit allows an incremental capital investment that allows you to add in the laser and the power mill rather than buy the whole thing new, which is probably the best way to adopt it [hybrid machine technology] right now,” says Jones, who believes that the retrofit approach will ultimately drive sales of dedicated hybrid machine tools.

“But let’s be frank, a retrofit solution is rarely as good a purpose built machine for anything. I have a lot of customers coming to me and saying they are going to retrofit a machine, and if it goes well they will buy a new one”, he adds.

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