A 3D-printed drone stands outdoors in front of a sign that reads PMRobotics. Drones are one of the fastest-growing industries in manufacturing, no matter how you look at it. However, unlike other high-growth industries worldwide, the competitive landscape is highly fragmented. While some massive companies, like California-based DJI and Skydio, dominate the market, hundreds of smaller and medium-sized drone manufacturers are creating their own niche.

PMRobotics, a Swiss drone manufacturer, is part of the growing trend of small, independent manufacturers gaining attention and growth in the industry. Their success is partly due to their use of Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) 3D printing technology, from functional components to production aids and prototyping.

We spoke with co-founder Niklaus Hagen about how working with Formlabs and its Swiss partner 3D-EDU made integrating the Fuse series SLS printer ecosystem so easy, and how these printers helped them reduce the development time for their next drone model from almost three years to just nine months.

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Maintaining low operating costs is essential for maintaining market attractiveness.

Integrating automation tools into workflows yields rapid returns on production efficiency. However, these machines require specialized tooling and extensive tweaking to ensure compatibility with new products and successive improvements. This is where SLS 3D printing offers PMRobotics an advantage.

Getting a new drone airborne, or even bringing it to market, might seem like an almost impossible task for a small company. Producing high-performance drones requires significant investment and expertise in software programming, hardware design and development, and manufacturing capabilities. Recognizing this, Hagen invested in building a team of highly skilled professionals and, where assistance was needed, utilized automated machinery.

“The development, design, and manufacturing are all done 100% in-house. I try to use automated versions whenever possible, so I only need to increase staff when necessary,” he said.

Enabling automated machinery to continuously adapt to new designs and updates requires an agile manufacturing approach. With automation at the heart of his business model, Hagen needed to find ways to make these adaptations happen smoothly without placing an undue burden on his small team.

“In the past, we used to glue together small, complex frame components made from machined wood and fiberglass. For our CNC machines, we have a lot of these assemblies that need to be fine-tuned to fit, or require gluing together many small mounting pieces,” he recalled.

Manual production to support prototyping, testing, and manufacturing made developing new drone models take months. Hagen therefore introduced 3D printing technology to accelerate the design process. However, his first printer, using Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) technology , couldn't produce parts with the required strength and surface quality. They needed a solution that combined the ease of use and accessibility of FDM with the reliability and quality of industrial-grade components.

After visiting the 3D-EDU showroom and trying out the Fuse Series, they decided to implement SLS technology within their company.

“In recent years, there hasn't been much significant development in the FDM sector, but with SLS, the development has been incredibly rapid. When we started 3D printing nine years ago, it was hard to imagine that we would be able to have our own SLS printer in our workshop at this price.”
Niklaus Hagen, co-owner, PMRobotics

Since implementing the SLS system in-house, PMRobotics has utilized the printer to improve its operations through the production of custom manufacturing aids, functional prototyping, and the manufacturing of functional components.

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Custom manufacturing equipment

This CNC jig serves to securely hold metal parts in place during the milling process, improving the accuracy of the CNC machine and avoiding costly damage or inaccuracies.

A clamping gauge with a lever and locking pin is mounted on the fourth axis of the milling machine to ensure optimal milling performance.

Adapting automated tooling to new products and processes requires fasteners, grips, fixtures, and other components that can be rapidly manufactured to high durability and precision. Because PMRobotics relies on complex automated machinery, they need to be able to design parts that fit seamlessly and accurately into existing equipment. The Fuse Series Nylon 12 GF powder-coated parts have optimal dimensional tolerances, making this possible.

“With the Fuse [1+ 30W], there are so many possible applications, whether it’s an adapter for vacuum suction tubing [of a vacuum table], clamping gauges, production gauges, production equipment, aids, brackets, or small details on our CNC machines,” Hagen said.

With a team of only six people, all effort should be focused on designing and manufacturing functional drones, rather than refining the tooling used to produce them. Having a rapid in-house manufacturing process allows designers to dedicate their time to higher-value tasks. Every team member can identify problems in their daily work and send parts for immediate printing, so they can be fixed with readily available jigs, brackets, tubing, or accessories within a single day.

“With Fuse, I can solve everyday problems with great flexibility. For example, I built my own vacuum table for our KUKA robot using large air tubes. Instead of spending hours searching for fittings and then ordering them, I could design it myself in CAD and have the tube fittings with quick-release locks ready the next day, exactly as I wanted,” Hagen said.

Rapid and practical prototyping helps shorten production time.

A key advantage of scaling up production with SLS technology instead of FDM is the increased capability of parts. Idea generation, prototyping, testing, and low-volume production can be achieved using the same technology, printing parameters, and materials, shortening development time and improving the reliability of initial results.

A customer order for a large target drone, used for defense training, had a shorter delivery time than the PMRobotics team was accustomed to. The development process for multiple components coincided with functional testing and outsourcing some parts, adding four days to the schedule for each order or modification.

For their next order, they implemented the Fuse Series ecosystem and began printing parts at night. Work time was spent testing functional parts and making design revisions, while the printers continuously produced parts every night without any waiting time. This reduced the overall development time by 30%.

“In the same amount of time that others would spend ordering and waiting for parts, I was able to install that part perfectly with Fuse. Others would take six or seven weeks for this, but I only took one week. Thanks to our in-house workflow, I saved three-quarters of a year in development time compared to outsourcing.”
Niklaus Hagen, co-owner, PMRobotics

Takeoff using real-world components from the Fuse Series.

Once the PMRobotics team completed the design and testing of their model, they were able to seamlessly move into production, printing all the drone's plastic parts using the same Nylon 12 GF powder used in the prototyping phase. To support a batch order of eight units, the PMRobotics team leveraged the manufacturing capabilities of the Fuse Series.

“Fuse is running almost all day, with the print room always full and a 30% higher sorting density… The printer is worth every penny from this single product, because we wouldn’t be able to get the job done so quickly and professionally without the Fuse [1+ 30W].”
Niklaus Hagen, co-owner, PMRobotics

Having Fuse Series within the company also provides the team with the flexibility to take on high-revenue side projects that leverage Fuse Series' expertise in 3D design and 3D printing, as well as its ability to manufacture functional parts.

Other profitable side projects have emerged from the team's success in drone manufacturing. More recently, the Fuse Series and Nylon 12 GF powder have been applied to ground-based work for the reproduction of intake manifolds in classic car engines. SLS 3D printing technology is an ideal solution for antique or classic designs where molds or manufacturing tooling may no longer exist. With the Fuse Series, Hagen can print manifolds with the necessary chemical and temperature resistance.

“The intake manifold is constantly exposed to engine heat and fuel vapors from the fuel injection system. Compared to FDM, the Fuse Series provides a more uniform and homogeneous material with sufficient thermal stability. Furthermore, it is also resistant to fuel,” Hagen stated.

During prototyping, manufacturing aids, end-tools for automated machinery, and production of functional components, the Fuse Series enabled PMRobotics to achieve a near-immediate return on investment (ROI). Supplemental projects, such as engine manifolds, can generate new revenue streams for PMRobotics without significantly increasing the workload for the team.

“We can easily print custom solutions. It’s cheaper, and most importantly, faster. The Fuse 1+ 30W is the simplest printer we have. There’s nothing to adjust, nothing that can go wrong. That’s what I like most about Formlabs systems—it’s practical and reliable,” said Hagen.

	Specifications of the Formlab Form4 SLA machine. click Check price click
	Specifications for Formlab Fuse 1+ 30W SLS. click Check price click

References

https://formlabs.com/blog/drone-production-fuse-series-sls-3d-printing/