Exeter-based Rapid Fusion has installed a \u00a3450k Zeus Robotic Cell at Kingston University’s Faculty of Engineering, Computing and the Environment.<\/p>\n
The manufacturing platform combines 3D printing with integrated CNC milling in one modular system, giving researchers and industrial partners access to seamless additive and subtractive manufacturing at the Roehampton Vale campus.<\/p>\n
The system will reduce outsourcing, streamline production and improve repeatable quality, making it ideal for prototyping work and low-volume complex components.<\/p>\n
Jake Hand, chief executive of Rapid Fusion, said: “Zeus will provide staff, partners and grads with the opportunity to ‘print, scan and mill’ in one solution, removing a whole host of secondary ‘ops’ and, importantly, guaranteeing exacting tolerances as you are removing manually inputting the CNC toolpath.”<\/p>\n
The company, which supplies its solutions to customers in four continents, is making a longer-term commitment to offer work placements, potential Knowledge Transfer Partnership opportunities and input into the future curriculum.<\/p>\n
Hand said there is a real skills gap in the UK for robotics and 3D printing experts. “We need to do our bit to train budding engineers on equipment and tech that is going to be used in the world real now and during the next ten years,” he said.<\/p>\n
This is the first time Rapid Fusion has put the system into a university.<\/p>\n
The company says it has been pioneering large format additive manufacturing robotic solutions for the last five years, developing and launching Apollo, Medusa and the containerised Cerberus solution for producing parts in remote areas.<\/p>\n
The Zeus system delivers smoother surfaces, tighter tolerances and post machined features directly by introducing subtractive accuracy to the scale and speed of additive.<\/p>\n
Lesley Stigling, operations manager at Kingston University, said: “One of our graduates, Raghav, went to work with Rapid Fusion and insisted we meet. That quickly led to us acquiring the Zeus system, which gives us a competitive edge in large-format additive manufacturing and machining.”<\/p>\n
Stigling added: “Our undergraduates and postgraduates will learn on this state-of-the-art robot, giving them the hands-on experience and skills that employers want, and a head start in the graduate job market.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Deal includes placements and curriculum input to train next generation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":48713,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,50204,120903],"coauthors":[160],"class_list":["post-48710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news","category-technology","category-universities-and-business","tag-devon","tag-featured-story"],"yoast_head":"\n