Jul 16 2014
Hurco Companies, Inc. today announced the company recently filed a U.S. patent application for new technology combining 3D printing and CNC machining.
"We designed an additive manufacturing adapter that, in combination with proprietary Hurco control software, effectively turns a CNC milling machine into a 3D printer," said Gregory Volovic, President of Hurco Companies, Inc. "Hurco has a long history of inventing technology that allows our customers to be more productive and profitable. This is yet another Hurco innovation making advanced technology accessible to a broad range of customers. With this new additive manufacturing capability, users may go from print to plastic prototype to finished metal part on one machine without repeated set-ups and without multiple prototyping utilizing costly metals and raw material," explained Volovic.
This additive manufacturing technology permits Hurco machine tools to achieve 3D printing directly on the machine tool without the need for a separate 3D printer. Hurco is working on expanding its invention to include other additive manufacturing processes.
"We recently filed a utility patent application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office describing and claiming a variety of novel features of our 3D printing technology. Our control technology will provide our customers speed and ease of use in performing CNC-based, 3D printing and prototyping. With our new next generation control technology debuting at the International Machine Tool Show in Chicago later this year, Hurco is very excited to be introducing not only a new look for our products and our new CNC machine control, but also innovative capabilities not found on other CNC machines," said Volovic.
Hurco Companies, Inc. is an industrial technology company that designs and produces interactive computer controls, software and computerized machine tools and machine tool components for the worldwide metal cutting and metal forming industry. The end market for the Company's products consists primarily of independent job shops and short-run manufacturing operations within large corporations in industries such as aerospace, defense, medical equipment, energy, transportation and computer equipment. The Company is based in Indianapolis, Indiana, with manufacturing operations in Taiwan, Italy, and China, and sells its products through direct and indirect sales forces throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. The Company has sales, application engineering support and service subsidiaries in China, England, France, Germany, India, Italy, Poland, Singapore, South Africa and the United States of America. Web Site: www.hurco.com
Source: http://www.hurco.com/