Breakthrough technology promises to halve production times
By Simon Hacker | 17th November 2023
Gloucestershire's global technology giant Renishaw PLC has launched TEMPUS technology - which enables users of its metal additive manufacturing (AM) systems to halve build times.
The reduction on production time by up to 50% also brings no impact on part quality, says the maker, whose headquarters are at Wotton-under-Edge, with further facilities in Woodchester and Stonehouse.
Louise Callanan, Renishaw Director of AM said: "Reducing cost per part is critical to the wider adoption of AM technology.

"The dominant contributing factor to part cost for most components today is the time spent building the part on the machine itself. Reducing the amount of machine time per part therefore results in more cost-effective production."
On the timing for bringing TEMPUS technology and the new RenAM 500 Ultra system to the market, Ms Callanan added: "We believe the time and cost savings that both TEMPUS technology and the RenAM 500 Ultra system bring will open AM up to mass production applications where the technology would previously have been unviable. Meanwhile, these innovations will deliver crucial productivity gains for AM users who want full-scale production at the lowest cost per part."
Alongside this new technology, Renishaw has launched the latest update in its RenAM 500 series of metal AM systems. TEMPUS technology is standard fitment with the new RenAM 500 Ultra system, as well as advanced process monitoring software.
A spokesman said: "The combination of significantly reduced build times and detailed build insights means that the RenAM 500 Ultra delivers cost-effective, reliable additive manufacturing for metal component production.
"While traditional powder bed systems require the powder recoater to fully distribute powder before the layer can be consolidated, with TEMPUS technology, the lasers can fire at the same time as the recoater is moving.
"The patented technology employs seamless communication between advanced software and hardware components to synchronise the system lasers with the powder recoater, removing up to nine seconds of build time from every layer."

With builds frequently containing thousands of layers, this can reduce total build times by tens of hours. Yet crucially, Renishaw said, there is no reduction in part quality.
The technology uses advanced scanning algorithms that sequence the layer data in a way that maximises productivity while maintaining part quality.
"The optimisation suits some part geometries more than others, but all geometries can see some productivity benefits. Those parts with thin, vertical features, for example, are likely to experience proportionally higher productivity savings."
Existing RenAM 500 series customers are now able to access TEMPUS technology as a paid-for upgrade, helping them to make the most of their machine investment. For uses in consumer electronics and computing, Renishaw has meanwhile entered into an exclusive partnership agreement with metal component expert Alloyed, which has been using TEMPUS technology since 2021.
● For more information on Renishaw's additive manufacturing systems, visit 'Metal 3D printing' at www.renishaw.com.
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