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I was at IMTS that year and looked into this stuff a good bit.

This is a neat tool with limited applications, imo.

This and other hybrid machines have the same flaw.

Pay the price of two advanced machines, but get the utilization of one!

While it's depositing material, it isn't removing it. While it's removing material, it isn't depositing it.

The other flaw in systems like this is that if you're setting this machine up to do nothing but additive parts - you only need the horsepower and rigidity for semi-finishing and finishing machining operations. You're not doing any hogging anymore, so why waste money investing in a machine with the balls and tons to take it? There are outfits like DMS ( Hybrid | Diversified Machine Systems ) who make a dedicated hybrid that's a little more lighter duty than, say, buying some new Okuma M560V and strapping a wire feeder and power supply to it. That streamlines the cost there.

But still... other than floor space, it doesn't make sense to me. Get a real mill, set it next to an additive machine, both machines won't cost much more than a hybrid machine and now you can optimize throughput and utilization. Especially if your finish machining takes 45 minutes per part, and the deposition takes 10 hours. At least with the mill being separate, it can run other jobs between buffer loads of near-net additive parts.

I dunno, maybe someone else could make a better case for the hybrid machines for me.
 
JNieman makes some good points regarding working with a hybrid machine. Also, often parts done in multi-axis additive need to be stress relieved before final machining.

However, there are practical uses for the hybrid machine
(1) Repair work. Perhaps milling some areas of a part, performing additive to fill the areas back in, then finish machining.
(2) Build - cut alternating strategies. I know someone doing this with the DMS machine.
(3) Floor space was mentioned. Mounting the additive head to a small CNC, and shipping it overseas for military use in the field. There are "loopholes" in the rules when the part is manufactured outside the U.S. Here shop hours may not be so important.

For a similar retrofit - also look at ▷ Metal Additive Manufacturing |【 Meltio Solutions 】
 








 
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