Lines Manufacturing Is Combining Large Format and High Speed in Its Industrial 3D Printer

Founded in 2019, French start-up Lines Manufacturing intends to make its mark on the large-format additive manufacturing market with its Lines SONIC solution. The special feature of this FGF machine is the printing speed it can achieve, even on large volumes, without sacrificing precision. In this way, the manufacturer aims to meet the challenges of plastics and composites manufacturers by offering a flexible, competitive solution capable of mass-producing up to several thousand large parts per year per machine. This new “series” approach goes beyond the traditional use of large-format additive manufacturing, which is generally confined to prototyping, enabling the benefits of 3D printing to be deployed on a larger scale. The first machine deliveries are scheduled to begin in 2025, following several years of industrial trials, including those carried out for one of the leaders in connected mobility, OPmobility (formerly Plastic Omnium) as early as 2022.

When it comes to large-format 3D printing, the trade-off between part size and quality is often a major challenge. The larger the part, the longer the printing time. Reducing this time often means sacrificing the quality of the final part by depositing thick, coarse layers. What’s more, mastering large-format additive manufacturing requires specific knowledge, as machine set-up is crucial to avoid defects that can be costly, both in terms of money and time. This is where Lines Manufacturing can provide an industrial solution and proven know-how to meet these challenges.

The Lines SONIC machine

Large-Format Additive Manufacturing Without Compromise

According to Lines, its SONIC machine is 10 to 100 times faster than current solutions, while offering a standard print volume of 3,000 x 2,500 x 2,500 mm. In fact, printing speed can reach 2,000 mm per second (2m/s), with material deposition of up to 80 kg per hour, all while maintaining fine layer heights (from 0.4mm). These specifications are quite unique when compared with other large-scale additive manufacturing systems, and reflect Lines’ ambition to offer a genuine production solution capable of high production rates. Lines SONIC uses a polymer pellet extrusion process specifically developed and patented by the company.