Increased availability for the benefit of the customer

The German plant manufacturer TARTLER produces components and mixers using 3D printing

For quite some time now, engineers at the German TARTLER GROUP have been utilizing additive manufacturing methods to enhance the flexibility and accelerate the pace of their development processes. The company’s customers benefit from this through significantly improved availability of structural components, spare parts, and specialized components. What this entails in concrete terms can be illustrated by the example of a new synthetic resin mixer, in the rapid realization of which the stereolithography (SLA) process played a pioneering role.

Fresh from the SLA bath: Using stereolithography, TARTLER manufactures prototypes of synthetic resin mixers within just a few hours. These can then be used directly for development and evaluation purposes.

Thanks to its extensive range of machinery and systems for synthetic resin processing, the TARTLER GROUP serves as an attractive technology partner for manufacturers of components made from thermosetting polymers, silicones, as well as CFRP, GFRP, and composite materials. To enhance the flexibility and speed of its development processes, the company has long utilized various additive layer-building techniques — methods now classified under the umbrella of industrial 3D printing. Specifically, these include Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) and Stereolithography (SLA). While FDM technology at TARTLER has proven particularly effective for producing mechanically robust brackets, fasteners, adapters, and housing components, Stereolithography plays an increasingly vital role in the development of geometrically complex and intricate parts. “For us, additive manufacturing bridges the gap between the initial CAD model, early functional prototypes, and the final production solution. It offers us significant creative freedom in developing custom-specific components and enables the cost-effective production of complex parts that would be impossible to realize through conventional mechanical machining. Furthermore, it paves the way for material-efficient lightweight design solutions,” says Lukas Tartler, who shares responsibility for Research and Development at TARTLER.

From idea to series production—fast: The image shows the developed mixer (left), fully assembled and ready for use on the mixing head.

Time Savings as a Decisive Added Value

When TARTLER recently embarked on the development of a new, customer-specific mixer type, stereolithography once again took center stage. In line with the iterative phases of project progress, such undertakings previously required the conventional production — specifically via injection molding, including toolmaking — of numerous samples and prototypes. This process was both costly and time-consuming. Today, TARTLER engineers can produce ready-to-use mixer sleeves and augers on their stereolithography system within just a few hours and subsequently subject them to practical testing — continuing until the optimal design is achieved. “The decisive added value of additive manufacturing lies less in the substitution of traditional plant components and more in the speed with which we can translate both our own ideas and our customers’ suggestions into functional prototypes. This translates into significantly shorter development times, greater flexibility, rapid feedback to the design department, and much earlier validation of customer-specific solutions,” says Lukas Tartler. This latest project once again highlighted the distinct advantage of SLA technology: particularly for components of high geometric complexity—where precision in detail and fine surface finishes are critical requirements (a category to which synthetic resin mixers undoubtedly belong) — this technology ensures their rapid physical availability. Iteration cycles become shorter, all necessary tests and evaluations can be conducted on short notice, and the entire product development process reaches its goal much faster. “Furthermore, it is a welcome benefit for the customer that, instead of merely viewing a CAD rendering, they can now inspect a tangible physical component within a matter of hours,” emphasizes Lukas Tartler.

“Mixing is possible”: TARTLER develops and manufactures the optimal disposable mixer for virtually every scenario in synthetic resin processing.

FDM Supports Process Optimization

While TARTLER primarily utilizes stereolithography within the scope of its development work, Fused Deposition Modeling is now routinely employed to optimize internal applications. “Using FDM, we can manufacture numerous tools and components — both as one-off pieces and in small batches — very quickly and cost-effectively, thereby significantly enhancing the quality of our operational workflows,” reports Lukas Tartler. In many instances, TARTLER’s customers benefit from this in the form of simplified and accelerated processes during production, assembly, and the commissioning of their dosing, mixing, and application systems.
Fundamentally, TARTLER’s work is characterized by a high degree of innovative spirit and customer orientation. This is evident not only in the use of additive manufacturing processes and the regular introduction of new solutions for synthetic resin processing, but also in an expanding portfolio of services — such as remote maintenance, spare parts supply, maintenance and modification services, and the Site Acceptance Test (SAT), which is performed when a machine is commissioned directly on-site at the user’s facility.