14 DAY TRIAL // There are many types of filters used in the world, like basket filters, duplex filters, vacuum filters, cone filters, screen filters, even cylinder filters.
It's not that easy to make new shapes though, at least not the type that can be easily and affordably mass produced afterwards. Perforated plate, woven wire mesh, and expanded metal filters just don't lend themselves to customization all that well.
A UK-based firm called Croft Filters has always known this, but that doesn't mean it didn't think of checking out other potential manufacturing methods.
Case in point, the company has introduced 3D printed filters, leading to new shapes, even combinations of the above, as the attached photo will show.
Sure, Croft Filters had to invest £500,000 / $815,000 / €641,000 in a Realizer SLM-250 additive manufacturing machine (metal 3D printers aren't cheap), but it should be worth it in the long run.
To make sure there is always someone working on 3D printed filter designs, Croft Filters created a sub-division called Croft Additive Manufacturing (CAM). CAM joined the Science and Technology Facilities Council CERN Business Incubation Centre (STFC CERN BIC) not long ago, and now collaborates with the UK’s Lancaster University on refining filter support geometry.
