AVENCO 3D Thermoplastic system installed at Hacettepe University — LFAM for research and teaching

Istanbul-based AVENCO Robotics & Automation announced that Hacettepe University’s Material Science Department in Ankara has procured its AVENCO 3D Thermoplastic system — a large-format additive manufacturing (LFAM) cell built around a KUKA industrial robot and programmed with ENCY. The stated purpose: research in 3D printing technologies, and giving students and researchers hands-on experience with robotic manufacturing systems.

The cell.
Robot: KUKA industrial arm.
End effector: AVENCO pellet-fed thermoplastic extruder head with active cooling, mounted vertically on the robot flange.
Material handling: stainless-steel material dryer / hopper feeding the extruder — pellets in, printable melt out.
Control: KUKA controller cabinet, KUKA smartPAD for teach and jog.
Toolpaths: robot additive programming with ENCY, tuned per geometry and material.

Why LFAM in an academic lab.
A robot-on-a-hopper cell like this trades the compact envelope of a gantry printer for near-unlimited reach and the ability to attach different end effectors — extruder today, milling spindle tomorrow. That flexibility is exactly the point for a materials department: it’s a research platform, not a single-purpose machine. Students see the full stack — polymer selection, pellet drying, extrusion, toolpath strategy, robot kinematics — on one bench.

What’s printing in the shot.
The pilot part visible in AVENCO’s post is a tall, twisted, fluted geometry in cream-coloured polypropylene (PP) — a shape that stresses interlayer adhesion, wall printing consistency, and toolpath continuity on a curving vertical surface. A pencil note on the print bed marks it as “NAHIT PP” — a working test piece, not a finished exhibit.