A trend emerged at the formnext show held in Frankfurt Germany in November. A number of newer vendors entered the 3D printing / additive manufacturing market with machines geared more for manufacturing production.
One of these machines was the MetalFAB1 from Additive Industries. Calling it an industrial 3D metal printing system, Additive Industries claims its machine offers substantially improved performance over typical midrange systems. The industrial grade additive manufacturing machine and integrated Additive World software platform will deliver up to a tenfold reproducibility, productivity and flexibility, said company executives.
The performance is achieved through a robust and thermally optimized equipment design, smart feedback control and calibration strategies, elimination of waiting time and automation of build plate and product handling. The modular design of the MetalFAB1 system allows customer- and application-specific process configuration. Multiple build chambers with individual integrated powder handling systems means this industrial 3D printer combines up to four materials in one single machine.
It can be equipped with a maximum of four full field lasers, which can eliminate the need for stitching when printing large objects. MetalFAB1 also includes a furnace for integrated stress relief heat treatment. One of the build envelop’s is 420 x 420 x 400 mm.
Additive Industries will start its Beta test program next month and four Beta machines have been reserved by customers from markets like aerospace, high tech equipment and tooling. ‘We are eager to work closely together with our Beta customers. We will team up to further develop the process, new materials and applications as well as testing the performance to substantially improve the business cases of our customers’, said Daan Kersten, co-founder and CEO of Additive Industries.
