Desktop Metal’s Radical Technology Collision: The S-Max Flex

The new device combines technologies from Desktop Metal and ExOne to produce an inexpensive sand 3D printer.

The S-Max Flex sand 3D printer [Source: Desktop Metal]

Desktop Metal announced a very unusual 3D printer: the S-Max Flex.

This is a new device that combines technologies from Desktop Metal and their recent acquisition, ExOne to produce an inexpensive sand 3D printer.

Sand 3D printers are used by industry to produce molds capable of holding molten metal for casting. This enables foundries to produce parts with geometries impossible to make using conventional and expensive traditional molds.

The new S-Max Flex doesn’t actually look like a typical 3D printer. Instead of a “box”, it’s a robotic system with a massive print head that moves along a pile of sand, jetting out binder that fuses sand particles together.

This is where it gets interesting. ExOne produced sand 3D printers in the past prior to the acquisition, but it seems that the two companies have combined technologies. Desktop Metal explains:

“The new S-Max Flex combines ExOne’s sand printing expertise in process and materials with proprietary Desktop Metal SPJ technology in an affordable architecture to deliver new value to foundries that have long wanted an S-Max but found the premium price out of reach.”

“SPJ” is Desktop Metal’s Single Pass Jetting technology. It’s previously been used in the company’s metal Production System, which by the way has recently hit the market.

The S-Max Flex sand 3D printer [Source: Desktop Metal]

SPJ is a variation of the well-known binder jet process. Binder jetting typically involves several passes over the print surface: depositing fresh powder; flattening the powder with a roller; selectively depositing liquid binder; post deposition treatments.

However, SPJ is an ingenious approach where all of these steps are combined into a single mechanical pass. This makes the printing far faster because each pass does soak up print time, particularly when you realize a part might require hundreds of layers to complete. Desktop metal produced an excellent SPJ overview you might want to review.

The new S-Max Flex incorporates SPJ in its sand printing process, making able to 3D print sand objects far more quickly. You can see the device in action in this video (note how fast it runs):

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