"VELO3D's next-generation Sapphire 3D metal printer will have a vertical axis of 1 meter and will be the tallest laser-powder additive manufacturing machine," said a company spokesperson.
Digital manufacturing innovator VELO3D has announced its plans to launch a next-generation Sapphire industrial 3D metal printer with a vertical axis of 1 meter. The system will ship in Q4 2020, with precision tool and component manufacturer Knust-Godwin securing the first order to produce parts for an oil and gas application.
"Our vision at VELO3D is to enable end users to build whatever they want without the constraints of yesterday's standards," said Benny Buller, founder and CEO of VELO3D. "One of those constraints is the build envelope. A meter-tall system enables industrial applications that could not be built before, especially for oilfield service tools and flight hardware. Best of all, it will still utilize our patented SupportFree process, in-situ calibration and process control for quality assurance."
The immediate part opportunity that Knust-Godwin will address with the meter-tall Sapphire printer is a part for oilfield drilling that is currently manufactured by more than five subtractive processes. Additive manufacturing (AM) enables consolidation of such traditional processes, improving part quality and part performance.
"There tends to be a trade-off between large-format additive machines and part quality; VELO3D is attractive to us because of their semiconductor heritage and engineering disciplines around process control and metrology," said Mike Corliss, VP of Technology at Knust-Godwin. "We have confidence that we will be able to build mission-critical industrial parts without compromises made to part quality."
The technical features of the meter-tall Sapphire printer include a 315 mm-diameter build plate, dual 1 kW lasers, in-situ optical calibration and many of the same characteristics of the existing Sapphire machine. "It will be the world's tallest production metal-powder laser AM system, exceeding the build height of both the SLM 800 and the GE Additive X Line 2000R," said the spokesperson.
The system will be commercially available starting late 2020 and compatible with nickel-based alloys.
For more information contact:
Velo3D
511 Division St.
Campbell, CA 95008
408-610-3915
info@velo3d.com
www.velo3D.com
Knust-Godwin
28825 Katy Brookshire Rd.
Katy, TX 77494
281-371-5400
www.kgsbo.com