The Dutch company Additive Industries is best known for its MetalFab1, a large-scale 3D metal printer designed for serial part production. But now the company has announced an entry-level version, the MetalFab1 Process & Application Development Tool.
As the name suggests, this new model has been developed specifically for process & application development and prototyping. It has a compact footprint and can help users gain experience with metal additive manufacturing before scaling for series production. It can also allow existing users to develop the build strategies and process settings for new materials and applications before transferring these to their larger industrial MetalFab1 systems for series production without disturbing their other operations.
As with the other machines in the range, it uses Laser based Powder Bed Fusion approach with automatic powder handling and extraction, long life filter and smart calibration. It has the same modular design as the bigger machines and can be upgraded to a production machine with three or more modules. It has a build chamber of 420 x 420 x 400mm and can be fitted with up to four full field Yb fibre lasers at 500W – with 1kW planned for later this year.
Mark Vaes, CTO of Additive Industries, explained: “This machine is the result of a productive dialogue with our customers and prospective users and completes the range of MetalFab1 systems for industrial metal additive manufacturing.”
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