Knust-Godwin (Ok-G), a contract producer with ties to the aerospace, protection, semi-conductor, and oil and fuel industries, is about to obtain Velo3D’s most superior metallic powder mattress fusion (PBF) 3D printer, the Sapphire XC. This addition will permit Knust-Godwin to extend its metallic additive manufacturing capacities, minimize manufacturing prices, and proceed delivering high-quality merchandise.
When contract producers work with massive corporations like Lockheed Martin, Halliburton, or Honeywell, they know time is of the essence. Any delay in manufacturing can have an effect on the corporate’s backside line and, thus, theirs personal. They need to keep updated with the quickest and most dependable manufacturing processes. In any other case, these shoppers will shortly take their enterprise elsewhere.
A Knust-Godwin Worker utilizing a Sapphire metallic 3D printer (Supply: Velo3D)
Knust-Godwin is not any stranger to this stress. Having spent over 50 years in manufacturing, it is aware of the significance of constantly updating its services with state-of-the-art gear.
For the previous few years, that state-of-the-art gear has been Velo3D’s Sapphire 3D printers. Able to printing elements with minimal assist constructions, this metallic powder mattress fusion 3D printer affords a spread of distinctive capabilities, together with in-process high quality management and half simulation software program. The printers have helped Ok-G exponentially increase its additive manufacturing potential and supply its prospects with distinctive service. Naturally, the agency jumped on the alternative so as to add Velo3D’s latest 3D printer, the Sapphire XC, to its line of printers.
The Sapphire XC itself has a cylindrical construct quantity of 0.16 m3 with a diameter of 600 mm and a peak of 550 mm. The printer additionally options eight 1kW lasers, making it Velo3D’s contribution to the continued laser wars in metallic PBF, which search to extend the throughput of metallic 3D printers by way of sheer laser amount. Moreover, the system consists of Velo3D’s proprietary protrusion-tolerant, non-contact recoater and its front-end and back-end software program, Circulation and Guarantee.
The Sapphire XC 3D printer from Velo3D.
When the brand new Sapphire XC arrived on the firm’s plant in Katy, Texas, Knust-Godwin grew to become the primary contract producer in Velo3D’s community to obtain the printer. Calibrated to be used with Inconel 718 nickel alloy, the Sapphire XC now stands alongside Knust-Godwin’s six different Velo3D Sapphire methods and provides them the power to scale manufacturing even quicker. The most recent machine is claimed to chop manufacturing prices by 75% and produce elements 500% bigger in quantity in comparison with the earlier era of machines.
Knust-Godwin VP of Know-how Mike Corliss stated of the brand new unit, “By including a Sapphire XC to our manufacturing ground, we will higher serve our prospects, make the most of additive manufacturing in new methods, and differentiate our additive manufacturing choices from our rivals’.”
Exterior of Knust-Godwin, the thrill across the Sapphire XC appears to have made it a sizzling commodity. It may very well be offered out for deliveries by way of the tip of 2022, based on Zack Murphree, Velo3D’s Vice President of World Gross sales and Enterprise Growth, and with “the Sapphire XC (serving to) prospects like Knust-Godwin unlock new use-cases for AM by enabling the printing of bigger elements, and considerably reducing manufacturing prices for patrons printing elements in bigger volumes,” it’s no surprise why the machine is flying off the shelf.
Velo3D’s improvements are pushing the boundaries of what metallic additive manufacturing can do. As they proceed to construct greater, quicker, and extra environment friendly printers, corporations like Knust-Godwin, Vertex Manufacturing, and Lockheed-Martin will proceed including them in abundance to their manufacturing flooring. In flip, based on its “DED and Massive-Format Additive Manufacturing Markets: 2021-2030”, SmarTech Evaluation expects the massive format sector to achieve $739 million by 2026.
Whereas we don’t have a crystal ball, Velo3D’s 3D printers appear to be they are going to be a significant participant within the trade for the foreseeable future. Its machines are doing issues many different metallic 3D printers merely can’t. If it continues to construct well-received merchandise just like the Sapphire XC, you possibly can wager Knust-Godwin will probably be first in line once more to grab up Velo3D’s subsequent manufacturing system.
Picture courtesy of Velo3D.
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