HP’s Steel Jet S100 3D Printer: The Steel Binder Jetting Battle Begins – 3DPrint.com

HP first revealed its metallic binder jetting expertise in 2018, and two manufacturing clients, GKN Aerospace and Parmatech, a metallic injection molding provider, had been utilizing the HP binder jetting platforms in 2018 and 2019. In 2020, HP began promoting its metallic AM {hardware} solely to service bureaus. In a major milestone for the worldwide metallic additive manufacturing (AM) market, Hewlett-Packard (HP) introduced in the present day the discharge of its Steel Jet S100 3D printer to the business market. The S100 marks the primary time that HP has made its binder jetting expertise accessible to the business AM market.

HP Steel Jet 3D Printing Introduced at IMTS

HP formally introduced the S100’s rollout at this yr’s Worldwide Manufacturing Expertise Present (IMTS), happening all through this week in Chicago. Moreover, in a digital press briefing the earlier Friday, September 9, HP’s world head & common supervisor of 3D Metals, Ramon Pastor, led a presentation on the S100 for journalists. A large portion of the presentation centered on a use-case instance of HP’s Steel Jet expertise, involving filters printed by GKN for the NSX circuit breaker, produced by French multinational power conglomerate, Schneider Electrical.

Along with Schneider Electrical, GKN, and Parmatech, HP’s different Steel Jet companions and clients embody Cobra Golf, Legor Group, and Volkswagen, Domin Digital Movement—devoted to 3D printing elements for hydraulic methods and valves—and Lumenium, a startup centered on rotational engines. Curiously, Lumenium has additionally labored with HP competitor Desktop Steel. 

Pastor may also be making a keynote tackle on the IMTS Additive Manufacturing Convention, September 15, at 8:15 US central time. He can be joined by Michael Lotfy, Schneider Electrical’s senior VP of Energy Merchandise & Methods, North America, and Meaghan Ferris, HP’s world head of 3D Metals Go-to-Market.

Your complete Steel Jet workflow begins with the HP Steel Jet S100 Powder Administration Station, which “mechanically blends, sieves, and hundreds metallic powder into the Construct Unit based on the user-defined print job and customised parameters.” That is adopted by precise printing within the printer itself, earlier than the job is cured within the Curing Station after which manually inserted into the  Powder Elimination Station, which “automates the removing and restoration of free powder for 100% reusability, whereas concurrently performing construct unit cleansing.” Picture courtesy of HP.

HP’s Steel 3D Printing and the Unstable Provide Chain

The purpose made about volatility being “the brand new regular” was additionally a centerpiece of the presentation made by Pastor. And, one thing alongside these strains is probably the central theme recently, by way of how the AM business pitches itself. Additional, then, the truth that HP has made a European power conglomerate the main focus of its business rollout for Steel Jet appears notably deliberate, given the present state of European power markets.

HP has a long-standing curiosity in power sectors, and this curiosity might probably tackle new which means with investments from Berkshire Hathaway pouring into each HP and the oil and fuel sector this previous yr. I requested Pastor if he thinks that Berkshire’s rising funding in HP is pushed by an curiosity in AM. Though he didn’t touch upon Berkshire immediately, he confirmed that HP’s give attention to additive in its pitch to shareholders is robust. 

HP within the Steel Binder Jetting Sector

HP and Berkshire aren’t alone on this development, as evidenced by Koch Ventures’ funding in Desktop Steel, HP’s main competitor in metallic binder jetting alongside Markforged and GE. Altogether, these companies signify the near-totality of the metallic binder jetting sector, which, together with sure metallic extrusion applied sciences, is projected to supply $54 billion elements via 2030, based on the “Sure Steel & Steel Binder Jetting AM 2022” report from SmarTech Evaluation. Because of Desktop’s acquisition of ExOne, it has the market share for the area, adopted by Markforged, via its buy of Digital Steel. In the meantime, the roll-out of GE’s expertise has been on a per-customer foundation, with anticipated wider launch to happen probably this yr (probably at IMTS). 

In consequence, HP’s commercialization might must catch up rapidly. Nonetheless, with such massive clients as Volkswagen together with HP’s personal common manufacturing clout, it’s attainable that it could actually achieve this. In any case, upon releasing its polymer 3D printing expertise, it was capable of take the market with speedy pace, due partly to delivering on its guarantees: a high-throughput printing course of able to making manufacturing high quality elements. 

In a sector the place there’s a seemingly limitless provide of press releases, it may be troublesome typically to know the way newsworthy a sure announcement is. That is clearly not a kind of instances, and the S100 ought to set the tone for information within the sector effectively into subsequent yr. The primary few rounds of earnings experiences following the S100’s launch will probably be probably the most extremely anticipated, and intently watched, within the sector’s nonetheless fairly temporary historical past.

The info can be important not solely for buyers, however, simply as importantly, for the planning of operations for corporations throughout the metallic sector. Many developments this yr have signaled that that is the case, however with the S100’s launch it’s plain that 3D printing has entered a brand new section in its commercialization.