Desktop Metal increases production of its Studio Systems
April 25, 2019
Desktop Metal’s Studio System (Courtesy Desktop Metal)
Desktop Metal, Burlington, Massachusetts, USA, has increased the production of its Studio Systems. The company is now reportedly shipping at a rate of 550 complete systems per year, with a two-week delivery time for new orders to customers throughout the USA and Canada.
The Studio System is reportedly designed to make metal Additive Manufacturing more accessible, enabling design and engineering teams to additively manufacture metal parts faster, without the need for special facilities, dedicated operators or expensive tooling. The three-part solution, including printer, debinder and furnace, automates metal AM by tightly integrating through Desktop Metal’s cloud-based software to deliver a seamless workflow for additively manufacturing complex metal parts in-house, from digital file to sintered part.
According to Desktop Metal, over a period of six months, Studio Systems have been used to produce more than 8,000 parts globally. Key use applications reportedly include functional prototyping of extruder nozzles and shock absorber pistons; jigs and fixtures including robotic end effectors and break calliper fixture; manufacturing tooling of zipper moulds inserts and extrusion dies; and low volume production of gears and motor mounts. Each of these benchmark parts has reportedly shown a reduction in cost, some by as much as 90% relative to machining and Laser Powder Bed Fusion (L-PBF) as well as speed in fabrication, which enables the company to reportedly produce parts in days rather than weeks or months.
Customers of the Studio System include Ford, Stanley Black and Decker, Goodyear, 3M, Google’s ATAP, BMW, ProtoLabs, Owens Corning, L3, TerraPower, Medtronic, Continental AG, Applied Materials, TECT Aerospace, US Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, MITRE and leading educational institutions such as MIT, University of Texas, Texas A&M and Diman Regional Vocational Technical High School, said to be the first high school in the USA to install a metal Additive Manufacturing system.
Ric Fulop, CEO and co-founder of Desktop Metal, stated, “Leading companies, such as Ford, Google’s ATAP, Goodyear, BMW, and ProtoLabs, are now benefiting from the ease of use and accessibility provided by the Studio System. To meet continued demand, we have scaled up production capacity to allow us to deliver complete systems for fast installation.”
