Keselowski acquires its first Sapphire XC from Velo3D
April 11, 2023
Keselowski Advanced Manufacturing (KAM), Statesville, North Carolina, has acquired a Sapphire XC Additive Manufacturing machine from Velo3D, Campbell, California, USA. It was announced that the company has also joined the Velo3D Contract Manufacturer Network.
The new machine is the first Sapphire XC to be purchased by KAM and will be used to additively manufacture larger parts for its customers. The Sapphire XC has been calibrated to additively manufacture in a nickel-based superalloy that delivers oxidation and corrosion resistance at high temperatures. This alloy is commonly used in aviation, space, defence, and energy applications, all of which are key industries for KAM.
“Our customers are some of the most innovative companies in their industries and, as a result, they present some of the most complex manufacturing problems to solve – this is where KAM thrives,” stated Brad Keselowski, owner and founder of Keselowski Advanced Manufacturing. “We are continually investing in new technologies to provide the highest quality finished parts, which starts with Additive Manufacturing technology but also includes quality precision machining to a finished part. With our established processes and team, we feel confident that our Sapphire XC will allow us to serve new industries by increasing the physical size of the parts we can deliver. This will be our first Sapphire XC, but as demand for these parts increases, we can easily add more printers to our fleet due to Velo3D’s machine-to-machine repeatability.”
Because of the solution’s calibration and underlying manufacturing processes, Velo3D customers are said to more easily scale up production to meet demand for their additively manufactured products. This is reportedly made possible by Velo3D’s ability to eliminate many of the variables that are commonly found in conventional Additive Manufacturing solutions.
“With such extensive experience in engineering, simulation, and manufacturing mission critical metal parts, the KAM team is well equipped to put the full printing capabilities of the Sapphire XC to work,” added Dr Zach Murphree, Velo3D Vice President of Global Sales and Business Development. “With an extensive client-base of innovative companies operating in many of the same industries we work with, Keselowski Advanced Manufacturing will see extensive utilisation of their new metal Additive Manufacturing solution.”
The Sapphire XC is said to have quickly become one of Velo3D’s most popular products since its first shipment in Q4 2021. It can additively manufacture parts up to 600 x 550 mm. It is also available in a 1 m option called the Sapphire XC 1MZ. The regular Sapphire XC can easily be upgrade to a Sapphire XC 1MZ by swapping out its build module.
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