Bringing Additive Manufacturing in house is a big step for any company, but when you are at the small end of the ‘SME’ spectrum, it can be an especially bold move. Robin Weston recently visited Atherton Bikes, based in rural west Wales, to see how this specialist bike producer is enjoying ramping up in-house production of its titanium and carbon fibre performance mountain bikes on a new, four-laser Powder Bed Fusion (PBF-LB) machine from Renishaw. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 8 No. 1, Spring 2022]
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The metal Additive Manufacturing landscape is filled with ambitious, well-funded startups, all promising a wealth of materials innovation and ambitious value propositions. In contrast to these newcomers, Höganäs AB has been a powerful force in the metal powder market for near eighty years, producing half a million tonnes of metal powder annually. Is there a role for such a titan of Powder Metallurgy in the brave new world of AM? Emily-Jo Hopson-VandenBos spoke to Kennet Almkvist, president, Höganäs Customization Technologies, about what the company brings to the table. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 8 No. 1, Spring 2022]
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The history book of engineering is filled with concepts that failed to achieve success because they were ahead of their time. This was almost the case for the aerospike rocket engine, recognised in the 1950s as a strong concept and tested by NASA in the 1980s and 1990s, but found to demand too much of the manufacturing and materials technology available at the time. Metal AM magazine spoke with Pangea Aerospace and Aenium Engineering about reinventing the aerospike for the 21st century, and how Additive Manufacturing allowed them to ‘make the unmakeable’ – pushing their expertise in AM, materials science and Design for AM to its limits in the process. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 7 No. 1, Spring 2022]
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The Czinger 21C hypercar is a ‘tour de force’ of metal Additive Manufacturing. With over 350 AM components used in the vehicle’s structure, suspension, brake systems, drivetrain and beyond, this is the realisation of the bold vision of Kevin Czinger, CEO of Divergent 3D. Behind the headlines about the car’s record-breaking performance, however, is a far more important story: the development of the Divergent Adaptive Production System (DAPS), a complete software/hardware solution designed to replace traditional vehicle manufacturing. Jeff Kerns reports for Metal AM magazine. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 7 No. 4, Winter 2021]
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We all love to talk about how Additive Manufacturing can transform product design, improve an application’s performance, reduce part count and material waste, enable faster design cycles and far more besides. But what is less often discussed is the challenge of scaling up production once an application has been developed. It is this aspect of AM that has been the focus of activity at Burloak Technologies. In this article, the company’s Jason Ball, VP & General Manager, and Keyvan Hosseinkhani, Technical Director, consider the challenges of scaling AM, and how they can be overcome. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 7 No. 4, Winter 2021]
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A technology such as Additive Manufacturing relies heavily on industry champions to drive awareness, promoting the capabilities and potential of the process within their circle of influence. In the hydraulics industry, AM has no greater champion than Aidro srl’s Valeria Tirelli, whose wide-reaching advocacy belies the company’s modest size. Luca van der Heide interviewed Tirelli for Metal AM magazine and discussed the company’s story, why the hydraulics sector is so well suited to AM, and, of course, the recent acquisition of Aidro by Desktop Metal. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 6 No. 3, Autumn 2021]
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As metal Additive Manufacturing continues to grow as a technology for the production of critical end-use parts for the most demanding of applications, X-ray Computed Tomography (CT) remains an unrivalled non-destructive testing tool. In this article, Yxlon’s Nathan Serafino and Dirk Steiner report on how Materials Resources LLC, an additive metals research and manufacturing company, defence contractor, and ‘fast factory’, is going a step further, using the technology to improve predictive-model based qualification processes as well as to calibrate in-process monitoring. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 6 No. 3, Autumn 2021]
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In an industry that sees a constant influx of new players hoping to forge a place for themselves in a brave new manufacturing landscape, there are only a few companies which have been on the AM scene since its earliest days, whilst remaining at the top of their game. One of these is Materialise, an AM company that has benefitted from leveraging its dual specialisms of AM parts production and AM software development. Metal AM magazine’s Emily-Jo Hopson-VandenBos talked to Materialise’s Ingo Uckelmann and reports how, now more than ever, the bringing together of manufacturing and software expertise is the future for AM. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 7 No. 2, Summer 2021]
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This summer, a new player arrived on the AM scene: the Digital Manufacturing Centre, or DMC. Based on the edge of Silverstone, the UK’s most famous race circuit, home to numerous leading F1 teams, there could be no better place to launch a business aimed at offering AM support to the elite in performance motorsport. Jim Hadfield speaks with the DMC’s CEO, Kieron Salter, to explore how metal Additive Manufacturing is enabling innovation in the booming hypercar industry, and how a truly connected digital manufacturing operation can bring the DMC a competitive advantage in this field and more. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 7 No. 2, Summer 2021]
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Since 2014, Women in 3D Printing has grown to become a highly visible and influential international organisation. But what does the movement stand for, why is it proving to be so popular, and where does it go from here? Metal AM magazine’s Emily-Jo Hopson-VandenBos spoke with the group’s founder, Nore Toure, and fifteen members about their views of the organisation and the current status of women in the industry. These conversations reveal not only the challenges that we face to improve diversity in its broadest sense, but also the tangible benefits that members are seeing at both the personal and organisational level. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 7 No. 1, Spring 2021]
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From machine producers to part manufacturers and end-users, the Additive Manufacturing industry is rich in success stories that are the result of one person’s vision of what the technology could deliver. In the case of BEAMIT, Italy’s largest metal AM parts producer, it was the vision of the company’s founder, Mauro Antolotti. Here, Luca van der Heide interviews Antolotti for Metal Additive Manufacturing magazine and explores the company’s development, his view of the industry, and ambitions for the future. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 7 No. 1, Spring 2021]
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China’s Falcontech Co. Ltd. is well on the way to completing its first ‘Super AM factory’, designed to house fifty metal Additive Manufacturing machines supplied by its partner, Farsoon Technologies. Whilst the wider story may take in the dramatic rise of Additive Manufacturing in China over the last decade, at the heart of this ambitious project’s success is the story of a successful partnership between an AM technology supplier and its customer. In this article, Chenlu Fang, Global Marketing Manager of Farsoon Technologies, interviews Shen Yulan, General Manager of Falcontech, and Li Wei, its Sales Director, to tell the story of the company’s rise, its ambitions and the partners’ close collaboration. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 6 No. 4, Winter 2020]
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