Velo3D and CRP Meccanica sign exclusive distribution agreement for metal AM machines in Italy
January 18, 2021
Velo3D, Campbell, California, USA, has signed an agreement with high-precision CNC machining provider CRP Meccanica, Modena, Italy, for the exclusive distribution of Velo3D’s advanced SupportFree™ metal Additive Manufacturing machine in the Italian market.
The agreement will also enable the company to sell equipment in other parts of Europe on an account basis, as well as provide after-sales support, service, maintenance, and production backup to customers throughout the region.
Founded in 1970 by Roberto Cevolini, CRP Meccanica offers innovative and avant-garde solutions in the field of High-Precision CNC Machining for complex and demanding sectors such as defence, aviation, aerospace, and automotive. It also has twenty years of expertise in the field of metal additive technologies.
Velo3D explains that its unique AM capabilities allow for the production of parts that cannot be made via any other technology, including most current AM machines. It alleviates the designer from the constraints of Design for Additive Manufacturing (DfAM), meaning that engineers can now get the parts they need, not just the parts advocated by commodity AM and DfAM practitioners.
According to the company, its Sapphire® AM machine is known for enabling the reduction and often elimination of support structures, along with the ability to produce designs with overhangs down to zero degrees, thus greatly diminishing the need for extensive secondary processes.
This is intended to spur innovation and boost the performance of such components as shrouded impellers, heat exchangers, and manifolds. Velo3D’s integrated suite of software and hardware is said to greatly improve the workflow—end-to-end—with geometric flexibility, responsiveness and agility, accuracy, traceable part quality, decreased production times and reduced cost of parts and ownership.
“We are leading the revolution in Additive Manufacturing technology,” stated Franco Cevolini, CTO and president of CRP Meccanica. “Velo3D’s Sapphire AM solution is the next generation in metal laser powder bed fusion. It’s a real game-changer for highly exacting industrial fields like aerospace, oil & gas and motorsports. Our company’s international reputation for expertise will help Velo3D transform the Italian and European metal 3D printing markets.”
Benny Buller, founder and CEO of Velo3D, commented, “CRP Meccanica is unique with its more than half a century of experience serving high-tech industries with precision CNC machining and advanced manufacturing processes. Their twenty years working with metal AM technologies have led them to appreciate the significant technological and customer benefits that our Sapphire system represents, so they are an excellent partner for us to support the Italian and greater-European markets.”
Cevolini added, “We are ready to embrace this cutting-edge technology, combining it with our expertise in serving the most demanding industrial sectors and delivering extraordinary results. The skills of the CRP companies, combined with Velo3D’s leading AM systems, will give life to an unprecedented, unique technological point of reference in the world.”
