‘As cost goes down the opportunities for additive manufacturing go up’ – Velo3D interview

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In Campbell, California, four years of hustle and endeavour, research and development this week came to a crescendo. It started with a single note, an idea that there must be a better way to print parts without the design constraints and inconvenience of support structures. More than $90m in funding helped build momentum throughout the start-up's early years, and on Monday, a key change, as Velo3D introduced to market the Sapphire System. 

Orchestrating this chorus of innovation since 2014 has been Benny Buller, the founder and CEO of the company, who himself has engineering and process development expertise through his time working in the semiconductor industry. He has assembled a team of 120, of which more than 100 are engineers. Many of the rest, as the clock ticked past midnight on Monday morning, were still working on the company website as the Sapphire System’s launched beckoned. Right up until the first words on its flagship product were scribed and published, all hands were on deck, as they have been ever since Buller founded the firm.

Though only this week the public, and indeed the press, were able to cast their eye and make their judgement on the newest metal additive manufacturing platform on the market, for a lucky few companies, they’ve been exercising its capabilities for months. There are a lot of considerations to make when developing a product, Stefan Zschiegner, the company’s Chief Product Officer, points out: “It needs to be serviceable, it needs to have high availability, it has to have a good throughout, it has to be easily usable for operators and technicians,” but now more than ever, “there are all kinds of personas that need to have their requirements addressed.”

From six months into the project, Zschiegner tells TCT, Velo3D has been collaborating with a host of industry players to better understand what they want in a manufacturing tool. Those conversations continue even today with a few dozen companies, while an aerospace OEM focusing on the development of rocket engines, and a couple of leading service bureaux in North America, are already exercising the system’s capabilities.

They have been manufacturing parts in IN718 and Ti6AI4V, the only two materials so far supported by the Sapphire System, but that’s more down to software configuration than hardware limitation. Velo3D says the machine is capable of running other super alloys and materials, and in time, users will be able to print in stainless steels and aluminium powders, in fact 'any metal material commonly used in industry.' Not that it’s manufacturing the materials itself. The company is relying on leading metal powder companies for that.

When powders are run through the machine, the Sapphire System’s stringent atmosphere control system helps to extend their lifespan, while materials can be re-used through its filtration system. The machine can hold enough powder for two full builds, but just in case, powder can be refilled without interrupting the print.

Though the materials proficiency of the system is impressive, Velo3D believes the machine’s ability to print at angles of less than five degrees, that is almost horizontal to the build area, is potentially game-changing. It is enabled by the company’s Intelligent Fusion technology, which has been designed to minimise thermomechanical distortions and maximise high-quality surfaces at those sharp angles. This capability is only enabled by the Flow print-preparation software’s geometric feature detection capacity, in which algorithms leverage information from previous layers to define the print strategy for the next layer. Any red flags can be addressed before the build commences.

“[It] means you have a lot more flexibility with complex parts,” Zschiegner explained. “Engineers try to avoid low angles or any supports, so they orient the parts within the build area to avoid any low angles, but that creates a lot of constraints for the designer.”

They need not worry any longer, as demonstrated by the shrouded impeller application that was made public alongside the Sapphire System’s launch. This component is used to enable high pressure circulation of fluids or gases, and while the geometries need to be precise, industry players are constantly wanting flatter designs that save space and reduce weight. In the case of producing an impeller, like the one pictured above, challenges arise, not only in delivering the low angles, but also the surface quality of the inside channels, particularly important for fluid flow.

“This [part] is impossible to build on conventional [additive manufacturing] systems,” Zschiegner stressed. “It is a perfect example to be built on the Sapphire System, because there are a large amount of various angles and you want to avoid the need for supports. Sapphire takes these constraints away.”

The ejection of constraints doesn’t end there. The machine boasts two 1KW lasers which work in tandem to increase productivity. “One of the key challenges this industry has had for a while is as you integrate more lasers, the customer would like to use the full field of view,” Zschiegner said. “These lasers need to overlap and [with] some of the suppliers in conventional additive manufacturing systems, each laser is constrained to a certain field that is not the entire field of the build area.” They cover the entire 315 mm dimeter build area, and with full synchronicity, can work on the same part without disruption or distortion.

After doing what needs to be done on one part, the two lasers can focus their respective kilowatt of power elsewhere on another. Along with the shrouded impeller, Velo3D also showed pictures of a hip cup application, the kind of component, along with other orthopaedic implants, that can be nested and stacked on top of one another to pack multiple parts into one build.

Alternatively, the two lasers can simultaneously get to work on a single larger part. Zschiegner has noticed aerospace companies are partial to testing the machine out on larger engine components as engines themselves continue to increase in size, while simplifying sub-assemblies, such as tubing, housings and integrated fuel systems, and building them in one remains a popular application of the technology. 

The Sapphire System has been made available for purchase immediately, with delivery of the machine being promised within 12 weeks. Velo is a company that has been patient in its development of the Intelligent Fusion technology, and the flagship product that is powered by it, but this week proceeded to sing from the rooftops about overlapping lasers, supportless complex builds and automated changeovers between prints. At least for now, its not looking too far beyond this initial offering. Instead it will continue its collaboration with industry to identify and improve upon applications of the technology, get the software configuration up to speed so as to support more materials, and ultimately look to accelerate time to market and reduce cost of ownership. 

Whether turning ten parts into one, or nesting dozens in the build area for a single print job, the benefits are measured in time and cost, in turn freeing up capacity for greater production volume. “As the cost goes down, the opportunities for additive manufacturing go up,” Zschiegner summarises. We’ll begin to find out who is keen on taking those chances in 12 weeks.

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