VELO3D
VELO3D has released the latest version of its Flow print preparation software which provides new capabilities to support VELO3D’s Sapphire XC (extra capacity) machine.
The Sapphire XC platform was launched back in October 2020 to facilitate the additive manufacture of parts in greater sizes and volumes than its flagship Sapphire metal 3D printer.
Flow 3.0 can support the modelling of larger parts, while also enabling the scheduling of additional lasers. This means users will be able to take advantage of the Sapphire XC’s enlarged build volume and eight 1KW lasers to produce parts up to 400% larger and at five times the productivity of the standard Sapphire system.
With a generalised set of recipes that precisely prescribe and simulate the layer-by-layer build of a desired part, the software is said to be able to detect geometric features and apply corresponding processes to achieve the desired outcome. Flow 3.0 also uses information from previous layers to inform the print strategy for subsequent layers to ensure better quality parts and greater design freedom. Per VELO3D, it also reduces the need to design parts for additive manufacturing manually.
“By providing an end-to-end solution, we are able to let engineers focus on building the mission-critical parts they need,” commented Daniel Russel, VELO3D Director of Engineering. “The 3.0 release brings support for the sorts of large models that can be printed on Sapphire XC, warnings and guidance to customers during build preparation on clusters, Amazon Web Services, and many other improvements. The initial feedback we’ve heard from our customers has been very positive.”
“When we are building new features into Flow, we aim to simplify the experience for engineers who want to create parts using our additive manufacturing technology,” added Victorien Menier, VELO3D Senior Software Engineer. “Our team is extremely proud of all that Flow 3.0 has achieved throughout the beta period. The revised scheduling rules make it so Sapphire XC can reach 98% efficiency with its eight lasers, which is a big contributor to its ability to achieve a 5x improvement in performance.”
