Advanced 3D manufacturing firm Zeda has installed the first of eight AddUp FormUp 350 metal powder bed fusion machines at its Cincinnati facility.
The first FormUp 350 machine was installed earlier this month and will be qualified to support critical aerospace and defence part manufacturing with the 3D printing of Inconel 718 parts. Zeda is expanding its Cincinnati facility to 75,000 square-feet, with 30 additional printers set to be installed in the near-term and up to 100 manufacturing tools being implemented in the mid-term.
“We are pleased to be adding AddUp’s tools to our portfolio of advanced manufacturing technologies,” commented Zeda CTO Greg Morris. “AddUp has demonstrated a set of capabilities that enables us to address unique design and application challenges faced by our growing base of aerospace, space and defence customers.”
“The success that Greg Morris achieved in pioneering the use of additive manufacturing in regulated industries combined with the novel approaches being introduced by the extended Zeda team represent a critical service for our customers,” added AddUp CEO Rush LaSelle. “We couldn’t be more excited about the opportunity to collaborate with such a veteran team in delivering high-value metal components to industry using our factory proven solutions.”
AddUp introduced the Formup 350 platform back in November 2016, with a new generation of the platform launched in May 2021. It has been designed to deliver ‘high levels of productivity’ thanks to a configuration of four 500W lasers and its Dashboards analytic software. Users also have the ability to open up machine parameters to develop specific manufacturing recipes for their applications, while a 200°C heating plate helps to address part deformation and stress concentrations. Late last year, AddUp launched the FormUp 350 Evolution which is capable of printing parts up to one-metre tall.
Last week, Zeda raised 52 million USD as part of a Series B funding round with backing coming from Michelin, Taiyo Nippon Sanso Corporation, and Fives Group, among others.
