Wire-laser System Brings Metal AM to the Shop Floor with Blue Lasers

Presenting the next generation of wire-laser metal deposition technology. The Meltio M600 metal 3D printer makes printing large metal parts easier and more reliable than ever while being tailored perfectly to the needs of industrial manufacturing with 24/7 production cycles.

The unique combination of wire deposition, Blue Lasers, a large (300x400x600mm – X, Y, Z) fully inert workspace, and smart sensors allow the new Meltio M600 to process the most demanding materials. From Titanium to Copper and Aluminium alloys (and many more including stainless steels, tool steels, nickel, invar, and Inconel).

The Meltio M600 seamlessly integrates into machine shops and production environments, enabling not only the printing of entire metal parts but also the addition of features to existing components and the repair of damaged surfaces. This is facilitated by the built-in 3-axis touch probe and support for various workholding solutions, including zero-point clamping.

Meltio, the leading manufacturer of wire-laser metal deposition systems takes a leap forward and presents a new generation of metal 3D printers that was conceived to introduce metal additive manufacturing to the world of industrial production outside of niche areas. The new Meltio M600 is designed to solve problems of long lead times, costly stock-keeping, and increasingly fragile supply chains, thanks to its unique metal 3D printing technology. This new system increases productivity and reduces manufacturing costs, brings new materials to the table, and most importantly is ready to perform 24/7 with minimal operator interaction for autonomous production.

Lukas Hoppe, Research+Development Director at Meltio says: “The design brief for the new Meltio M600 was to imagine what the perfect 3D printer for the machine shop would look like. The vast majority of metal 3D printed parts require post-processing which is carried out in the machine shop and since our ambition is to push the large-scale adoption of metal additive manufacturing we have a very clear vision that the modern machine shop is the ideal point of entry. Manufacturing faces many challenges globally, from long lead times and stock-keeping costs caused by long and fragile supply chains to an ever-growing pressure to lower costs and reduce emissions.

3D Printing has huge potential to address these issues as it helps reduce lead times, and manufacturing dependencies by printing parts in-house, reduces warehouse inventory as the raw material can be transformed into the final part on demand, and reduces costs by applying material only where it is needed.

It has however yet to realize this potential, in fact we still see metal AM mostly applied to very high-value applications, and this is where the Meltio M600 comes in as it improves on the state-of-the-art in a few very significant ways.

• It uses welding wire as its feedstock compared to the much more common powder-based 3D printer. Having a wire material that is much cheaper, safe to handle and that does not risk contamination of your CNC Machines is a huge advantage for industrial integration.
• Printing Parts with our Wire-Laser Deposition process also produces high-quality components with material properties that are comparable to conventionally manufactured parts.
• Our newly developed Blue Laser deposition head increases printing speed while reducing energy consumption thanks to the increased absorption of the short wavelength light compared to most industrial lasers which emit near-infrared light. This advantage is multiplied for reflective materials such as copper and aluminum alloys where near-infrared lasers lead to unsatisfactory results. Combining this with the fully inert workspace, the Meltio M600 can process a large range of materials efficiently while producing parts with exceptional properties.
• The complete system has been designed to easily interface in the same industrial environment with CNC machines, it features a built-in 3-axis touch probe and supports various types of workholding solutions which means you can also add features to or repair existing parts rather than printing them entirely.
• Lastly, the Meltio M600 is highly autonomous meaning that operator interaction is minimal, common touch points such as manual laser alignment have been removed for increased reliability, and programming is a matter of minutes thanks to the Meltio Horizon, the dedicated slicer for the Meltio M600.

To make this new tool for machine shop use a reality, the Meltio M600 is the first Industrial wire-laser metal 3D printer that incorporates, among other technological advances, a Blue Laser deposition head. These lasers improve energy absorption and printing efficiency across the metal spectrum and open up new material possibilities while reducing the carbon footprint for production.

The Meltio engineers have also managed to improve the energy distribution and wire guidance such that the deposition head is aligned from the factory and not operator-adjustable leading to consistent output and vastly reduced maintenance. Lastly, the head is laden with new and improved sensor solutions for monitoring the printing process, which makes printing more reliable.

Applications

While the Meltio M600 is interesting to a broad range of sectors, the company’s goal was to design a system that fits right into any machine shop and works alongside CNC machines, creating value by reducing material waste, and lead times, allowing for increased manufacturing flexibility. To realize this vision our focus was a system that works like a machine tool, designed for lights-out manufacturing, and is easy to use, enabling existing operators to complete complex print jobs with minimal time investment.

These attributes make the Meltio M600 an exciting proposition for the manufacturing industry as a whole and get a lot of traction from a wide range of sectors: automotive, aerospace, oil & gas, mining, and defense.

Hoppe continues: “The Meltio M600 for us was really the next logical step on our continuous journey towards mass adoption of Wire-Laser DED, the process all Meltio systems are based on. We began this work in earnest in 2019 when we started to leave the prototyping space with the launch of the Meltio M450. After learning from and improving the technology for three years, the time was finally ripe for us to work on the next system. Our goal with the Meltio M600 was to strike the right balance between machine size, cost, and productivity while being uncompromising on quality, reliability, and ease of use. To achieve this, we did not just create a “scaled up” M450, instead, we developed every single part of the machine from scratch to take the technology to the next level, based on the learnings of having manufactured and installed over 300 Laser DED machines.”

Meltio M600 Spec Sheet:

Cementos La Cruz, the Real Success Story with the Meltio M600

Cementos La Cruz is a Spanish cement company that is increasing its productivity and efficiency with the adoption of Meltio’s technology to manufacture metal parts. In its case, the company has manufactured with the Meltio M600 a new stainless steel nozzle that allows for manufacturing more sustainable cement parts. This company focuses on the development of low-carbon footprint cementitious materials to achieve sustainable construction. Their commitment to innovation is focused on the use of a circular economy and the development of technologies such as additive manufacturing of concrete. At their 3DLAB they develop 3D printing solutions for construction.

The additive manufacturing process requires a high control of the material flow. The nozzle plays a decisive role in the quality of the layers and this requires a design that could only be produced by additive manufacturing. This is why we turned to unique wire-laser metal 3D printing solutions developed by Meltio to use a nozzle to optimize the quality of the layers and their deposition.

They can design parts that traditional manufacturing methods couldn’t produce with Meltio’s technology. Thanks to the use of the nozzle printed on the Meltio M600, they have achieved the main advantage of the use of additive manufacturing in the cement sector: the controlled deposition of the material producing a concrete part as it has been designed. They gain in construction control and digitalization.

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