Velo3D, Inc. (NYSE: VLD), a leading metal additive manufacturing technology company for mission-critical parts, today announced ADDMAN, an additive-focused contract manufacturer and engineering firm, has purchased two Sapphire XC printers. The printers will be installed in ADDMAN’s Castheon facility, expanding its existing fleet of Sapphire printers and helping the company meet the demands of its customers in space, aviation, energy, and defense. The printers will also enable ADDMAN to expand its addressable use-cases by lowering production costs of 3D printed parts and providing the capabilities to 3D print parts that are 500% larger in volume compared to the original Sapphire printer.
ADDMAN is an experienced contract manufacturer that specializes in additive manufacturing. The company provides its customers with finished, ready-to-use parts in metal and polymers. It also offers services such as injection, CMM and laser scanning, and metallurgy and print-parameter development.
“Velo3D’s additive manufacturing technology allows our customers to produce their most complex, highest-performing designs in the highest-quality prints,” said Mark Saberton, CTO at ADDMAN Engineering. “With these new Sapphire XC printers, we’ll be able to provide our customers with scalable, high-volume production capabilities and larger prints. This will help us keep our competitive advantage and ensure our customers have access to the latest additive-manufacturing technology.”
ADDMAN’s new Sapphire XC printers are calibrated to print in GRCop-42 and Inconel 718 alloys. GRCop-42 is a copper-based alloy that was developed by NASA for use in regeneratively cooled rocket engines and other applications that require rapid heat transfer. ADDMAN’s new GRCop-42 Sapphire XC printer is its first in this alloy. The company currently operates original Sapphire printers that utilize Inconel 718, a high-strength nickel-based superalloy that provides oxidation and corrosion resistance at high temperatures. By adding a Sapphire XC in the same alloy, the contract manufacturer can easily help its customers scale up production of parts without requalification or updated designs.
“ADDMAN is one of our top contract manufacturers for aerospace applications and its purchase of these two Sapphire XC printers will help it service its customers in new ways that empower their businesses,” said Dr. Zach Murphree, Velo3D VP of Global Sales and Business Development. “The great thing about the Sapphire XC is it uses the same technology as the original Sapphire so customers can count on the same repeatable, predictable outcomes they’re used to. For the companies that have received our first Sapphire XCs, it has been transformational to their businesses and we expect to hear the same from ADDMAN and its OEM customers.”
The Sapphire XC is designed for volume production to help customers scale their businesses. The printer made its public debut at the beginning of 2021 and has quickly become just as successful as its predecessor, the original Sapphire printer. The Sapphire XC can reduce production costs for customers by up to 75% while also increasing throughput by up to 500% compared to the original Sapphire printer.
About Velo3D
Velo3D is a metal 3D printing technology company. 3D printing—also known as additive manufacturing (AM)—has a unique ability to improve the way high-value metal parts are built. However, legacy metal AM has been greatly limited in its capabilities since its invention almost 30 years ago. This has prevented the technology from being used to create the most valuable and impactful parts, restricting its use to specific niches where the limitations were acceptable.
Velo3D has overcome these limitations so engineers can design and print the parts they want. The company’s solution unlocks a wide breadth of design freedom and enables customers in space exploration, aviation, power generation, energy and semiconductor to innovate the future in their respective industries. Using Velo3D, these customers can now build mission-critical metal parts that were previously impossible to manufacture. The end-to-end solution includes the Flow print preparation software, the Sapphire family of printers, and the Assure quality control system—all of which are powered by Velo3D’s Intelligent Fusion manufacturing process. The company delivered its first Sapphire system in 2018 and has been a strategic partner to innovators such as SpaceX, Honeywell, Honda, Chromalloy, and Lam Research. Velo3D has been named as one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies for 2023.
For more information, please visit Velo3D.com, or follow the company on LinkedIn or Twitter.
