HP's Metal Jet could be a big step forward for commercial 3D printing



[ad_1]

According to HP, Metal Jet is a "voxel-level binder jet technology" that is up to 50 times more productive than existing 3D printing solutions. It also has four times the nozzle redundancy of printers. Basically, it can be potentially cheaper and more effective than what is currently available.

The company is already partnering with GKN Powder Metallurgy and Parmatech for the construction of shipping parts, and its current customers include Volkswagen, Wilo, Okay Industries and Primo Medical Group. VW is currently using technology for customizable components such as key fobs and nameplates, but is planning to use it for larger components such as mirror mounts and gearshifts. And as you can imagine, Metal Jet could play a major role in the development of electric cars at VW.

Starting next year, customers will be able to download their 3D models to the Metal Jet production service. Afterwards, HP engineers will guide them through the process of creating their components. (HP admits that some designs will not be compatible with Metal Jet.) The company plans to make Metal Jet printers available to early customers in 2020 for less than $ 400,000, with wider availability in 2021.

[ad_2]
Source link