German metal additive manufacturing leader, SLM Solutions has gone big at formnext powered by tct this year with a new booth concept and host of new products that are aimed at streamlining the metal AM process.
The company unveiled its new “big fish” large-format SLM 800 system to the public, equipped with a build envelope of 500 x 280 x 850mm and capacity for up to four 700w lasers to produce huge metal parts. The machine is designed to be integrated into a scalable solution alongside a fully automated handling station that can automate additional processes of unpacking, pre-heating, cool down, powder removal and powder transfer without manual handling, particularly beneficial when dealing with parts on this scale.
Stefan Ritt presents SLM 800 metal part at formnext.
Speaking on day one at the Frankfurt event, Stefan Ritt, Head of Global Marketing and Communications spoke about how the firm calls itself a solutions company and is therefore intent on delivering a "complete solution" that can cater to "big industries". With an increasing number of fast metal printing solutions arriving on the market, SLM is confident that although this machine may be, what Stefan referred to as "slow build technology", it offers a viable value proposition for customers and makes good economical sense for large industrial parts. This is increased when you consider the possibilities of scaling up a system like this where up to six machines can be controlled per one handling station.
Plus on the stand there was the new updated version of its flagship SLM 280 machine which has undergone a redesign to suit a more “modern machine layout” as a result of customer feedback, along with its entry level SLM 125 system.
In addition to hardware, the company also demonstrated a new software solution, Additive Designer, a preprocessing software tool which combines all features necessary to generate an AM part from CAD import down to defining milling strategies for post-processing.
Rosswag and SLM Solutions highlight partnership at formnext.
On the materials side, SLM was keen to highlight a recent partnership with German metal processing company, Rosswag which sees a combination of forging and selective laser melting to deliver around 400 metals and special materials, the largest diversity on the market. The combination of the two is said to lead to new complex products which can be manufactured efficiently by forging a near net shape and building up using AM on an SLM machine to create complex structures.
Visitors can learn more this week on stand E70 at Messe Frankfurt Hall 3.0.
