MX3D Receives €2.25M to Commercialize Metal 3D Printing Welding Robots https://ift.tt/3x33RBh Perhaps most known for 3D printing a massive steel bridge in the Netherlands, Dutch startup MX3D has recently received a €2.25 million investment. Funding came from DOEN Participaties, PDENH, and the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO). While MX3D has long been 3D printing some impressive projects, this funding will allow it to launch its robotic metal 3D printing system, the M1, and further drive development of its MetalXL platform. The M1 is a variation of what we’ve seen MX3D work with up to now in producing such projects as the bridge in Amsterdam, structural steel connectors for Takenaka, the Arc Bike, the Dragon Bench, a spare component for a robotic arm. It is a wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) system meant to be a complete metal 3D printing product package, with a welding robot, software and control system.
MetalXL is a software and control system designed to reformat existing welding robots into industrial metal 3D printers. This solution is compatible with a variety of robots, power sources, and sensors. The startup believes that, as progress continues on this product, it would work with over 80 percent of the global robotics market. MX3D claims that it has successfully integrated MetalXL to the operations of a number of launching customers. This investment will allow for a broader commercial release.
Though it offers much lower resolution than something like powder bed fusion (PBF), WAAM is a less costly way to print metal, given the fact that it can use off-the-shelf materials that don’t’ require the same refined processing as PBF. With MetalXL, this promises to make the technology even cheaper, as existing wire arc machines and, eventually, robotic systems more general can be converted into metal 3D printers. We also asked MX3D about the status of the bridge project. Van der Velden let us know that the bridge—including its sensor network for measuring strain, displacement, vibration in the bridge, along with capturing environmental data like air quality and temperature—has been finished since October 2018. The quay walls where the bridge will be installed, however, have taken significant time to renovate by the municipality.
It will certainly be interesting to see the results of the project as it is installed on-site. It will also be interesting to see just how widespread MX3D’s robots become when they’re installed on existing industrial robots. This is reminiscent of efforts by Optomec and others for increasing the adoption of directed energy deposition (DED) by introducing a method for integrating onto existing CNC machines. If a customer already has most of the equipment, it shouldn’t be too difficult to introduce 3D printing to the equation. We’ve long seen the potential for industrial robotic arms in 3D printing, with companies like MX3D really being the ones to demonstrate that potential to us. Now, we may see that potential realized. Though there are certainly many kinks to be worked out, one can easily imagine an M1 system fabricating something on a factory floor with additional robotic arms performing other operations, such as finishing that is certainly necessary for the rough layers made by the WAAM process. Now, we just have to see how those kinks will be worked out. Printing via 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing https://3dprint.com April 16, 2021 at 08:58AM
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