Meltio, the leading manufacturer of wire-laser metal deposition systems, has unveiled its latest metal 3D printer, the Meltio M600 wire-laser system. M600 is intended to address the issues of long lead times, costly stock-keeping, and increasingly fragile supply chains in industrial manufacturing.
This new system boosts productivity and lowers manufacturing costs, introduces new materials, and, most importantly, is ready to operate 24/7 with minimal operator interaction for autonomous production.
Meltio M600 wire-laser system
In contrast to the much more common powder-based 3D printer, the newly launched M600 printer’s feedstock is welding wire. Having a wire material that is much cheaper, easier to handle, and does not risk contaminating your CNC machines is a significant advantage for industrial integration.
Printing parts using the Wire-Laser Deposition process results in high-quality components with material properties comparable to conventionally manufactured parts.
Meltio’s new Blue Laser deposition head absorbs more short-wavelength light than most industrial lasers that emit near-infrared light, improving printing speed and energy efficiency. Near-infrared lasers fail on reflective materials like copper and aluminium alloys, multiplying this advantage. With its fully inert workspace, the Meltio M600 can efficiently process many materials and produce high-quality parts.
The system has a built-in 3-axis touch probe and supports a variety of workholding solutions to add features to or repair parts instead of printing them.
Finally, the Meltio M600 is highly autonomous, requiring minimal operator interaction, eliminating common touchpoints like manual laser alignment for reliability, and allowing programming in minutes thanks to the Meltio Horizon, its dedicated slicer.
Industrial metal 3D printing
“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.”
– Lukas Hoppe, Research & Development Director at Meltio
Hoppe continued, “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.”
The entire system was designed to work in the same industrial environment as CNC machines; it includes a built-in 3-axis touch probe and supports a variety of work-holding solutions, allowing you to add features to or repair existing parts rather than printing them from scratch.
Finally, the Meltio M600 is highly autonomous, which means that operator interaction is minimal, common touchpoints like manual laser alignment have been removed for increased reliability, and programming is completed in a matter of minutes thanks to the Meltio Horizon, the Meltio M600’s dedicated slicer.
Broad Applications
The Meltio M600 appeals to many industries, but the company’s goal was to create a system that can be integrated into any machine shop and work alongside CNC machines to reduce material waste and lead times, increasing manufacturing flexibility. To achieve this vision, we developed a system that operates like a machine tool, is designed for lights-out manufacturing, and is easy to use, allowing existing operators to complete complex print jobs quickly.
These characteristics make the Meltio M600 an exciting proposition for the manufacturing industry as a whole, attracting interest from a wide range of sectors, including automotive, aerospace, oil and gas, mining, and defence.
3D Printed Nozzle
Cementos La Cruz is a Spanish cement company that is increasing productivity and efficiency by using Meltio’s technology to manufacture metal parts. In this case, the company has developed a new stainless steel nozzle for the Meltio M600, allowing for the production of more sustainable cement parts.
Meltio’s technology allows them to design parts that traditional manufacturing methods cannot produce. They achieved the main advantage of using additive manufacturing in the cement sector by using the nozzle printed on the Meltio M600: controlled material deposition, resulting in a concrete part that is exactly as designed. They benefit from construction control and digitalisation.
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