Start-up brings metal additive manufacturing capability to the UK market

A Scottish 3D printing start-up is starting to help deliver benefits to the Scottish economy by producing its first pieces using the Markforged Metal-X metal printer.

Last year Zero Waste Scotland was impressed with the presentation global manufacturing veteran Andy Simpson gave it on how additive manufacturing can aid the circular economy.

Afterwards his company, Angus 3D Solutions, was awarded a £175,000 grant from its Circular Economy Investment Fund – part of the Resource Efficient Circular Economy Accelerator Programme, supported by the Scottish Government and the European Regional Development Fund. The investment was for one of the world’s most advanced metal printing machines, the Markforged Metal X.

A circular economy is a greener alternative to the traditional linear economy – where we make, use and dispose of items – in which we keep precious resources in use for as long as possible. The benefits include: creating opportunities for growth; reducing manufacturing waste; higher resource productivity; a more competitive economy; reducing the environmental impacts of production and consumption and positioning Scotland better to address emerging global resource security and scarcity.

The Metal-X uses the latest Atomic Diffusion Additive Manufacturing (ADAM) technology – where metal powders are encased in plastic binders and then melted off to create designs previously impossible to manufacture and with unprecedented levels of detail as well as faster and at a fraction of the cost.

Angus 3D’s machine brings metal printing capabilities to the UK market – allowing components to be designed and produced in metals such as stainless steel, Inconel, titanium, tool steels, aluminium and copper in 4-5 days, rather than six weeks using traditional methods, and using the same machine. This allows companies to put their latest designs into production quicker, accelerating innovation.

The Metal-X can also reduce the weight of traditional manufactured parts while maintaining their strength and performance by producing them with unique geometrics, such as closed-cell honeycomb infill. By printing metal powder in a plastic matrix, the Metal-X also eliminates the safety and environment risks associated with other 3D printing methods.

Parts printed with the Metal-X are also up to 10 times less expensive than alternative metal additive technologies and up to 100 times less than traditional fabrication technologies like machining or casting. Materials costs are typically reduced by 98%.

[caption id="attachment_39323" align="alignright" width="304"] Andy Simpson[/caption]

As a result, the Angus 3D’s Metal-X is ideal for parts that can’t be manufactured using traditional methods in industries such as aerospace, medical, oil and gas and general manufacturing.

The Metal-X 3D print system is also an end-to-end manufacturing solution – providing everything needed to go from design to fully-functional metal parts.

So far Angus 3D has used the Metal-X to print lightweight custom parts for a bicycle business and components for a new product design for an oil & gas company as well as remanufacture obsolete components for a local textile manufacturer to help maintain production and reduce breakdowns. It’s also producing test pieces for an F1 team looking for help carrying out performance analysis on parts.

The majority of the parts being made with the Metal-X so far are for companies in Scotland, but Angus 3D has already seen an increase in enquiries from companies in England due to their Metal-X being the only one commercially-available in the UK.

Angus 3D Solutions’ grant was one of three cited by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon at the Zero Waste Scotland Circular Economy Hotspot Scotland event last October as being part of a programme which could unlock up to £1 billion potential value in the economies of Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and Tayside by boosting the circular economy, according to reports commissioned by Zero Waste Scotland.

Angus 3D’s Metal-X aims to advance the circular economy by allowing parts which would previously have been scrapped due to obsolescence be put back in service through reverse-engineering – where their design is replicated using a 3D scanner and then printed using the Metal-X. It also improves the benefit to the circular economy by using less resources in the process.

Angus 3D Solutions www.angus3dsolutions.co.uk