The 2021 Asia 3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing Exhibition (TCT Asia) will be held in Hall 7.1 of the National Convention and Exhibition Center (Shanghai) from May 26 to 28, 2021.
Markforged, a global desktop metal 3D printing and carbon fiber 3D printing leader, took part in the exhibition with new products.
In addition to bringing Markforged's star products as always: Mark2, X7 and Metal series, Markforged officially launched two new products on TCT this year, one is Blacksmith and the other is Markforged's special OnyxPro professional printer for the Chinese market. , This is the first device on the market that can print Onyx and continuous fiber within 100,000 yuan. It is ready to be opened to all Chinese customers and is expected to start shipping at the end of July.
Markforged’s China Sales Director Li Chen said: “Onyx Pro is a continuous glass fiber reinforced Onyx material device that retains Markforged’s high surface smoothness and precision that is unique in FFF. It also inherits the older brother Mark2’s The advantages of continuous fiber, the highest tensile strength can reach close to 600MPa. The former is for customers with higher requirements, and the latter is for the more popular market. The directions are different but they all show Markforged's determination and confidence in the Chinese market."
Onyx Pro is open to sales channels for all customers in China, whether it is aerospace, military, automotive, medical, or individual purchases, and will open its delivery channels to China in July this year.
Onyx Pro is an advanced professional 3D printer-built around a continuous fiber reinforced (CFR) process to produce robust parts. Li Chen told Antarctic Bear: “It is built around an aluminum one-piece frame that provides high precision and repeatability. The hardened extrusion system allows Onyx Pro to print Onyx (a nylon filled with micro-carbon fibers) in thousands of hours. Filament, it will destroy the traditional extrusion system). And the structure of the machine is easy to operate and maintain-from easy-to-reach wear components (such as nozzles and feed tubes) to functions that focus on usability (such as print beds), all can be moved Divide and replace by 10μm repeatability."
In addition to the more common FFF function, the Onyx pro printing method adopts a dual nozzle design and also has a second-generation fiber reinforcement system. Its glass fiber tensile strength reaches 590Mpa, which is 10 times that of traditional printing plastic ABS. The machine is durable and can replace some machined aluminum parts. In addition, the cost performance is very high, and its unique design can print continuous fiber parts with beautiful appearance, and the installation is relatively simple.
Another new product, Blacksmith, has a powerful AI self-learning function. It can be installed on the Markforged X7 industrial-grade 3D printer. It has smart calibration, smart optimization, and fully automatic correction capabilities, which completes the closed-loop manufacturing ecosystem of 3D printing. . This is a revolutionary innovation in the field of additive manufacturing.
Li Chen said: "Blacksmith uses the X7's existing integrated laser scanner and professional intelligent "in-manufacturing" scanning capabilities to safely measure the parts being printed, and then automatically evaluate the part size data based on the design files. When we are using At Blacksmith, scanning can check the internal structure and key features of the part to ensure that every step in the manufacturing process is feasible."
"The release of Blacksmith marks a major advancement in intelligent manufacturing in the future. In the future, 3D printers will be intelligently self-adjusting, taking into account all variables that may affect the printed parts, so as to ensure that they can be accurate the first time they are printed." Li Chen added.
Markforged's market situation in China
Revenue in the first quarter of 2021 was US$20.3 million (approximately 130 million yuan), an increase of 14.7% from last year's US$17.7 million (approximately 110 million yuan) in the first quarter of 2020. The global market still maintains good growth, so how does Markforged perform in the Chinese market?
Li Chen told Hay Think: “In China, we have deployments and customers in different regions. In the first quarter as a whole, Markforged’s business has not decreased but increased compared to last year. Especially since the export policy has been clarified recently, customers also have I am more confident. Markforged's customers in China are mainly from the automotive, education, and food industries."
"Metal Metal X can be used for the large-scale production of low-cost metal parts. The debinding and sintering process has been perfected. Mass production has already begun. In particular, Sinter2 was launched in 2020, which has a larger sintered size than the previous Sinter1 and is suitable for Small batch production. Express sinter has been launched. The fastest sintering time is 17 hours to complete small batch sintering, which is the first on the market. This greatly reduces the time spent in the entire use process. The metal printing operation of printing today and picking up tomorrow (that is, within 48 hours) can be done in a true sense."
"The Chinese market is an indispensable part of the global additive industry. Markforged, which will be listed this year, will have more investment in the wave of the Chinese market after its listing. Now the domestic understanding of continuous fiber and FFF metal printing If it is not deep, we will vigorously popularize these two types of technologies, and a new era has arrived!"
Industrial grade continuous carbon fiber X7 3D printing high-strength parts
Many readers may be curious about why the parts printed by Markforged are so strong. Li Chen told Hay Think: "The strength of the parts is mainly derived from our continuous fiber reinforcement technology. There are four choices of continuous fiber. Respond to the needs of different application scenarios such as rigidity, tensile strength, impact resistance, and strength enhancement at high temperatures, so as to achieve the possibility of replacing metal parts with non-metallic processes. In addition, the laying method and density of continuous fibers can be adjusted according to user needs design."
"In addition, this year's Blacksmith can also use technology on our X7. It combines printing and scanning into one, realizing self-feedback learning, allowing users to better meet their industry requirements during the production process of manufacturing final parts through Markforged. It avoids the internal process from the production department to the QC department, and realizes truly automated and intelligent manufacturing."
Industrial 3D printing platform Digital Forge application situation
Li Chen said: “Digital Forge now has more than five-figure cloud printing users around the world. Recently, customers should receive more frequent software and firmware patch updates. This is due to the immediate effect of every customer on the Digital Forge platform. According to feedback, Markforged has made improvements and upgrades on its basis. The goal is to increase the five-figure to six-figure in the future, so that more people can benefit from the value brought by the continuous improvement of the cloud platform."