Desktop Metal Ships Studio System

Desktop Metal has expanded production capacity of the Studio System, an office-friendly metal 3D printing system. With expanded production capability, the company is now shipping at a rate of 550 complete systems per year, with a two-week delivery time for new orders to customers in the U.S. and Canada.

“Leading companies, such as Ford, Google’s ATAP, Goodyear, BMW and Protolabs, are now benefiting from the ease of use and accessibility provided by the Studio System,” says Ric Fulop, CEO and co-founder of Desktop Metal.

Over the past six months, Studio Systems worldwide have fabricated more than 8,000 parts. Key use applications range from functional prototyping of extruder nozzles and shock absorber pistons; to jigs & fixtures including robotic end effectors and brake caliper fixture; to manufacturing tooling of zipper molds inserts and extrusion dies; and low volume production of gears and motor mounts. Each of these benchmark parts has shown cost reduction—some by as much as 90% relative to machining and selective laser melting (SLM)—as well as speed in fabrication, producing parts in days instead of weeks or months.

Studio System for Metal Prototyping

The Studio System is designed to make metal 3D printing more accessible, enabling design and engineering teams to print metal parts faster, without special facilities, dedicated operators or costly tooling. The three-part solution, including printer, debinder and furnace, automates metal 3D printing by integrating through Desktop Metal’s cloud- based software to deliver a workflow for printing complex metal parts in-house—from digital file to sintered part.

Highlights include the following:

Built to Scale: The Studio System offers a larger sintering volume, which enables cost-effective, low-volume production of metal parts. One Studio furnace supports up to five printers, allowing for batch processing for high throughput.

Parts Quality: Mechanical properties, material properties, surface quality, feature fidelity, geometry, size, dimensional accuracy—the Studio System addresses these factors with engineered features to ensure reliable parts, according to Desktop Metal

Safe for the Office: The Studio System prevents exposure of solvents to users and does not require external ventilation. The system is designed for use in a range of environments—office, lab, shop—making it easy for any engineer to make metal parts in-house.

Customers of the Studio System span multiple industries and include such companies as Ford, Stanley Black and Decker, Goodyear, 3M, Google’s ATAP, BMW, Protolabs, Owens Corning, L3, TerraPower, Medtronic, Continental AG, Applied Materials, TECT Aerospace, U.S. Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, MITRE and educational institutions such as MIT, University of Texas, Texas A&M and Diman Regional Vocational Technical High School, a high school that has installed a metal 3D printer.

More Info

Desktop Metal

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.