Sciaky's EBF3

Following on from our previous posts on the promising EBF3 technique (Electron Beam FreeForm Fabrication), we bumped into a video showing a commercial implementation from Sciaky. The video shows the build process as well as highlighting the key benefits:

• Drastically reduce material costs
• Dramatically shorten lead times
• Slash machining time
• Save over costly forgings or castings
• eliminate wait time for dies, moulds and billets

The resulting object looks a little rough, but the normal approach is to follow up with some serious machining time to complete the object. According to the video, the part above was printed with Titanium Wire source material over a period of 56 hours. It's to be followed with approximately 60 hours of machining. The total 116 hours is lower than using traditional manufacturing techniques.

The Sciaky printer also accepts powder material as well as wire fed, and can print an amazing 15-40 pounds of material per hour sustained, with even higher burst rates. It can even alter the chemistry or alloy during printing.

We're adding Titanium Wire to our weekly shopping list right now!

Via YouTube and Sciaky (Hat tip to Kerry)