A Korean company is covering all the bases with a very wide breadth in their line of 3D metal printers.
InssTek, based in Daejeon, was founded in 2001 as a research firm. Their work in developing direct energy deposition (what they call “DMT”, or Direct Metal Tooling) to powdered metal resulted in their first product being released five years later. Today, ten years later, we see the company offers many powder-metal 3D printers in all sizes.
The most recent model from the company is their MX-Mini, described as a “desktop” 3D metal printer, and that’s exactly what it is.
The 300W laser-powered machine has a build volume of only 200 x 200 x 200mm, certainly a size suitable for desktops. However, I wouldn’t recommend using this machine in an office environment, as there is still the matter of handling the metal powder safely.
The Mx-Mini has been for sale in Japan for some time and pricing varies by region, options and installation requirements.
InssTek offers several other 3D metal printer models, but one I must mention is the MX-Grande, which must be the largest metal printing machine you can buy.
The MX-Grande is based on InssTek’s DMT technology, of course, but it’s most notable feature is its incredible build volume: 4,000 x 1,000 x 1,000mm. That’s two cubic meters of metal building space! I’m not certain of the price of this 17 tonne unit, but I expect it to exceed USD$2M.
In the future expect to see InssTek emphasize the medical market, as InssTek recently merged with Corentec, a medical company. In addition, it turns out the company also has very strong ties to Hyundai, suggesting they may have a direct route to automotive applications of their metal equipment.
Large or small, InssTek has an option for you.
Via InssTek (Mini) and InssTek (Grande)
