If you need an update on Xact Metal’s progress, we have one.
The Pennsylvania-based company produces smaller-format metal 3D printers that use the LBPF process. It’s an interesting market niche because most LPBF machines are far larger and require considerable expense to acquire and operate.
The company has been around for quite a few years now, and with the introduction of their 300mm device, the XM300G metal 3D printer, they have found what they call the “sweet spot” for this niche. It seems that particular build volume is quite attractive to buyers, and the company has received a number of orders.
This has enabled the company to reveal to us that they’ve received their 100th order for a LPBF unit. That’s quite an accomplishment for any producer of metal 3D printers. While that number may seem small compared to desktop 3D printers, remember that Xact Metal operates in a very different market where far fewer units are sold.
The build volume is not the only factor that Xact Metal has been working on. Their goal, according to CEO Juan Mario Gomez, is to “make life easier for the customers”.
To do so they’ve recently partnered with other companies to do exactly that.
One partnership is with Oqton, the 3D Systems-owned software service that provides a complete operational workflow for additive manufacturing. With Oqton it is possible to set up jobs, dispatch them, monitor activity and provide usage statistics after the fact.
Companies having few devices are more likely to not have any sophisticated management options in this regard, and so acquiring an Xact Metal device wit Oqton would certainly make life a lot easier.
The second partnership is with Addiguru. If you haven’t heard of Addiguru, it is a real-time monitoring service that works with both FFF and LPBF additive manufacturing processes. They explain how it works:
“Addiguru’s in situ monitoring software for powder bed fusion uses inexpensive high-resolution cameras to detect issues such as powder bed anomalies, part elevation, spatter, recoater streaking, and recoater hopping in REAL-TIME.”
With Addiguru, Xact Metal customers can then perform real time monitoring on their X300G 3D printer. This should enable operators to quickly stop jobs that are detected to be failing, and that could save considerable time and money.
Those two new partnerships could make operating an Xact Metal 3D printer far easier and more economical, both of which are quite attractive to customers and prospects.
The X300G becomes a more desirable machine, and that is reflected in the increasing unit sales. Gomez tells us that their growing reseller network is “performing well”, and in particular their partnership with GoEngineer, one of the largest AM resellers.
Via Xact Metal
