25 May 2015
CSIRO launches $6m 3D metal printing facility
When in comes to desktop 3D printers, prices have plummeted to a point in which almost anyone in the developed world can afford to purchase their own machine. This has enabled hundreds of thousands of individuals and businesses to take advantage of 3D printing technology to an extend which was unimaginable only a few short years ago.
When it comes to printing with metal, however, that’s an entirely different story. Laser sintering machines are not only dangerous for the inexperienced to operate, but such machines are usually priced north of what one would pay for an entire house, putting such use usually out of reach of the typical individual. With that said Australia’s national science agency, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), wants to change all this, at least for Aussies.
Today CSIRO announced the grand opening of Lab 22, a $6 million research center which has been created in order cs2to accelerate the adoption of industrial scale metal 3D printers in the nation. The printers, purchased from Arcam at a price as high as $1 million a pop, can be used for a number of valuable applications such as the printing of titanium medical implants, intricate, yet strong components for both prototyping and end-use parts, and much more.
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