Meltio's new tools ease metal 3D printing

From the minds behind the fully articulated robotic arm 3D printing delivery system, Meltio introduces two new innovations designed to increase the reliability of metal additive manufacturing – Meltio Horizon software and Laser Calibration System.

"We have developed the Meltio Horizon software and the Laser Calibration System with the aim of facilitating the use of Meltio's metal 3D printing technology for industries around the world," said Meltio CEO Ángel Llavero. "It should be noted that metal additive manufacturing has historically been associated with complex and expensive software, we facilitate and shorten the learning time for you to democratize metal 3D printing so that your software is accessible and easy to use for many different profiles within a company."

You can read about Meltio, its robotic arm, and its other products at Meltio 3D printing goes three dimensional in the May 25, 2022, edition of Metal Tech News.

Up until now, Meltio users have been reliant on third-party fused filament fabrication (FFF) slicers to prepare toolpaths for Meltio's M450 metal 3D printer. Horizon offers a proprietary toolpath generator software that ensures a fully-tailored customer experience, with its own unique features and custom-developed Meltio print and material profiles, built in.

The new software is specifically built for M450's laser wire metal deposition process.

In addition to traditional slicing parameters used in FFF software, such as layer height, line width, print speed, and support and materials, the new Meltio Horizon provides tailor-made access to the company's laser-wire process, and material-specific parameters such as laser power, dual wire, and hot wire settings.

With Horizon, all of the material-related settings are already included in the slicing software – allowing for full control with just a single profile and the creation of more specialized printing profiles, including the power to directly control the laser and hot wire.

Out of the gate, features of the Meltio Horizon software include ease of use, cost calculation, tailored to wire-laser printing, combined material profiles, custom gas profiles, custom build plates, automatic updates, 2D and 3D previews, and the ability to fully incorporate project files.

Aside from the newest software, the company's new Laser Calibration System is an accessory for Meltio machines that ensures a faster and more reliable print process.

This system allows users to calibrate Meltio's multi-laser deposition head accurately and effortlessly on all three of its metal 3D printers. Moreover, it consists of a laser alignment camera that is controlled using a portable controller.

The company's multi-laser metal 3D printing technology is based on the use of six lasers that are directed toward a mutual point in order to melt the welding wire that is fed through the center of the deposition head.

As the lasers generate a high concentration of energy that liquefies the metal feedstock into a melt pool – resulting in precisely stacked weld beads – the alignment of each laser is critical, and the camera makes the calibration process easy to follow.

Similar to Horizon, this laser calibration system comes with increased accuracy, decreased calibration time, compatibility with any Meltio system, protective packaging, ease of use, repeatability, and traceability as some of its touted features.

"The Laser Calibration System will give industrial companies a new tool to be able to work with guaranteed reliability in the creation of their metal parts," said Llavero.