Fortify begins shipping FLUX ONE 3D printer
DCM-based system for fiber-reinforced mold tooling applications
Boston-based Fortify has started shipping its FLUX ONE 3D printer to customers sites. The additive manufacturing platform, capable of printing fiber-reinforced photopolymers, was launched in March 2020 and is based on the company’s Digital Composite Manufacturing (DCM) technology.
“Shipping our first product is a monumental step for Fortify,” said Josh Martin, CEO and Co-founder of Fortify. “Despite shutdowns due to COVID, our lean team has been able to push forward and deliver the technology with minimal disruption to our timeline. After several years of development and servicing customers remotely, we are thrilled to have customers using these machines at their site to bring products to market.”
The FLUX ONE 3D printing system can be used for a range of applications, however its primary use case is for mold tooling applications. The machine has the ability to 3D print mold tools made from fiber-reinforced materials in mere days and at a fraction of the cost of traditional metal molds. Fortify has also developed a material for this application: Digital Tooling resin, which is a proprietary blend of resin and ceramic fibers optimized for high-resolution parts with good pressure and temperature performance.
“The modular platform we are bringing to market gives us flexibility to serve a range of applications,” added Paul Dresens, VP of Engineering at Fortify. “We can tailor the systems for the advanced additive manufacturing applications enabled by our unique ability to achieve new material properties.”
The now-shipping system integrates two proprietary technologies: Continuous Kinetic Mixing (CKM), which is used to achieve uniform suspension of fiber and other functional additives, and Fluxprint, which uses magnetic alignment to optimized microstructures. In combination, these two technologies allow for engineering additives to be incorporated into printed parts with optimized performance.
Fortify says it will fulfill additional orders for the FLUX ONE system this year, shipping printers to additional customer sites for tooling and advanced electronic applications.
