Meltio releases two new wire-laser metal 3D printing solutions

Meltio, a multinational Spanish laser metal deposition technology manufacturer, has presented two new innovations that will increase the reliability of metal part additive manufacturing – the Meltio Horizon software, and the Laser Calibration System.

Both technological solutions, developed by Meltio’s engineering team, represent a further step in the company’s strategy to eliminate the barriers that prevent metal additive manufacturing from extending its presence in many industrial sectors.

“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. It should be noted that metal additive manufacturing has historically been associated with complex and expensive software, limited to the use of very few people because it was very specialized. At Meltio, with the launch of our new 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. 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 Ángel Llavero, CEO of Meltio.

Up until now, Meltio users have been reliant on third-party FFF slicers to prepare toolpaths for the Meltio M450. Meltio Horizon is a proprietary toolpath generator software that ensures a fully-tailored customer experience for the company’s plug-and-play metal 3D printer, the Meltio M450, with its own unique features and custom-developed Meltio print and material profiles included. The new software solution is tailored to the 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 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 the Meltio Horizon software, 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, with the power to directly control the laser and hot wire.

This slicer is currently only compatible with the Meltio M450 metal 3D printer.

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.

The company’s new Laser Calibration System is an accessory for Meltio’s machines, that ensures a faster and more reliable print process. The System allows users to calibrate Meltio’s multi-laser deposition head accurately and effortlessly on all three of its metal 3D printers. The system 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. The lasers generate a high concentration of energy, called a melt pool, that melts the metal feedstock – resulting in precisely stacked weld beads. The alignment of each laser is critical, and the camera makes the calibration process easy to follow.

Features of the Laser Calibration System include increased accuracy, decreased calibration time, compatibility with any Meltio system, protective packaging, ease of use, repeatability, and traceability.