As Formnext opens the doors of its 2019 edition, we are excited to be reporting on all product launches, partnerships and new developments in the additive manufacturing industry. This morning, one of the first announcements of the day comes from Markforged, which is introducing a new Turbo Print feature for its X7 carbon fiber 3D printer. The new feature enables users to double the X7’s print speed without compromising on surface quality.
The Turbo Print feature, which will be showcased at Formnext this week, will become available to customers on December 16th and will be compatible with all second-generation X7 3D printers. The second-generation X7 began shipping in June 2019, offering a comprehensive solution for carbon fiber-reinforced 3D printing. Now, the 3D printer model is getting a major boost.
“For many vendors in the additive manufacturing industry, high-speed printing kills part quality,” said Greg Mark, CEO and Founder of Markforged. “Our customers value the beautiful surface quality and mechanical properties of their 3D printed parts, so we developed a way to maintain our high standard at a much faster pace. Now customers will be able to move from digital design to functional parts twice as fast, opening the door for rapid development and faster time to market.”
Though the details of how exactly the Turbo Print feature works have not been disclosed, Markforged ensures that it will be purely beneficial, unlocking faster print rates for its carbon fiber machine without sacrificing part quality. The best of both worlds, really. For end users, this essentially means that production can be doubled.
“Twice as fast means twice as productive,” said Michael Ott, Head of Production Innovation at Siemens Healthineers in Germany. “We received our Markforged X7 in September, and have been thrilled with the results so far. The surface finish is unparalleled, and we can customize our parts to be exceptionally strong and ultra-lightweight. Now with this new feature, we’ll be able to make parts in half the time.”
