How does 3D metal printing work?

How does 3D metal printing work?

At FasTech, we are extremely proud that our Danville facility set up in 2018, was the first US manufacturer to use the Gefertec 3D metal printing technology.

Now three years on, we have two machines onsite, the GEFERTEC 3DMP® arc405 and GEFERTEC 3DMP® arc605. These provide 3D printing without lasers or powders with the aim to minimize material waste, reduce end to end lead times and reduce the overall product cost.

So how does 3D metal printing work?
3D metal printing is an extremely flexible solution which comprises of a four step process.

  • Firstly, the CAD is converted into individual digital layers, in other words the CAM model. If you need to, the part can be scanned, to reverse engineer the original product, and then create the CAM model.
  • Then the netshape part is created. This is achieved by using a wirebased arc welding process to automatically print the blank part.
  • The part is then scanned to check that it meets our rigorous standards and the customer’s agreed quality standards
  • Finally to complete the process, the finished part is milled.

Watch how the process works
Take a sneak peek to see how a use case in the aviation sector is created, using 3D metal printing

See how FasTech’s four step 3D metal printing process works
Find out more about the process works

If you would like to find out more about our 3D metal printing capability, please do get in touch with the FasTech team.