Can This New Molten Metal Printhead Bring Aluminium 3D Printing to the Factory Floor?
Belgian startup ValCun will debut its machine-agnostic printhead at Formnext aimed at delivering molten metal deposition (MMD) technology across industries.
You can 3D-print aluminium in plenty of ways — from laser powder bed fusion and electron beam melting to wire-arc systems and cold spray — but none of them have yet delivered a fast, affordable, factory-ready solution, says Belgian startup ValCun. Its new industrial printhead, Remus 1.0, is built around a molten metal deposition (MMD) process that promises the simplicity of FDM, the material freedom of welding, and the cost structure the aluminium market has been waiting for.
Unveiled this week, Remus 1.0 is billed as a “next‐generation industrial printhead” and varies from the company’s previous Minerva Printhead in that it’s “built to scale the MMD technology onto the factory floor with higher throughput, reliability, and deployability.”
ValCun hasn’t released the deposition rate, max part size, weight, or integration specifics, but will have the offering on display at Formnext 2025. ValCun is also expected to demo industrial case studies and announce new integration partners at the event.
“Remus 1.0 is the tool to truly industrialize MMD,” says co-founder and CEO Jonas Galle. “Minerva [the company’s enclosed MMD machine] allowed us to refine the process and understand industry needs. Remus is born out of that learning, translating those insights into an industrial product.”
From Printer to Printhead
Instead of pushing the industry toward a new standalone machine, Remus 1.0 turns MMD into an add-on technology. The printhead mounts on robots, CNC gantries, or ValCun’s own Minerva machines, giving factories freedom to tailor workflows instead of buying yet another isolated AM system, the company says.
This machine-agnostic approach also unlocks something classic AM has struggled with: build volume. Because REMUS doesn’t rely on a fixed bed or enclosure, it can print meter-scale parts — or weld-size features — without redesigning the entire production environment.
With Remus, ValCun is going after the shops that need hybrid production, repair, functional feature additions, and low-volume aluminium parts without powder-AM price tags.
Together with integrator partnerships, ValCun aims to provide a machine-agnostic industrial solution, enabling Remus to operate across multiple robotic and machine platforms.
“Our mission is eventually to be present in every metal workshop complementary to CNC milling and other conventional state-of-the-art metal manufacturing technology, says Jan De Pauw, company co-founder and CTO.
Future extensions for Remus will include real-time process monitoring for closed-loop control and in-situ quality assurance, ensuring consistent performance with both standard and high-strength aluminium alloys.
You May Also Like:
Listen to All3DP’s News Podcast:
License: The text of "Can This New Molten Metal Printhead Bring Aluminium 3D Printing to the Factory Floor?" by All3DP Pro is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.