Charles Darwin University is acquiring the LightSpEE3D printer, reportedly faster and cheaper than any metal 3D printer on the market. 

Every year, there seems to be a certain array of advancements pushing the 3D printing industry forward. Most recently, metal 3D printing technology has been thrusted into the spotlight of innovation. For instance, companies like Desktop Metal and Collider are breaking onto the scene with more affordable and capable metal additive manufacturing systems.

Now, in Australia, the Northern Territory government is granting Charles Darwin University with $400,000 to acquire and advance a new metal 3D printer. This system, manufactured by Spee3d, is called the LightSpEE3D printer, and could potentially revolutionize the metal 3D printing technology.

The LightSpEE3D 3D Printer: More Affordable & Faster Metal 3D Printing

Although the details on this new printer are sparse, the company is making some bold claims about its capabilities. According to Steve Camilleri, the co-founder and CTO of SpEE3D, this metal 3D printer will greatly reduce the cost and increase speed of production.

“We’ve got a part that we did for an automotive supplier and we were able to bring the 3D print time down from about 100 to 200 hours to about 20 minutes. And we were able to bring the cost down from sort of $US3,000 to $US5,000 to about $US30,” Camilleri says.

If these assertions are accurate, the LightSpEE3D printer might just become a game-changer in the metal 3D printing sector. At first glance, Camilleri’s claims almost seem to good to be true. This machine could truly disrupt the additive manufacturing sector if these reported results can be consistently replicated. However, the company has already produced metal parts using the newly developed system, as shown in the picture above.

With the newly awarded government grant, Charles Darwin University will research new applications for this 3D printing technology. The public university will receive the printer in October, and will try to help engineers from Spee3d advance the system’s capabilities.

“We’ll be doing work with CDU essentially looking into different applications for the printer. We want to scale various uses for the printer than might exist very quickly, so we need more people around who might be working on what those opportunities are with us,” Camilleri adds.

By offering an affordable additive manufacturing system that produces parts quickly, Spee3d hopes to break the barriers that have stunted the growth of metal 3D printing in the past. In addition to having a groundbreaking metal 3D printer manufactured in Darwin, the Northern Territory government also hopes that the company’s presence will help cultivate a tech-savvy local economy similar to Silicon Valley.

Check out the LightSpEE3D printer in the video below.

Source: ABC News