Bigger, Faster Metal 3D Printing: Introducing Sapphire XC 1MZ

Velo3D’s New Design for Sapphire XC and Sapphire XC 1MZ

Production-scale AM

Featuring state-of-the-art metal 3D printing technology, the Sapphire XC 1MZ continues the leading-edge performance set by the Sapphire and expands to new applications.

With a cylindrical 600mm diameter x 1000mm build volume, the Sapphire XC 1MZ is the largest printer available from a leading LPBF supplier and combines geometric design freedom with repeatable, standardized material properties offering a powerful path to manufacturing in the aerospace, energy, and defense industries.

The new Sapphire XC 1MZ printer allows customers to print parts 1 meter in height with a total build volume that’s nearly twice that of the Sapphire XC and nearly 10 times larger than the original Sapphire, increasing the addressable use-cases of Velo3D’s end-to-end metal additive manufacturing solution.

This unlocks a lower cost of production for many industries from aerospace and defense to energy and oil & gas. Most critically, for the space industry, it means larger rocket engines and a quicker time-to-market.

Existing Velo3D customers will be pleased to learn that the XC 1MZ uses the same advanced functionality featured in the standard Sapphire printer and is built to enable a seamless transition of parts originally developed and qualified on the smaller format Sapphires, including Sapphire or Sapphire 1MZ, with the same validated material properties.

As with all Sapphire printers, the XC 1MZ also allows for unprecedented part repeatability across the Sapphire printer family with one print file per part that works on any Sapphire – worldwide. This is enabled through one-click independent calibration per printer that ensures the exact same parts with the same quality anywhere.

Faster to print, quicker to market

The new Sapphire XC 1MZ is considerably faster than the standard Sapphire and features four times the available laser power with its eight 1-kW lasers.

In addition to more lasers, the Sapphire XC 1MZ also features a faster non-contact recoater that increase throughput by up to 400%, decreasing the time required between build layers and lowering the cost of produced parts by up to 75%, resulting in faster printing at scale and lower production costs.

Sapphire XC 1MZ Benefits Overview

• Larger build volume: 600 mm in diameter and 1000 mm in height—nearly 10 times larger than the original Sapphire system and over 30% larger than the leading large format LPBF printers
• Additional lasers: Eight 1-kilowatt lasers to selectively weld powdered metal layer-by-layer increasing the total available power by 4x over the original Sapphire system
• Faster non-contact recoater: Compared to the standard Sapphire system, Velo3D’s proprietary protrusion-tolerant recoater is now twice as fast on Sapphire XC, significantly reducing print time
• Increased throughput of up to 400% lowers the cost of produced parts by up to 75%.
• Ability to seamlessly transition from the Sapphire to the Sapphire XC / XC 1MZ with identical material properties

Enabling tomorrow’s innovations, today

With the race to space taking off across the globe and ongoing supply chain struggles continuing to cause delays, the need for new and innovative manufacturing solutions has never been more critical. As companies look to meet their manufacturing milestones, they are increasingly looking to more advanced metal 3D printing solutions.

Until recently, the options for large format printing have been limited to lower precision technologies like DED. But for detailed and complex turbomachinery—as well as regeneratively cooled combustion chambers—engineers require higher precision.

The all-new Sapphire XC 1MZ addresses this gap with its increased production capabilities and highly integrated production system.

For more information on Velo3D’s growing range of state-of-the-art metal 3D printing solutions, get in touch with a member of our team today.