SPEE3D Continues Global Expansion by Installing Metal 3D Printer in El Salvador

Australia-based company SPEE3D develops and supplies high-speed metal AM solutions (hence the name) that use its patented cold spray-based Supersonic 3D Deposition additive manufacturing technology (SP3D). First the company successfully deployed its massive 3D printers in the US and its home country of Australia, where they’ve been used for military applications. Next, the technology made its way to Brazil a few months ago, when SPEE3D signed a reseller agreement with Sao Paulo technology company Infocus Laser Systems. Now, the company has announced that it’s continuing the global expansion by moving further into Latin America, thanks to a new agreement with El Salvador AM service bureau 3D in Metal.

SPEE3D wants to use its extremely fast metal 3D printers to make manufacturing simpler on what it calls an “international scale.” Now that its WarpSPEE3D printer is being installed in El Salvador, it’s just one step closer to its goal. The WarpSPEE3D, which weighs approximately 3500 kg, can print copper and aluminum parts at speeds up to 1,000 times faster than conventional methods of manufacturing are capable of achieving, and with a maximum deposition rate of 100 g per minute, it’s no wonder the parts it creates measure up to 1 x 0.7 m.

With this kind of technology now available to it, 3D in Metal will almost definitely have an advantage over competitors.

Nozzle covers by SPEE3D (Image courtesy of 3D in Metal)

“We believe having the WarpSPEE3D printer in our factory will only increase our capacity to deliver printed 3D metal parts, coatings and repairs,” Gerardo Ortiz, the Founder of 3D in Metal, said in a press release. “We at 3D in Metal are looking forward to the benefits the WarpSPEE3D machine will offer to our region’s new wave of custom-made mass production.”

The metal AM service bureau specializes in equipment and software distribution, as well as consultation, to fill the high demand for replacement metal parts. As only the second Latin American company to own a WarpSPEE3D printer, 3D in Metal is positioned to, according to the release, “steer the frontier” for the regional market’s high-tech manufacturing industry.

The continuing demand for spare parts isn’t always easy to fill, especially in more remote locales, and with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic still wreaking havoc on the supply chain and international trade, it’s even more difficult to fill these types of orders, though SmarTech Analysis notes that the crisis has had “both a positive and a negative” impact on metal AM service bureaus like 3D in Metal. But according to SPEE3D, 3D printing is typically a more sustainable and affordable technology in these cases, and this new collaboration with 3D in Metal could prove to be invaluable to the Latin American manufacturing industry.

“In developing regions spare parts can sometimes be difficult to source. Though, with the WarpSPEE3D metal printer now at 3D in Metal for example, this can help leapfrog these regions to maintain their future supply and demand of metal parts much more easily,” explained SPEE3D’s CEO Byron Kennedy. “The installation in El Salvador just highlights the unique capabilities our easily deployable technology can bring to the region.”

(Image courtesy of SPEE3D)

SPEE3D is offering its assistance and support to 3D in Metal to deliver the huge WarpSPEE3D 3D printer to El Salvador, as well as in exporting and managing the installation and external training as well.

(Source: SPEE3D)