New Metal 3D Printer from AddUp Installed at Ohio State’s Manufacturing Center

AddUp, Inc., an industrial metal additive manufacturing OEM that was established by French companies Michelin and Fives as a joint venture, offers both Directed Energy Deposition (DED) and Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) printers, and is partnering with The Ohio State University to offer students, faculty, and researchers more opportunities to work with and develop AM processes. As a result, an industrial-scale FormUp 350 LPBF 3D printer by AddUp is being installed at the university’s Center for Design and Manufacturing Excellence (CDME); this complements the six FormUp 350 printers being installed at the company’s Ohio facility.

“AddUp was familiar with Ohio State’s CDME and their robust AM program, so we were happy to partner with the facility to showcase the FormUp 350. The FormUp 350 features our latest technology. It prints faster, is more efficient, and was designed for operator safety,” said Ken Wright, President of AddUp, Inc. “We are committed to innovation and leading the industry in PBF technology, so what better place to showcase that technology than in our own backyard at CDME.”

L-R: Noah Gula (Graduate Research Assistant, CDME), Sammy Passell (Process and Applications Engineer, AddUp), Nathanael Henry (Research Assistant, CDME), and Ben DiMarco (Additive Manufacturing Technologist, CDME).

While AddUp is based in Cébazat, France, its North American subsidiary is headquartered in Blue Ash, near Cincinnati, which is less than two hours from the OSU campus.

“We are excited to partner with Ohio State and the CDME to participate in the research for new material and process developments for 3D printing using the FormUp 350. Both AddUp and CDME are members of America Makes, so this partnership provides an opportunity to collaborate on rapid innovation projects to further the research for additive manufacturing applications,” Wright said.

The CDME is already home to more than $5 million worth of AM equipment, which includes industrial 3D printers that can work with biomaterials, ceramics, composites, polymers, and metals, but the FormUp 350 that’s coming to the center will still be a welcome addition.

CDME students operating the AddUp FormUp 350.

“The FormUp 350 has already equipped us with capabilities which we do not have with our other printers. It has an open platform that allows us to tune strategies by accessing build parameters and enables us to achieve enhanced material properties through processing fine powder. We now can take on more complex projects requiring larger parts,” said Edward Herderick, CDME’s Director of Additive Manufacturing.

“This machine provides the largest build plate of all our machines in the additive lab at the CDME, with the capacity to print 350X350. Within its first few weeks of operation, the FormUp 350 has quickly established itself as a reliable, operator-friendly platform.”

With its modular build platform—good for quickly scaling from small research projects to full industrial applications—the FormUp 350 has a powder module designed to automatically store, move, recover, and sieve powder, and also features quad-500 W Ytterbium continuous fiber lasers with a 70 µm laser spot size and real-time in layer monitoring for problem detection.

“The FormUp 350 provides a unique powder rolling system that has helped us print complex part geometries while maintaining quality. More specifically, the quality of the surface finish is significant for our partners in the aerospace and medical industries,” said Ben DiMarco, Additive Manufacturing Technologist for the CDME.

“TRX @ OSU” mementos created on AddUp’s FormUp 350.

Designed specifically to address common issues in industrial AM, like scalability, operator safety, and productivity, the printer meets the quality requirements for industries like medical, aeronautics, defense, and motorsports—representative of many AddUp customers.

“The FormUp 350 stands out among other PBF machines because it provides the highest-quality parts while ensuring user safety. The FormUp meets part quality requirements in terms of mechanical properties, geometric properties (up to 0.1 mm dimensional accuracy), and material density (up to 99.99%). Also, operators can work in safety, having zero contact with the powder thanks to our Autonomous Power Module, powder storage, machine feeding, and unfused powder recovering and sieving,” Wright said.

AddUp’s FormUp 350 at Ohio State’s Center for Design and Manufacturing Excellence.

CDME works with researchers and companies in a variety of industries to take new technologies and create market-ready products with them, offering design, engineering, prototyping, and product enhancement through the use of 3D printing technologies in the center. This provides student employees with real-world experience, and gives customers a leg up in the fast-paced worldwide market. By adding the FormUp 350 to its arsenal, students, engineers, and researchers at the CDME can continue working with the latest in metal 3D printing.

“The machine also offers an open interface that’s user-friendly,” DiMarco said. “The software is easy to navigate and implement changes to the machine parameters. This feature is particularly valuable when training our student employees on the machine.”

Ohio State’s “Block-O” trinkets printed on the FormUp 350 were used as giveaway mementos for attendees of the recent TRX conference hosted by America Makes.

Through this mutually beneficial partnership, AddUp can show off the capabilities of its latest technology to a new customer base, while CDME engineers can utilize the FormUp 350 to deliver repeatable series of industrial parts.

Wright said, “We are excited to play a part in developing the future talent of the additive manufacturing industry.”