Cosine Additive Unveils Massive AdditiveMachine1 3D Printer — Will 3D Print Kayak & Aircraft Components

Andrew McCalip, Jason Miller, and the team at Cosine Additive want to continue to shake up traditional manufacturing and industry as nearly all of us know it. With the intent of taking on complex, intense projects, they’ve developed a large scale 3D printer which is meant to impress upon their ‘fundamental de-coupling’ of both equipment and materials.

Not allowing themselves to be restricted to any particular materials as they progress, Cosine’s AdditiveMachine1 is a 3D printer meant to be synonymous with the term large format, boasting a build space of 1100 x 850 x 900 mm. The AdditiveMachine1, just presented at the the RAPID 2015 show in California, translates into one cubic yard presented in an optimized rectangular format. Meant for professional use in fabricating highly functional objects, the large build space allows for part creation on an extremely innovative and expansive level.

The team itself is living proof of what the equipment can do, as they are in the process of making a 3D printed kayak as well as working on carbon fiber aircraft wings.

‘We’re just a couple of guys in a small shop, a former SpaceX engineer and a hedge fund quant/physicist who decided we were going to build the world’s best open-source 3D printer,” Andrew McCalip, founder and CTO of Texas-based Cosine Additive told 3DPrint.com. “Our goal is to fundamentally disrupt the closed ecosystem/proprietary materials model that has dominated industrial 3D printing for the last 20 years.”

Working with materials like polycarbonate/carbon fiber, the Cosine team is bent on moving forward in the 3D printing industry on their own terms, and with their own innovations which they hope will bring a new composite process to producing high-quality components in industries like aerospace and automotive.

Not accepting limits when it comes to innovation or materials, they don’t expect their users to either, and offer a 3D printing architecture with the AdditiveMachine1 that allows for use of any type of component or polymer as well as employing a closed loop 32bit motion and offering a heated bed that heats up to a maximum temperature of 450°C. This ensures that those 3D printing on the professional level are able to enjoy high quality and high speed, enjoying accuracy, precision, and ‘repeatable motion paths.’

The Cosine platform is committed to avoiding restrictions on the use of 3rd party thermoplastics, and with their development of alternative composite materials, they are able to show off samples of materials such as their Techmer Electrafil J-50/CF/10, processed with partner Universal Fiber. Featuring 10% short strand carbon fiber in a polycarbonate matrix, the material is uncommonly strong in tensile strength, as well as exhibiting exponentially greater modulus than standard materials.

Offering professionals on the higher industrial level many options with their AdditiveMachine1, with the advantages offered by polycarbonate, users also have an edge rather than using just PLA or ABS, as they can take advantage of stability as well as a high melting point–coupled with high speed and high resolution.

Discuss your thoughts on both this unique 3D printer and materials in the AdditiveMachine1 Large Scale 3D Printer forum over at 3DPB.com.

Miller and McCalip