Keselowski Advanced Manufacturing Purchases Velo3D Printer

Velo3D, a metal additive manufacturing technology company, has announced that Keselowski Advanced Manufacturing (KAM) has acquired a Sapphire XC printer. This addition aims to expand KAM's additive manufacturing capabilities and incorporate the company into the Velo3D contract manufacturer network. The purchase marks Keselowski's first purchase from Velo3D.

The Sapphire XC printer obtained by KAM is calibrated to print in a nickel-based superalloy that offers oxidation and corrosion resistance at high temperatures. This alloy is widely used in aviation, space, defense, and energy applications, all of which are key industries for KAM. The company purchased the Sapphire XC to enable printing larger parts for its customers.

"Our customers are some of the most innovative companies in their industries and, as a result, they present some of the most complex manufacturing problems to solve—this is where KAM thrives," said Brad Keselowski, Owner and Founder of Keselowski Advanced Manufacturing. "We are continually investing in new technologies to provide the highest quality finished parts, which starts with additive manufacturing technology but also includes quality precision machining to a finished part. With our established processes and team, we feel confident that our Sapphire XC will allow us to serve new industries by increasing the physical size of the parts we can deliver. This will be our first Sapphire XC, but as demand for these parts increases, we can easily add more printers to our fleet due to Velo3D's machine-to-machine repeatability."

The Sapphire XC can print parts up to 600 mm in diameter by 550 mm in height. A 1-meter option, the Sapphire XC 1MZ, is also available. The standard Sapphire XC can be upgraded to a Sapphire XC 1MZ by swapping out its build module.

Dr. Zach Murphree, Velo3D’s Vice President of Global Sales and Business Development, expressed confidence in the collaboration. "With such extensive experience in engineering, simulation, and manufacturing mission-critical metal parts, the KAM team is well equipped to put the full printing capabilities of the Sapphire XC to work,” Dr. Murphree said. “With an extensive client-base of innovative companies operating in many of the same industries we work with, Keselowski Advanced Manufacturing will see extensive utilization of their new metal additive manufacturing solution."

Velo3D's solution simplifies the additive manufacturing process and integrates into manufacturing workflows. Due to the solution's calibration and underlying manufacturing processes, Velo3D customers can more easily scale up production to meet demand for their additively manufactured products. This scalability is possible because Velo3D eliminates many of the variables commonly found in conventional additive manufacturing solutions. For customers and contract manufacturers, this means they can add more printers to their fleets to meet production demands without extensive requalification of every part.