I am still not convinced by the numbers they are promoting :
A typical laser spot in ALM produces 150µm width weld beads, if we consider a 100µm layer thickness (wich is high compared to a typical 50µm) and a 2000mm/s (high speed parameters that requires >200W lasers).
A single laser ( in continuous melting, which is not true) would be able to melt 0.225g of steel per second (7.5g/cm3).
That means 20kg/day approximately per laser.
As they announced 350kg/day, it would need 18 simultaneous lasers working together. For a ton a day that means 51 Lasers !
And this is in continuous melting, which never occurs as they are Always downtime for cooling/recoater movement/trajectory jump etc..
On the market, the biggest existing machines goes up to 4 lasers (SLM announces 12 but I Don't think they have shown any real sales/machines). And it is already complicated to obtain the correct alignement between each laser.
Even with higher power fiber lasers (500W and >50k$/laser) and big laser spots (which would decrease resolution and material quality) I Don't see a way to get to those figures.
For the shares to rise and Bulge to get his options he would need to show a real video of the process proving those figures. Maybe he is not willing to share to much before the vote of this change to remuneration package ?
A3D Price at posting:
23.5¢ Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
