“Welding printers” are metal 3d printers that build a part up by melting metal wire or powder onto the part layer by layer. These types of printers have many benefits over DMLS, but they have some major downsides:

  • Parts are not fully dense. Welding is an inherently messy process, leaving inconsistent voids in the part.
  • Grinding requirement. Usually the additive printing must be paused periodically to grind away excess material.
  • No small features. Welding does not scale down well to features that are millimeters in size.

Atomwell’s proprietary selective powder deposition process prints parts that are 100% dense without post-processing, requires no grinding, and supports very small features.