Despite its decades long history, selective laser sintering (SLS) continues to have untapped potential to form high quality production parts. Due to the dearth of thermoplastic powders that are readily accessible in the marketplace, SLS also faces material restrictions. Furthermore, SLS equipment development has lagged behind other technologies and the closed materials platform many large SLS printer manufacturers use further restricts new material adoption.
With the underlined challenges in picture, cost of the products gets negatively affected while diminishing the chance of high-volume production. Founded in 2016, 3DM an Israeli startup strives to mitigate the challenge of the additive manufacturing industry. The Quantum Cascade laser (QCL) developed by 3DM is based on a semiconductor technology that ensures low cost and high quality of the product. The laser can be designed to emit at any wavelength in the mid IR spectrum, thus optimally matching absorption properties of all thermoplastics.
“The 3DM laser is a highly customizable product that matches the requirements of different materials. Our QC lasers can also print at a much faster pace while assuring the quality both in terms of mechanical properties, and XY resolution,” says Ido Eylon, CEO at 3DM.
Advance Printing Head
3DM’s printing head design is based on an array of laser beams operating in parallel, where each beam is scanning independently to expose its own dedicated sub area of the print bed. The sub area size is pre-configured depending on the desired target speed of the printer. The printing table size can be designed to be in any rectangular shape needed. The design of the beam head maximizes the benefits of 3DM’s self developed laser light source. The goal is to deliver superior laser beam performance with high power, high resolution, for an unprecedented range of materials, at significantly lower cost. The beam head may include from 1 to 6 lasers depending on the required printer performance.
Journey So Far
Daniel Majer, present CTO of 3DM laid the foundation stone of 3DM with a vision to resolve the existing problems in additive manufacturing. Thanks to his three decades of experience and deep domain knowledge, 3DM in no time turned QCL from a concept to reality that can be custom made with specific wavelength to interact with different targeted materials. The company has also signed multiple pilot agreements with industry leaders to integrate its novel technology with the existing SLS systems. Moreover, in order to ensure continuous progress, the firm has also gone public. This in turn has helped 3DM to raise more capital and expanded its team and capabilities both on the R&D and in the management. 3DM looks forward to selling its novel printing head to the SLS manufacturers.
“Today, there are multiple SLS manufacturers with extensive domain experience and market share in the SLS additive manufacturing systems market. In the coming days, we want to collaborate with these manufacturers to get into the market in a faster way and get a wider traction very quickly,” mentions Eylon. 3DM further wants to devise tailor-made solutions for each vertical that will aid the industries with mass customization. Our lasers make production much more efficient and help the manufacturers to produce when needed. With on the point product development in picture, existing business challenges like inventory management and supply chain disorder will be resolved,” concludes Eylon. 
The company already started engaging leaders in their respective industries to identify and characterize their specific needs, challenges and potential solutions to adopt the technology at a large scale for production purposes.
3DM further wants to devise tailormade solutions for each vertical that will aid the industries with mass customization
Ido Eylon, CEO
Ido Eylon is the CEO and a board member of 3DM. Being a well-rounded, seasoned business leader with an international outlook, Ido has held a various positions over his extensive career in the additive manufacturing sector. He began his career at Stratasys (Nasdaq: SSYS), where he held roles in North America, Asia Pacific, and Israel. He obtained insights into the industry by being close to the market and consumers. Ido's last post before joining 3DM was Vice President of Sales & Marketing at Massivit (TASE: MSVT), where he was in charge of the organization's global goto- market strategy.
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