Cetim, the Technical Centre for Mechanical Industry, is set to receive one of the first installs of Desktop Metal’s metal binder jetting Shop System.

The French mechanical engineering innovation and R&D organisation aims to use the new additive manufacturing system to explore low-volume prototyping and mid-volume runs of complex metal parts at its facility in Cluses. The Shop System will join Cetim’s current Desktop Metal Studio System in providing parts for customers across industries such as aerospace, oil and gas, and automotive.

Pierre Chalandon, Chief Operating Officer at Cetim commented: “Desktop Metal technologies with both the Studio System and new Shop System completes our additive manufacturing machines park. From a general point of view, metal binder jetting technology is promising for a large part of our clients. Desktop Metal solutions portfolio covers the full metal product lifecycle, which is complementary to our experience on sintered material and finishing Operations.”

Launched at Formnext last November with a starting price point of 150,000 USD, the Shop System has been designed to deliver a more accessible metal 3D printing option to machine and metal job shops with unique mid-volume manufacturing needs. Equipped with a high-speed, single-pass print engine, the Shop System is said to be 10x faster than laser powder bed systems, allowing for up to 70kg of steel parts to be processed per day.

Further to the install, Cetim and Desktop Metal are said to be collaborating on a variety of research initiatives focusing on design for metal AM, post-processing technique qualification, workflow optimisation and materials development.

“When it comes to empowering industrial companies with the additive manufacturing technologies of the future, Cetim is truly one of the leaders in Europe,” said Ric Fulop, CEO and co-founder, Desktop Metal. “We are excited to partner with Cetim as one of the first customers for our ground-breaking Shop System and are eager to collaborate with Cetim on our shared efforts to change the way that companies manufacture around the globe.”

Cetim has been working with multiple metal AM technologies for over the last 15 years. Its Cluses site is already home to another binder jetting technology following the adoption of a second DM P2500 from Digital Metal in March last year.

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