Howco Orders First Metal Additive Manufacturing Machine from SLM Solutions

Howco, the leading global distributor of raw material to the Oil and Gas industry, has made its first purchase of the latest metal additive manufacturing (AM) technology for its brand new AM Facility in Houston, Texas. In regards to purchasing their new SLM®500 selective laser melting machine Howco’s Director of Additive Manufacturing, Conrad Kao, comments, “We went through an extensive selection process over a number of months to make sure we had the optimum technology for our new venture. We are expecting delivery in Q3 2020 and are working hard to have all our ancillary support equipment in place to allow us to start printing components.”

Image via SLM Solutions

As the first quad-laser system on the market, the SLM®500 serves as the flagship additive manufacturing system for high volume metal additive manufacturing to ensure operator safety and lower overall operational costs. Likewise, the integrated SLM® Build Processor and open software architecture offer the freedom of controlling system parameters to optimize and meet strict production needs. The SLM®500 features a 500 x 280 x 365 mm build chamber and four overlapping lasers with a total power rating of 1600Watts. Quad laser optics can increase build rates by 90% over twin laser configurations. Gas flow is essential to removing soot from the process chamber, especially for long-duration builds and the optimized gas flow on all systems produces complex components with the highest density and top surface quality.

Source: SLM Solutions