Markforged has announced the FX10 Metal Kit, a print engine that brings metal printing capability to the FX10. With this kit, the FX10 becomes an industrial 3D printer that can print both metal filaments and composites with continuous fiber reinforcement.

The printer was designed to eliminate the need for two printers, one for metal and one for composites. “Customers no longer have to choose between a metal and a composite printer,” said Shai Terem, CEO of Markforged. “Years of R&D investment and field experience have come together to provide an all-in-one solution for 3D printing."

A quick look at the FX10:

The FX10 was released in November 2023 as a composite only printer. It was designed to be a versatile tool on the factory floor. With its modular architecture, upgrades like the Metal Kit lets customers of the FX10 gain additional value from the machine after purchase.

Markforged has also announced a new 316L stainless steel metal filament to be used with the FX10 Metal Kit. Users will also be able to print in 17-4PH with additional support for other Markforged metal filaments in the future. “We designed the FX10 to be a modular platform, so that we are able to release new innovations and upgrades without customers having to purchase a new printer every year,” said Terem. “Along with new software capabilities we release regularly, the FX10 Metal Kit is poised to provide continuously growing value on factory floors for years to come.”

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Swappable print engine

The FX10 Metal Kit consists of a swappable print engine that includes a metal-specific print head, material feed tubes, routing back, and dual pre-extruders. An FX10 can be swapped between metal and composite as many times as needed, and the swap takes about 15 minutes.

Image courtesy of Markforged.

Similar to the 5th generation continuous fiber reinforcement print system in the FX10 that prints nearly twice as fast as previous composite printers, the 2nd Generation Metal FFF engine, built on years of Markforged’s experience printing metal, prints significantly faster than previous Markforged metal systems. FX10 combines faster print speed with a print volume twice as large compared to Markforged’s prior industrial metal printers.

Metal prints are built from the metal filament and a ceramic release filament. The ceramic release is extruded as an interface between the part and supports for ease of separation and removal. Once metal prints are complete, they must be washed and sintered in Markforged’s Wash-1 and Sinter-2 solutions. Eiger, Markforged’s slicer and print management software automates the process, including scaling parts to account for shrinkage during sinter.

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The Digital Forge is the additive manufacturing platform that enables every aspect of the FX10 and is purpose-built to integrate into existing manufacturing ecosystems. With the Digital Forge, users can share parts across their organization, and monitor fleet performance from a central location.