MC Machinery Systems' LUMEX Avance-25 is a magical machine. It represents a new direction for 3-D printing into the industrial world, one that could bring it one step closer to basic machine shop viability: additive machining.

The LUMEX is a metal laser-sintering hybrid milling machine – a market still too new to warrant an acronym or less clunky description.

It remains one of the only machines in the world capable of one-machine, one-process manufacturing of complex molds and parts by mixing metal laser sintering (3-D SLS) technology with high-speed milling.

The machine builds up layers of additively manufactured parts from a powder bed and then pulls in a series of tools to mill, grind and tool each layer to ensure perfect spec.

The process achieves the highest accuracy in part fabrication because metal powders are melted and sintered via laser, while surfaces are precisely milled at high speeds. The result is a fully finished, 3-D printed piece straight out of the machine.