Renishaw has announced that it is developing a new additive manufacturing system designed and engineered specifically for production manufacturing. The machine, which the company has provisionally named the “EVO Project,” includes a 500-W laser, high-capacity filtration and automated powder handling.

Renishaw became an additive manufacturing OEM through acquisition in 2011. Now, this new machine will be the first the company has designed and engineered in-house, drawing on its own knowledge and background in production manufacturing. The new machine does not replace the Renishaw AM250 system, the company says, as this existing machine remains better suited for flexible manufacturing and research applications in which changes between materials are a requirement.

The new machine, by contrast, is designed for single-material industrial production. Powder handling is said to be almost entirely hands-off, while powder recirculation, recycling and recovery are all carried out within the inert atmosphere of the system.�