A tremendous amount of information exists in the industrial additive manufacturing industry, with many companies – old and new – competing for customer dollars and attention.
Given the highly customizable nature of additive manufacturing, it is no small irony that the information about their products supplied by each competing company has to be generalized and uniform in a way that ends up universally confusing. Clarity is the key to quality, and quality is king, as the saying goes.
When applying or augmenting a manufacturing operation with an industrial additive manufacturing system, this uniform confusion and lack of clarity can hinder quality decision-making for interested parties. Each manufacturing operation or potential customer will need to know specific information about the capabilities of a machine such as an industrial additive manufacturing system.
The Senvol Database is one of the most robust and customizable databases a user can search through. It adds much needed clarity to the industry as a whole. It is also free to use.
There have been more than 100 new 3D printing machines and materials recently added to the Senvol Database, making it the first and most comprehensive 3D printing machine and material database. The new entries have brought the total number of machines and materials to over 1,000, indicative of the recent growth within the industry.
Users can search the free database online with more than 30 fields, including machine build size, price, material type or material tensile strength to find the correct machines for their needs.
Co-President of Senvol, Zach Simkin commented on the addition, saying, “We’re pleased to continue to see the industry grow – and not simply with new machines and materials, but with machines and materials that offer improved functionality.”
Many of those using the Senvol Database are the world’s largest industrial companies such as Caterpillar, GE, General Motors, Johnson & Johnson, Northrop Grumman and Ricoh, among others, which can be attributed to this recent and continued evolution of the additive manufacturing industry.
The database is not intended for beginners or newcomers to the industry. It is designed for a user who knows at least the basics about the different types of industrial additive manufacturing processes.
For example, if a user selected a combination of fields such as “Concept Laser” for the company, “M1 cusing” for the machine, “Vat Polymerization” for the type of AM process and “metal” for the general material type, the database will allow the user to submit this, but will only return “no records”.
The search interface makes it easy to just try again with a different combination. However, if the database could display a prompt indicating “combination not possible” to let the user know, it might save beginners some time. I could see that if Senvol develops a few different modes, like “beginner”, “intermediate knowledge” and “expert” with an option for educational prompts, it could make the database an even more powerful tool.
If you choose to use the Senvol database, send your feedback, questions, comments or suggestions to database@senvol.com.