Mears Machine orders a sixth Velo3D Sapphire XC printer for copper-nickel parts

Velo3D/Sapphire

Mears Machine Corporation, a precision machining and metal additive manufacturing company, has ordered its sixth Velo3D Sapphire XC metal 3D printer. The new machine will be dedicated to copper-nickel (70-30 CuNi), a material used in shipbuilding, seawater cooling, condensers and heat exchangers. Velo3D says five of Mears' six systems are already producing parts.

• The machine runs Velo3D's Flow print preparation and Assure quality reporting software.
• 70-30 copper-nickel keeps stable properties from cryogenic temperatures up to about 400°C and resists corrosion in seawater.
• Mears' existing machines already support customer work in Inconel 718, Haynes 282 and CP1 aluminium.
• The article gives no installation date or site beyond saying the installation is in the United States.
• Mears CEO James Lloyd calls the move "a strategic decision" toward a vertically integrated copper-nickel supply chain.