All machines Additive Manufacturing
Additive Manufacturing
Printing metal, concrete, boats and rockets, layer by layer.
Want the mechanism, not just the footage?
We wrote a full explainer for this category: Metal 3D Printing. What the machine does, how it works, the numbers that matter and who buys one.
10 films
-
19:57 Additive Manufacturing3D printed rocket engines
Veritasium goes inside a factory printing entire rocket structures instead of welding them from thousands of parts, and asks whether it actually makes engineering sense. The printers are among the largest metal 3D printers ever built. It is as much a manufacturing strategy argument as a technology film.
-
29:28 Additive ManufacturingThe biggest 3D printer this workshop has ever seen
Adam Savage stands next to a 3D printer big enough to print a boat and reacts more or less the way anyone would. The build volume changes what the technology is for entirely. Half an hour of a genuinely curious person asking good questions about a very large machine.
-
14:59 Additive ManufacturingThe material science of metal 3D printing
Real Engineering explains what actually happens metallurgically when a laser melts powder into solid metal, and why the resulting microstructure is not the same as a casting or a forging. Layers are typically 20 to 60 microns thick and the laser scans at meters per second. The best technical explanation of metal additive manufacturing on YouTube.
-
9:10 Additive ManufacturingInside the world's largest 3D printed neighborhood
A gantry robot extrudes concrete wall by wall across an entire neighbourhood, with houses rising out of the ground in layers. CNBC covers the economics as well as the machine. Whether or not it scales, it is one of the most futuristic construction sites currently in operation.
-
8:04 Additive ManufacturingWhat laser powder bed fusion is
A clear, honest explanation of laser powder bed fusion: how the recoater spreads powder, how the laser fuses a cross section and why supports and heat treatment are unavoidable. The Cool Parts Show is made for manufacturing people rather than for hype. Eight minutes well spent.
-
5:33 Additive ManufacturingWhat binder jet 3D printing is
Binder jetting glues metal powder into shape and then sinters it in a furnace, so the printer itself is fast and the part shrinks into its final size afterwards. It is a completely different economic model to laser melting. Short and genuinely informative.
-
2:48 Additive ManufacturingWire arc additive manufacturing, explained
A welding torch on a five-axis machine builds a solid metal part out of wire, layer by layer, at deposition rates that powder bed machines cannot approach. The part is then machined to final size. It is the most practical version of large metal additive manufacturing that exists today.
-
2:18 Additive ManufacturingThe world's largest 3D printed boat
A 25 foot boat printed in one piece from a single machine, which at the time was both the largest polymer 3D printer and the largest 3D printed boat in the world. Printing at this scale is a materials and thermal problem more than a motion problem. Two minutes and a very satisfying reveal.
-
1:36 Additive ManufacturingA 3D printed steel bridge, one year on
A stainless steel pedestrian bridge printed in mid-air by robot arms laying weld bead on weld bead, then installed over a canal. Wire arc additive manufacturing turns a welding robot into a printer. Ninety seconds covering years of work.
-
1:20 Additive ManufacturingHow binder jetting works, step by step
Eighty seconds of animation showing the recoater, the print head and the build box descending layer by layer as parts appear inside a bed of loose powder. It is the clearest short explanation of binder jetting available. Good for a feed because it needs no narration.