Markforged was founded in February 2013 by Greg Mark, becoming one of the largest 3D printing companies in the desktop 3D printing market. This development has been driven by millions of dollars of investment from major companies such as Siemens, Porsche and Microsoft. The American company Markforged was founded with the goal of making traditional manufacturing cheaper and just as fast. To achieve this, they developed an end-to-end 3D printing system that rivals traditional manufacturing processes in speed and cost, and expanded additive manufacturing applications with specially developed industrial technologies and a wide range of ready-to-manufacture materials. As of today, Markforged focuses primarily on industrial mass production, as well as on materials that meet this demand.
The Markforged 3D Printer Family
In 2014 Markforged launched the Mark One, which has since been replaced by the Mark Two. This is considered the world’s first carbon fiber (carbon) 3D printer. In addition, the manufacturer has launched the ONYX series, two 3D printers specialized on its proprietary material, ONYX. In the industrial sector, Markforged is setting new standards with the X series, consisting of X3, X5 and X7.
In January 2017 Markforged announced the launch of its Metal X 3D printer. This 3D printer is a cost-effective way to 3D print metal parts. It uses Atomic Diffusion Additive Manufacturing (ADAM) technology, which prints a mixture of plastic and metal powder using the FDM process, which then hardens by atomic diffusion in a sintering process.
The materials and software from Markforged
Markforged has also developed a wide range of materials designed for use on their machines. Probably the best known is the so-called ONYX material, which consists of nylon and short carbon fibers. The portfolio of basic materials is completed with the Nylon White material. Finally, the manufacturer has made additional composite materials as well as various metal filaments – from steel to copper, available.
Markforged has also developed its own software called Eiger for your printers. Eiger’s free cloud-based platform is suitable for institutions of all sizes. For 3D printing on a Markforged machine, the software also adds selective fibre reinforcement to each component. With powerful fiber routing and slicing intelligence, the software is easy to use for any engineer, but also allows personal control of the print settings if required.