× Expand Desktop Metal support removal technology

Desktop Metal, has been granted seminal patents for its Separable Supports technology which make it easy to remove support structures from parts printed on its metal 3D printing systems.

Awarded by the United States Patent and Trademark Office, U.S. Patent No. 9,815,118 and U.S. Patent No. 9,833,839 cover the separable support layer technology used in the Desktop Metal Studio System, which began shipping in December, and in its Production System, due to ship in late 2018.

“As a company driven by invention, we are committed to both innovating and protecting our technology through strategic intellectual property achievements,” said Jonah Myerberg, Chief Technology Officer and Co-founder of Desktop Metal. “The technological innovation in these patents enables users, for the first time, to print large metal parts with complex geometries that can be easily removed from their support structures by hand or to print metal objects with separable interlocking structures.”

Launched in May last year, Desktop Metal’s Studio System is the first office-friendly metal 3D printing system for rapid prototyping and forms part of a complete platform, including printer, debinder, and sintering furnace that makes metal 3D printing both speedy and safe in an office or workshop environment.

“Traditional laser powder bed methods for metal additive manufacturing (AM) are restricted to single materials and are both difficult and costly to implement,” said Myerberg. “Desktop Metal has designed new approaches for metal AM that now allow multiple materials to be used during printing. This makes it possible to print support structures that do not bond to parts and consolidate during sintering with the part and, as a result, high dimensional accuracy is achieved, and support structures are easily removed by hand. We believe the benefit of this technology covered by the patents will enable substantially increased adoption of metal AM.”

Desktop Metal has exclusive rights to the patented technologies in addition to over a hundred existing pending patent applications covering more than two hundred inventions.