The method of 3D printing objects using metal is a well-established one, but at the same point in time, too complex, expensive, or imprecise, when it comes to matching traditional methods at scale. However, backed by USD 14 million investment from Nvidia and Boeing, Freeform has arrived to simplify things by building a new metal additive printing process that the Los Angeles-based start-up has termed as a “Game Changer,” with a possible AI angle as well.
Freeform co-founders Erik Palitsch (CEO) and TJ Ronacher (president) both worked at SpaceX, where they were principal architects and lead analysts, respectively, of the Merlin engines and other programmes. During that particular stint, the duo saw the potential of 3D printing parts using metal, along with the method’s shortcomings.
In today’s episode of the “Start-up of the Week,” International Finance will inform its readers more about the start-up, whose tagline is “The Future Will Be Printed.”
Meet The Visionary
Palitsch told TechCrunch, “We saw the potential of metal printing; it has the potential to transform basically any industry that makes metal things. But adoption has been slow and success has been marginal at best. Why is it not practical to use at scale? Fundamentally, because of three things: crappy and inconsistent quality; speed — commercial printers are very slow; and cost — the price for these printers is astronomical.”
He and Ronacher concluded that if they could operationalise the process to provide a printing service rather than sell a printer, they could crack the whole thing wide open. So they joined up with Tasso Lappas, former CTO of Velo3D, to start Freeform.
In Palitsch’s opinion, the primary mistake companies were making in 3D printing parts was using the likes of CNC machines, which are commonly used in traditional manufacturing, as a model for the metal-printing business. They were selling the machine and its software, in their attempt to make the device work with whatever shapes and processes companies use. However, the method doesn’t bode well for 3D printing.
“The way these things work today is they’re ‘open loop’ — they’re basically playing back a file. They needed to be smarter than that, because the process by which you melt the metal powder with a laser is extremely complicated, and in a way infinitely variable,” Palitsch explained further, as he made this crucial observation, “Selling people a machine and saying become an expert to make it work, good luck, isn’t a recipe for success. But when you decide you’re not going to build and package a printer into a box, when you have the freedom to build an automated factory from a clean sheet, there’s a lot you can do.”
Palitsch and Ronacher want to make 3D printing as a service using a closed-loop process in a custom machine that monitors the print on a microsecond scale, adjusting various factors to achieve the kind of print that is expected at a sophisticated, tech-savvy workplace like SpaceX.
With the mission of making the transformative power of 3D printing available to all industries at scale and unlocking the future of innovation, Freeform has disrupted the commodities sector through its unique metal printing architecture, which is powered by autonomous factories, which allow for “effortless scaling from one part to millions.”
While advanced sensing and computing systems increase the 3D printing speed by 1000-fold, Freeform’s innovation also has another interesting aspect: the world’s first closed-loop control, which results in digitally verifiable defect-free parts.
How Freeform’s Technology Works
Automation, Data Driven Learning, Closed Loop Control, Robotics, Computer Vision and High-Performance Computing form the core of Freeform’s 3D printing ecosystem.
The closed-loop system with real-time monitoring mitigates the quality issues while still allowing speedy printing of complex geometries. And this solution keeps Freeform’s business model simple.
Palitsch said, “We have high-speed computer vision feedback on our system that runs at microsecond scale, and all that data is being processed on state-of-the-art FPGAs and GPUs. We had to build this whole stack ourselves out of stuff that’s only become available in the last few years.”
Freeform’s world-class team comprises industry leaders from the likes of SpaceX, Velo3D, Carbon, Tesla, and Apple, who have successfully overcome the challenges of disruption. Backed by leading Silicon Valley investors including Two Sigma Ventures, Founders Fund, and Threshold Ventures, the start-up has deployed a combination of advanced sensors, artificial intelligence, and several lasers.
These elements work together seamlessly to control the melting process—where a solid substance turns into a liquid— in real-time. They make instant adjustments to prevent defects, resulting in the rapid manufacture of flawless metal parts at a fraction of the cost.
Within a couple of years of its formation (2018), Freeform realised its initial concept into a production-scale printing factory, a development which is now paying rich dividends to players in key industries like advanced energy, automotive, aerospace, and industrial manufacturing.
In 2023, Freeform started scaling production with select customers with the start-up’s first high-volume system, albeit still a “prototype” production system. SpaceX owns close to 50 metal printing machines. However, Palitsch claimed in 2023 that Freeform’s single production prototype can exceed the printed volume of every machine that the Elon Musk-led venture owns.
“From a technology, de-risking perspective, we’re there. Our production prototype can print significantly faster, by a significant margin, than any other system on the planet today. And remember, this is just a prototype. Our next-gen platform will be an order of magnitude, or more, faster still,” the start-up boss commented.
As of October 2024, the “High-volume Metal Printing” solution from Freeform has its own autonomous factory in the United States, a first-of-a-kind in the world, empowering customers to innovate rapidly at scale. The factory prints thousands of parts per day without capital investment, while ensuring that the components are digitally-verified and defect-free. The facility also provides metal additives at conventional manufacturing costs.
“It really depends on the volume of that scale. We’ve delivered parts to customers in less than 24 hours in an industry where your lead time is usually eight weeks or more. That’s pretty darn good. We have the capability of our current system to go from idea to mass production in days or weeks for select materials and customers. Our goal is to be able to do this seamlessly for any customer across a variety of materials and industries, and we’re about one-two years away from that,” Palitsch said in 2023.
A Promising Road Ahead
As of October 2024, Freeform, as per Palitsch, “Is building the largest metal additive dataset in the world that’s why companies like Boeing are coming to us. We have this fundamental, core data collection and processing ability no one else has.”
Freeform is already helping customers to innovate and get products to market faster. In the words of Brandon Connors, Head of Programmes and Manufacturing at Embark Trucks (a leading developer of autonomous technology for the trucking industry), “As Embark brings autonomous trucking technology to market, we need the ability to seamlessly scale up from prototype to production. That means sourcing commercial-grade metal parts on short timelines, consistently and at a practical cost. Freeform’s printing service enables us to meet our manufacturing needs, improves supply chain reliability, and gives us the ability to change designs without impacting delivery time, so that we can accelerate the deployment of our technology.”
The start-up is also enabling customers to easily scale from initial prototype designs into high-volume production.
“Freeform offers us the ability to scale up from prototype to production,” said Nick Doucette, Chief Operations Officer at Ursa Major.
Ursa Major is an American aerospace company that is working with Freeform for the manufacturing of rocket engine parts.
“Freeform’s printing service gives us the ability to change designs rapidly without impacting production cost or delivery time. We are able to get consistent, high-quality metal parts in days instead of weeks,” Doucette stated.
“Freeform has revolutionised the additive approach. Others have tried addressing one component or problem at a time, like thermal stress, but no one else has rethought the entire architecture and approach. Freeform has created more flexibility for how parts are printed, and their cost-effective model has opened up a whole new class of 3D-printable parts,” said Scott Nolan, Investor from Founders Fund in 2023.
The practice of 3D printing is going to be the future of the manufacturing industry, in terms of addressing time and cost concerns. However, even the new method has its own limitations as incumbent technology is too slow, along with the high cost of owning and operating machines, even the best systems on the market today are unable to consistently produce high-quality parts quickly.
Freeform’s autonomous printing factories and manufacturing-as-a-service business model come with the potential to solve these challenges. Its proprietary technology stack brings the scalability of software to physical production by leveraging advanced sensing, real-time controls, and data-driven learning in a scalable factory architecture.
Due to the above factors, the company is producing digitally-verified, high-quality parts at unprecedented speed and cost. This breakthrough approach is enabling all industries to innovate faster by leveraging additive manufacturing to produce parts at a mass production scale. As more funding arrives, expect the start-up to disrupt the metal manufacturing industry with more innovations in the coming days.