Sometimes it is difficult to draw the line at what is and what isn’t 3D printing.

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Take the LOM and then later Mcor technologies, both described themselves as 3D printing but if a common definition of that term is “a process that manufactures geometries by adding material layer by layer” those Sheet Lamination technologies may start by adding layers, but the geometry is created by subtracting material. Definition and categorisation of technologies can be messy but in the grand scheme of things all that matters is that parts are fit for purpose.

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Ultima Forma is a metal forming company that spun out of Queen Mary University of London in 2017 with a novel electrodeposition process that it describes as metal additive manufacturing, but quite different to 3D printing. Ultima Forma’s technology deposits metal atom by atom over a surface area to make light-weight, high performance, multifunctional, complex shaped components […]

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