Brechin-based Angus 3D Solutions has produced its first components on the UK’s first commercially available Markforged Metal-X system.

The company was awarded a £175,000 grant last year by Zero Waste Scotland (through its Circular Economy Investment Fund) to buy the machine.

The Metal-X uses atomic diffusion additive manufacturing (ADAM); metal powders bound in a plastic matrix are melted to create designs that were previously impossible to manufacture.

Angus 3D Solutions (www.angus3dsolutions.co.uk) can now design and produce components in metals such as stainless steel, Inconel, titanium, tool steels, aluminium and copper in four or five days, rather than six weeks using traditional methods.

This allows companies to put their latest design into production quicker.

The Metal-X can also reduce the weight of parts while maintaining their strength and performance by producing them with geometrics such as closed-cell honeycomb infill.

So far, Angus 3D has used the Metal-X to print lightweight custom parts for a bicycle business and parts for an oil and gas company; it has also remanufactured obsolete components for a local textile manufacturer, and it is producing test pieces for an F1 team.

Andy Simpson, the company’s founder and managing director, said: “Scotland has an impressive-manufacturing history. To maintain and further develop this, we must embrace the latest additive manufacturing technology and make it accessible, as well as encourage the next generation to look at manufacturing as a career choice.

“This machine enables us to better support inventors, designers, SMEs and manufacturers in Scotland and beyond.”