Selective Laser Melting Revives American Watch Tradition

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Harvey Grant
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1 Vortic Watch A Case Company Study Utilizes from SLM Selective Solutions Laser Melting Selective Laser Melting Revives American Watch Tradition Vortic Watch Company brings new life to American manufacturing and antique pocket watches with metal additive manufacturing.

A Case Study from SLM Solutions The Golden Age of Mechanical Watches During a 100-year period beginning in the mid-1800s and lasting into the 1950s, the United States was the preeminent technology

Train conductors relied exclusively on quality pocket watches to keep trains on schedule as they traveled across the country.

2 A Case Study from SLM Solutions The Golden Age of Mechanical Watches During a 100-year period beginning in the mid-1800s and lasting into the 1950s, the United States was the preeminent technology leader and producer of accurate, high-quality pocket watches. This leadership position was fueled by the rapid expansion of the American railroad network, and the growing need to keep accurate time. Train conductors relied exclusively on quality pocket watches to keep trains on schedule as they traveled across the country. Armed with the most innovative manufacturing technologies developed during the industrial revolution, a number of American entrepreneurs seized the opportunity afforded by these expanding railroads and began mass producing finequality time pieces. Never before had fine watches been produced in such numbers; the Waltham Watch Company, one of many large watch companies founded during this period, produced over 36 million watches in its lifetime. The top-of-the-line offerings from these watch companies were known as Railroad Grade movements, and represented the finest-quality watches made anywhere in the world during this period. Even compared to modern Swiss-made mechanical watches, the movements produced during this golden era are truly outstanding. Many antique watch movements produced over 100 years ago using only hand tools and manual machine tools are more accurate than modern mechanical watches. Waltham Watch Company Waltham, Massachusetts Antique Waltham Watch Movement

Vortic Watch Company Utilizes Selective Laser Melting Time Goes On After World War II, a number of foreign competitors entered the US watch market.

3 Vortic Watch Company Utilizes Selective Laser Melting Time Goes On After World War II, a number of foreign competitors entered the US watch market. By utilizing cheaper labor and lowering standards for precision, they were able to undercut American manufacturers. Many of the great American watch companies were forced to close their doors permanently. In following years, the advent of solid state digital electronics rendered mechanical watch movements obsolete. With no customer demand, the remaining American watch companies were forced to shut down operations. For the first time in over a century, it was not possible to purchase a watch manufactured in America. Despite their exquisite quality, the general public fell out of love with the mechanical watches from America s horological prime and they were relegated to storage, or cast aside entirely. Fine antique watches are typically housed in precious metal cases made from silver and gold. Due to their lack of popularity and the rising value of precious metals, a lot of watches were disassembled to recover these materials. Luckily, many high-quality mechanical movements were removed and preserved as the cases were sold to jewelers for scrap value. That s where the story of Vortic Watch Company begins. A Mechanical Watch movement compared to a quartz powered electronic watch movement.

A Case Study from SLM Solutions Trash to Treasure with Bespoke Design The Vortic Watch Company was established in 2013 by two passionate watch enthusiasts who found the notion of throwing away

4 A Case Study from SLM Solutions Trash to Treasure with Bespoke Design The Vortic Watch Company was established in 2013 by two passionate watch enthusiasts who found the notion of throwing away finely-crafted mechanical watch movements tragic, and this spurred a simple business idea: What if custom cases for these antique watch movements could be manufactured? It was quickly established that there was a market that appreciated the craftsmanship of these fine mechanical movements. The founders began working on prototype watch cases to learn what it would take to successfully re-package these century old, orphaned movements into modern wrist watches meant to showcase the beautiful and intricate antique mechanical movements within them. Vortic quickly discovered an obstacle that would define the future of the business. Cofounder RT Custer shared: Surprisingly, the hard part wasn t restoring the movements; American pocket watches were made with such an incredible level of quality that even after 100 years, many simply need a little patience from a skilled individual to make them run like new. The problem we ran into was how to manufacture low volume, bespoke metal watch cases at a competitive price. The goal was to offer antique mechanical movements from all the great American watch manufacturers. That means we would deal with many models and sizes of watch movements, from many different watch makers. We developed a number of custom case designs to accommodate the range of different styles & sizes and planned to have them CNC machined. That was a good solution on paper, but that changed when we started contacting manufacturers for quotes to machine our first batch of watch cases. We were getting back quotes over $10,000 dollars to machine the first batch of cases and that was just for one of the many styles we had to accommodate. It was a tough number to swallow. Manufacturers explained the cost was driven by the need for custom tooling and fixturing in addition to standard programming time, setup and machine time. If we were making thousands of watches that might be okay, but our business was just starting out, and we make a relatively niche product with low production. Tied to the fact we needed many different case styles, machining became prohibitively expensive. We began exploring other options, including metal additive manufacturing.

Vortic Watch Company Utilizes Selective Laser Melting One Machine, Infinite Designs To learn more about metal additive manufacturing (metal AM), the Vortic team reached out to Dr.

5 Vortic Watch Company Utilizes Selective Laser Melting One Machine, Infinite Designs To learn more about metal additive manufacturing (metal AM), the Vortic team reached out to Dr. Timothy Simpson, co-director of Penn State s Center for Innovative Materials Processing through Direct Digital Deposition (CIMP-3D). Conversations with the CIMP-3D team lead Vortic to the conclusion that metal additive was indeed a viable solution for their mass-customization manufacturing process. Metal AM was an ideal fit for several reasons, but the ones that stood out to Vortic were the ability to produce watch cases in small batch sizes at an extremely competitive price with the flexibility to easily manufacture various case designs often within the same build. One machine could produce infinite designs, all that needed to change was the CAD file. With a clear path forward Vortic Watch Company was in business, and for the first time in over 60 years customers were able to purchase a watch where every single component was proudly manufactured and assembled in the United States. The first batch of watch cases produced were in a 2-piece design printed from stainless steel. They learned a great deal from making these initial watches and based on feedback decided to switch to a 1-piece design and a lighter alloy Titanium was at the top of their list of candidates. Vortic watch cases are processed on the SLM 280 metal additive manufacturing system

A Case Study from SLM Solutions 74 Years of Titanium Experience The team at CIMP-3D recommended Vortic contact a well-respected advanced manufacturing company in New Jersey, Imperial Machine & Tool

6 A Case Study from SLM Solutions 74 Years of Titanium Experience The team at CIMP-3D recommended Vortic contact a well-respected advanced manufacturing company in New Jersey, Imperial Machine & Tool Co., who understands the ins and outs of working with Titanium in all of its forms. Founded in 1943, Imperial is highly regarded for tackling challenging multi-axis precision machining work with particular expertise processing Titanium, among other alloys. Imperial has a long history in advanced manufacturing; their precision metal components have even made it to the moon. They re still there, left behind by NASA during the Apollo missions as part of the Lunar Lander. SLM Systems produce Vortic watch cases at Imperial Machine & Tool Co. In 2013 Imperial invested in an SLM 280 metal additive manufacturing system, known for its ability to process Titanium extremely well, in addition to its bi-directional recoating and multiple lasers providing best-inclass build speeds. As a premium material, Titanium powder can become costly. However, the open source architecture of the SLM Solutions systems allowed powder to be sourced at locally negotiated prices, allowing Vortic to capitalize on Imperial s Titanium expertise while further reducing production costs. Vortic made the switch to Titanium for their watch cases and customer feedback has been stellar. For a company with orders to fill and full-scale production on the horizon, an experienced manufacuring partner with state of the art equipment, like Imperial, is key to success. Christian G. Joest, Vice President of Sales and Business Development at Imperial, talked about early engagements with Vortic: We love working with Vortic; they represent an interesting departure from our typical work. Watch cases aren t something we d normally get involved with, but when we learned Vortic s story and met the founders, we were happy to work with them. They are truly committed to preserving American manufacturing, both in the restoration and preservation of antique American watch movements, as well as employing a team of skilled craftsmen at their Colorado manufacturing facility.

Vortic Watch Company Utilizes Selective Laser Melting Imperial is a 4th generation family business and American manufacturing is extremely close to our hearts.

Manufacturing Evolution Today, Vortic employs a team of master watch builders working full time to restore antique mechanical watch mechanisms to salvage, restore, and preserve an important part of

7 Vortic Watch Company Utilizes Selective Laser Melting Imperial is a 4th generation family business and American manufacturing is extremely close to our hearts. We re proud to play a role in preserving these watch movements and offering the first truly American-made watch in decades. Manufacturing Evolution Today, Vortic employs a team of master watch builders working full time to restore antique mechanical watch mechanisms to salvage, restore, and preserve an important part of American history. These beautiful watches couple American Industrial Revolution era advanced watchmaking techniques together with today s metal additive 3D printing technology, which promises to revolutionize manufacturing today and into the future. The marriage of old and new manufacturing technologies demonstrates that a truly modern and beautiful watch can be created that preserves advanced manufacturing traditions while giving new life to an heirloom that can once again be passed down from generation to generation.

About SLM Solutions SLM Solutions is a leading provider of metal-based 3D additive technology and machinery for prototypes and manufacturing production.

8 About SLM Solutions SLM Solutions is a leading provider of metal-based 3D additive technology and machinery for prototypes and manufacturing production. SLM Machines support an optimal approach for safe, flexible and cost efficient metal part production across the aerospace, automotive, academia, energy and medical industries. Systems include the SLM 125, SLM 280 and SLM 500. With multi-laser options, bi-directional recoating, opensoftware controls and closed-loop powder handling, Selective Laser Melting systems achieve best-in-class safety and increased build speeds for complex and completely dense metal parts. Headquartered in Lübeck, Germany, SLM Solutions Group is a publicly traded company (TecDax AM3D.DE) with its North American offices located in Metro-Detroit. SLM Solutions NA, Inc. offers full support for local customers featuring a development lab, application engineering team, PhD metallurgist and service engineers located around the county. SLM and SLM Solutions are registered trademarks by SLM Solutions Group AG, Germany. SLM Solutions NA, Inc Alpha Drive, Suite 300 Wixom, MI info@slm-solutions.us

Xcentric Mold and Engineering is a provider of custom injection molding, CNC machining, and 3D printing services headquartered in Clinton Township,

2 Xcentric Mold and Engineering is a provider of custom injection molding, CNC machining, and 3D printing services headquartered in Clinton Township, Michigan with two manufacturing facilities located