Page 12 - 3D Metal Printing magazine Fall 2022

3D FEATURE
Printing Without Compromise
Katy, TX-based Knust- Godwin, a contract manufacturer rooted in precision machining to serve the region’s energy industry, among other markets, has expanded significantly into metal additive manufacturing (AM), now with 13 laser powder-bed machines inhouse and growing, used for prototyping and production.
BY BRAD F. KUVIN, EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
When Knust-Godwin launched its AM business some 13 yr. ago, nearly all of its work was for customers serving the oil and gas industry. But since then, its AM customer roll has diversified plenty—into the aerospace/space, turbomachinery and automotive markets. Catalyzing that diversification, says vice president of technology Mike Corliss, has been the addition of six Velo3D Sapphire laser powder-bed fusion AM machines. “We find that the unique capabilities of the Sapphire allow us to print without compromise,” he explains.
10 | 3D METAL PRINTING • FALL 2022
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Visit the website of contract man- ufacturer Knust-Godwin and click on the link labeled “additive man- ufacturing” and you’ll see this tagline:
“Let us help you sinter your future in the competitive market.”
While the company—and its 240,000- sq.-ft. manufacturing facility—has been in business for 55 years, AM is a relatively new offering, dating back to 2008. Since then, the firm has expanded its use of AM— as a significant complement to its subtrac- tive machining business—at a rapid and constant pace. After more than 40 years as primarily a machining company, man- agement decided to aggressively react to a specific need from customers. That is, to support customer efforts to develop
next-generation products, while continuing to provide production machining.
“We wanted to give our engineers new technology that they could work with to help develop prototypes more quickly, without interrupting our production processes,” says Mike Corliss, vice presi- dent of technology at Knust-Godwin. “While initially we weren’t sure that metal AM would be a viable alternative, we took a leap of faith with our first laser powder- bed fusion (LPBF) machine, started pro- ducing prototypes and in time learned to optimize the process to develop increas- ingly complex geometries. We’ve grown the AM business ever since.”
And grow it has. When the firm launched its AM business, nearly all of its work was