ALBA 500 and Garbi: 500 W laser and a screen designed for reactive powder

The ALBA 500 increases the laser power to 500 W—200 W more than the ALBA 300—with a build area of 250 x 250 mm and a height of 300 mm. Alongside it, we presented the Garbi, our first screening machine, designed for sieving reactive powders in facilities with ATEX requirements. Both were showcased for the first time at ADDITƐD 2024.

ALBA 500 versus ALBA 300

Two of those lines are the ones that truly change the day-to-day.

Filter change without stopping the process. In a long build, a failing filter forced a shutdown. Stopping an LPBF build mid-process is not always recoverable, and when it is, it costs hours. Being able to replace the filter while the process is running transforms a potential waste risk into a routine maintenance operation.

Two-way dispensing. The recoater spreads powder on both the outward and return journeys, instead of making an empty return trip. Over thousands of layers, that wasted time represents a significant fraction of the total build time.

Why a screening machine, and why like this

The powder generated during build isn't thrown away: it's sifted and reused. This operation, which sounds like a minor task, is what concentrates the real risk of a low-pressure fuel (LPF) facility when working with titanium or aluminium, which are explosive in fine powder form.

The Garbi combines vibration and ultrasound so that sieving doesn't depend on striking the sieve, and allows its interior to be inertized, so the powder never encounters an atmosphere with enough oxygen to burn. It is designed to meet the standards for potentially explosive atmospheres (ATEX) from the outset, not as an afterthought.

The reason we manufacture it ourselves is simple: if we sell a machine that works with reactive powders and don't offer a safe way to handle them, we're selling half the problem solved.

What does this mean for an installation

low-pressure powder (LPBF) plant isn't just a machine. It's a machine, a heat treatment process, a cutting system, metrology, and the entire powder handling chain. Every element covered by a single supplier means one less interface to negotiate and one less person to call when something goes wrong.

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The two machines, with their dimensions and specifications, are listed under ALBA 300 and ALBA 500. The powder handling station is listed under GARBI. And if you need the part itself rather than the machine, we can manufacture it for you under parts manufacturing.

Why does reactive powder require separate handling, in what does ATEX mean in an LPBF installation. And what are the advantages and disadvantages of increasing power, in one laser or several.