Journey

At the beginning of 2021, AstroForm submitted a Project Pitch to the National Science Foundation (NSF) for the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. AstroForm was then invited to submit a full proposal for Advanced Manufacturing! As work started on the full SBIR proposal, there was a realization that the SBIR doesn’t include equipment purchases, which are needed for AstroForm’s bootstrap startup journey. This left two options: 1) AstroForm would need to either establish a partnership with another corporation or university or 2) AstroForm would need revenue to fuel development equipment purchases. For now the decision will be to continue the bootstrap approach. This trajectory will require AstroForm to generate cash flow in 2022.

AstroForm was founded to push the boundaries of Metal Additive Manufacturing but why stop there? This year AstroForm purchased an Original Prusa i3 MK3S+ kit for fused deposition modeling (FDM) or plastic extrusion 3D Printing. It has been a fantastic learning opportunity to assemble the printer, run calibrations, and set up new print jobs. A few process improvements have been implemented to improve the stock print quality with an added bonus of quiet operation. An overhaul to the x-axis is staged for implementation early in 2022.

The plan will be to open an Etsy Store in 2022 to sell personalized 3D printed items. AstroForm will likely need to scale up our social media presence for marketing and to help drive sales. AstroForm will offer Print-on-Demand and Tech Support through the PrusaPrinters.org community. With the revenue, AstroForm will continue to invest in new equipment to achieve our aspirations!

Excited to announce the formation of AstroForm LLC! AstroForm has been created to push the boundaries of metal additive manufacturing with rapid innovation of currently unproven technology. Our vision is to ultimately create low gravity metal additive manufacturing (AM) systems, which are critical for extended space voyages and future habitation of the solar system and beyond!

In the near term, our goal is to research, develop, and commercialize an innovative metal AM system, which is light years ahead of our competition. This will also address the increasing demand for small batch, high quality metal AM production. The current market size for AM was $8.35 billion in 2019 with an expected growth rate of 14% by Research and Markets ID: 5206602 published August 2020.

David Hamann had an idea for a novel additive manufacturing (AM) system a few years ago while exploring the current state of AM technology. He noticed inherent fundamental issues with the current powder bed fusion (PBF) systems and realized there must be a better way. Current PBF systems have issues with finished part strength/quality, high cost of powdered materials, and machine availability due to batch processing. Plus, PBF can not be used in a low-gravity environment! AstroForm believes its next generation technology will completely disrupt the PBF industry by providing space age solutions to all these issues and more!