Velo3D Sapphire 1MZ

The Velo3D Sapphire 1MZ is the tall-format variant of the Sapphire platform, extending the build height to 1,000 mm (1 meter) while maintaining the standard 315 mm diameter. The '1MZ' designation refers to the 1-meter Z-axis, and this machine was developed specifically for applications where part height is the constraining dimension — rocket combustion chambers, aerospace structural tubes, long heat exchanger cores, and tall turbine components that simply cannot fit in a standard 400 mm build height.

The 1MZ retains the dual 1 kW laser configuration and all core Velo3D technologies: SupportFree printing for sub-5 degree overhangs, non-contact recoating, and Intelligent Fusion real-time process monitoring. Printing a meter-tall part in powder bed fusion raises unique challenges — thermal accumulation over hundreds of hours of build time, powder settling and compaction, and maintaining dimensional accuracy across the full height. Velo3D addressed these through enhanced thermal management and calibration routines that account for the extended Z-axis.

The primary use case for the 1MZ is space propulsion. Companies like SpaceX, Relativity Space, and other launch providers need tall, cylindrical components — regeneratively cooled combustion chambers, nozzle extensions, and thrust chamber assemblies — that are geometrically well-suited to the 315 mm diameter but require the full meter of height. Printing these components as single pieces eliminates welds and joints that are failure points in propulsion hardware. The SupportFree capability is especially valuable here, as internal cooling channels and complex manifold geometries can be built without supports that would be nearly impossible to remove from enclosed internal passages.

Material qualification on the 1MZ focuses on the superalloys and titanium grades critical to propulsion: Inconel 718, Inconel 625, Hastelloy X, and Ti-6Al-4V. Build times for tall parts are measured in days — a full-height, high-density build can run for a week or more. The Assure quality management system tracks the entire build, providing the layer-by-layer data package that propulsion engineers and quality teams require for flight certification.