Markforged Releases Blacksmith Learning Software

Markforged offers immediate availability of Blacksmith software for Markforged X7 printers. Using Blacksmith, manufacturers will be able to instantly print accurate parts across The Digital Forge, anywhere in the world. 

Blacksmith connects part design, production and inspection with the ability to learn through artificial intelligence (AI). As Blacksmith leverages federated learning across the printer fleet, manufacturers will be able to print parts needed every time, bringing resiliency and agility to their supply chains, company says. With Blacksmith, manufacturers can print and scan their part simultaneously to assess how close the printed part is to the intended design. Blacksmith is designed to continuously learn from each print through closed loop processing—so that parts can be printed accurately and precisely every time, according to Markforged.

Blacksmith uses in-process part inspection to give customers confidence in the part after every print. By streamlining this workflow, Blacksmith helps make more factories more cost-efficient, accelerates time to market and reduces the cost of production, the company reports.

Blacksmith’s intelligent software harnesses the power of the X7’s existing integrated laser micrometer and a patented smart scanning process to securely measure parts as they are being printed. The part dimensional data is then automatically evaluated against the intended design files. Scanning while printing will enable inspection of the inner part structure and critical features that would otherwise be impossible in a single step after fabrication. 

“We knew that it would only be possible to reinvent manufacturing with a software-first approach to building hardware,” says David Benhaim, chief technology officer and co-founder, Markforged. “Blacksmith fundamentally changes the way engineers think about additive manufacturing. For the first time, they will have confidence that their parts will perform as expected without a time-consuming process. Blacksmith makes our platform smarter and is the next step on our roadmap to bring the agility of software to the world of manufacturing.”

Blacksmith is available today as a software subscription on all cloud-connected Markforged X7 printers. Blacksmith is provisioned through over-the-air updates for easy customer access and requires an OEM-certified reference bed calibration. 

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.