Burloak Technologies
When you think of 3D metal printing, everyone imagines a printer. This simplified thinking has become dominant. However, the reality in practice is different and is changing rapidly in the world. By the way, I wrote about it here, for example: https://www.jstconsultancy.cz/center-of-excellence-for-medical-applications/
I made this presentation in 2021 for the Moravian Aviation Cluster (picture on the left)
And this is how it looks today in the space that I described as “NO HIP“. I have only updated the Czech Republic area. 3 devices are from Quintus, the fourth at VŠB in Ostrava is from EPSI.
Great progress can be seen, but only VIBROM meets my vision of the application of additive technologies. That is, everything in one place. VŠB and CVŘ are typical development workplaces, PBS is a question mark because it should serve with its HIP for what is printed in One3D in Mohelnice.
In this article, the company Burloak Technologies from Michigan was presented.
Their operational capabilities are amazing. EOS, ARCAM, Renishaw printers, i.e. L-PBF/SLM, EBM/EB-PBF, DED, SLS, complete machining, laboratories for appropriate tests, and now also HIP from Quintus and a vacuum furnace from Ipsen. I couldn’t have imagined it better. Their material range corresponds to the established standard today, and if we leave aside various Al alloys, then the materials for aircraft parts from Inconel 718, Inconel 625, Invar 36, 17-4PH or Ti-6Al-4V prevail.
And AS 9100 and NADCAP.
So even though the situation with HIP is improving in our country, the transfer to production is still not going very well for us. Could it be that the official allocating subsidies for HIP or vacuum furnaces sits in a different office than the one who gives money for printers? I don’t know how it is in other fields, but our field is missing a visionary.
3 devices from Quintus have been added to the market, but the availability of this technology for production has not improved. HIP in workplaces intended for science and research is not a production solution, these capacities are really only for testing and verifying the technology, and these institutions are not equipped either in terms of personnel or organization for repeated production. HIP in PBS will remain hidden from the public with regard to the program for which it is intended, and there is no other, free HIP here. In the custom environment, no one has taken up this, so most of those who need it will continue to transport parts to Bilbao or Sint Niklaas.
PS: Have you also noticed that when you get to someone with a metal printer, the display of their critical applications usually includes characters from Star Wars? I guess it’s symbolic, everything is being postponed to the next millennium,..
Jiří Stanislav
February 28, 2026
