Revolutionize Your Product Development
with Selective Laser Sintering 3D Printing (SLS)

Large Parts // Parts can be built in a wide range of sizes using Selective Laser Sintering 3D printing. If a part is too large to build on a printer, Fathom can easily produce it in sections and expertly bond it together. Need large parts? Fathom has the machines and capacity to meet your needs.

Complex Part Designs // Our Selective Laser Sintering service can produce parts with complex geometries and fine levels of surface detail that are hard to achieve with other 3D printing technologies. It can accommodate organic, parametric and non-parametric shapes. Except for the minimum feature size of 1 mm, there are no limitations to the complexity of shapes that can be created with Selective Laser Sintering 3D printing.

Excellent Durability // SLS has excellent layer adhesion, parts produced using SLS have nearly isotropic material properties. That makes them very durable with excellent surface characteristics.

Accelerate Your Time to Market // SLS parts can be produced at scale quickly, they can help you bring your new products to market faster. If you’re planning to scale up production via injection molding, SLS can help you refine your part designs and provide you with bridge production quantities while your tooling is built and qualified.

Print Multiple Parts in a Single Build // The powdered material serves as a support structure for the parts as they’re being fabricated, parts can be stacked in the Z direction. That enables you to get more production out of each build.

Sustainability // No supports also means less wasted material. Most of the powder used in an SLS build can be recycled. That contributes to more affordable parts and a greater focus on sustainability than other additive manufacturing techniques.

Affordable // SLS is so affordable, it’s ideal for producing customized, low-volume parts.

Proven Technology // Of all the 3D printing technologies, SLS is one of the most mature and widely used. It has a strong track record of success as a prototyping and production tool. SLS parts have an excellent reputation in many diverse applications.

Complex Geometries // SLS can print complex and intricate parts with fine details. That makes it well-suited for producing functional prototypes and end-use parts with unique shapes.

Produce a Large Volume of Parts Quickly // Multiple parts can be produced at the same time in a single build. The laser used during SLS has a quick scanning speed. That means high throughput at a low cost per part.

Low Cost Per Part // Leftover powder can be reused and support structures are not needed. Also, post-processing is less labor intensive than with other 3D printing methods. That makes SLS parts very affordable.

Design Flexibility // SLS enables you to build parts with complex geometries, moving parts, and pieces with interior components. That’s because it doesn’t require support structures.

Superior Mechanical Properties // Because of the strong bonds between layers, parts produced using SLS tend to have excellent isotropic properties. That means they have similar tensile strength and hardness across all three axes. These characteristics make SLS an excellent alternative to plastic injection molding.

Colorability // SLS parts have porous surfaces. That means they can be enhanced using a variety of colors and dyes. .

Surface Quality // Parts produced using SLS tend to have a porous surface and may need to be sanded or coated to achieve your required surface finish. One common treatment Fathom uses on SLS parts is vapor smoothing, which produces a smooth, waterproof surface.

Time-Consuming Post-Processing // Depowdering parts after printing can be time-consuming. Parts must be designed with escape holes to enable the removal of powder trapped inside any hollow cavities. SLS parts also require a lengthy cooling process.

Shrinkage // SLS parts tend to shrink slightly as they cool. To maintain dimensional accuracy, engineers need to plan for this when designing SLS parts.

Warpage // Due of the high heat of the printing process, SLS parts can sometimes warp or deform. That can affect their accuracy and dimensional stability. Your Fathom engineering expert can help you tweak your part designs to avoid this problem.

Limited Material Selection // SLS materials from Fathom are limited to TPU 88A and five types of Nylon.

Selective Laser Sintering isn’t just for prototyping. It can be used to produce small quantities of production parts – ideal if you’re waiting for your injection mold tooling to be built.

SLS works with thermoplastics. That means it can be used to quickly create functional prototypes for new product designs. Once your part design is finalized, you can transition to injection molding for production. With our cross-functional engineering expertise, we can help you tweak your part designs so they work well in both production environments.

SLS can be used to build work-holding fixtures to secure metal parts for CNC machining. It’s perfect for larger jigs and fixtures because of the large build volumes SLS makes possible, small feature accuracy and mechanical strength.

If tight tolerances are needed, a part can be 3D printed with extra material on critical surfaces. They can then be machined to the required tolerances.

Selective Laser Sintering 3D printing can be used to build part designs that aren’t possible using traditional manufacturing methods such as CNC machining and sheet metal fabrication.

It also enables fast, low-cost production of prototype or limited-run production parts – without the tooling required to make injection-molded parts.

Straight from the build table, SLS parts have a rough, porous finish. A variety of finishing options are available to enhance their appearance and performance, including:

Vapor Smoothing

Fathom’s Selective Layer Sintering service uses AMT’s PostPro3D technology, a smart and automated post-processing solution for smoothing SLS printed parts. PostPro3D can achieve a high-quality surface finish that matches injection molding techniques when using 3D printing processes.