re: Arcam's EBM technology is that the spot positioning is done electronically/electrically/magnetically.
I don't think it's terribly inaccurate to look at Arcam's technology as a cathode ray tube type device that can be opened to insert powder but their ray is powerful enough to melt metal. I guess we're in an era when many don't remember what cathode ray tubes were used for, television sets. That should help anyone understand how fast Arcam's technology is. Television sets had refresh rates of 50 to 100 Hertz for a fairly large area. Color sets had 3 electron guns that excited red, green, and blue phosphorescent dots. I suppose black and white sets had one gun.
So Arcam can program a build image and tweak melt pool and solidification development with software, up to a point. That's especially reassuring for anyone investing in Arcam equipment; they're not locked into technology developments for as long as when using laser, or so it looks.
Overall there appears to be much more flexibility in developing "build software," build rates, and mechanical properties of builds. I hope they have that down to site specific properties but I don't know. Jack Beuth has mentioned that as a possibility, site specific mechanical properties.
