Japanese heavy-electrical manufacturer DAIHEN Corporation has launched its first additive manufacturing product named the ArcBuilder 3D system. 

It is a wire arc directed energy deposition (DED) system that uses the company’s proprietary AC Synchro-Feed welding process to deposit metal, and it is expected to be priced in the range of $450,000 to $500,000.

The system was shown at Robot Technology Japan 2026, where DAIHEN presented it as a ready-to-use WAAM system for producing large metal parts. Central to the machine is the AC Synchro-Feed process, which the company originally developed for its conventional welding products. 

The process synchronizes high-speed forward and backward wire feeding with the welding current, which according to DAIHEN reduces spatter by more than 98% compared to standard approaches. In a printing context, the company says this translates to smoother surfaces and less pronounced layer lines than typical WAAM output, along with a 24% improvement in build efficiency over conventional welding.

A metal 3D printer propeller. Image via Daihen Corporation.

Integrated Hardware for Metal WAAM

On the hardware side, the ArcBuilder 3D pairs a robot arm with a positioner to handle large workpieces, and can switch welding waveforms depending on the material being used. It supports steel, stainless steel, and aluminum alloys. DAIHEN demonstrated parts in mild steel, stainless steel, and hard aluminum, with examples ranging from rocket nozzles and propellers to screws, manifolds, and tanks.

The system also ships with software that generates robot trajectories from 3D CAD data and provides monitoring and build-history tracking during fabrication. DAIHEN develops both the power source and the robot in-house, which the company says allows tighter integration between the hardware and software sides of the system. 

The manufacturer further noted that the ArcBuilder 3D can build onto existing parts, not just print from scratch, which makes it applicable to repair work or adding features to conventionally manufactured components.

DAIHEN positions the ArcBuilder 3D against two traditional manufacturing processes in particular. Machining wastes material, struggles with difficult-to-cut alloys, and cannot reach every geometry. Casting requires expensive molds, does not handle design changes well, and is not economical for low-volume production. 

WAAM, by contrast, deposits only the material that is needed and requires no tooling, which makes it better suited for design changes and small production runs.

A metal 3D printed rocket nozzle. Image via Daihen Corporation.

Scaling WAAM Beyond Machine Launches

DAIHEN is not the first welding specialist to make this move. Lincoln Electric, a 130-year-old US welding company with over $4 billion in 2024 revenue, entered additive manufacturing in 2019 and now runs 26 WAAM systems on a 24/7 schedule in Cleveland, Ohio. Lincoln Electric took a different commercial path, building a vertically integrated service bureau rather than selling a standalone machine, but the underlying reasoning is the same. 

Companies that already control the arc welding process and the surrounding automation stack are often better positioned to develop stable, repeatable WAAM systems than those assembling these capabilities independently.

On the demand side, buyers are now committing real capital to WAAM production infrastructure. Earlier this month, French nuclear energy company Framatome opened a 6,000 m² additive manufacturing center in Romans-sur-Isère equipped with MX3D’s robotic WAAM systems, a €25 million facility purpose-built to produce metal components for reactor primary circuits. 

Framatome spent three years qualifying WAAM before breaking ground on the facility, a timeline that underscores the gap between having a capable machine and having qualified parts in production.

The pattern forming around WAAM is that the technology’s credibility is being built by companies with decades of welding experience, not by AM-native startups. DAIHEN’s entry reinforces that trajectory. But a $450,000-$500,000 turnkey system still needs customers willing to invest the time and resources to qualify parts for their specific applications, and that qualification process is what separates a product launch from production adoption.

3D Printing Industry is inviting speakers for its 2026 Additive Manufacturing Applications (AMA) series, covering Energy, Healthcare, Automotive and Mobility, Aerospace, Space and Defense, and Software. Each online event focuses on real production deployments, qualification, and supply chain integration. Practitioners interested in contributing can complete the call for speakers form here.

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Featured image shows Daihen’s ArcBuilder 3D system. Image via Daihen Corporation.