“What’s the material deposit rate ? Maybe a pound per hour ?”
You are off by a factor of about 150.
What metal printer is 150 lb per hour ?
this outfit claims to be the largest and it is 1/10 of that
https://www.sciaky.com/largest-metal-3d-printer-available
as usual, this is technofool “comb our hair with ray guns” BS
this isnt new. People were testing AM 20+ years ago. No-one has explained how this is superior to just cutting the part out of a billet. The 3d metal properties are almost always worse.
Tom Eagar from MIT has done plenty of experimental AM, but when it is too expensive for the US Navy, no-one else is going to use it except in limited applications which he explains here.
https://youtu.be/01D4_i5L5gk?list=PLCgPBt05jaJ4MIGrgqnIWIuvpSV_E3xa5&t=2341