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PSMI Subsidiary Collaborates with RIZE to Bring Additive Manufacturing to Tool Cribs Around the World

Michigan headquartered Azoth is in the business of transforming manufacturers around the world from order-on-demand to make-on-demand. Created as a subsidiary of Production Services Management Inc. (PSMI), Azoth is responsible for assisting customers in finding on-site solutions in additive manufacturing. PSMI currently works with 250 customers at their manufacturing sites, managing tool cribs (separate areas established onsite for tools, usually with attendants)—with many of these belonging to well-known car and equipment manufacturers both in the US and internationally.

While 3D printing and additive manufacturing may not be PSMI’s specialty, they saw a need for creating spare parts quickly, in low volume, and especially for those that are in the process of becoming or already have become obsolete.

“We have a void in our supply chain and we really see additive manufacturing helping to fill that void,” said Scott Burk, President of PSMI. “The void exists for customers that need special one-off parts that the traditional tool and die shop would charge a lot of money for because they need to strip down and rebuild a machine to make those parts. Those usually take six to eight weeks or more in lead time, and the price is usually exorbitant.”

Recently, Azoth began collaborating with RIZE, an up and coming Boston company that has been very successful in helping customers with their needs in additive manufacturing, working with organizations like NASA, the US Army, Navy, Merck, and more. Both the RIZE ONE and the XRIZE 3D printers are unique. The RIZE ONE is a hybrid 3D printer, while the XRIZE offers a full-color desktop. And not only are they collaborating, but PSMI chose RIZE as their first technology partner. RIZIUM parts were already in supply to customers within a few months, and RIZE is now considered central to working with both Azoth and PSMI in additive manufacturing projects.

“Production staff are always trying to put out a fire when a line goes down due to a part failure,” said Scott. “In many cases, these widgets are so important that if one breaks, it can send an entire factory home. But now, using RIZE additive manufacturing technology, we can manufacture a range of parts they need in that facility on demand. Having RIZE 3D printers on site can mean the difference between having a one-off or small-batch part available in eight hours vs. eight weeks for machined parts.”

“Using RIZE 3D printers this way enables us to add more value for our customers and become more valuable to them. Right now, someone comes to one of our cribs wanting something and we have to begin the ordering process. With RIZE, not only can we provide the part faster, it gives us an opportunity to work with our customers on site to optimize the design of specialty and custom components. We’re completely changing the concept of the supply crib.”

The RIZE ONE 3D printer is the first to be owned by PSMI, selected due to its safety, along with the types of materials it uses. These are important considerations due to strict protocol found in most factory settings. Along with that, PSMI customers now enjoy a range of new benefits, to include:

Manufacturing of products 50 percent faster
Accuracy in complex parts, with ‘best-in-class’ Z strength
Low moisture absorption
High chemical resistance
Ink marking capabilities for features like bar codes, logos, instructions, and more

“Today’s process for finding a legacy part is going into an archive to try to find the part information. Then, we make sure that part information is correct and reverse engineer it with a tool and die shop because the company that made the machine and its spare part are long gone,” said Scott. “With a QR code embedded within the 3D printed part, I can scan that part and know every little detail, what iteration it is, when the last time we made it was, etc. All of that can be easily put on that QR code. Now, that information is never lost.”

Currently, Azoth engineers are able to create items such as the following:

Custom polyurethane seal molds
Drilling templates
Gages
Torque gun holders
Stamping fixtures
Shelf caps
Precision arbor holders
Grippers
Pulleys

3D printed drill template

“The RIZE printer has already been so helpful,” said Scott. “We’ve been finding a lot more uses we didn’t even think about. We will be ahead of the curve, proving the Digital Tool Crib concept with RIZE.”

No matter what level you are operating at with design and 3D printing, the benefits are enticing—from greater affordability to speed in turnaround, not to mention the ability to cut out the middleman when changes need to be made—and sometimes there can be many, leading to exponential time and money spent if you are not in control of production. Industrially speaking, however, 3D printing can shave major bucks off the bottom line and improve efficiency like never before. There is also often the chance to create parts that would not have been possible without the advent of 3D printing and additive manufacturing.

What do you think of this news? Let us know your thoughts! Join the discussion of this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com.

Source / Images: RIZE]

Stamping fixture

Shelf cap

Unique 3D Printed Connectors Help You Create Versatile Pieces of Furniture

[Image: Riley Young, Digital Trends]

While it is absolutely possible to 3D print custom furniture today, I think we can all agree that doing so is generally not as easy as just heading out to IKEA, Natuzzi or Ethan Allen or Value City Furniture or wherever it is you buy your home furnishings. In addition, some of the 3D printed furniture out there is just not that practical. Some pieces can even look like they belong on the set of another Willy Wonka movie remake…sorry if that’s harsh. But, that doesn’t mean we can’t use 3D printing to enhance or build furniture through the creative use of brackets, connectors, fasteners, and joints.

It’s entirely possible to improve upon furniture and make it your own without creating the entire piece in a wood or 3D printing workshop; most desktop 3D printers don’t have the build area to print a kitchen table anyway. But using connectors allows you to customize your furnishings without having to build something entirely new…unless you feel like it, of course.

Asa Christiana and Drew Prindle with Digital Trends recently highlighted a quick DIY end table project that used a 3D printed tripod joint.

[Image: Riley Young, Digital Trends]

“Before you do anything else, you should fabricate the 3D printed tripod joint,” Christiana and Prindle wrote. “This part is the keystone of the entire table, so it’s crucial that you get it right. By printing it first, you’ll be able to take it with you when you head out to buy materials, and make sure that all the dowels and screws you get will fit properly.”

The simple design for the 3D printable joint model, by Cults3D user Alejandro Macias, will need to be tweaked so you’re sure the three 7/8″ dowel rods used as the table legs will fit. Once the file has been downloaded and loaded into a slicer program, you’ll want to scale the part’s flange up to about 106% of its original size, or even 107% just to be safe. Print the part on a 3D printer with a build envelope of at least 105 mm wide and 130 mm tall.

“After printing a few of these suckers, we determined that you need to bump up the number of shells (the outer layers of the print) and the amount of infill (the interior of the print) considerably in order to give the completed part more structural integrity,” Christiana and Prindle explained. “We printed ours with six shells and 40 percent infill, but you might want to kick it up even more (say, 8 shells and 50 percent infill) if you plan on putting heavier items on the table.”

They also noted that the interior will need to have supports, as there is a possible failure-causing “unsupported stalactite in the middle of the model.”

[Image: Riley Young, Digital Trends]

The dowel rods should slide right into the 3D printed joint, which includes small screw holes in the sides for fixing everything into place; these holes will probably need to drilled a little bit larger so the screws can freely pass through.

“To make sure you don’t create the Leaning Table of Pisa, draw a light pencil line about 1.5 inches from the end of each leg before inserting it, to help you insert them all the same amount,” said Christiana and Prindle. “Once you do, use the screw holes in the flange to locate and drill small pilot holes in the sides of the dowels before driving the screws. There isn’t much danger of the screws cracking the tabletop, but they could split the dowels if you don’t drill pilot holes.”

To learn all the important details of building the actual table, check out the rest of the project here.

[Image: MOCO Submit]

Over the last few years, we’ve seen all kinds of interesting 3D printed furniture connecting pieces. For example, the Control DIY Furniture collection by Jack Holloway offers open source, downloadable files of custom, 3D printable furniture joints that, once completed, can be fitted with standard dimension lumber to build benches, tables, and chairs. These joints are recommended to be printed in nylon (polyamide), acrylics, and even metal. These look so elegant, you’d think the entire piece was built to look that way.

3D printed connectors offer versatility, letting you create unique pieces of furniture that sit at unusual angles, link together, or even create a table out of four chairs and a flat surface – perfect for smaller spaces. Italian-Japanese Studio Minale-Maeda created 3D printable sculptural Keystone connectors, which can be ordered from the Rotterdam studio or, to help cut down on emissions resulting from shipping and the need for big-box stores, be 3D printed as an open source design. These connectors can be tightened easily with a screwdriver, to help you repurpose old furniture parts or assorted pieces of wood into new furnishings.

The Playwood collection of colorful 3D printed connectors by Italian designer Stefano Guerrieri gives you the flexibility to change up your environment on a whim, with only an Allen key needed to tighten the connections. Build your own furniture with whatever materials you want – so long as they are between 1.5 and 2 cm thick – and join the pieces together at 90°, 105°, or 150°, with three different kinds of recyclable polyamide connectors. According to the designer, Playwood was inspired as a modular and tactile response to the creativity-killing environment of a static office.

“We believe that people should be able to shape their own places according to what they do, we believe in modularity and creativity freedom,” said Guerrieri. “It doesn’t matter if it is a freelance studio or a billion dollar corporate office, the ability to organize your space is a powerful tool that brings office relationships to the next level and fosters innovation.”

Personally, I prefer my furniture to be a little less whimsical than the Playwood collection, but to each his own…which is the whole point of custom 3D printable furniture connectors, of course.

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3D Printing News Briefs: June 29, 2018

In today’s 3D Printing News Briefs (the last one this month, how is the summer going by so quickly?!), a few companies are announcing special honors and recognitions, and then we’re sharing stories stories about some interesting new 3D printing projects, and finally wrapping things up before the weekend with some business news. Renishaw’s Director of R&D has been honored by the Royal Academy of Engineering, while MakerBot earned an important designation for its 3D printing certification program for educators and Renovis Surgical Technologies received FDA approval for its new 3D printed implant. Festo is introducing three new bionic robots, one of which is partially 3D printed, and CINTEC is using 3D printing for its restoration of a famous government house. GE wants to use blockchains for 3D printing protection, and ExOne announced a global cost realignment.

Royal Academy of Engineering Honors Renishaw’s Chris Sutcliffe

Earlier this week, the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAE) awarded a Silver Medal to Professor Chris Sutcliffe, the Director of Research and Development of the Additive Manufacturing Products Division (AMPD) for global metrology company Renishaw. This award is given to recognize outstanding personal contributions to British engineering, and is given to no more than four people a year. The Silver Medal Sutcliffe received was in recognition of his part in driving the development of metal 3D printed implants in both human and veterinary surgery, and also celebrates his successful commercialization of 3D printed products with several companies, including Renishaw, and the University of Liverpool.

“Throughout my career I’ve worked hard to commercialise additive manufacturing technology. As well as AM’s benefit to the aerospace and automotive sectors, commercialisation of AM and associated technologies has been lifechanging for those with musculoskeletal diseases,” said Sutcliffe. “The award celebrates the successes of the engineers I have worked with to achieve this and I am grateful to receive the award to recognise our work.”

MakerBot’s Certification Program for Educators Gets Important Designation

One of the leaders in 3D printing for education is definitely MakerBot, which has sent its 3D printers to classrooms all over the world. Just a few months ago, the company launched a comprehensive, first of its kind 3D printing certification program, which trains educators to become 3D printing experts and create custom curriculum for STEAM classrooms. An independent review of the program showed that it meets the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) standards, and it has earned the prestigious ISTE Seal of Alignment from the accreditation body. In addition, a survey conducted over the last three years of over 2,000 MakerBot educators shows that the percentage of teachers reporting that MakerBot’s 3D printers met their classroom needs has doubled in just two years.

“This data shows that MakerBot isn’t just growing its user base in schools. We’re measurably improving teachers’ experiences using 3D printing,” said MakerBot CEO Nadav Goshen. “Much of this impressive teacher satisfaction is thanks to the effort we’ve put into solving real classroom problems—like the availability of 3D printing curriculum with Thingiverse Education, clear best practices with the MakerBot Educators Guidebook, and now training with the new MakerBot Certification program.”

Earlier this week, MakerBot exhibited its educator solutions at the ISTE Conference in Chicago.

FDA Grants Clearance for 3D Printed Interbody Spinal Fusion System

California-headquartered Renovis Surgical Technologies, Inc. announced that it has received 510(k) clearance from the FDA for its Tesera SA Hyperlordotic ALIF Interbody Spinal Fusion System. All Tesera implants are 3D printed, and use a proprietary, patent-pending design to create a porous, roughened surface structure, which maximizes biologic fixation, strength, and stability to allow for bone attachment and in-growth to the implant.

The SA implant, made with Renovis’s trabecular technology and featuring a four-screw design and locking cover plate, is a titanium stand-alone anterior lumbar interbody fusion system. They are available in 7˚, 12˚, 17˚, 22˚ and 28˚ lordotic angles, with various heights and footprints for proper lordosis and intervertebral height restoration, and come with advanced instrumentation that’s designed to decrease operative steps during surgery.

Festo Introduces Partially 3D Printed Bionic Robot

German company Festo, the robotics research of which we’ve covered before, has introduced its Bionic Learning Network’s latest project – three bionic robots inspired by a flic-flac spider, a flying fox, and a cuttlefish. The latter of these biomimetic robots, the BionicFinWave, is a partially 3D printed robotic fish that can autonomously maneuver its way through acrylic water-filled tubing. The project has applications in soft robotics, and could one day be developed for tasks like underwater data acquisition, inspection, and measurement.

The 15 oz robot propels itself forward and backward through the tubing using undulation forces from its longitudinal fins, while also communicating with and transmitting data to the outside world with a radio. The BionicFinWave’s lateral fins, molded from silicone, can move independently of each other and generate different wave patterns, and water-resistant pressure and ultrasound sensors help the robot register its depth and distance to the tube walls. Due to its ability to realize complex geometry, 3D printing was used to create the robot’s piston rod, joints, and crankshafts out of plastic, along with its other body elements.

Cintec Using 3D Printing on Restoration Work of the Red House

Cintec North America, a leader in the field of structural masonry retrofit strengthening, preservation, and repair, completes structural analysis and design services for projects all around the world, including the Egyptian Pyramids, Buckingham Palace, Canada’s Library of Parliament, and the White House. Now, the company is using 3D printing in its $1 million restoration project on the historic Red House, which is also known as the seat of Parliament for the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and was built between 1844 and 1892.

After sustaining damage from a fire, the Red House, featuring signature red paint and Beaux-Arts style architecture, was refurbished in 1904. In 2007, Cintec North America was asked to advise on the required repairs to the Red House, and was given permission to install its Reinforcing Anchor System. This landmark restoration project – the first where Cintec used 3D printing for sacrificial parts – denotes an historic moment in structural engineering, because one of the reinforcement anchors inserted into the structure, measuring 120 ft, is thought to be the longest in the world.

GE Files Patent to Use Blockchains For 3D Printing Protection

According to a patent filing recently released by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), industry giant GE wants to use a blockchain to verify the 3D printed parts in its supply chain and protect itself from fakes. If a replacement part for an industrial asset is 3D printed, anyone can reproduce it, so end users can’t verify its authenticity, and if it was made with the right manufacturing media, device, and build file. In its filing, GE, which joined the Blockchain in Transport Alliance (BiTA) consortium in March, outlined a method for setting up a database that can validate, verify, and track the manufacturing process, by integrating blockchains into 3D printing.

“It would therefore be desirable to provide systems and methods for implementing a historical data record of an additive manufacturing process with verification and validation capabilities that may be integrated into additive manufacturing devices,” GE stated in the patent filing.

ExOne to Undergo Global Cost Realignment

3D printer and printed products provider ExOne has announced a global cost realignment program, in order to achieve positive earnings and cash flow in 2019. In addition to maximizing efficiency through aligning its capital resources, ExOne’s new program will be immediately reducing the company’s consulting projects and headcount – any initial employee reductions will take place principally in consulting and select personnel. The program, which has already begun, will focus first on global operations, with an emphasis on working capital initiatives, production overhead, and general and administrative spending. This program will continue over the next several quarters.

“With the essential goal of significantly improving our cash flows in 2019, we have conducted a review of our cost structure and working capital practices. We are evaluating each position and expense within our organization, with the desire to improve productivity. As a result, we made the difficult decision to eliminate certain positions within ExOne, reduce our spending on outside consultants and further rely on some of our recently instituted and more efficient processes,” explained S. Kent Rockwell, ExOne’s Chairman and CEO. “Additional cost analyses and changes to business practices to improve working capital utilization will be ongoing over the next several quarters and are expected to result in additional cost reductions and improved cash positions. All the while, we remain focused on our research and development goals and long-term revenue growth goals, which will not be impacted by these changes, as we continue to lead the market adoption of our binder jetting technology.”

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