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3D Printing News Briefs, June 20, 2020: 3DEO and 3MF Consortium

Our 3D Printing News Briefs this week are indeed brief, but no less important. We’ll tell you how 3DEO has reached an important production milestone, and also about the newest member of the 3MF Consortium.

3DEO Reaches 150,000 Production Parts Shipped

Monthly shipment of 3500 pieces to a 3DEO customer

Metal 3D printing company 3DEO, founded in 2016 for the purpose of competing against conventional manufacturing with high-volume metal additive manufacturing, recently announced that it has reached a major milestone: it’s shipped out 150,000 production parts for end-use applications. The California company’s mission is to make metal 3D printing available for mass production through its digital industrial platform, and this announcement is excellent evidence that it’s well on its way. 3DEO has an interesting business model – instead of selling its 3D printers, the company has focused on becoming an expert user of its own patented technology, and built an automated end-to-end industrial platform, to which its customers then have access.

“150 thousand parts is a terrific milestone for 3DEO. It validates our patented technology, our unique business model, and our mission to break metal additive manufacturing (AM) into high-volume production. Today, we routinely win bids against traditional manufacturing because of our competitive cost structure and material performance,” said 3DEO’s President Matt Sand.

“150,000 parts shipped is only the beginning for us. We are scratching the surface of what’s possible with metal AM in the $130 billion U.S. metal parts market. With our additive and automation software and hardware, combined with our world-class R&D team and quality systems, we are primed to scale metal AM into millions of parts next year.”

3MF Consortium Announces New Specification and Member

Five years ago, Microsoft launched the new .3MF file format for 3D printing, along with the collaborative 3MF Consortium. It works to define the 3D Manufacturing Format that facilitates easier operation, making it possible to send 3D models sent to other applications, services, and platforms. Members of the consortium include Ultimaker, GE Global Research, ASTM International, Autodesk, and now Viaccess-Orca (VO), a global provider of advanced data solutions and digital content protection. VO, which will be a Founding Member, helped the consortium define its new 3MF Secure Content Specification, which will address production control requirements and payload protection and is available through GitHub under a permissive BSD license.

“In a modern cloud-connected world, data security and end-to-end encryption are playing an increasingly important role to mitigate the risk of leakages and data corruption in globally distributed manufacturing environments. Protecting the integrity and confidentiality of product designs, patient-specific biometric data, and other sensitive manufacturing content is critical to enabling additive manufacturing to scale into final part production in distributed, contractual, and highly regulated manufacturing environments,” stated Scott White, Software Distinguished Technologist at HP Inc. “We are thrilled that Viaccess-Orca joined the consortium and contributed their decades-long expertise to the design of the 3MF Secure Content extension. The final specification defines the payload encryption based on industry standards, and allows third parties to build their own key management ecosystems upon it. We believe this will allow it to be used to address a broad range of critical use cases simply and seamlessly.”

As a consortium member, VO will help address digital asset security aspects in the digital manufacturing industry. The company also announced the general release of its Secure Manufacturing Platform (SMP), which makes sure that digital assets are traceable and secure, in compliance with the new 3MF specification, across digitally distributed supply chains.

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Stratasys Introduces Full-Color, Office-Friendly J55 PolyJet 3D Printer

It was only a few months ago that Stratasys introduced its latest PolyJet system, the J826, at 3DEXPERIENCE World 2020. This week, it’s unveiling the new J55 3D printer, which costs roughly a third of the price of the company’s enterprise-class PolyJet systems (100K versus $260k) giving product design teams fast, full-color, office-friendly 3D printing in one package.

“We developed this innovative new 3D printer to truly transform the product development process for product designers and engineers everywhere. Not only does the J55 fit the budget of virtually any product design team, but the quality of the parts you can 3D print are best in class. It’s so simple that anyone can set it up and use it, and it’s so quiet you’ll forget it’s running,” said Omer Krieger, Executive Vice President of Products at Stratasys.

The J55 is unique in many ways, starting with a patented, first-of-its-kind rotating build platform with a fixed print head that makes maintenance easier and increases reliability. Something else that’s increased is the machine’s output, even though its footprint is smaller at 4.6 sq. ft. This fact, coupled with ultra-quiet operation and ProAero filtration for odor-free operation, makes the J55 a great solution for product design offices.

The J55 3D Printer operates using a first-of-its-kind rotational printing platform, maximizing print reliability and offering greater output from a small footprint.

In developing the J55, Stratasys prioritized a simpler print workflow for designers. The 3D printer is supported by GrabCAD Print software, so that multiple common CAD files, like CATIA, Inventor, PTC Creo, Siemens NX, and SOLIDWORKS, and 3MF files, can be imported easily. Additionally, Stratasys is adding support for the latest 3MF color workflow for the first time through the use of KeyShot 3D rendering software from Luxion Inc.; this capability is currently in beta testing and is planned for later this year.

Designed to fit design studios and office spaces, the Stratasys J55 suits the budget of virtually any product design team, without compromising on part quality.

“We know that the risk and time involved with traditional prototyping simply doesn’t work anymore, yet there’s no room for compromise on design. Designers can and should do a lot more prototyping in-house, from initial concept modeling to highly realistic final prototypes,” said Tim Greene, a 3D printing research director at IDC, about how the product design process needs to change in order to match the current industry. “It’s just been a matter of bringing enterprise quality to a design shop’s price point and workspace. And now we’re there.”

Stratasys says that the J55 was created as a “smaller but equally capable complement” to its enterprise J8 series. The system offers the same great detail and resolution as the rest of the series, its 3D printed models match the color, finish, material, and shape of final products, and the entire design process is supported with same day send-to-print and little post-processing required.

The J55 opens up advanced full-color, multi-material 3D printing to everyday designers, giving them the power to significantly enhance product development.

Tony Guard, the Director of Innovation and Industrial Design at Kinetic Vision, stated, “There is no way to validate 2D designs without a realistic 3D model, it’s simply not possible.”

The Cincinnati-based company, designated an “essential business” during the COVID-19 pandemic, employs 175 people and creates products for businesses of all sizes, ranging from startups to Fortune 50 companies, in many industries, including aerospace, consumer electronics, medical, and packaged goods. Kinetic Vision is using the new J55, but with employee capacity so low, it seemed setup would be difficult. But Guard says a single employee, with remote support from Stratasys, was able to do it.

“My jaw dropped when I saw what the machine could do. We can validate products faster with form, color, finish, graphics, everything. We can offer our clients tangible 3D-printed models that represent a final retail product, faster than we ever could before,” he said. “I’d love the J55 to be our secret strategic advantage, but I don’t think it will be a secret for long.”

The J55 3D Printer combines realism and productivity, including high fidelity and five simultaneously printed materials that enable nearly 500,000 colors, PANTONE Validation, realistic textures and transparency in one printed part.

The J55 mixes productivity and realism so that users can achieve fast, full-color, and realistic designs. It offers high fidelity and full CMF (color, material, finish) capabilities, including five high-performance PolyJet materials, including support, that can be printed at the same time – allowing operators to avoid downtime due to material changes. The printer enables nearly 500,000 X-Rite-based color profiles, multiple textures, PANTONE validated color, and transparency with VeroClear material; VeroUltraClear will available later this year.

Other specs include:

  • remote monitoring
  • 22-liter maximum build volume
  • accuracy of ±100μ
  • hands-free soluble support removal
  • 503 lbs

Orders are being taken now for the new Stratasys J55 3D printer, which is expected to ship in July 2020. Check out the video here to learn more about the J55.

Discuss this news and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts in the Facebook comments below.

The post Stratasys Introduces Full-Color, Office-Friendly J55 PolyJet 3D Printer appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing.

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3D Printing News Briefs: May 16, 2019

We’ve got plenty of business news for you in today’s 3D Printing News Briefs, starting with Additive Manufacturing Technologies’ impressive growth as of late. ExOne has announced a collaboration with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and DigiFabster has announced several updates to its platform. Moving on to new product launches, Shining3D has a new industrial metrology system, and peel 3d introduced a new affordable 3D scanner.

Additive Manufacturing Technologies Showing Rapid Growth

L-R: Gavin Minton and David Manley

UK-based Additive Manufacturing Technologies (AMT) was founded in 2017 and is now emerging from semi-stealth mode and into full commercial production with its automated post-processing and finishing solutions for 3D printed parts. The company is showing rapid growth forecasts, and has been opening new US facilities, announcing partnerships, and hiring important personnel to help with its mission of providing the industry with industrial AM post-processing. AMT has made two important strategic additions to its Global Innovation Centre in Sheffield, appointing David Manley as Non-Executive Chairman and hiring Gavin Minton as the Aftersales and Customer Experience Manager.

“These are indeed exciting times at AMT as we aggressively market and sell our PostPro3D post-processing systems for AM parts having moved from the semi-stealth mode we have been operating in for a couple of years. We have been growing rapidly, but now we are moving to the next level — with our technology capabilities, our facilities and our brilliant team. We are really excited to welcome David and Gavin to AMT — they will be fundamental to our continued growth strategy,” said Joseph Crabtree, CEO at AMT.

“The post-processing step has long been the Achilles heel for AM as it moves to being a true mass manufacturing technology, and we are proud to offer our fully automated solution, which is already revolutionising the ways in which manufacturers integrate AM as a mass production tool. AMT is working in partnership with numerous OEMs, vendors and material suppliers to take the pain out of post-processing with an intelligent and collaborative approach, and we are scaling up production globally in order to share the progress we have made with our post-processing solutions. David and Gavin will join our team to provide key support in this mission.”

ExOne Announces Collaboration with Oak Ridge National Laboratory

The ExOne Company, which manufactures 3D printers and provides 3D printing services to industrial customers, is collaborating with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to continue advancements in binder jet 3D printing technology. Binder jetting is important because it offers lower operating costs, and maintains higher levels of productivity, than many other AM technologies, and ExOne is an industry leader in non-polymer binder jet 3D printing. Its collaboration with ORNL is targeted initially on developing technology for new binder jet systems, leveraging ORNL’s instrumentation and advanced data analysis methodologies, as well as the Department of Energy’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility (MDF) at ORNL, in order to optimize chemistry and process parameters for its sand and metal systems.

“By collaborating with a world-class lab like Oak Ridge National Laboratory, we accelerate ExOne’s binder jetting technology capabilities,” said Rick Lucas, ExOne’s Chief Technology Officer. “We believe these collaborative efforts will effectively and efficiently result in the establishment of new materials, binders and process developments, retaining our significant edge over competitors and other technologies in the industrial manufacturing space.”

DigiFabster Announces Platform Updates

3D printing software and services provider DigiFabster, which uses its software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform to help companies easily automate and streamline certain business processes, announced that it had made several important enhancements to its platform this spring that will benefit many different types of users, including 3D printing service bureaus. The company has many customers who use HP’s Multi Jet Fusion technology, which accepts the 3MF file format, and DigiFabster’s platform now supports 3MF direct uploads through its web-based widget.

DigiFabster also enabled a new feature so that customers can accept purchase orders as a form of payment, and modified the code for its Floating button installation so that it can adapt to different screen widths. Another new capability makes it possible for CNC users, like machine shops, to easily change their pricing based on how complex the machine work is, and the DigiFabster system was also updated to automatically check for wall thickness, so that the files customers receive are ready.

SHINING 3D Launched New Metrology Products

Chinese 3D printing and digitizing company SHINING 3D recently attended the international Control trade fair for quality assurance, and released its latest industrial metrology solution at the event. Three products make up the portable system – the FreeTrak optical scanner, Freescan Trak 3D scanner, and FreeTrak Probe – which work separately and together to offer a comprehensive industrial scale measurement solution.

The versatile FreeTrak system of the wireless solution can capture the scanner structure’s spatial position in real time, and also allows the user to move the part, or tracker, during measurement without the results being compromised, which makes it perfect for use in unstable environments. The FreeTrak Probe, a portable CMM probing system created for use in industrial environments, is not “susceptible to environmental influences” like position changes and vibration, and can be used to generate highly accurate data even in challenging places. The FreeTrak system is now being integrated into SHINING 3D’s metrology and industrial solution ecosystem.

peel 3d Introduces Affordable 3D Scanner

Canadian 3D scanner developer peel 3d is on a mission to provide universal access to affordable, professional-grade 3D scanning technology. Located in Québec, the peel 3d team just launched the peel 2, a brand new variant of its peel 1 scanner that has three cameras instead of just one, for maximum accuracy, resolution, and realism. Powered by Creaform technology like its predecessor, the easy to use peel 2’s integrated color-capture functionality allows users to archive objects in high definition, as well as in their original colors, and monitor the accuracy and progress of the surface coloring. The new peel 2 also features new and improved peel 2.0 software with more functionalities, in addition to a system that uses a scanned object’s texture to improve its ability of positioning itself accurately in space.

“peel 2 pushes back all technical boundaries and redefines the concept of affordable 3D scanners,” stated François Leclerc, the head of the peel 3d initiative. “It will appeal as much to artists wishing to switch over to digital as it will to medical professionals wanting to scan the human body or mechanics working with existing components. It is by far the most comprehensive entry-level scanner on the market.”

The peel 2 is available for purchase online from peel 3d and select retailers for $7,490.

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