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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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3D Printing News Briefs: October 31, 2018

Happy Halloween, fair readers! We’re giving you a treat today instead of a trick – our latest edition of 3D Printing News Briefs. First up, Materialise has completed a mammoth 3D printing project, and Australian manufacturing company C-Mac is embracing the technology for the first time. atum3D has revealed what new product it will be bringing to the upcoming formnext 2018. Finally, a group of French researchers compared powder bed fusion and binder jet 3D printing as possible methods for fabricating sand molds.

Materialise Unveils Life-Size 3D Printed Mammoth

The massive Mammoth of Lier, named for the Belgian city where it was discovered, lived during 20,000 BC, and has been on display at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences in Brussels since 1869. But thanks to the hard work of Belgian 3D printing company Materialise, the woolly mammoth skeleton is now back home in Lier…a 3D printed version of it, anyway. Earlier this summer, a multidisciplinary team of Materialise engineers and production operators, paleontologists, and archaeologists began work on the mammoth 3D printing project, which is Materialise’s largest yet at 3.5 meters tall. Materialise optimized the 3D scans of each of the mammoth’s 320 bones in order to replicate its fossilized skeleton, then digitally reconstructed it and prepared each file for 3D printing.

“When I heard that the mammoth of Lier would be 3D-printed, I was amazed. 3D printing has already been used for reproducing missing bones, but here we were talking about an entire mammoth, and I think it’s the first time this has been achieved,” said Dr. Mietje Germonpré, paleontologist at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences in Brussels. “3D printing gave us the opportunity to create a new, more scientifically accurate reconstruction of the mammoth’s anatomy.”

Fittingly, Materialise used nine of its large-format Mammoth SLA 3D printers, the only machines it makes but does not sell, to complete all 1,260 hours of 3D printing. The company’s Design & Engineering team also created a modular carbon fiber structure that could support the skeleton from the interior. Now, the 3D printed replica of the mammoth is back in Lier, just in time for the doors to open at its new city museum.

C-Mac Embraces 3D Printing

Australian manufacturing company C-Mac Industries Cooperative Ltd, headquartered in Sydney, recognized that times were changing in the industry, and not exactly for the better. Between 2008 and 2013, the country lost one manufacturing job every 19 minutes, and C-Mac realized that it needed to evolve. So in the middle of 2017, all of the staff members agreed to become business owners, and C-Mac went from being a family-owned company to a more socially responsible workers’ co-operative. In order to sustain and keep growing its business, C-Mac spent a ten-month period adopting 3D printing and creating parts for over ten different industries, as the technology is rapidly becoming a preferred approach to developing product models.

“You have to embrace change,” said C-Mac’s General Manager Steve Grlyak. ” We have seen so many manufacturing companies in Sydney go bankrupt because they are not willing to change or are slow to adapt to change or have over capitalised on the wrong equipment.

“It is only the beginning. We are also looking into having a 3d printing scholarship award to provide help to students in Australia along with striving to build a bridge between knowledge and practice. The future is upon us.”

It’s not easy to adopt a new type of thinking, but C-Mac knew that 3D printing was the future of the industry and, with the help of its 50 years of experience in manufacturing, stepped up to the plate.

atum3D Introducing Latest Software at formnext

At the upcoming formnext 2018, open platform DLP 3D printing specialist atum3D will be introducing its new, redesigned Operator Station software, which comes with proprietary MAGS AI technology. Thanks to an intuitive user interface and touchscreen support, the software makes it easy for users to prepare print jobs for the company’s DLP Station 3D printers. Operator Station lets users duplicate parts, or fill available build volume, with the click of a button, and its MAGS AI will automatically adjust a part’s orientation and generate the necessary supports.

“We’re very excited to be back in Frankfurt for the third time in a row to show our most recent developments. This year, the main spotlight is on software, one of the three pillars on which atum3D was built, together with hardware engineering and resin chemicals. When creating the all new Operator Station software from the ground up, we took special care to incorporate our user’s feedback and requests. That’s why we created a highly intuitive interface that takes you from part import to final print job in just a few clicks. The intelligent approach of our proprietary MAGS AI technology, which is the abbreviation of Mark, Adjust & Generate Supports, plays an essential role,” said Tristram Budel, CEO at atum3D.

““MAGS AI now analyses the part’s shape, keeps my selection free of supports, suggests the optimal orientation and adds the necessary supports. That’s about as fast and easy as it gets!”

At formnext, atum3D will also be introducing its new Industry Excellence Pack for material scientists and research institutes, as well as an open resin platform for the DLP Station 5, which will be showcased at the event. Visit atum3D at booth 3.1-B19 to see its new Operator Station with MAGS AI and the DLP Station 5.

Comparing Powder Bed Fusion and Binder Jetting for Sand Molds

A trio of researchers from Centrale Nantes and É cole Normale Sup é rieure de Rennes in France recently published a paper, titled “A review on the additive manufacturing of sand molds by binder jetting and selective laser sintering,” that analyzes the current techniques of the casting industry for using 3D printed sand molds. Specifically, they looked at SLS and binder jet 3D printing. In the paper, the researchers analyzed patents, case studies, and scientific articles, as there is limited data about 3D printed sand molds in other studies. The research team got together because there’s a lack of resources and interest in 3D printing sand molds, and they wanted to provide a more comprehensive analysis of the topic. The paper highlighted the current gaps in the field, as well as proposed some key perspectives for possible social implications.

“The review investigates new factors and methods for mold design, looking at mechanical properties and cost analysis as influenced by material selection, thermal characteristics, topological optimization and manufacturing procedure,” the researchers state in the paper. “Findings in this study suggest that this topic lacks vigorous scientific research and that the case studies by manufacturers thus far are not useful.”

Co-authors of the paper are Tugdual Amaury Le Néel, Pascal Mognol, and Jean-Yves Hascoët.

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2018 TCT Hall of Fame Inductees and 3D Printing Award Winners Announced

This year’s TCT Show, held in Birmingham as usual, ended earlier this week, and yielded many announcements about new 3D printing materials, software, and of course, 3D printers and their associated hardware. Additionally, the annual TCT Awards was held for the second time during a gala dinner at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole on Wednesday. British actor and presenter Robert Llewellyn hosted the nearly 300 guests at the awards, which celebrates, according to TCT Group owner Rapid News Publications Ltd, “the people, technology and collaborations behind the best in design-to-manufacturing innovation.”

There were 14 competitive award categories, and the TCT Awards recognized the partners in many collaborative projects, in addition to the designers, technology providers, and engineers. Three more 3D printing industry leaders were also inducted into the TCT Hall of Fame in honor of “their contribution to the industry and to the growth in technology adoption.”

“Once again it was a privilege to share an evening with so many truly exceptional people,” said Duncan Wood, Chief Executive of Rapid News. “All of the winners are to be congratulated for their successes, and of course in particular the Hall of Fame inductees need a special mention, their innovation, entrepreneurship and commitment has played a huge part in the development and success of the industry.

“I must also thank our sponsors 3ecruit, as well as our supporting partner, Innovate UK for their endorsement of the event and of course our judges. The TCT Awards night is fast becoming THE night of the year for the industry and we are looking forward to the 2019 edition already!”

The first of the new TCT Hall of Fame inductees is Dr. Carl Deckard, who invented and developed Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) 3D printing technology while based at the University of Texas. Together with his former professor Joe Beaman, Dr. Deckard co-founded DTM Corporation, which was later purchased by 3D Systems, to commercialize SLS 3D printing.

The second 2018 inductee into the TCT Hall of Fame is application specialist and process pioneer Greg Morris. In 1994 he founded Morris Technologies, a specialist AM services provider, which was purchased by GE Aviation in 2012, along with sister company Rapid Quality Manufacturing. His work in developing metal 3D printing applications and processes has increased their adoption in the aerospace and medical sectors, and he distributes his knowledge through his involvement in the speaking circuit.

Professor Emanuel ‘Ely’ Sachs, who invented binder jet printing at MIT in 1989, is this year’s final TCT Hall of Fame Inductee. Professor Sachs, who is on the leadership team of Desktop Metal and still teaches at MIT, actually coined the phrase ‘3D printing’ at that time, and binder jetting technology is a building block for much of the market’s current technology.

As for the rest of the TCT Awards, Project MELT, with its tech lead listed as BEEVERYCREATIVE, won this year’s Aerospace Application Award, while the winner of the Automotive Application Award was the BMW i8 roadster SLM bracket by tech lead SLM Solutions.

Vitamix nozzle at RAPID 2018 [Image: Sarah Saunders for 3DPrint.com]

The Vitamix nozzle by Carbon won the Consumer Product Application Award, while the winner of the Creative Application Award was the Embrace jewelry collection by Cooksongold for Boltenstern. SPEE3D won the Hardware Award – Non Polymers for LightSPEE3D, and the Hardware Award – Polymers went to E3D for its Tool-Changer.

Axial3D won the Healthcare Application Award for the use of its pre-op planning model aids in a world-first surgery at Belfast City Hospital, and Trinckle 3D won the Industrial Product Application Award for its mass customization of copper inductors. The Materials Award – Non Polymer went to SABIC for its EXL AMHI240F 3D printing filament, and NanoSteel took the Materials Award – Polymers for its BLDRmetal L-40 steel 3D printing material.

3D Systems was the winner of the Metrology Award for its Aircraft Damage Assessment for Easyjet, and Steros GPA Innovate S.L. won the Post-Processing Award for its DLyte: Metal DryLyte Electropolishing. Materialise won the Software Award for its e-Stage Metal, and this year’s Rising Star Award was given to HiETA Technologies Ltd.

To learn more about the winning projects and companies, and see the Highly Commended projects, visit the TCT Awards website.

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