What Does BASF’s Investment in Materialise Mean for the 3D Printing Industry?

Earlier on today BASF invested $25 million into Materialise. We speculated that perhaps BASF wanted to conquer the eyewear market because the potential of this market is so vast. We won’t sure what this investment means for both firms for many years. What is sure is that this partnership will have far-reaching consequences for 3D Printing. Every board of every large chemicals company now has to plot a counter move or face headwinds at a later date.

Even though global chemical company BASF has been pretty deeply involved with 3D printing for a few years now, this commitment really ramped up one year ago, when it announced a newly increased focus on the 3D printing industry, along with a new, AM-dedicated business – BASF 3D Printing Solutions GmbH. From the onset, BASF said its new business, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BASF New Business GmbH, would be focusing on 3D printing materials, services, components, and system solutions.

While the company works hard to keep introducing new materials on its own, as it has an extensive portfolio of materials ready to be developed for 3D printing, BASF also knows that it can’t go it alone. Partnerships and collaborations with other 3D printing mainstays are an important aspect of gaining knowledge and time in this ever-evolving and expanding the industry. So BASF has continued to acquire and strategically team up with other companies over the past year. The company is now working on 3D printed innovations as human skin and tissue, a super-strong prosthetic socket, the Ultrafuse series of filaments  and now, quite possibly, customized eyewear.

A mai, these online German classes are cheap.

This latest comes after today’s bombshell announcement that BASF has invested $25 million in 3D printing leader Materialise, which has been in the industry for nearly three decades. So if we weren’t sure before, we are now – BASF is wholly committed to becoming an industry leader in its own right.

“Our two companies’ business areas complement each other very well and our cooperation will put us in an even better position to find and develop new business opportunities,” Volker Hammes, Managing Director of BASF 3D Printing Solutions, said about the investment. “With its 3D printer facilities in Leuven and innovative software solutions, Materialise has an outstanding infrastructure. Together, we can exploit our strengths even better to advance the 3D printing sector through the development of new products and technologies together with our partners and our customers.”

Materialise and BASF will work together through an open business model to improve upon 3D printing software – the speciality of Materialise – and materials, which is obviously what BASF brings to the table. In addition, this will enable BASF to further optimize its materials in tandem with Materialise. The day before the investment was made public, Materialise announced a proposed public offering of 3.0 million of its American Depositary Shares.

So. What does this big news mean for the rest of the industry? Should we be preparing for a flood of other 3D printing polymer companies to merge with, or even acquire or be acquired by, other businesses in the industry? Maybe.

Photo-Resin X004M is suitable for break-resistant parts, like post-colored electric circuit connectors.

Polymer companies that have long focused solely on their materials offerings will likely take a cue from their counterparts who have also been including applications work in their portfolios, else they risk being left behind in the dust.

It could also mean an increase in high-quality 3D printing materials for industries and applications that Materialise already has its proverbial fingers in, such as aerospace, automotive, healthcare, and even art and entertainment. What will the reaction of and in our broader industry be?

It seems that on the whole, this investment will be a net benefit to the industry. A lone mouse does not exist, neither does a lone polymer company. Subsequently, we can expect renewed investment from polymer companies. They should see a dwindling supply of established M&A candidates for them to peruse. Good news, thanks to the nice people from Ludwigshafen everyone just got a higher valuation. Service bureaus have now discovered a new business model. Rather than making parts which is a complex undertaking and requires hard work you can partner with a polymer giant to make money. The marginal cost of working more closely with one than the other is very low in some cases. For established 3D Printing materials vendors such as Arkema and Evonik, the costs of doing business just went up. Rather than sell materials at fat margins a competitor is now paying other people to use their material. A situation a bit like if one taxi driver were paid to use Exxon gas while the others paid Shell dearly. We’re all being taken for a ride but some of us more so than others.

Perhaps companies across 3D printing will now realise that our greatest potential in the future may be to change how everything is made; but for now, changing how one thing is made or how one business unit hits its revenue targets is enough. BASF engulfs our industry, its revenue sextupling ours. Will this mean that a string of service bureaus will be bought by polymer companies? Bycatch in the nets of billion-dollar trawlers. It would give them much needed parts expertise and the idea of moving towards parts and solutions, not just commodity chemistries must be exciting for them. Even if they don’t, it will be a quick way for them to learn. What about OEMs? While some jump ahead, others leap backwards. These 3D printer builders could be a tempting alternative also, “Look, boss, its like Nespresso for plastic.” 3D printing software companies are thin on the ground but may be amenable to an exit at the right price. Would it make sense for a polymer company to acquire a 3D modelling or CAD firm? Skip everyone, own the customer as she designs the thing then facilitate the manufacturing of that thing. If a staid molecule farmer did that it would make the MCExcel slaves heads spin. Would it be smart? It would be bold, that’s for sure. But, are we but plankton for the polymer wales or are there more that see us as prey?

What of the car and aviation companies. Could they also jockey for position by investing or partnering? They probably benefit more from growth and competition in the ecosystem but in some cases may feel the need to press the trigger. What of the limited availability of viable long fiber carbon fibre or another composite with Impossible Objects and MarkForged way ahead with no one following? In a private space race our industry seems a bit of a rounding error. It may make sense for a space company to acquire both a service firm and an OEM. Or the fact that there are perhaps only 15 viable metal printing companies and around a dozen high-temperature material 3D printing firms in general? Who does that effect? We’re small but we can’t count on everyone being as aggressive as that staid ship of the line from the Rhine. One firm with an evacuation plan that consists of a map of central Europe could swallow us all. Now for a short time before the age of the nanobot and nanotube, we’re like Helen of Troy. From “chips to ships” we have a role to play, We may find ourselves not captains of our destinies but rather prey.

Joris Peels contributed to this piece.

Printrbot Closes Doors, Saddening 3D Printing Fans Everywhere

In a competitive market, it’s hard for any company to stay ahead of the others, and it’s a sad fact that even some of the most popular and long-lived companies succumb to heavy weather. Printrbot, founded in 2011, had legions of fans who loved its printers’ affordability, ease of assembly and use, and open source freedom. Printrbot 3D printers were 3D printers for the people – only a few hundred dollars, they provided access to 3D printing technology for people who hadn’t been able to afford it before, and although they were simple, they were high quality. Best of all, you could make them your own, tinkering with them and creating new and unique machines, as so many users did. The company was ethical, direct and honest. Some open source 3D printer companies just download files and don’t share. Printrbot dutifully shared its source files and was a rare true open source company.

Printrbot has a large community of fans, so many are shocked and saddened today to learn that the company is closing its doors, citing low sales.

“Low sales led to hard decisions,” says the message that greets visitors to the Printrbot website. “We will be forever grateful to all the people we met and served over the years. Thank you all.”

Brook Drumm

The site also states that more information will be forthcoming in the future, but not right away – Founder Brook Drumm will be unavailable for comment for a while.

Mourning has already begun in the Printrbot community, with fans expressing their sadness via social media.

“Sad news for desktop 3D printing,” Tweeted Mike Grauer Jr. “Printrbot is no more. It has closed its doors. Loved that company. Good products.”

“I’m in shock, been following #Printrbot since 2011,” said user @Afro3dP. “Brook was definetly a one of a kind unique adventurer in the 3D printing world.”

“My first printer was a @printrbot, so this feels extra sad for me,” said Twitter user Andrew Sink. “Brook was a an excellent community leader, and I hope he lands on his feet. You guys will be missed!”

Printrbot Simple Metal

Printrbot 3D printers were many people’s first 3D printers, as at the time, they were about as inexpensive as a 3D printer could get. Since then, things have changed, and the market has been flooded with cheap 3D printers. Some of them are clearly “you get what you pay for,” but there’s also plenty of quality printers out there at affordable prices, meaning that Printrbot has gained a lot more competition since its early days. The company had plenty of loyal fans, but there were also plenty of others who were swayed by cheaper machines found on Kickstarter and elsewhere.

It’s not that Printrbot didn’t grow and change along with the market – it did very well, in fact, at adapting to changing consumer interests. In recent years, the company began shifting to a more prosumer angle, introducing a new version of the Simple Metal in 2016 with professional features – which was great for those looking for something more high-end but still on the affordable side. Its original customer base, however, may have been chagrined to see new 3D printer introductions with price tags raising to $1,000 or above.

Last year, Printrbot started getting even more experimental with a nod toward mass production, as it unveiled the Printrbelt concept: a conveyor belt-style 3D printer capable of printing continuously and creating items of any length. A fascinating concept, to be sure, but a long way from its simple hacker beginnings, perhaps making its original customer base feel a bit alienated.

Printrbot Play

While it’s sad for a company itself when it closes, it’s the loyal customers who suffer alongside it, and Printrbot’s many users and fans are left with a sense of loss. Printrbot meant many different things for many different people – for some, it was their first introduction to 3D printing or their first chance to build a 3D printer themselves and become intimate with the workings of a marvellous machine. For others, it was a gateway to hacking, a printer that could be made one’s very own. Many people did amazing things with Printrbot 3D printers, with some even modifying them to be potentially able to save lives.

3D printers like Printrbot’s are, by their very nature, community-builders, as users network online to share tips and advice and to showcase the unique things they create. Gatherings like Midwest RepRap Festival thrive on 3D printers like these, with makers from around the world coming together to demonstrate the amazing things that can be done with a simple, inexpensive machine. With the shutting down of Printrbot also comes the shutting down of its community, and that’s just as sad, if not sadder.

Drumm has proven himself to be a brilliant and creative mind in the 3D printing industry, and though some may have been disappointed to see Printrbot move away from its hacker roots in recent years, the company never stopped delivering quality; hopefully Drumm will remain in the 3D printing industry and take on new endeavors after a time. Printrbot and its fans have learned a cruel lesson that many other companies, established or just starting out, have learned – there are way too many 3D printers on the market, and as they become more and more affordable, staying competitive is a tough task, no matter how beloved the company.

How are you affected by the closing of Printrbot? Discuss this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts below. 

 

Mass Portal co-founder hands over leadership to build an independent additive Manufacturing software platform

Mass Portal, a Latvia-based 3D printer manufacturer, has named Imants Treidis as its new CEO following the departure of co-founder Janis Grinhofs. As of this month, Grinhofs, has founded and will lead FabControl, an independent software platform for managing additive manufacturing machinery and workflow. “We will continue to serve our existing customers and industrial partners, […]

Zortrax 2017 financial results and plans for 2018

Zortrax, the Polish manufacturer of the popular quality M200 3D Printer, experienced a challenging year in 2017, with sales down 12% to 47.5M PLN (circa 14M$) from 54M PLN (circa 16M$) in 2016. The company suffered from a 25% decrease of sales in the USA following the closure of their main distributor. Sales in Europe […]

3D Printing News Briefs: July 17, 2018

In Today’s 3D Printing News Briefs, we’re covering a lot of business and a little medical news. AMFG is partnering with a top UK bearings manufacturer to help automate its digital manufacturing workflows, while Segula Technologies has begun an industrial 3D printing partnership with digital manufacturing company Multistation. Techniplas has completed a deployment of Sharebot 3D printers to its 14 manufacturing facilities around the world, and the winners of the SkillsUSA Additive Manufacturing Competition have been announced. Finally, a pediatric cardiologist used the Sinterit Lisa to create a 3D printed model of a newborn boy’s heart to plan his risky surgery.

Bowman International Announces Partnership with AMFG

Bowman’s bearings

Automation software specialist AMFG, which recently launched a new AI software platform, has partnered with Bowman International, one of the top bearings manufacturers in the UK, as it works to grow its 3D printing capabilities through its Bowman Additive Production (AP) division. Bowman AP has several MJF and SLS 3D printers available for its use, and uses 3D printing to design and produce its end-part bearings, which has helped increase their load bearing capacity by up to 70%.

In the meantime, Bowman International’s goal is to use AMFG’s AI-powered production automation software to oversee production of said bearings, by automating production job scheduling, optimizing digital CAD files for production with printability analyses, and creating a custom digital part catalog.

“We’re very pleased to be partnering with AMFG and using their automation software to scale our already expanding AM facility,” said Jacob Turner, the Head of Additive Production at Bowman International. “Additive manufacturing is transforming the way bearings are manufactured, and we aim to continue to be at the forefront of innovating the production of bearings using AM. AMFG’s automation software will enable us to achieve this by significantly increasing the efficiency of our production processes.”

Multistation Partners with Segula Technologies

Another newly announced 3D printing partnership is the one between international engineering group Segula Technologies and Paris-based 3D printing company Multistation. The two are working together to further develop the potential of 3D printing in the industrial sector, which will allow both companies to increase their offerings and provide customers with excellent services along the AM value chain. Segula will bring its design, product-process qualification, and technology integration in industrial environments to the table, while Multistation will share and apply its expertise in AM design and simulation by determining any potential parts that could be 3D printed instead of fabricated with a more traditional method of manufacturing.

“Additive manufacturing is an integral part of a value chain within which Multistation provides a comprehensive offering; Segula Technologies was an obvious partner of choice to enable our Additive Consulting division to address manufacturers’ concerns more effectively,” said Yannick Loisance, the CEO of Multistation. “We will thus be able to supply them not just with software packages, machines and materials, but also with a more comprehensive range of high-quality engineering services that are suited to a host of different business sectors.”

Techniplas Adds Sharebot 3D Printers to Its Manufacturing Facilities

This fall, Italian professional-grade 3D printer manufacturer Sharebot joined the open innovation program at Techniplas, a top automotive design and manufacturing provider. Now, as part of its own continuing digital transformation, Techniplas has deployed Sharebot 3D printers to all of its 14 manufacturing facilities across five continents. This move will allow the company to 3D print the majority of the manufacturing products it uses every day on-site, which will equal major cost and time savings as Techniplas previously used only third-party providers for this task.

With Sharebot 3D printers installed in all of our manufacturing facilities worldwide, we are taking decisive steps toward fabricating the majority of our manufacturing line assembly tools, jigs, fixtures, gauges and even robotic arm attachments in-house. Based on our experience with Sharebot printers thus far, we expect to significantly reduce our development time and annual assembly line tooling costs in each manufacturing facility over time,” said Techniplas COO Manfred Kwade.

Winners of the SkillsUSA Additive Manufacturing Competition Announced

For the fourth year running, advanced manufacturing technology industry organization SME and Stratasys have co-sponsored the SkillsUSA Additive Manufacturing Contest, held during the annual SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference in Louisville. The winners of this year’s student contest, which asks contestants to solve real world problems with 3D printing, were just announced. This year, entrants had to design an adaptive device for a veteran, who had endured a traumatic thumb amputation, so he could keep playing his PlayStation 3. Prizes include RAPID + TCT conference passes, SOLIDWORKS’ 3D-CAD design software, SME Education Foundation scholarships (for high school participants), a one-year Tooling U-SME subscription, and a MakerBot Mini 3D printer.

“The SkillsUSA contest is designed to help students and educators realize the power of additive manufacturing to drive innovation. This year’s competition was particularly meaningful as it directly resulted in enhancing a veteran’s life with a custom solution not possible without additive manufacturing,” said Gina Scala, the Director of Marketing, Global Education at Stratasys.

The high school winners include:

  • Gold medal: Getty George and Sam Green, Martin Luther King High School, Riverside, California
  • Silver medal: Noah Logan and Johnathan Urbani, Stafford Tech Center, Rutland, Vermont
  • Bronze medal: Andrew Daddone and Layke Martin, Frederick County Career & Tech Center, Frederick, Maryland

The college winners include:

  • Gold medal: Adolfo Vargas and Alexander Kemnitz, Central Community College-Hastings, Hastings, Nebraska
  • Silver medal: Deema Al Namee and Aric Donerkiel, Vermont Technical College, Randolph Center, Vermont
  • Bronze medal: William Swaner and Ashton DeZwarte, Tenneseee College of Applied Tech-Nashville, Nashville, Tennessee

Watch a video about the 2018 competition here, and check out the winning designs here; you can also view SME’s Flickr album for more competition photos.

Surgeon 3D Prints Pediatric Heart Model with Sinterit Lisa

Desktop SLS 3D printer manufacturing Sinterit has seen its flagship Lisa 3D printer, which went through a recent upgrade, used to save lives in multiple ways, from fighting wildfires and protecting the faces of children to providing assistance in a tough pediatric cardiac surgery.

“Delivering desktop SLS 3D printer for more than three years caused that our clients send us tonnes of useful and exciting cases. Writing about all of them is hard, if not impossible, but when 3D printing helps saving lives, especially those most fragile, we feel proud, and also a duty to share it with you,” Michał Krzak, Sinterit’s Marketing Communication Manager, told 3DPrint.com.

A newborn’s heart can weigh barely 20 grams, and fits in the palm of an adult’s hand, so you can imagine that surgeries on such a delicate organ are exceedingly difficult. Jarosław Meyer-Szary, MD, from the Department of Pediatric Cardiology and Congenital Heart Defects at the University Clinical Center in Poland recently turned to Sinterit’s Lisa 3D printer to save the life of Kordian, an infant less than one month old suffering from a potentially fatal heart disease called interrupted aortic arch.

Meyer-Szary created 3D printed, life-size model of Kordian’s tiny heart, and SLS technology was able to recreate each intricate artery and vein. The model not only helped him plan the surgery ahead of time, but also helped Kordian’s mother gain a more thorough understanding of her son’s condition. Kordian is now a thriving and happy 18 month-old, thanks to Sinterit’s SLS technology.

Discuss these stories and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts in the comments below. 

GE Additive Partnering Up with Honda and Triumph Group for 3D Printing Acceleration

GE Additive, which is attending the Farnborough International Airshow this week, has been busily dropping announcements from the trade fair, the latest of which is centered around its AddWorks additive consulting service provider. GE Additive and AddWorks were chosen by the Honda R&D Co., Ltd, Aircraft Engine R&D Center in Japan to help increase the development of 3D printed aerospace applications for its future generation aircraft engines.

SmarTech Publishing stated that over $280 billion will be invested in additive manufacturing over the next decade, and GE Additive wants in. Last spring, the company announced that it would be increasing its focus on additive manufacturing, planning to sell 10,000 3D printers by 2026 and become a $1 billion business by 2020. This announcement was followed by setting up operations in Japan this winter, and announcing that more commercial offerings would be available last month. Now, it’s continuing to increase its commercial efforts in Japan by focusing on important industries like automotive and aerospace.

“We are pleased that Honda Aircraft Engine R&D Center has selected GE Additive to be its vendor in providing AddWorks consulting services to further the use of this transformative technology in its future generation aircraft engines,” said Thomas Pang, the Director of GE Additive in Japan. “We are in the best position to share our learnings from our own additive journey, having started from prototyping to successfully applying it to mass production for aviation engine parts.”

Honda R&D Headquarters

GE and Honda have been partnering together in the aviation industry for over ten years, first setting up the joint venture GE Honda Aero Engines LLC in 2004 between Honda Aero and GE Aviation, and then creating the GE Honda HF120 jet engine for use on lighter business jet aircraft like the successful HondaJet – the most delivered in its category last year.

To assist customers in adding 3D printing to their business workflows, GE Additive provides materials, 3D printers, and the engineering consultancy services of AddWorks; these consultants use their AM expertise to help clients figure out if adopting 3D printing will be beneficial in terms of performance and cost. GE Additive is hopeful that AddWorks will help Honda Aircraft Engine R&D Center, and ultimately lead to further growth of its partnership with the company and increased AM adoption in aerospace.

At its Japan location, GE Additive will sell Concept Laser and Arcam EBM 3D printers, along with materials, both directly and through local resellers to customers in the country that focus on heavy industry, automotive, and aerospace.

In addition to the partnership with Honda, Pennsylvania-headquartered Triumph Group, a leader in the aerospace industry, is working to further its own AM strategy by selecting two of GE Additive’s 3D printers and a variety of AddWorks design and engineering consultancy service packages. Triumph hopes that these new additions will help to support both its commercial objectives and its R&D initiatives.

“I really admire Triumph’s smart and progressive strategy in adopting a multimodality approach to their additive journey. And when you add to that the deep experience and divergent thinking of our AddWork’s team, I look forward to seeing the results of what I hope will be a long and rewarding relationship,” said Jason Oliver, the President and CEO of GE Additive.

Triumph works in all levels of the aerospace supply chain, ranging from single components and complex systems to aerospace structures, in order to offer solutions for an aircraft’s entire product life cycle. The company enjoys a competitive advantage over similar businesses thanks to its ability to integrate several capabilities and products.

The aerospace company chose an M2 Cusing Multilaser DMLM system from Concept Laser, as well as an Arcam EBM Q20plus system, both of which should be fully installed at its Seattle R&D facility within Q3 of 2018.

“Triumph Group is excited to work with GE Additive to broaden Triumph’s utilization of additive manufacturing technology. Thus far we have successfully used additive manufacturing for prototyping, and we are rapidly growing its use for design competency,” said Dan Crowley, the President and CEO of Triumph Group. “This partnership with GE Additive will strengthen our additive manufacturing capability, accelerating our ability to design and develop future on-wing solutions for our customers.”

L-R: Gary Tenison, VP Strategy & Business Development, Triumph Group; Jason Oliver, President & CEO, GE Additive; Dan Rowley, President & CEO, Triumph Group; David Joyce, Vice Chair of GE and President and CEO, GE Aviation; Tom Holzthum, EVP Integrated Systems, Triumph Group; Ryan Martin, Sales Leader Americas, GE Additive

Right from the beginning, GE Additive’s AddWorks team will work with Triumph in multiple areas, such as advising on prototyping strategies, discovery workshops, and materials selection.

Discuss these stories and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts in the comments below. 

[Images provided by GE Additive]

Additive manufacturing acquisitions: Prodways & Solidscape, ATI & Addaero

Industrial 3D printer provider Prodways has acquired Solidscape, a wax 3D printer subsidiary of Stratasys. Rich Garrity, President of Stratasys Americas, comments, “As Stratasys moves strategically to more focus on specific vertical market, we believe that this acquisition is beneficial for all parties and we wish Prodways the best of luck in accelerating the growth of […]

3D Hubs Releases Second Edition of Digital Manufacturing Trends Report

Last quarter, 3D Hubs published its first Trends report to include Digital Manufacturing trends. The popular and long-running report still includes all of the latest information about 3D printing, but now also includes more insights on other digital manufacturing technologies, such as injection molding and CNC machining.

Today, 3D Hubs has released the second edition of this newly revamped report. The Digital Manufacturing Trends report for Q3/2018 is exclusively available for free download here.

“Spring has brought about a change to the data, with the end of the financial year and students ordering,” George Fisher-Willson, 3D Hubs’ Communications Manager, told 3DPrint.com.

Highest Rated Industrial Printers

In the Highest Rated Industrial Printers category, SLS still reigns supreme, accounting for six of the top ten 3D printer models, though one should note that only 3D printers with over 30 reviews per quarter are included in the breakdown. The top four are virtually unchanged from last quarter, with the Formiga P 100 still in first with a quality rating of 5. The iSLA-650 Pro was knocked down one slot to sixth place by the sPro 140, which received the same 4.93 rating as the EOSINT P 760 above it.

Most Used Industrial Printers

The HP Jet Fusion 3D 4200 is holding steady at first place in the Most Used Industrial Printers category…and with a record 30% more output, with an increase from 5,087 to over 6,550 prints.

“At #1 the HP machine created 6,551 prints, nearly triple that of #2 place Formiga P 110 which achieved a respectable 2,244,” 3D Hubs’ Digital Manufacturing Trends report states.

The large-format UnionTech Lite 600, up from 201 to 1,665 prints, most often used to create automotive molds and tooling, moves from its tenth place ranking last quarter to third this time around, knocking the sPro 230 down to fourth. The Objet30 Prime is also up a few places this time to round out the top five, though its number of prints only increased by 227.

Highest Rated Desktop Printers

In terms of Highest Rated Desktop Printers, only 3D printers with over 140 reviews in the quarter are included in the statistics for this quarter, which have the Zortrax M200 moving up from fifth place last quarter with a rating of 4.81 to first place this time around with a barely increased rate of 4.87.

The LulzBot Taz 5 makes a surprise entrance, and its 4.86 rating puts it at #2 on the list. Those reviews must have all been extremely positive, as #3 on the list, the Original Prusa i3 MK2, has the exact same rating with a total of 658 reviews. The Creality CR-10 is up from the tenth position to #4, and the Original Prusa i3 MK3 is up to #5 this quarter, with 349 reviews netting it a 4.83 rating.

The report notes, “The machines also took a large share of the reviews showing their popularity with service providers across the world.”

Most Used Desktop Printers

The battle rages on between the Form 2 and the Original Prusa i3 MK2 in the Most Used Desktop Printers category, with the Form 2 increasing its number of prints from 14,211 to 14,516 to jump back up to first. This gap may continue to grow, as Formlabs has released two new resins over the last few months. The FlashForge Creator Pro and the Original Prusa i3 MK2S both remain, respectively, in the #3 and 4 slots, though the latter has dropped its number of prints just a smidge, and the Prusa i3 MK3 has made the list this quarter, with a total of 6,345 prints.

According to the report, “Of the total 71,869 prints produced in the top 10, the Prusa machines have manufactured over 25,000 of the [sic], an impressive figure.”

Most Used Technologies

Not much change this quarter for the Most Used Technologies, as FDM 3D printing continues its first place ranking…even going up one percentage point while SLS dropped one.

“For the first time since the report began Metal Sintering double its share going to 2%, this could be potentially due to businesses putting in their high-end orders before the end of the financial year,” the report stated. “It could also be down the fact that Metal 3D printing is seeing further adoption by large multinationals as its ability to create complex geometries in metal cannot be beaten by traditional technologies.”

Most Used Materials

Last quarter, the Most Used Materials category adopted the generic term “Standard,” to denote that suppliers are listing materials to include all variants. Since then, the top ten has changed a little bit.

“Standard PLA has distanced itself further from ABS, at #1 with 33%, growing 3% since Q2’s report. ABS, although it maintains its #2 spot with 14%, has seen its number go the opposite way with a decrease of 3%,” the report explained. “This movement could be down to more new materials entering the market that challenge ABS’s position, which is relatively hard to print and not safe for non-ventilated spaces due to its fumes.”

Standard Resin is now in the #3 spot with 9% usage, while SLS Nylon appears for the first time at #4 with 8% usage. Standard PETG is hanging on to the #5 spot, though its reported usage has increased from 4% to 6%. Onyx, the proprietary material from Markforged that contains chopped Carbon Fiber, has entered the list for the first time at #9.

FDM Color Distribution

As for FDM Color Distribution, black is still in the #1 spot, with an increase of 5% of the market share – according to the report, nearly half of all of the 3D printed parts made on 3D Hubs are black. However, only the colors of submitted prints are reviewed for this report, so who’s to say that gray, up to #3 this quarter, isn’t used more often and those people just don’t submit their work?

Additionally, the spread of colors has dropped quite a bit, with Other down to 11% from 24%, which “is in line with the standardization of colors on 3D Hubs” explained last quarter. Transparent also makes it to the list for the first time, which 3D Hubs speculates could be due to the rising popularity of SLA and DLP 3D printing.

Top Print Cities

“The student peak in line with the end of the financial year has impacted the Top Print Cities and Top Print Countries,” Fisher-Wilson tells us. “Both the USA/UK and New York/London grew substantially, as the high concentration of universities in these cities bumped up their market share.”

Loughborough University, which 3D Hubs is familiar with, has also cracked the top ten for the first time in terms of Top Print Cities with its #9 placement. Following New York and London in the top two places, Amsterdam, Los Angeles, and San Francisco round out the rest of the top five.

The US and the UK continue to hold the top two spots for 3D printing usage in the Top Print Countries list, but the Netherlands has come up to knock Canada out of third place down to fifth, while Germany sits in fourth.

The report says, “India moves into the Top 10 for the first time, sharing the same percentage as Italy with 1.4% at #10. With the increases for the top two, countries like France have seen a substantial drop in market share moving from 3.4% to 2.5%. The trend continues that countries with a heavy population of students have seen market share increase.”

Most Used CNC Materials

In Most Used CNC Materials, affordable Aluminum 6061 is still hanging on to the lead, with over half of all 3D Hubs’ orders using the materials, though its usage has decreased a few percentage points. However, as Fisher-Wilson tells us, there was a shake-up in the category as previously predicted, with 19 new materials added this quarter.

“Stainless Steel 304 at #2 lost nearly half of its market share (11.6% to 6.8%) with Delrin at #3 and Mild Steel 1018 at #4 debuting with 5% each,” Fisher-Wilson told 3DPrint.com.

Aluminum 7075, with 4.8% usage, is #5 in this category.

There’s now more variety in Most Used Finishes at 3D Hubs, as it’s introduced some new materials, though the percentage of respondents leaving their parts as machined is down a bit from 77.6% to 70.8%. Bead blasting, at 7.5% in the #2, is still far behind, though the number three finish, anodized color, has increased its usage by nearly double.

What do you think of these results? Discuss this new trend report, and other 3D printing topics, at 3DPrintBoard.com, or share your thoughts in the Facebook comments below.

How To Get Your Story on 3DPrint.com

I’ve worked on the other side trying to get my stories published by the media for years. I know it can be a bit of a slog and is sometimes very unrewarding. So dear PR people of the world, this is for you. I’ve compiled a list of the biggest annoyances that we have with emails and pitches from PR people. Essentially this is a list of best practices to help you get your stories published on 3DPrint.com and on other blogs. By having empathy for the writers of the world you can find more success in PR. Want to get published? Well, first of all, make it easy.

Things PR people do that we hate:

Not being able to copy paste from PDF’s If you want to give us information and want us to use this information in your article then its not a good idea to not let me copy-paste this information. This means that I have to retype the entire thing, costing me time while all the while I’m annoyed with you.

Instead: Want us to take over information from you? Make it easy for us to copy that information.

Issues with copy-paste, in general, Less annoying is difficult to copy paste documents or documents that have a lot of markup in them such as ™, italics and nonstandard letters. This is annoying because we have to edit it all out.

Specs in an image. Only convey text in an image if it is in text elsewhere or we’ll have to type it out manually. I know this sounds minor, but with over 200 posts a month this kind of thing will get real old fast.

Unclear Quotes. For my clarity, I usually like to take all of the quotes I find and make sure they belong to the right person. Often it is confusing as to whom said what or where the person saying the quote is employed. If there is ambiguity, I don’t include the quote. Easiest would be Jane Saunders, XCo’s VP of M&A, “blah blah blah.”

Huge images I’m glad that you took the time to invest in photography. I’m less enthused that you sent me an 8-megabyte picture. I have to convert this image to make it smaller. We’re a large news blog so that means that this trivial task is something we could be doing over 7000 times a year. Generally a 1024 Px by 683 px  images work best for us. These tend to be 200 kb or so. We have a maximum file size of 500 Mb and 2000 Px so that would suck. You’d save us time if you did us a solid and gave us pictures that we could use.

Small images are also a problem. We regularly get tiny images or images where clearly the person has sent us the thumbnail and not the photos. This costs us time because we have to email back and forth getting better images. Most of the time if I see this I’ll drop the article and pick another one.

Low-Quality images I get it, you have your iPhone and want to snap some pictures. But, even then please look at the light and make sure that the image is clear. As a nearby millennial to make the picture. We regularly get stuff that you yourself wouldn’t put on your Facebook let alone your insta.

Pick my brain. Lately, people want to hang out, shoot the breeze, pick my brain, show me stuff, love what I do. Look, guys, we’re all adults, and we all realize that flattery indeed works. But, lets just lay out what you want and what I can get out of it.

Disingenuous. Often someone is dishonest or is telling an outright lie. If that happens once, then I’ll probably never trust Xcorp again. I have little information about and from the people in my inbox. I know only what you say. If in those few words there are untruths then this will weigh heavily against you. If Xcorp is a PR agency, I’m likely to place little trust in them ever again. Oh, those guys said that they were the first printer to print X, the fastest and the biggest. None of those things was true, so this is probably meh as well.

Vague. Press releases have their syntax and language. It is like a Potemkin village in ten pitchy pithy paragraphs. You have to sit there and decode them. Doing this takes time and fills you with vague terms. A press release about a straight-up fraud often looks remarkably similar to one that is on the up and up. The press release format is a good one for obfuscating facts, not a good one for finding them. Putting verifiable information in the bullets at the top could motivate me to continue the slog.

Boring quotes. Look we understand that your CEO can’t say anything controversial. But, perhaps someone else could? Or you could make her say something more interesting at least? All the quotes are the same, and they’re boring. CEO Mary Jones stated, “OMG we’re so happy, ecstatic everyone at Xcorp is just hopping on a cloud this is the bestest thing ever.” Instead maybe have her deliver a fact or interesting statement?

First in the World. We can’t all be first in the world. Many products are me too’s, and others are evolutionary. If this is the case, then try to make a case for this to be more a more usable thing or attempt to collect data about uptime, reliability or find outside sources to prove that this not so first in the world thing is still important because it might be the one that works.

An analog 2D printer.

An analog 2D printer.

Things PR people do that we love:

Specs? Especially in 3D printing a lot of our time consists of listing specs. People usually have this information sprinkled throughout their article. If you made specs information easy to copy paste then we’d be more likely to put it in and it would be easier for us.

Get a lightbox. A lightbox will only cost you like $50 and make a significant improvement to your image quality. We regularly get great images from a lightbox and an intern and crappy ones from big companies.

Image format. WordPress lets us use PNG, JPG, JPEG and GIF. This is fine because these are hugely popular formats worldwide. Any others we’d have to convert. So please use these.

DSC_0022 Giving your files genuinely descriptive file names helps us a lot. It tells us what the images are of and lets us identify which ones we use. The alternative has us hunting through lists of images with some of them being ambiguous. It also helps you because sometimes we make mistakes because we don’t know what an image is of.

Who’s who in the images? Also in the file names tell us who is who. Always from left to right Jane_smith_John_Jones_Opening_Xcom_Building_2018.jpg This keeps us from having to go to Linkedin to try to find out what Jane Smith looks like.

Explicitly stating that we can use images. Minor detail but it is good if somewhere in your email you tell us that we are allowed to use these images.Cut to the chase. In two lines explain the news item and why it is interesting. Use clear formatting to illustrate key points and key facts.

USPs. Many products have no USPs. If you have them, it’s good to point them out clearly and not write the same woolly paragraphs like everyone else.

Flaunt the facts. If you have facts or at least data, then please don’t hide it somewhere but make it easy to see and clear to see.

Be who you are. If you’re a two person startup then act like one, don’t pretend to be some megacorp. We love that you’re cute. If you’re a large corporation, please don’t try to be folksy and cute. If you work for a person who works for a person who works for a person who has a jet, please act professionally.

Actual news. If you have actual news, then a press release is often an ineffective way to communicate it. Instead: a few bullets of verifiable info or new information and two real quotes would do wonders for us.

Give us an exclusive. This still has a high chance of success today, and everyone inherently loves to be first.

Give us exclusive images. Your chances of getting published would increase if you gave us unique images.

Give us exclusive quotes or information. You can also give the exclusive to someone else. If we were given a follow-up interview, new information or new images, then we’d be more likely to publish a story.

Give us at least three images. Any less and we’re not likely to publish.

Hero, scale, detail, in use. In an ideal world, you’d give us a hero shot, a scale photo showing us how large your thing is, a detail shot showing you the quality of your thing and a shot of the thing being used. The hero shot lets us admire and desire your thing. The scale shot shows us your thing in the universe, next to a hand, a person, a banana, a coke can, a door, anything that is a proxy for being a universal indicator for size. By fitting it into the universe, a person can imagine holding it and having it. The detail shot shows us the capability of your thing; it somehow substantiates the others. The in-use shot lets us consider how we would use your thing in our daily lives. As a marketer, this stuff works. As a writer, this helps us showcase a lot of your product. As a PR person, this is the method by which I’m sure to want to place your story even if it is fluff.

Show me you care. Don’t misspell things, don’t be sloppy with attachments, don’t be cavalier in your emails, don’t lie, do be helpful. If you don’t care about your product why should I?

The best tip I can give you is, to be honest, direct and to make it easy for us to publish you. A lot of people focus on flattery and silly words but almost no one if making it easy for us to publish their work.

3D Printing Golf Clubs and Equipment

Golf is a popular sport in corporate America and adds about $70 billion dollars a year to the American economy. Companies are always testing new products that will catch the attention of golfers. The 2018 PGA Merchandise Show displayed the latest and greatest from golf manufacturers; everything from top of the line golf clubs to 3D printed golf balls. These tech savvy products are aimed at bringing golf to the attention of the younger generation. Research and Development tax credits are available to companies that partake in the improvement of existing products or the creation of new ones.

The Research & Development Tax Credit

Enacted in 1981, the federal Research and Development (R&D) Tax Credit allows a credit of up to 13 percent of eligible spending for new and improved products and processes. Qualified research must meet the following four criteria:

  • New or improved products, processes, or software
  • Technological in nature
  • Elimination of uncertainty
  • Process of experimentation

Eligible costs include employee wages, cost of supplies, cost of testing, contract research expenses, and costs associated with developing a patent. On December 18, 2015, President Obama signed the bill making the R&D Tax Credit permanent. Beginning in 2016, the R&D credit can be used to offset Alternative Minimum Tax and startup businesses can utilize the credit against $250,000 per year in payroll taxes.

3D Printed Callaway Golf Clubs

Callaway Golf recently announced a collaboration with Titomic, an Australian additive manufacturing company. Callaway plans to bring additive manufacturing into the golf world while also improving performance and efficiency. Titomic developed a new process for 3D metal printing called Titomic Kinetic Fusion. This process uses cold gas spraying to apply titanium particles to a structure to create parts that can withstand a great amount of force. Research and development of the prototypes will be produced at Titomic’s Melbourne facility which houses the world’s largest 3D metal printer. This isn’t the first instance of additive manufacturing in the golf industry, as last year Krone Golf created a 3D printed golf club.

Krone Golf

Krone Golf and CRP Group designed a club that was created by using a mixture of additive manufacturing and subtractive manufacturing. Designing the perfect golf club is a difficult task. Some aspects to take into consideration include swing, impact and follow-through. Restrictions such as size and weight of competitive golf clubs make it hard to develop new clubs. The miniscule characteristics of a club need to be altered in order to improve performance and additive manufacturing provides a way to make the changes needed for the development of new clubs. The body of the KD-1 driver is made from a Windform SP carbon composite that is resistant to shock and vibration, while the face is made of Ti 6AI-4V, a durable titanium alloy that is CNC machined and sanded for smoothness. Krone Golf is fascinated with how well the CNC machined parts and the Windform material work together exactly as designed. The performance test and computer simulations show the KD-1 to outperform any driver on the market today.

Grismont Paris

Golfers who want to separate themselves from the crowd will want to look to Grismont Paris. Grismont Paris produces 3D printed, custom-made golf clubs that can be finished in gold, copper, or metal. Clement Pouget-Osmont, a passionate golfer, started off making club heads for himself and friends out of his apartment in France. Now Grismont collaborates with engineers, artists, craftsmen, and clubmakers to create custom tailored 3D printed golf clubs unlike anything else on the market.

3D printing artists work together with engineers to create a harmonious balance between style and performance. Several aspects of a golf club can be adjusted to better fit the customer including center of gravity position, lie, loft, offset, club head weight, weight distribution, and  handedness. You have the option to either put in your specifications online or you can arrange a fitting session where experts will tailor your golf clubs to your every demand.

3D Printed Golf Ball

Nike is prototyping a 3D printed golf ball that is engineered to last longer and outperform even the best of golf balls on the market. Nike isn’t new to producing top of the line golf balls. The athletic company still uses elastomeric material for an inner core and a rigid material for an outer core, but 3D printing improves this process by conducting smoother transitions between materials and adding a new type of geometric configuration called a void, which could lead to performance enhancements. Nike is prototyping with different configurations, such as forming each shell layer away from the work surface, a type of assembly that is unattainable through traditional methods. Lastly, golf balls would be fused with DuPont Surlyn by using a 3D printing technique called fused deposition. While the golf ball is not on the market yet, expect Nike to announce the product in the near future.

3D Printed Accessories

For the golfers who want to 3D print on their own, Thingiverse has creations available to anyone. Makerbot, the company behind Thingiverse, designed a golfing kit that anyone can print. The kit includes CAD models for golf tees, golf forks (divot repair tool), and ball marker. The golf fork and ball marker can even be customized to display your initials or logo on the face.

Conclusion

The golf industry is constantly trying new methods of manufacturing in the quest for better performance. Club manufacturers, even brand names such as Callaway, are utilizing 3D printing in the production process in order to improve the smallest technical aspects of the golf club unattainable using traditional manufacturing methods such as injection or compression molding. Grismont is taking 3D printing to the next level by 3D printing custom-made heads and fine tuning them into top-of-the-line luxury golf clubs. 3D printing has a strong future in the golf industry and as more companies research the potentials of additive manufacturing, expect 3D printed products to become widespread in the golfing world.

Discuss this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts below. 


Charles Goulding and Ryan Donley of R&D Tax Savers discuss 3D printed golf equipment.