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3D Printing News Briefs: December 3, 2019

We’re starting today’s 3D Printing News Briefs out with a new case study, and then concluding with some business. CRP USA has been working with additive manufacturing in the motorsports sector. Moving on, Gardner Aerospace has acquired FDM Digital Solutions Ltd. Finally, the Head of Engineering at Formlabs is joining up with Digital Alloys.

CRP USA AM in Motorsports Case Study

3D printed oil pan in Windform SP, University of Victoria’s Formula SAE race car 2019 version

The University of Victoria (UVic) Formula Motorsport team has been using 3D printed oil pans on their SAE competition cars for the last four years that were created with CRP USA‘s laser sintering process, and Windform TOP-LINE composite materials. As a CRP case study details, carbon-composite Windform XT 2.0 was used to print the oil pans for the race vehicles in 2016, 2017, and 2018, and while they performed “amazingly” the first two years, the engine overheated during a test of last year’s car, which caused the temperature of the oil to rise above what the pan could handle.

For this year’s vehicle, the team decided to use the carbon-filled Windform SP composite material to 3D print the oil pan, as it has a higher melting point. They also made the mating flange thicker to lessen the chances of failure, and both of these changes led to a better, more robust oil pan. At next week’s Performance Racing Industry (PRI) Trade Show in Indianapolis, CRP USA will be showing off some of the other 3D printed solutions it’s helped create for the motorsports industry at booth 1041 in the Green Hall.

Gardner Aerospace Acquires FDM Digital Solutions

Graeme Bond (FDM) & Dominic Cartwright (Gardner Aerospace)

Global manufacturer Gardner Aerospace announced its acquisition of FDM Digital Solutions Limited, one of the UK’s top polymer additive layer manufacturers. FDM was formed in 2012, and its business model of original design solutions, manufacturing capability, and customer collaboration is successful in the aerospace, automotive, medical, and motorsports industries. The company will now become part of the new Gardner Technology Centre business unit, which is focused on R&D and advanced technology.

“Gardner Aerospace is breaking new ground in terms of technology. The acquisition of FDM and the creation of our new Technology Centre business unit provides us with the perfect opportunity to expand our technical knowledge, R&D capability and product offering, and aligns us with our customers’ growing expectations on innovative solutions, continuous improvement and cost competitiveness,” stated Gardner Aerospace CEO Dominic Cartwright.

“The role of 3D printing within manufacturing is constantly expanding and this newly acquired additive layer manufacturing capability complements Gardner’s long-standing capabilities as a producer of metallic detailed parts and sub-assemblies.”

Formlabs’ Head of Engineering Joins Digital Alloys

Carl Calabria

Carl Calabria, an AM industry veteran and the Head of Engineering at Formlabs, is leaving the company to join Digital Alloys, Inc. as its CTO. The Burlington, Massachusetts-based 3D printing company introduced its unique Joule printing last year, which it claims is the fastest way to make the hardest metal parts, as the wire-feed process doesn’t require any metal powder. By adding Calabria to its team, where he will be responsible for the company’s research and engineering, Digital Alloys can accelerate the release of its high-speed metal AM process.

“Leaving Formlabs was a difficult decision, but I was drawn to the size of Digital Alloys’ market, the team, and the opportunity to use Joule Printing to deliver metal printing solutions that have the speed, cost and quality needed for volume manufacturing of larger parts,” said Calabria. “The remarkable technology is producing titanium and tool steel parts faster, and at lower cost than conventional manufacturing processes.”

Watch this video to see Digital Alloys’ Joule printing process in action:

 

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

The post 3D Printing News Briefs: December 3, 2019 appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing.

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3D Printing News Sliced: Rocket Lab, David Bowie, Resident Evil 2

In this week’s Sliced, our 3D printing news digest, we take a look at the latest creative application using 3D printing, including further forays into 3D printed wearables, 3D printed transport, and how the 3D printing community is experimenting with virtual reality and portable 3D printers. Also included are the latest business developments from FDM […]
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Roboze and FDM Digital Solutions Now Offering Extreme 3D Printing Services

Roboze and FDM Digital Solutions have now joined forces to create the Xtreme3DParts network. Xtreme3DParts will be a global network of additive manufacturing centers for the on-demand production of parts made from high-performance polymers for what Roboze calls “extreme applications.” Target industries include the aerospace, automotive, F1 and industrial sectors.

Roboze was one of the first companies to make 3D printing with high-performance polymers accessible, starting with the introduction of the desktop Roboze One+400. At formnext this week, the company announced its new Xtreme 3D printer series for the most demanding applications, and this along with the formation of the Xtreme3DParts network suggests that Roboze is shifting its focus toward a vision of 3D printing that is more industrial than ever.

One of Roboze’s high-performance polymer parts

“Roboze’s technology is largely used in the racing sector, as many F1, MotoGP, Nascar, 24HLemans stables use Roboze 3D printers and materials for the realization of finished parts,” said Alessio Lorusso, Roboze’s Founder & CEO. “We are excited about this new partnership with FDM Digital Solutions. We believe that together we have managed to create a real solution for the British companies, able to let them show their potentialities, offering the opportunity to access our technology, supported by the FDM Digital Solutions expertise in production processes. Moreover, we are proud that FDM Digital Solutions decided to trust Roboze’s solutions in order to let the fusion filament technology take a step forward.”

[Image: FDM Digital Solutions]

Will other companies follow FDM Digital Solutions in joining the Xtreme3DParts network? More and more companies have been moving toward production-level 3D printing, and Roboze no longer stands alone in offering access to high-performance materials. FDM Digital Solutions has always been at the forefront of advanced 3D printing, being the only UK company to possess an HP Multi Jet Fusion 3D printer, for instance.

“We believe there is a synergy between Roboze and FDM Digital Solutions,” said Graeme Bond, CEO of FDM Digital Solutions. “There is a requirement for materials such as PEEK, PP, (polypropylene), and we believe we can develop a profitable market to deliver high end AM solutions to the UK and broader European markets. Being part of the Xtreme 3DParts network gives us the possibility to realize something important. We have the expertise and Roboze has the innovation. We will be interested in sharing our knowledge to the benefit of the whole network. A growing awareness of Roboze technologies globally will benefit each region.”

On the whole, attitudes towards 3D printing have been shifting. It’s being seen less as a method of producing flimsy visual-only prototypes, as polymer materials advance. It’s even evolving past functional prototypes and allowing for the production of actual parts that can hold up in harsh environments like under the hood of a car, for example. Now that such capabilities exist for the technology, more and more companies are wanting in on the trend of what Roboze would call extreme 3D printing. Not all companies are yet producing polymers with such high-performance potential, but many are striving to get there. A network of providers offering access to this kind of 3D printing performance may be incentive to catch up to Roboze and others that have reached the extremes of what 3D printing can offer – and to perhaps offer similar services themselves.

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