The Veterans Affairs (VA) Puget Sound Health Care System, a network of medical centers under the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), and the University of Washington School (UW) of Medicine recently announced a two-year partnership aiming to advance medical 3D printing. Both organizations are collaborating to develop new applications for 3D printing in the diagnosis and […]
3D Printed Syringe Bracket Reduces Chances for Bacterial Contamination
If you have ever experienced a major illness or serious injury, most likely you were extremely thankful for the medical professionals who helped you get your life back; however, it can be both distressing and frustrating—not to mention life-threatening—when doctors or nurses make mistakes that could have grave consequences. US researchers want to make even greater strides to improve safety mechanisms in both storing and preparing of anesthetic medications, outlined in the recently published ‘Anesthesia Workspace Cleanliness and Safety: Implementation of a Novel Syringe Bracket Using 3D Printing Techniques.’
There may be standards in place, and processes for avoiding syringe contamination and medication swaps, but as the authors point out, ‘wide variability’ persists. This is concerning—and dangerous for patients with all too common errors like:
- Delayed responses to critical changes in patient status
- Syringe swaps
- Environmental contamination of syringes
- Cross-contamination of syringes between patients
Even with new standardizations like prefilled syringes and automated labeling, there are errors—enough to present ‘widespread challenges.’ The problem is so bad that data shows one in fifteen syringes to be contaminated with ‘potentially pathogenic bacteria.’
Prototype syringe bracket with removable support structures printed with a desktop stereolithography 3D printer
“A growing body of evidence had linked postoperative healthcare-associated infections to such microorganisms within the anesthesia workspace, prompting the recent release of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America’s first infection prevention guidelines for the anesthesia work area,” state the researchers.
In seeking solutions for a better quality of care for patients, the research team considered ways to improve the following:
- Handling
- Availability
- Standardization of key medications in the anesthesia workspace
After studying common causes of such mishaps, the research team came to a very important conclusion: rather than just delivering mandates to medical personnel regarding their need to change their behaviors, the whole system needs to be re-engineered—with better tools and better organization to prevent errors.
The project, a ‘quality improvement initiative,’ was completed at Massachusetts General Hospital, as the researchers assessed a baseline in terms of routine practices, developed a device for better organization, and then evaluated provider practices. They used 3D printing to create an organizational device for better safety and efficiency overall. So far, the researchers have tested and used the new 3D printed device in 60 operating rooms at one medical facility with ongoing postintervention surveys and workspace audits a year later.
Serial syringe bracket designs based on iterative prototyping and user feedback: (a) initial prototype, (b) elevation of main surface to provide further clearance from anesthesia machine display, (c) alternative slot configuration using flange to hold syringe and allow front loading and unloading, (d) corner-mounted design including holders for unopened medication vials and a bougie, (e) anterior extension of the main surface to provide further clearance from machines with mounted depth of anesthesia monitors, (f ) final design with wider support clip for increased stability. A detailed review of the rationale and utility of each of these design features is provided in Supplementary Table 2.
Their 3D printable syringe bracket system is open-source, operating as a cognitive aid and a way to prevent contamination. Prototypes were created on a Formlabs Form 2, in a series of customized brackets meant to be attached to the anesthesia machine. The goal is for the syringe bracket to reduce ‘transmission events’ by preventing environmental contamination—and offering a way to clearly distinguish emergency medications from those already accessed for another patient. The researchers also developed a ‘one-way’ system for syringes to be accessed only one time and then never placed back in the bracket.
Surveys indicated ‘significantly higher levels of confidence’ in knowing there was a more secure process in place; in fact, 76.2 percent of respondents reported more than 95 percent confidence in knowing where medications where ‘during supervision or handoffs,’ as opposed to the original baseline of 43.7 percent.
“One year after deployment, 94% of users reported that they found the device to be helpful, 96.3% expressed a desire to have the brackets expanded to nonoperating room anesthetizing locations, and 96.2% would like to have them in other hospitals where they may work at present or in the future,” concluded the researchers.
“Measures of practitioner adoption and satisfaction with the device one year after implementation suggest that this intervention resulted in a high-value, meaningful culture change and may yield similar improvements outside of our own institution.”
While 3D printing has made huge impacts within bioprinting and the creation of devices and implants directly affecting patients—offering a better quality of life—this technology has also been responsible for a variety of different models and mechanisms that allow for improved, more efficient processes in hospitals. Find out more about the new syringe bracket here. What do you think of this news? Let us know your thoughts! Join the discussion of this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com.
Final selective laser-sintering 3D-printed bracket and accompanying bougie holder in use. ‘e bracket clips securely to the corner of the anesthesia machine and accepts five 10–20 mL BD syringes (standard setup including phenylephrine, ephedrine, glycopyrrolate, succinylcholine, and propofol shown).
[Source / Images: ‘Anesthesia Workspace Cleanliness and Safety: Implementation of a Novel Syringe Bracket Using 3D Printing Techniques’]
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The best personal 3D printer of 2019? 3D Printing Industry Awards update
The Oscars are upon us, and so are the nominations for the 2019 3D Printing Industry Awards. Thus far, among the 20 categories included, “Personal 3D printer of the year (other)”, has received a variety of non-FFF/FDM desktop systems serving various markets. Here, we take a look at some of this year’s nominees. Can’t find […]
Custom 3D Printer Creates Better Microfluidic Devices
Microfluidic systems are used to improve the analysis of biological and chemical processes by providing a more controlled fluid-handling environment. They are usually created in monolithic form through microfabrication techniques that limit designers to working in a two-dimensional space. But in a paper entitled “Fabrication of fludiic reactors by a customized 3D printing process,” a team of researchers explores the use of 3D printing to create microfluidic devices.
The researchers first used a Formlabs Form 2 SLA 3D printer to investigate the possibility of 3D printing microfluidic devices at low cost.
“3D printing allows the microreactors manufacturing with embedded 3D channels in a single part, without junctions or additional external piping interfaces, which could cause fluid losses,” the researchers state. “Potentialities and design challenges have been discussed and critical issues have been highlighted. Among these, the most limiting features resulted to be: the surface roughness, which is caused by the deposition of multiple successive layers and by the laser path and affects the optical clarity of the channels; the printer resolution, which impairs the channel size; the trapped resin, which can solidify and block the microchannels.”
To overcome these limitations, the researchers developed a custom solution based on DLP-SLA technology. The design criteria for the 3D printer followed two main requirements:
- the capability to vary the in-plane (xy) resolution, since the void size is constrained by this parameter
- the reduction of the moving stages in order to increase dimensional accuracy and surface finish
The 3D printer was created by assembling an off-the-shelf DLP projector equipped with a 1024 x 768 micromirror array, a mirror with a tilting axis adjustment, a 3D printing mechanism and a set of custom made mounts. Once the 3D printer was calibrated, a three-step printing process was designed to fabricate a transparent fluidic device. The first step involved producing the base part on the printing plate with a conventional printing procedure. The second printing step consisted of projecting on the bottom of the resin tank the image corresponding to the top part. Finally, the printed channels were syringed with isopropyl alcohol to rinse the unpolymerized resin and cured with UV post-processing.
“The 3D printing process is a trade-off between resolution, processing time and final model size,” the researchers conclude. “High-resolution systems can be usually obtained only for small working volumes. The proposed solution does not represent an exception since the working distance of the DLP projector can be varied thus modifying both resolution and printing size. However, projectors with a greater resolution could be used allowing to print smaller features without modifying the designed setup. Furthermore, the integration between a custom 3D printer and a specifically-designed resin could greatly increase the complexity of the manufacturable shapes. The developed 3D printer, indeed, could be further customized by substituting the DLP projector with a LED projection system with a spectrum tailored to take advantage of the specific resin.”
Authors of the paper include Sandro Barone, Marcello Braglia, Roberto Gabbrielli, Salvatore Miceli, Paolo Neri, Alessandro Paoli and Armando Viviano Razionale.
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3D Printing Helps Scientists to Understand How Seeds Fly
[Image: flickr user frankieleon]
Have you ever gone out into your yard and been surprised by a particular plant or tree that seems to have sprung up out of nowhere? It certainly wasn’t planted by you, so how did it get there? There is more than one possible way it may have happened – a seed could have been dropped or excreted by a bird flying overhead, but the seed also may have come directly from a parent plant, even if that plant was miles away. Blow on a dandelion puff and watch how far the seeds float, especially on a windy day, and it’s easy to see how dandelions end up absolutely everywhere. The dandelion is far from the only plant that sends out flying seeds to be spread on the wind, however. This is the focus of a paper entitled “Minimal terminal descent velocity of autorotating seeds, fruits and other diaspores with curved wings.“
“Wind dispersion of seeds is a widespread evolutionary adaptation found in plants, which allows them to multiply in numbers and to colonize new geographical areas,” the researchers explain. “Seeds, fruits and other diaspores spores (dispersal units) are equipped with appendages that help generate a lift force to counteract gravity as they are passively transported with the wind. Seeds with a low terminal descent velocity increase their flight time and the opportunity to be transported horizontally by the wind before reaching the ground. Many plant species are today unfortunately under severe stress and on the verge of becoming extinct due to climate change, timber extraction and agricultural development. The terminal velocity of the seed is a necessary prerequisite for accurate predictions from dispersion models, which can help predict their wind dispersion and influence policy-makers in their conservation and reforestation plans.”
The researchers describe several shapes of windborne seeds and fruits, including single- and multi-winged seeds, many of which are autorotating or autogyrating – think of the whirly seeds that drop from maple trees. In order to better understand the relationship between wing geometry and terminal descent velocity, the researchers 3D printed several models of winged seeds and fruits using a Formlabs Form 2 3D printer. A series of experiments was performed in a large water tank; the 3D printed seeds were immeresed in the water and then released to drift to the bottom. A camera recorded the motion of the seeds from the side of the tank, and images were extracted from the video to track the seed’s lowest point and the wing tips.
The researchers also performed measurements from the top and bottom of the tank, which were found to be in excellent agreement with the measurements taken from the sides. They then developed formulas that showed the optimum shapes for the seeds’ wings.
“Our results point to geometrical shapes of the wings of multi-winged seeds, fruits and diaspores, which provide them with an optimal dispersion potential i.e. maximal flight time, and compares favourably with wing geometries found in the wild,” the researchers conclude. “For whirling fruits to maximize the time they are airborne, their appendages that function as wings must not curve too much or too little.”
Authors of the paper include Richard A. Fauli, Jean Rabault and Andreas Carlson.
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Formlabs debuts High Temp Resin for 3D printed parts with high thermal stability
Formlabs, a Massachusetts-based 3D printer manufacturer has introduced its latest material formulation, High Temp Resin, for the Form 2 stereolithography (SLA) 3D printer. Designed to print detailed, precise prototypes with high-temperature resistance, High Temp Resin offers an improved elongation to decrease brittleness as well as a heat deflection temperature (HDT) of 238°C (at 0.45 MPa), […]
Researchers Develop and Test an Asphalt 3D Printer to Repair Roads
Asphalt is the most common material used to surface roads, for several reasons: it creates a safe, quiet surface for driving, it can be laid down quickly and without complex machinery, and it is tough and can be easily repaired. Asphalt composites do tend to degrade over time, however, leading to dreaded potholes. Potholes often start as cracks, which quickly expand. Road teams cannot be dispatched to repair every single crack that forms, so frequently damage to roads is significant before it gets repaired. One solution is to create autonomous drones or other vehicles that are equipped with robots capable of 3D printing asphalt. These drones can be sent to repair cracks in their early stages.
In a paper entitled “3D Printing of Asphalt and its effect on Mechanical Properties,” a group of researchers develop an asphalt 3D printer.
“The main difficulty encountered is that asphalt behaves as a non-Newtonian liquid when moving through the extruder,” the researchers state. Thus, the rheology and pressure in relation to set temperature and other operational parameters showed highly non-linear behaviour and made control of the extrusion process difficult. This difficulty was overcome through an innovative extruder design enabling 3D printing of asphalt at a variety of temperatures and process conditions.”
The researchers constructed the 3D printer using a frame and control system from a RepRap Mendel 90 3D printer. They 3D printed the extrusion nozzle assembly using a Form 2 3D printer. The stepper motor housing, PCB and serial port clip were also 3D printed, using another, unmodified Mendel 90. Asphalt pellets were created using a hard grade of bitumen, cast in a machined mold at a low temperature. Several test objects were 3D printed at a temperature range of 100° to 140°C. The researchers printed multiple different shapes, including standard test bars, which were subjected to tests that compared their strength to cast asphalt samples.
The mechanical properties of the 3D printed and cast asphalt samples were significantly different. The cast samples showed anisotropy between those tested with their top and bottom surfaces under compression.
“This anisotropy is likely due to the differences in their surface roughnesses, porosity, and volatile content between the top and bottom of the sample,” the researchers explain. “There were no differences seen in testing the 3D printed samples from top or bottom.”
The 3D printed specimens showed up to nine times the ductility of the cast samples, but their fracture strengths were similar. The increased ductility, according to the researchers, is “due to microstructural changes in the asphalt which result in crack-bridging fibres that increase toughness.”
According to the researchers, a 3D printer attached to a drone could be used not only to repair roads, but to repair hard-to-reach areas such as rooftops. Using autonomous machines could enable minor damage to be fixed before it turns into major damage, saving municipalities time and money and avoiding damage to vehicles.
“The next stage of developing this technology involves understanding the effect of environmental variables such as road temperature, air temperature, the local chemistry, interface with aggregate, as well as more comprehensive testing such as cyclic loading of repaired crack roads,” the researchers conclude.
Authors of the paper include Richard James Jackson, Adam Wojcik and Mark Miodownik.
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3D Printing News Briefs: September 14, 2018
We’re bringing you the latest 3D printing business news in today’s 3D Printing News Briefs, plus a little 3D printed art to round things out. FATHOM is partnering with SOLIDWORKS software reseller GoEngineer, while L’Oréal is working with INITIAL, a Prodways Group company. Kickstarter and Autodesk are releasing a new open source 3D printing test, and 3D LifePrints has renewed its collaboration with the Alder Hey Children’s Hospital. Fargo 3D Printing has formed a new spin-off business, a metal 3D printed parts bureau has purchased an EBAM system from Sciaky, and 3D Systems’ SLA technology is being used to deliver customized dental solutions. Finally, we take a look at some fun and creative 3D printed artwork.
FATHOM and GoEngineer Announce Strategic Partnership
SOLIDWORKS 3D CAD software and Stratasys 3D printer reseller GoEngineer has announced a new strategic agreement with 3D printing company FATHOM. GoEngineer has purchased FATHOM’s 3D printing equipment reseller business, so that FATHOM can focus solely on its digital manufacturing services. Thanks to the agreement, the two partners will be able to scale their respective businesses in different, but significant ways, leveraging their strengths in order to create a large product development ecosystem of hardware, software, engineering, design, manufacturing, and training solutions that customers can use to drive innovation.
Michelle Mihevc, the Co-founder and Principal at FATHOM, said, “It’s exciting for our industry because both FATHOM and GoEngineer are uniquely positioned to meet the ever-increasing demand for advanced tools and services that enhance and accelerate a company’s product development and production processes.”
L’Oréal and INITIAL Increasing Development of 3D Printed Thermoplastic Parts
The cosmetics industry has a constant challenge in quickly marketing new products to meet the many specific demands of customers. That’s why L’Oréal is teaming up with INITIAL, a Prodways Group subsidiary – the two are ramping up development of 3D printed thermoplastic parts. More specifically, INITIAL’s new solution, 3D Molding, uses 3D printing to make plastic injection molds for “final material” parts at less cost and in record time. Recently, L’Oréal needed 14 resin test molds, along with 20 injection molding test runs and several hundred molded parts. By using Prodways’ patented MOVINGLight 3D printing technology and PLASTCure Rigid 10500 resin, the company was able to achieve accurate 3D prints in just two weeks.
“We produce the 3D Printing mould and the final material parts are then directly injection-moulded,” said Yvon Gallet, INITIAL’s Chairman. “With our 3D printing and injection expertise, we were best placed to develop this unique solution. It is aimed at designers in the development phase and complements our traditional machining and injection solutions. It is an innovative alternative that meets the needs of manufacturers, like L’Oréal, that could benefit from this technological advance to reduce their time to market.”
Kickstarter and Autodesk Releasing Open Source 3D Printing Calibration Test
Prints of the test file from Cubibot and Robo printers.
The evidence speaks for itself – Kickstarter is a great place for 3D printing. The popular crowdfunding site requires that 3D printer creators demonstrate the functionality of their systems through various means, but it can be hard to compare the performance of different machines, because not everyone shows off the same test prints, like the 3D Benchy. So Kickstarter is working at Autodesk to address this lack of a common standard for assessing FDM 3D printer performance, and will soon be releasing a new open source 3D printer test for Kickstarter creators, developed by Autodesk research scientist Andreas Bastian.
“We believe this test procedure will support greater transparency in our community,” Zach Dunham wrote in a Kickstarter blog post. “We started with FDM printers because they’re the most common model on Kickstarter. Our goal over time is to expand this calibration test to other printing technologies like stereolithography. Though this test is optional for creators to share on their project pages, electing to do so opens a frank conversation about quality. And backers of any 3D printer project can share images of their own tests by posting them with the hashtag #FDMtest.”
Creators can download the single, consolidated STL file and instructions to test their 3D printers’ alignment, dimensional accuracy, and resolution on Github.
3D LifePrints and Alder Hey Children’s Hospital Renew Collaboration
The Alder Hey Children’s Hospital has signed a long-term collaboration agreement with 3D LifePrints, a UK-based medical 3D printing company and a founding member of the hospital’s Innovation Hub. The company has had an embedded 3D printing facility at the 1,000 square meter underground co-creation space since 2015, and was supported by the hospital for its first two years there, showcasing the impact of its work and establishing its unique 3D printed offerings. Under the agreement, the company will continue supplying the hospital with its specialized 3D printing services.
“I am really proud of this milestone in our ongoing partnership. Incubating a start-up company in a hospital, to the point where they have series A funding, a multi-year contract with the NHS and diffusion to other medical centres around the country is an enormous vindication of what the Innovation hub was set up for,” said Iain Hennessey, Clinical Director and a paediatric surgeon at Alder Hey. “I couldn’t be more pleased to see 3DLP help integrate this emerging technology into clinical practice.”
Fargo 3D Printing Forms 3D Printer Repair Business
North Dakota-based Fargo 3D Printing has formed a new business out of its 3D printer repair segment, called Fargo 3D Printer Repair. While its parent company continues to focus on multiple aspects of the industry, the five-person repair team at the new Fargo 3D Printer Repair can devote 100% of its time to providing 3D printer repair and service to individuals, schools, OEMs, and businesses. The new spin-off company currently provides production-scale warranty servicing, maintenance, and repair services for multiple OEM 3D printing companies across North America; service and repair requests can be made through an intuitive form on its website.
“We don’t sell any 3D printers ourselves, so we are able to remain brand impartial when recommending and performing 3D printer repairs,” said John Olhoft, the CEO of Fargo 3D Printer Repair, who started working in the original shop as a repair technician. “Original Equipment Manufacturers like that they can trust us to provide high quality repairs with a quick turnaround, and not push a competing brand on their customers.”
Sciaky Providing EBAM System to Metal 3D Printing Bureau
Metal 3D printing solutions provider Sciaky will provide one of its Electron Beam Additive Manufacturing (EBAM) systems to Michigan-based FAMAero (Future Additive Manufacturing in Aerospace), a privately-owned metal 3D printed parts bureau. According to Sciaky, this custom EBAM system will be the largest production metal 3D printer in the world, with a 146″ x 62″ 62″ nominal part envelope that will be able to produce metal parts over 12 feet in length. FAMAero will use the massive new EBAM system to provide metal 3D printing services to customers in the aerospace, defense, oil & gas, and sea exploration industries.
Don Doyle, President of FAMAero, said, “FAMAero is entering the market as the first private, dedicated parts bureau in North America for large-scale 3D printed metal parts. Our Factory as a Service concept, combined with Sciaky’s industry-leading EBAM® technology, will provide manufacturers a new avenue to significantly slash time and cost on the production of critical parts, while offering the largest build platform and selection of exotic metals to choose from in the 3D parts service market.”
Creating Customized Dental Solutions with 3D Systems’ SLA 3D Printing
In order to make over 320,000 invisible dental aligners in a single day, Align Technology uses SLA 3D printing from 3D Systems. The company’s technology allows Align to create the unique aligner forms so that they are customized to each individual patient’s dental data. So far, Align has treated nearly 6 million patients, but using 3D printing technology is helping the growth of its business accelerate.
“What makes Align’s mass customization so unique is not only are we producing millions of parts every month, but each one of these parts that we produce is unique,” said Srini Kaza, the Vice President of Advanced Technology for Align Technology. “And this is really, as far as I know, the only true example of mass production using 3D printing.”
Ben Fearnley Uses SLA 3D Printing to Bring Artwork to Life
Sculptmojis
SLA 3D printing isn’t just good for use in dental applications, however. Ben Fearnley, a designer, illustrator, and 3D artist based out of New York City, uses the technology to, as he told 3DPrint.com, “bring my work to life from the 3D world to the real world.”
One interesting piece of 3D printed art Fearnley creates is Good Vibes Only Typography – script style typography lettering sculptures modeled in Cinema 4D and 3D printed on his Form 2. But my personal favorite are his Sculptmojis, which look pretty much exactly how they sound. These pieces, which are a combination of traditional sculpture art forms and modern emojis, originally began as a digital art project, and have now been brought to amusing, quirky life through 3D printing. You can purchase Fearnley’s unique 3D printed artwork here.
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Ashford Orthodontics Uses 3D Printing to Help Dental Offices Go Fully Digital
The largest orthodontic laboratory in the United Kingdom is Ashford Orthodontics, which was founded in 2001 by Sean Thompson in his garage after several years working in the Orthodontic and Maxillofacial Department at Sunderland Royal Hospital. Thompson started the company after noting that there was a growing demand for orthodontic devices but a shortage of high quality laboratories offering specialized orthodontic technical services. His business quickly grew, and he was joined by fellow orthodontic technicians Craig Stevens and Graeme Winyard. Now the lab is 12,000 square feet and has more than 50 employees.
Five years ago, Ashford Orthodontics started looking into digital orthodontic practices.
Sean Thompson
“Digital orthodontics was something we knew we had to get into,” said Thompson. “We couldn’t afford not to do it if we really wanted to be a leading player within orthodontics. We wanted to be an early implementer. Any business has to plan four or five years ahead, and you don’t want to be left behind when others are moving on.”
The company then bought a Formlabs Form 2. They started off with one of the printers, and are now up to 12.
There are now eight digital technologists in the company’s digital department, managing the 12 Form 2 3D printers.
“The Form 2 is very reliable; we call it a workhorse,” Thompson continued. “We know when we go home at night that when we come in in the morning, everything will be printed. There’s not going to be a failure; everything will be there. Because of that, we can build our business around them.”
Every day, the lab has a working cutoff time of about 3:00 PM. The technicians review new scans sent in by clients, then plan out treatments and set the necessary parts, such as aligners, to 3D print overnight. In the morning, a technician cleans and dries the 3D printed parts, after which another technician thermoforms the clear aligners on the finished models. By the time most of the other technicians arrive, the aligners are ready for post-processing.
“Once you’ve got a model to work on, there’s very little difference,” said Thompson. “If you are a traditional lab and you want to go and push the boundaries to digital, once you’ve done the learning side of it, the manufacturing side is pretty similar.”
In the afternoon, the finished aligners are packaged and sent to the clinicians, arriving within 48 hours.
“It works absolutely perfect for us,” said Thompson. “We launch the printers just before we go home at night; that’s our night shift. We come in the next morning and by then, the night shift has done their job. It doesn’t matter if they’re sitting there for two hours, four hours, six hours—it’s done. We totally rely on that coming in on the morning, so it’s the quality and reliability of the print that matters to us.”
Having multiple 3D printers helps, as does their large build platforms.
“It’s quite easy for us just spread a few models along 10 or 12 printers and have them printed in a couple of hours. So if we do need to do quick runs, we can accommodate them across all the printers instead of putting them all on one. We find that that works very well for our business.”
The lab can also store digital models online and access them at any time, which is helpful when things like retainers need to be replaced.
“There’s no time lapse due to a child breaking or losing their retainer and having to go to the dentist to get a new impression,” said Thompson. “Teeth are drifting all the time and relapse is happening. We can just pull the file from the cloud—where we store them basically for free—print the model, create the appliance, and even send it directly to the patient.”
The lab can also reuse the same 3D model to create multiple appliances if necessary.
“A common trend now is to debond the brackets and instantly fit all the retention products chairside,” Thompson said. “By removing the brackets digitally, we can make an Essix, bonded, or a Hawley retainer, and a whitening tray all on the same model which simply isn’t possible via the traditional route and plaster models.”
Ashford Orthodontics has been able to pass on cost and time savings to their clients by going digital.
“It shouldn’t cost you any more to provide your services to your clients and patients via the digital route than via the traditional impression route,” said Thompson. “So what we’ve done is quite simply that we swapped the cost of the plaster models—which aren’t needed anymore—with the cost of the resin model. Therefore, your lab bill is exactly the same, whether it’s done via the traditional route or the digital route, except you can have things back 24 hours sooner.”
The company has become a trusted provider that attracts customers from the UK as well as all over the world.
“We’ve got new clients coming to us every day, who have never used us before, so they don’t know if the quality is going to be good or if the customer service is going to be reliable,” said Thompson. “When they realize that what we’re providing here is very good quality, they trust us to send us the more complex appliances. So invariably, within two months of getting a new client who wants to use our services for digital orthodontics, they start asking if we can do twin blocks, fixed appliances, or functionals. Before we know it, they’re sending us lots and lots of work, because we can accommodate all of their needs.”
Ashford now provides digital services to three practices that have no impression materials in their offices – they’ve gone fully digital, thanks to the services of the lab.
“When we first started with the digital side of things, it accounted for maybe two percent of our business,” said Thompson. “Just this last month it’s around 15 percent, and it is the fastest growing sector within the laboratory. “At the moment, it’s traditional techniques with a little bit of digital, but in a matter of two or three years, it’s going to be digital techniques with a little bit of traditional. And that’s going to be the driving force for our department moving forward.”
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[Images: Formlabs]
3D Printing Improves Testing for Gas Turbine Components
Gas turbines are complex components to manufacture, but additive manufacturing has been successfully utilized to accelerate design cycle times, reduce development test times, provide better test data and reduce the overall time to the release of the final component. It also allows for testing to be performed earlier, as early as the concept or preliminary design phases. This means that there is less likelihood that the entire component will have to be redesigned, as problem areas can be detected and eliminated early.
In a recent case study, a Siemens Energy SGT-A05 industrial gas turbine engine line was manufactured, and additive manufacturing was used for aerodynamic development testing within the preliminary design phase for boundary condition definition of new compressor static flow path components.
“The model test section for this work was designed to characterize the influence of the internal flow passage and the exit plane flow coming from the zero-stage compressor both with and without handling bleeds active,” the manufacturing team explains. “The flow passage is defined with a symmetric center-body, which represents a combination of rotor components and static end walls, and an asymmetric outer-body for bleed. All structural static internal components, e.g. struts used for sump services and bearing support, were included in the model. The test model was a geometrically similar 1/5th scale model of the stage 0 module of the engine. Focus for the test models was on the internal static flow path features only and, where possible, split line effects associated with the actual engine assembly were replicated.”
T
he parts were 3D printed using a Formlabs Form 2 3D printer, and once they were cured, they were fastened together using epoxy to create an airtight and spatially correct flow path. To improve the overall strength, the assembly was then epoxied into an 8-inch diameter, standard-wall, black-iron pipe section and back-filled with a polyester resin. The whole process, from CAD drawings to creating the assembly, took about two weeks and 30 man hours of work.
Two different model standards were tested over 20 different inlet conditions, completed in less than five months. Several repeated tests were conducted to assess data quality, reproducibility, and the consistency of transient effects. All of the testing indicated high accuracy and low variability.
“Results from testing have demonstrated high value to the current re-design program,” the team states. “Not only was the data made available during the entire preliminary design phase, working between test and engineering allowed easy utilization of the data being generated. In general, this new boundary condition data has demonstrated direct benefits to the current design, which incorporates a non-axis symmetric inlet profile feeding the high pressure compressor and also has incorporated factors which mimic the noted dynamic pressure effects associated with bleed into the design.”
Overall, it was determined that using additive manufacturing greatly improved the testing process, with the following aspects noted:
- Rig development time was improved by roughly an order of magnitude
- Rig and test component prototype costs were reduced by three times
- The technical validity of the results was only slightly lower than fully instrumented engine test results but improved relative to typical component testing
- The test results showed exceptional agreement to full scale 3D CFD results driven by rig test defined boundary conditions
- The total cost comparison of current vs. conventional testing was four to 10 times lower and resulted in more than an order of magnitude more data
You can read the full study here.
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