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NScrypt Introduces New Factory in a Tool

Orlando, Florida-based nScrypt is a manufacturer of micro-dispensing and 3D printing systems, and it has just announced the release of its new Factory in a Tool (FiT) for Direct Digital Manufacturing. Factory in a Tool is an integrated system that can digitally fabricate anything from 2D and 3D printed circuits to biological structures, and can be used almost anywhere on the digital manufacturing floor.

The FiT is offered in three base models of different sizes, as well as multiple configurations: two base models for solder, vias, and adhesives, and three for Direct Digital Manufacturing. There are two basic hardware configurations: the 3Dn-Tabletop, which is based on a precision ball screw motion system and the 3Dn-300 or 3Dn-500, which are linear gantry systems. The 3Dn-300 has 300 millimeters of travel in the XY axis and the 3Dn-500 has 500 millimeters of travel in the XY axis. If two or more systems are lined up, it creates what nScrypt calls a Factory in a Line.

The 3Dn-300 and 3Dn-500 run five tool heads for Direct Digital Manufacturing without tool changes. The tools and configurations all share a user-friendly and customizable graphical user interface (GUI), z-tracking/High sensing, precision motion control, and common software and electronic controllers, which simplify operation, maintenance, servicing, training and reconfiguration.

The Factory in a Tool uses multiple tool heads, including the nFD for material extrusion, the SmartPump for Micro-Dispensing, the nMill for micro-milling, and the nPnP 360 for pick and place of electronic components and subassemblies. These tools operate in series or parallel on a fast, precise linear motion gantry, alongside multiple cameras for automated inspection and computer vision routines, a point laser height sensor for mapping surfaces for conformal printing, an automated PulseForge 1300 photonic curing system and a femtosecond laser for cutting or sintering materials.

The SmartPump has pico-liter volumetric control that eliminates dripping and can work with the widest range of materials available for any Micro-Dispensing system – more than 10,000 commercially available materials, in fact. It can print everything from thin materials like water to thick material like peanut butter or thicker.

The nTip, which is used on the SmartPump tool head, has the smallest commercially available pen tip diameter at 10 microns, one-tenth the diameter of a human hair. The smallest competitive pen tips, according to nScrypt, are 100 microns.

The nFD extruder tool offers the widest range of thermoplastics and can also print composites and continuous carbon fiber. If a material is not available in a filament format, the nFDh unique hopper option is capable of loading thermoplastic and composite injection molding pellets.

nScrypt has been around for longer than a decade and in 2003 won the R&D 100 Award for producing the first commercially available bioprinter. Next year, its zero gravity bioprinter will travel to the International Space Station.

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

[Images: nScrypt]

 

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3D printing news Sliced: 3D Systems, Optomec, Luxexcel, Local Motors

Today in Sliced, our regular 3D printing news digest, we feature new 3D printing university courses, fiber-reinforced filament, cutting edge additive manufacturing research, the future of 3D printed electronics and an autonomous vehicle challenge. Read on for the latest news form 3D Systems, the University of Plymouth, Becton, Dickinson and Company, Optomec, Luxexcel, Local Motors and more. […]
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Zero Gravity Bioprinter is Ready for Delivery to the International Space Station

An amazing thing happened two years ago, when Techshot and nScrypt worked together to 3D print a human heart – in zero gravity. Not a working heart, yet, but the two companies were the first to 3D print cardiac and vascular structures in zero gravity using adult human stem cells. Why would they do such a thing, you might ask? The reasoning is much more than “because they can,” as 3D bioprinting in zero gravity is actually easier and more effective than it is on Earth.

Earth-based bioprinting requires thick, viscous bioinks that can contain chemicals or other materials necessary for providing structural support. The lack of gravity in space, however, means that thinner, purer bioinks can be used, as well as thinner print nozzles, allowing for more precision and control. When the first viable human organ is 3D printed, it may very well happen in space.

After nScrypt and Techshot pulled off their successful zero-G bioprinting feat, they began work on the 3D BioFabrication Facility, or BFF, a 3D bioprinting system for the International Space Station. The BFF can 3D print thick tissue and organs using adult stem cells. The printing will happen on an nScrypt 3D Bio Assembly Tool, or BAT; the bioink will be printed into a specialized cell culturing bioreactor cassette designed by TechShot and conditioned in the TechShot ADvanced Space Experiment Processor (ADSEP). The BFF and ADSEP are scheduled to launch on their way to the ISS in February 2019.

The nScrypt BAT 3D printer features high-precision motion and extreme dispensing control, and will use nScrypt’s patented SmartPump, which has 100 picoliter volumetric control and uses super-fine nozzles, down to 10 microns, to dispense biomaterials. This enables the highly controlled and repeatable placement of bioink, which is necessary for printing the fine details of tissues and organs.

“Especially when dealing with something as important as tissue, it is vital to place the correct amount of material in the correct position every time,” said nScrypt CEO Ken Church. “This is what our machines offer and what has contributed to our success in bioprinting as well as other applications. This is an exciting time for discovery and more importantly a time of impact for those that are seriously seeking solutions to grow thick vascularized tissue, which is the basis for a fully printed organ.”

The first complete print, after the initial test prints, will be a cardiac patch for damaged hearts. Cells will be printed into the bioreactor cassette, and the bioreactor will then provide media perfusion to deliver nutrients and remove toxins from the tissue, keeping it alive while providing electrical and mechanical stimulus to encourage the cells to become beating heart tissue.

Rendering of the BFF in an EXPRESS rack [Image: nScrypt]

The BFF may truly be an astronaut’s BFF; in addition to 3D printing tissue for people on Earth, it can print pharmaceuticals and even food on demand for people on the International Space Station.

“We are very excited to see this project, and all that it can provide, come to life,” said Techshot President and CEO John C. Vellinger. “With the goal of producing everything from organs, to pharmaceuticals, to perhaps even food, the BFF has the ability to improve the lives of people on earth and help enable deep space exploration.”

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