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Sharebot Releases Improved SnowWhite2, Low-Cost SLS 3D Printer

In 2014, Italian 3D printer manufacturer Sharebot introduced its low-cost selective laser sintering (SLS) system, SnowWhite, at the TCT Show, two years prior to its market release. The company has since branched out in its 3D printer offerings, but is still improving its SLS system, releasing the SnowWhite2, an improved update to the original SnowWhite with some new features.

“SnowWhite was created to bring the advantages of sintering to small and medium-sized companies and laboratories, all in an economic, simple and effective way without sacrificing the professional quality of the result,” Sharebot states on its website. “The user can really “print in one click” because, once the profile of the material has been defined, the printing process is completely autonomous, requires no external intervention and the results are perfectly repeatable.”

The Sharebot SnowWhite2 features what Sharebot refers to as direct laser sintering (DLS) technology, infusing prints with thermal and mechanical resistance. Because of its CO₂ laser, multiple thermoplastic powders should work with this system, such as PA12 and TPU. It’s also possible to use special powders loaded with other material particles, like aluminum, carbon, or glass, to give prints a variety of mechanical, visual, and physical properties. 

Textile sample 3D printed on SnowWhite2

One improvement that the SnowWhite2 features is an upgraded software interface, which includes custom print profiles and open parameters. The printer uses the Simplify3D slicer, and has Ethernet connectivity, which partners well with the Sharebox3D print notification system.

Another one of the major changes is improved temperature management of the print chamber. The SnowWhite2 printer can be integrated with a separate module, the SnowWhite2 Nitro, that uses oxygen presence sensors to regulate the flow of whichever inert gas is used, nitrogen or argon. This makes it possible to control the atmosphere inside the chamber, which Sharebot says means no more yellowing prints.

The company says that the Nitro module can be easily added for a modified print atmosphere at any time, and that it’s easy to set the 120 kg printer up. According to Sharebot, it takes less than ten minutes to start up the SnowWhite2, about the same amount of time to move from loading your material to printing out the first few layers.

The company states that the printer’s other features include ease of use, minimal maintenance and fast cleanup, durable prints with highly detailed surfaces, a heated build chamber, and a 50 micron Z-axis resolution. Sharebot also notes that, on average, the new SnowWhite2 consumes less than 1.5 kilowatts of electrical per hour, includes an advanced laser control system with emissivity settings, and that all the unused powder is recycled and “can be directly reused in subsequent processing.”

Assembly sample 3D printed on SnowWhite2

Additional SnowWhite2 3D printer specs are:

  • 100 x 100 x 100 mm print volume
  • 100 micron XY resolution
  • 0.2 mm spot dimension
  • 35 mm/h Z-axis speed
  • scan speed up to 3500 mm/s

With the SnowWhite 2, we are now seeing the second generation in low-cost SLS machines, as Sinterit has already released the Lisa 2 and Sintratec the S2. The goal with these systems is to bring sophisticated SLS technology down to a price point that smaller businesses and labs can afford. However, as these machines advance, one has to wonder how their costs will increase. Just as Sharebot has created its Nitro module for improved prints, Sinterit has launched a series of accessories that will likely bring up the total overall cost of operation. They may still be able to keep prices below high-end production systems, as Sinterit has demonstrated that it is still focused on reducing costs as much as possible with its accessories.

Sharebot is now taking pre-orders for the new SnowWhite2 3D printer, with delivery beginning October 1st, 2020. Also, there is currently a special discount for pre-orders of the printer until September 30; contact the company’s marketing department for more information.

(Images courtesy of Sharebot)

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Arfona Announces New Dental 3D Printing Products and Services at LMT Lab Day

As SmarTech’s VP of Research Scott Dunham said at our recent Additive Manufacturing Strategies event in Boston, the healthcare portion of the AM market is truly the backbone of the industry; combining medical and dental applications, it’s worth a little more than $3 billion dollars. AMS 2020 keynote speaker Dr. Banu Gemici-Ozkan, Senior Market Intelligence Leader for GE Additive, said that dental is the most mature industry for metal AM. In its fifth Additive Manufacturing in Dentistry report, SmarTech notes that “an emerging dental industry transformation is taking place from converging forces,” with 3D printing right at the center.

(Photo by Sarah Saunders)

That’s why LMT Lab Day, which recently concluded in Chicago and is the largest gathering of the dental laboratory community in North America, is seeing more and more 3D printing innovations on the exhibition floor. Over the past week, lots of big announcements have come from the show – Prodways announced the development of its Clear Aligners Manufacturing Ecosystem, BEGO and Formlabs are partnering up for on-demand dental products, EnvisionTEC and dental CAD/CAM software developer exocad are integrating their products for a streamlined digital workflow, etc.

New York-based dental tech startup Arfona, which was founded in 2016 by several 3D printing enthusiasts and dental technicians, specializes in thermoplastic 3D printed dental prosthetics, and its products are available in over 30 countries around the world. The award-winning startup is actually the inventor of the 3D printed flexible partial denture, and was also at last week’s LMT Lab Day Chicago. Arfona had a few announcements of its own to make – it launched several new products and services at the event.

First off, Arfona will be relocating to a new state of the art 3D printing facility in New York. Once the relocation and expansion is complete, the startup’s service bureau department will then offer dental material manufacturer Valplast‘s 3D printing services to dental laboratories. In fact, its new 3D printing center will be completely focused on 3D printed Valplast partial dentures, and will be accepting all intraoral and model scans from dental labs. In addition, Arfona will also be offering 3D print services for custom impression trays, denture try-ins, and low-resolution dental models.

The most exciting of Arfona’s announcements is its new FILAdent material – a thermoplastic PMMA filament that can be used to 3D print denture teeth when combined with Valplast’s partial dentures. PMMA, or poly(methyl methacrylate), is inert, biocompatible, and easy to obtain, which is why it’s also been used to make cranial implants.

Arfona’s founder and CEO Justin Marks made the announcement about the startup’s new FILAdent material at LMT Lab Day.

“The combination of FILAdent and Valplast represents the dental industry’s first real use-case for multimaterial and multicolor printing,” stated Marks in a release sent to 3DPrint.com. “Our dual-extrusion r.Pod printer is now capable of producing a Valplast denture base with acrylic teeth in a single build. This revolutionary development for dental 3D printing further reduces the number of steps needed to produce a finished Valplast denture and brings us even closer to our goal of providing affordable tooth replacement for a growing edentulous population.”

FILAdent will come in multiple basic tooth shades, and will be made available to users of Arfona’s multimaterial, desktop r.Pod 3D printer in the second half of 2020.

Discuss this story and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts in the Facebook comments below.

[Images: Arfona, unless otherwise noted]

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3D Printing News Briefs: January 16, 2020

In today’s 3D Printing News Briefs, we’ve got a little business news, followed by stories about materials, and finally ending with some 3D printed fashion. PostProcess Technologies is expanding in Japan with a new partnership. Smart International has launched a material partnership program, and CRP Technology is introducing a new Windform material. Finally, a Spanish fashion brand is using BCN3D’s technology to make some of its clothing.

PostProcess Technologies Enters Asian Market with New Partnership

Executives from PostProcess and K.K. IRISU (C. ILLIES & CO., LTD.)

Automated post-printing solutions provider PostProcess Technologies Inc. announced that it’s entering the Asian additive manufacturing market, and expanding the reach of its solutions, by naming K.K. IRISU (C. ILLIES & CO., LTD.) as its first distribution partner in Japan. PostProcess chose the high-quality industrial machinery and technologies specialist, to help serve its growing base of customers in Japan and represent its data-driven technologies because of its expertise and experience. The partnership is mutually beneficial, as ILLIES can now offer its customers access to technology that will automate common post-printing processes and enable “additive manufacturing at scale.”

“K.K.IRISU’s main objective is to educate the Japanese market in additive manufacturing and to continue to be the solution provider for the Japanese 3D manufacturing world. We feel that by adding PostProcess Technologies to our lineup, will help assist the Japanese market to compete with other countries in Additive Manufacturing as well as globally maintain the high standards of the tag ‘Made in Japan’,” said Dr. Frank Oberndorff, President of K. K. IRISU.

Next month, both companies will exhibit at the Design Engineering & Manufacturing Solutions (DMS) 2020 Expo.

Smart International Introduces Material Partnership Program

This week, Smart International, the global brand licensee in 3D printing for KODAK, announced the launch of a new Materials Partnership Program in order to help its customers achieve a repeatable 3D printing experience, while also meeting the demand for high-quality, yet easy-to-print, engineering materials. The company has already developed, and tested, material profiles for filaments from its partners BASF, Clariant, and DSM, which will help provide optimal conditions for these third party materials on the Portrait 3D printer. Print profiles were created from this data, and can either be accessed from the KODAK 3D Cloud or downloaded from the Smart3D website.

“We feel it is of vital importance to continually adapt to the ever-evolving 3D printing market. Partnering with top filament companies like BASF, Clariant and DSM gives the customer the opportunity to choose the material that best fits their project, and gives them confidence to use these high-quality 3rd party materials with the KODAK Portrait 3D Printer,” said Roberto Gawianski, the CEO of Smart International. “We are pleased to be able to assist in the development and evolution of 3D printing filaments, and will continue to support progress in this area.”

BASF material profiles include Ultrafuse ABS Fusion+, Ultrafuse PAHT CF15, Ultrafuse PA, and Ultrafuse Z PCTG, while Clariant now has a profile for its popular 20% carbon fiber-reinforced polyamide 6/66 PA6/66-CF20 filament. Smart International also created material profiles for DSM’s Novamid ID1030, Novamid ID1030 CF10, a carbon fiber filled PA6/66 copolymer filament and Arnitel ID2060 HT.

CRP Technology’s New Windform P2 Material

Italian company CRP Technology is introducing the latest material from its Windform P-LINE range – the glass fiber-reinforced thermoplastic polyamide Windform P2, which the company states has “excellent mechanical properties” for its High Speed Sintering (HSS) technology. The new material has high tensile strength (39.24 MPa), combined with increased stiffness (2925.20 MPa), and is great for insulating, as it is glass fiber-filled. Windform P2 is good for producing end-use parts that need high stiffness, as well as manufacturing components with detailed resolution.

“Windform® P2 is the second polymer from P-LINE, the new Windform® range of materials for high speed production-grade 3D printing, introduced on the market less than a year ago,” said Engineer Franco Cevolini, CRP Technology CTO and VP.

“This is a very important property. Windform® P2 is stiffer than Windform® P1 because Windform® P2 is reinforced (Windform® P1 is not reinforced). Most of the reinforced materials for similar technologies currently on the market, show a decrease in the tensile strength property. My staff and I have been able to preserve the high tensile strength in Windform® P2. Therefore, Windform® P2 overall’s performance is superior than the performance of similar materials currently on the market for similar technologies.”

ZER Collection 3D Printing Clothes with BCN3D

The 3D printed parts are made in TPU due to the flexibility of this material.

Spanish fashion brand ZER Collection introduced its first collection at the most recent Mercedes Benz Fashion Week in Madrid. The label, which was founded in 2017 by Núria Costa and Ane Castro and designs ‘futuristic, functional and urban clothing with sporty aesthetics,’ incorporated 3D printed parts, made with BCN3D’s Sigma printer, into 12 of the outfits; this system allows for the printing of two different materials, including flexible TPU. ZER Collection is using 3D printing in order to accelerate its production manufacturing processes and reduce waste, while also contributing to the use of sustainable new technologies in the apparel industry.

“We work much faster, because we can print two fabrics at the same time,” Costa said when explaining some of the benefits of using 3D printing to make their clothing, including their ability to “digitize all patterns in order to produce only the necessary fabric.”

“We believe that the use of 3D printing represents a revolution in fashion, in environmental care and in society.”

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

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3D Printing News Briefs: June 8, 2019

In this week’s 3D Printing News Briefs, we’re talking about partnerships, new software and buildings, and a neat 3D printed miniature. Together, Evolve Additive Solutions and Evonik are developing materials for the STEP process, while Awexim has partnered with Farsoon in an exclusive sales agreement, and SHINING 3D and 3D Systems released Geomagic Essentials. Oerlikon inaugurated its new R&D and production facility, and a Reddit user posted video of a miniature 3D printed steering wheel that fits on a video game controller.

Evonik and Evolve Partnering to Develop 3D Printing Materials

A little over a year ago, Stratasys spinoff company Evolve Additive Solutions emerged from stealth with its production-scale additive manufacturing STEP (selective thermoplastic electrophotographic process) solution. Now, the company is partnering up with the Evonik Corporation, a leading specialty chemicals company, in a joint development agreement to formulate the thermoplastic 3D printing materials for STEP solutions. Initial efforts will be focused on polyamide 12, PEBA, transparent polyamide, and polymer for the polyamide 6 series, and the two companies also plan to create a wider range of production materials for STEP users in the future.

“Evolve’s entirely new technology approach will allow us to expand the range of applications of our high-performance powder materials, which are produced through a unique production process,” said Thomas Grosse-Puppendahl, the Head of the Additive Manufacturing Innovation Growth Field at Evonik. “With more than 20 years of experience in 3D printing, we will also develop a wider range of customized powder formulations to unlock the full potential of the STEP technology.”

Farsoon and Awexim Sign Exclusive Sales Agreement

Another 3D printing partnership has Farsoon Europe GmbH, which is located in Stuttgart, signing an Exclusive Sales Agreement with Warsaw-based Awexim, which was founded in 1991 as a technical consulting and cutting tools supplier. Awexim’s 3D printing adoption as an official Farsoon Europe sales agent will support Poland’s industrialization of 3D printing with Farsoon’s Open Laser Sintering Systems.

“Farsoon’s strength in industrial Laser Sintering Systems, ideally supports our strategy to enter into the 3D Printing market. We support industrial customers in Poland for almost 30 years with top quality tools, machine tools and especially top quality technical and customer service. We are glad to start cooperation with such solid partner as Farsoon, whose approach and vision is similar to ours,” said Andrzej Wodziński, the Managing Director of Awexim. “This cooperation opens huge possibilities to bring even more solutions for our customers on solving their needs. 3D printing is a future of industry, and we are sure, that connection of Farsoon and our team will have big influence on this industry in Poland.”

SHINING 3D and 3D Systems to Deliver Geomagic Essentials

Chinese company SHINING 3D recently announced that it has partnered up with 3D Systems to launch a new cost-effective scan-to-CAD solution. The two released Geomagic Essentials on the market as a bundled offering along with SHINING 3D’s most recent handheld, multi-functional 3D scanner: the Einscan Pro 2X series.

The Einscan Pro 2X and 2X Plus are lightweight and compact, with faster scanning speeds and higher accuracy. The new Geomagic Essentials bundled offer only increases these capabilities, as the solution is perfect for downstream reverse engineering and scan-to-print applications. While many CAD software programs are limited in terms of what they can do in processing, Geomagic Essentials makes the scan data compatible with native CAD workflows, so designers wanting to integrate part design and 3D scan data can do so with ease.

Oerlikon Inaugurates New R&D and Production Facility

Technology company Oerlikon is based in Switzerland, but it has 170 locations in nearly 40 different countries, including the US. The company provides surface solutions, equipment, and materials processing, and as part of its continuing growth strategy here, recently celebrated the opening of its new $55 million, state-of-the-art Innovation Hub & Advanced Component Production facility in Huntersville, North Carolina. This is Oerlikon’s second location in the state, and the 125,000 sq ft, fully functional facility employs about 60 people and will continue to gradually add jobs as the business continues to expand.

“We are already working with customers in the aerospace, automotive, energy and medical industries in the US, and we anticipate continued growth in those sectors, as well as in others. We believe that additive manufacturing can transform production in many industries, and we are excited that our presence here in North Carolina allows us to better demonstrate those possibilities to our customers,” said Dr. Sven Hicken, Head of Oerlikon’s Additive Manufacturing business.

State and federal officials spoke at the inauguration event, which was attended by employees and their families, in addition to business leaders and customers. Oerlikon presented a local robotics club with a check at the event in order to begin growing collaborations with academic institutions and show support for STEM learning.

Oerlikon Huntersville Event

We had a lot of fun last week opening our new Innovation & Proctuction Hub in Huntersville, NC. Check out what happened on the big day! #OerlikonUSA #OerlikonAM

Gepostet von Oerlikon Group am Freitag, 7. Juni 2019

3D Printed Steering Wheel

Reddit user Malespams recently posted a video of a 3D printed steering wheel in action, but not one for a regular-sized car…or even a car at all, actually. No, this miniature green wheel is made to attach to the controller for a video game system, like XBox, to make it easier and more natural to play racing games. However, not everyone who commented on the video thought that the 3D printed mod would make these games easier. One person said that it would offer “zero control” during play, and another noted that it covered the controller’s right stick and would make it hard to press any buttons,

“I have one, but while it’s a fun concept it covers the dpad so if you’re playing horizon you can’t access Anna m. Sometimes it hits the clutch and messes me up,” user 3202 people wrote. “It’s sometimes fun and I could see people having fun if they got used to it.”

If you’re interested in making your own game controller racing mod, check out this Thingiverse link.

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