MakerOS Webinar: Make the Most Profit from Your 3D Printing Business

Web-based collaboration platform for 3D printing and digital fabrication companies MakerOS assists users in developing their products faster, no matter the stage or size of the company. It was founded by CEO Mike Moceri, who has copious amounts of experience in design, manufacturing, software, and business: he co-founded the very first 3D printing retail service bureau, located in Chicago, back in 2013, and followed this move by founding 3D printing and product design agency Manulith the next year.

MakerOS is sponsoring a free webinar, which 3DPrint.com is organizing, called “How to Make the Most Profit from 3D Printing,” which will be held on Wednesday, September 16th, 2020, from 2-3 pm EDT. Any digital fabrication business owner or 3D printing shop manager looking to run a more successful business should definitely sign up for this webinar.

“If you don’t understand your costs, you don’t understand your business,” Moceri told 3DPrint.com.

Let’s say that you have successfully completed a 3D printing job for a client, but instead of the substantial profit you were expecting, you only barely broke even. If you care about staying afloat, you’ll want to determine the underlying cause of something like this. That’s why this webinar is so important—you’ll learn how to keep this from happening and gain a deeper understanding of all the various expenses and costs that go into running your 3D printing business. This way, you will be able to set accurate, fair prices and maximize your profits.

“So what we’ll do in this webinar is we’ll figure out what are the core and most important points of cost analysis. We’ll go into detail on how to determine margins and profits for your operation, as well as the philosophy and rationale behind those calculations,” Moceri explained to us.

“We’ll provide a framework and how to think about your business starting with the costs and then we’ll talk about the philosophical aspects of determining margins and ultimately profits for your business.”

By attending this MakerOS webinar, you’ll come away with the knowledge of how to successfully run your digital fabrication or 3D printing shop. The insights attendees will gain can help steer thinking towards a cost-specific perspective, leading to higher profits, and you’ll learn how to recognize subtle things that could negatively affect your margins.

Every webinar attendee will receive access to a spreadsheet that they can use to make calculations and projections to, as Moceri explained, “see what the most optimal path to profitability is for their business.” In addition, the participants will have the chance to learn all of this from someone who has consulted with industry experts from all around the world and has successfully started multiple 3D printing services…Moceri himself.

Featured on MSN, NBC, Make Magazine, the Encyclopedia Britannica, and the D-Business Magazine, which once called him the “Face of 3D printing,” Moceri was once a mentor at TechTown Detroit, and currently serves as a mentor at WeWork Labs in NYC and the Stanley+Techstars Additive Manufacturing Accelerator. He is also an author, having recently published an e-book titled How to Survive the COVID-19 Pandemic as a 3D Printing or Fabrication Shop, along with 9 Lessons for Optimizing Your Product Development Service. You can find both of Moceri’s e-books on the recently launched MakerOS Zone of our website.

What else can you expect to see in the MakerOS Zone? Plenty! There are also free video tutorials, such as “How to Price for SLA 3D Printing” and “Why We Made a 3D Printing Pricing Calculator,” along with the aforementioned pricing calculator itself. The MakerOS Zone also includes articles about the company that have been published on our website, as well as MakerOS articles found elsewhere on the web. Finally, you can access the company’s webinars “How to Optimally Price For Your 3D Printing Service Bureau in 2020,” and “How to Make the Most Profit from 3D Printing,” as previously mentioned. You can register here for the latter, which will be held on Wednesday, September 16th, 2020, from 2-3 pm EDT.

The post MakerOS Webinar: Make the Most Profit from Your 3D Printing Business appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing.

3DEXPERIENCE: A Virtual Journey, Part 1

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, this year’s 3DEXPERIENCE Forum by Dassault Systèmes had to be re-imagined as a virtual event, just like so many other conferences. At 1 pm EDT on July 29th, nearly two months after the in-person event was meant to have taken place in Florida, the company began the live stream of the Plenary Session for “3DEXPERIENCE: A Virtual Journey,” a series of digital programming that replaced the annual North America customer event.

Unfortunately, the webinar seemed to be having issues, which continued on and off over the next two hours of the live stream, so I missed pieces here and there. Technical difficulties happen all the time at live events, too, so the only real difference here was that I couldn’t raise my hand and say, “I’m sorry, the audio and picture cut out, could you repeat that please?” Luckily, Dassault had the webinar up to view on-demand the very next day, so I was able to go back and check out the parts that I had missed.

Erik Swedberg, Managing Director, North America, Dassault Systèmes, got things started with his segment on “Business in the Age of Experience: Challenges and Opportunities for North America,” which focused on manufacturing and supply chains, and why companies looking to transform, some sooner than they’d hoped due to the pandemic, should “invent the industry of tomorrow,” rather than trying to digitize the past or the present.

“Yesterday, businesses focused on automation of the manufacturing system; this is Industry 4.0. Today, many industrials are digitizing the enterprise system. It’s not enough. You need to create experiences. Tomorrow, the game changers will be those with the best developed knowledge and know-how assets. Why? Simple. Because the Industry Renaissance is about new categories of new industrials creating new categories of solutions for new categories of consumers,” Swedberg said.

He mentioned Tesla and Amazon, companies in Silicon Valley working to create autonomous vehicles, and fab labs creating and printing smart, connected objects.

“The 3DEXPERIENCE platform is a platform for knowledge and know-how—a game changer, collaborative environment that empowers businesses and people to innovate in an entirely new way,” he continued. “Digital experience platforms for industry, urban development, and healthcare will become the infrastructure for the 21st century.”

Swedberg explained how 3DEXPERIENCE can allow any business to become social, by connecting employee innovation into the system where the company’s products are designed. This was a common theme today, which you’ll be able to see later.

He also explained that, with Dassault’s 13 brand applications—such as SIMULIA, CATIA, and SOLIDWORKS—the company can serve a wide variety of industries, helping its customers on their journey to invent tomorrow’s industry.

“In summation, we are in the experience economy, the Industry Renaissance is here, and world events are accelerating the need for digital transformation. As the world changes, we will partner with you for success,” Swedberg concluded. “We have the people and the insights to help you on your journey.”

Dassault’s Vice Chairman & CEO Bernard Charlès was up next, speaking about “From Things to Life.” He first said that he hoped no one on the live stream, or their loved ones and colleagues, had been impacted by the COVID-19 crisis.

“We’ve gone through a tough time, all of us. And we are with you, and we are learning a lot also from the crisis,” Charlès said.

Even though I’ve worked from home for nearly four years now, other aspects of my life have been turned upside down in the last few months, and I felt a kind of solidarity whenever the session’s speakers brought up how all of our lives, and our industry, have changed. Charlès also congratulated everyone signed into the live stream on working together, and continuing to innovate, during the pandemic; the continuing health crisis was another theme that threaded throughout the plenary session.

He said that the 3DEXPERIENCE platform is about inclusiveness, “because it means ideas and people connecting.” He shared some of the work that 3DEXPERIENCE users had accomplished during the recent and varied quarantines, such as creating respirators, improving logistics, and working to make the quality of airflow in hospitals better. He said that all of these projects were done on the 3DEXPERIENCE cloud.

“So many of you accelerated the cloud implementation, to be able to work from anywhere, especially from home, during confinement time.”

He mentioned that we are moving from a product economy to an experience economy, and that, in the long run, companies will continue to produce, and maintain ownership of, products and services throughout the life cycle, while their customers will get to enjoy the experience.

“That will accelerate innovation for a sustainable world,” Charlès said.

Next, he talked about a few companies that have been using the 3DEXPERIENCE platform for interesting projects, like California-based Canoo, which dreams about refining urban mobility with an electric vehicle that can be used as a service or subscription, rather than being owned by individuals.

In order to create innovation, Charlès said, you need to be sure that your digital platform will work, and Canoo stated that 3DEXPERIENCE hit the mark here, helping to speed things up in the product development process.

He then talked about Arup, a company that’s using the 3DEXPERIENCE platform to create a virtual Hong Kong for city planning purposes. Arup is working to make Hong Kong a smart city, and the platform is helping the company in this endeavor; for example, Arup and Dassault just completed a project called the Common Spatial Data Infrastructure Built Environment Application platform…say that three times fast.

Finally, Charlès explained that the role of life sciences is to “protect what we care about,” and said that industry pioneers are coming up with new and different ways to diagnose and care for people. He stated that creating new healthcare experiences is a complex project, because it means converting big data into smart data and simulating real world situations in a virtual world. Luckily, 3DEXPERIENCE can help with this.

“3DEXPERIENCE…is a system of operation, because the platform can help you run your business, and the platform should also help you invent a new business model,” Charlès concluded. “The common values across all the industries we serve is putting the human at the center of everything we do.”

Next, Renee Pasman, Director of Integrated Systems at Skunk Works for Lockheed Martin, provided an overview of using the digital thread, and the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, for the product lifecycle, “and how Lockheed Martin is leveraging it to drive increased affordability, efficiency and collaboration throughout the lifecycle.”

“…Our projects cover the entire product life cycle that you might imagine from an aerospace and defense type of program, all the way from conceptual design through modeling and simulation, manufacturing, to sustainment and end of life,” she explained. “And one key part of the Skunk Works culture in the last 75 years has been very close collaboration across all of those areas. What we’ve learned as we have started this digital thread initiative is that by giving our workforce these latest tools, we’ve been able to make that collaboration easier, to be able to make it go faster, to be able to bring data in sooner, make better decisions, see what the impacts are of those decisions, and use that to guide where we are going.”

She explained that the product lifecycle “really starts with design,” and said that by starting this new Near Term Digital Thread/Affordability initiative and giving its workforce the 3DEXPERIENCE tools, Skunk Works has learned that collaboration is faster and stronger, and that we “make better decisions to guide where we’re going.”

We’ve all heard about this issue before—there are two versions of an important product document, and some people update one, while others update the other, and no one has a clear idea of which version is correct and most up-to-date. It’s frustrating to say the least. But Pasman noted that by using the 3DEXPERIENCE product lifecycle management platform, “we’re starting to see efficiency benefits now.”

Pasman also said that the Skunk Works team has learned something “unexpected” with the platform, and that’s the social collaboration it provides, which allows users to “make changes with a level of certainty.”

“We hadn’t necessarily focused on this area, but our teams really used this environment to collaborate better, and found it to be very useful to have all information in that single source of truth.”

Pasman also noted the usefulness of having a life cycle digital twin, as it “allows us to tie it all the way back not just to manufacturing but actually back into design, and making sure the data flows in the digital twin seamlessly.”

“I think if you talk to maintainers or sustainment and users, there’s a lot of time spent putting data into different systems. By making it easier to do that, it allows people to focus on the hard parts of their job, and not just the data entry parts,” she explained. “Collaboration between different areas and getting data flowing is where we see a lot of the benefit from 3DEXPERIENCE, from affordability and product quality perspectives. We’re focused now on how to take the next step in this journey and improve schedule and affordability to fit into the market space that we are working in today. That’s where a lot of the work from our digital thread initiatives have been focused.”

Next up, Craig Maxwell, the Vice President and Chief Technology and Innovation Officer for Ohio-based motion and control technologies leader Parker Hannifin, spoke about “Simple By Design.” The multinational company has been integrating some of the tools that Dassault has been developing over the past few years, which has been valuable to the company.

“When we look at any enterprise or business, we saw these as opportunities that would manifest themselves as complexity,” he said in reference to the image below. “An average customer experience, which might be the ability to ship on time, with high and consistent quality. Of course, inconsistent delivery would manifest itself as complexity. High cost would be complexity…and then all of this would beget complexity in its many forms.”

GIPI = Global Industrial Performance Index

He said that all of these complexities can add up to new opportunities to take the company on the path to high performance. Maxwell also explained that the company’s traditional simplification efforts had revolved around design and organizational structure, explaining that 80% of any business’s profits and sales come from 20% of its portfolio.

“So by slicing and dicing that, could we eliminate complexity? The answer is a resounding yes,” Maxwell said.

He explained that 70% of a product’s cost is design, while 30% is labor and overhead, like lean manufacturing and the supply chain. The key is to spend less time on L&O, or conventional simplification, and work harder to reduce business complexity in that 70% design range. He said there are hundreds and thousands of decisions made on the L&O side, which, while easier to change, had a more limited impact on the long life cycles of their products.

“There were processes in place that we felt could address that reactively, not proactively,” he said.

With design, the decisions made were “relatively few and quick,” even though they could make a significant impact, because they would be difficult to change, mainly due to expensive tooling.

“We believe that if we can address design complexity, it would enable us to move faster and to grow by taking market share,” Maxwell said.

He explained that the cross-functional team Parker Hannifin set up to address “new” product complexity in a proactive way knew early on that there are two different value streams of Simple by Design.

“New products, for sure, but also core products,” he said. “If you look at where the money is, new products get a lot of attention, but our business is core products…they’re undergoing revisions constantly because our customers are asking for things that are different.”

The team decided to tackle new products first, and spent a lot of time working on design-related objectives, which is where they thought “a lot of the complexity and cost was being created.” He explained that the team wanted to keep the customer at the center of their attention, figure out what their pain points were and what they wanted, and get rid of the things that didn’t add value.

“The first principle of Simple by Design is design with Forward Thinking. With that deep customer engagement, anticipate what your customers are going to ask for in the future,” he explained. “Are there things we can do to the design of the product that, without increasing cost, that will allow us to make changes to it at a later date? The second principle is Design to Reduce, so to reduce complexity, can we reduce the number of new parts that we have, can we reduce the number of new suppliers we have? Can we eliminate proprietary materials that might be hard to come by?

“Design to Reuse – can we reuse parts that already exist? Why do we need to invent new when we’ve already got very similar or exactly what we need released into the system…and then finally, if we do the first three, we should see flow in the factory. We should not see the kind of bottlenecks that we experience today.”

Maxwell said that Dassault comes in with software tools that provide access to data, which “is the big game changer.” He talked about all of the many books and catalogs that were in his office at the beginning of his career, noting that engineers today just can look at all of this information online, because they have access to data. Parker Hannifin estimates that it has about 26 million active part numbers, which is a lot to keep track of, and Maxwell said that roughly 45% of a typical design engineer’s time is spent searching for information.

“So if I had access to the data behind that 26 million part numbers, what would happen? And today, I’m not embarrassed to say that generally we don’t. There’s a lot of things that we do many many times, we’re a very diversified company, we’re global, ” Maxwell said. “It’s not unusual for people to spend their entire career here in the company and not talk to a lot of other operating divisions…outside of the one they work in. So what if I could connect them and give them access to information, what kind of leverage might I enjoy?”

He brought up the company’s usage of Dassault’s EXALEAD OnePart, which can give multiple division access to this kind of information. Maxwell said that this software was used “early on in testing and in value creation,” which was very helpful in finding duplicate parts or component-level parts that already exist in the system, so no one had to create a new part.

Below is a test case he showed of Parker successfully using Dassault tools. FET is an industry-standard 6000 PSI thread to connect couplings, and there are a lot of competitors for parts like this. The company was working to design a new series that was more of a premium product than the original FET.

“We applied simplified design principles,” he explained. “There’s four different sizes, it was bespoke, very distinct from the FET series that was standard. It was fully validated and ready for launch. But it added 147 component parts to the value stream.”

The team focused here, and used the simplified design principles to make the decision to recycle the validated part, and go back to the drawing board.

“Is there an opportunity for us to reuse some of the parts that already exist in the FET series in the new 59 series, but still maintaining the 59 series’ premium features and benefits?”

You can see the results of keeping things simplified above—123 parts were eliminated, while keeping the series at 100% function. The new 59 series shares 90% of its components with the original FET series, and no additional capital was spent on equipment. Costs and inventory went down, and delivery went up, which Maxwell called a “great example of flow.”

Swedberg then introduced Florence Verzelen, Executive Vice President, Industry, Marketing, Global Affairs and Workforce of the Future for Dassault Systèmes, who would discuss “How to Transform the New Normal into an Opportunity.”

She opened by discussing how the COVID-19 crisis has changed everything, such as having to stay home and social distancing, and I’m sure we all agreed with this statement. But now we’re entering a new phase of building back after the pandemic, and building back better, as businesses reopen.

“How do you think you managed during COVID?” she asked. “Are you ready to transform, to perform better in the new normal world? Do you know how to become more resilient and therefore be prepared for the next crisis?”

Verzelen discussed some of the stark numbers coming out of the pandemic, such as 53 million—the number of jobs considered to be “at risk” during confinement and quarantine.

“In the 21st century, we have never seen a crisis of this amplitude,” she said. “And when it happens, as industry leaders, there are really two things, two imperatives, we should consider. Ensure the survival of our company, and contribute to the safeguard of the economy.”

There are five actions to take here, and the first priority is to protect employees and make sure they can safely do their jobs.

Verzelen explained that the 3DEXPERIENCE tool SIMULIA can help with this in many ways, such as simulating the airflow in a building’s corridors. She also said that companies can “implore their employees to work from home” without disruption, which is possible thanks to Dassault’s cloud solution.

The second thing necessary to keep your company surviving is maintaining its financial health.

“COVID-19 has affected the liquidity of many companies,” she said. “Less revenue, more costs…and in order to make decisions, you need to be able to build a scenario.”

Online sales can help keep companies afloat during a crisis, and also help maintain the connection to customers. Dassault can help with these as well through its data analytics solutions and digital tools. Adapting your company’s marketing and sales for an online experience is the third way to ensure its survival.

The fourth thing is to safeguard the supply chain. The disruption of one supplier can decimate production all the way down the whole chain, which can include suppliers in locations all over the world.

“During a crisis, it becomes essential to know where the weak points are,” Verzelen said. “This again we can do thanks to digitalization and thanks to data analytics.”

Finally, companies need to help the ecosystem, otherwise it will not survive. Dassault made sure that all of its solutions and tools were readily available on the cloud so that all customers could continue to work to keep the ecosystem going.

But, even though the world is slowly coming out of confinement, Verzelen warns that “it’s not over yet.” The use of automation will likely increase, and e-commerce is skyrocketing in Italy.

“It’s the beginning of a new phase. It’s the beginning of what we call the new normal.”

A lot of decisions need to be made when you’re restarting a business. Again, Dassault can help with this by building scenarios, so companies know the right steps to take, and in what order, to successfully reopen.

“We all have to change,” Verzelen said. “We’re developing new capabilities for employees, and making learning experiences available online to make sure your teams are ready. Returning to business probably means we need to rethink our supply chain, and we know that a contact-limited economy is here to stay. So you should push for e-commerce, and be prepared to work in contact-limited economy.”

She stated that the 3DEXPERIENCE allows companies to “unlock unlimited value,” and help us cope during this new normal.

“There are many ways to be resilient, and all of those ways are linked to innovation and sustainability.”

The paradigm has changed, and we need to be realistic going forward, and focus on sustainability in operations and business models, such as turning to additive manufacturing if your usual supplier can’t get you what you need in time.

“With the 3DEXPERIENCE platform you can create this kind of business model…create more efficiently, design more quickly,” she said.

“In a nutshell, we are going through very difficult times right now…But this crisis can also be seen as an opportunity to rethink what we do, and build back better.”

Finally, Swedberg introduced three additional Dassault panelists for the final discussion: Dr. Ales Alajbegovic, Vice President, SIMULIA Industry Process Success & Services; Garth Coleman, Vice President, ENOVIA Advocacy Marketing; and Eric Green, DELMIA’s Brand Marketing Vice President. These three are in charge of the content for the rest of 3DEXPERIENCE: A Virtual Journey, as it continues on:

  • “Fueling Innovation for the New Agile Enterprise,” August 26th
  • “Modeling & Simulation, Additive Manufacturing,” September 23rd
  • “Enabling Business Continuity Using the Cloud,” October 14th

L-R: Swedberg, Green, Coleman, Alajbegovic

Green said that three themes would be articulated in these upcoming sessions, all of which will fall under the “sustainable operations” umbrella: data-driven decision-making, leveraging agile success and being agile for success, and business resiliency. Coleman mentioned that the many customer references and testimonials found on the 3DEXPERIENCE site provide many examples of how the platform has helped customers innovate across every industry…even wine-making! Dr. Alajbegovic said that they are “very excited” about the upcoming modeling and simulation sessions and additive manufacturing panels.

“In our sessions, we will look at ways to enable the marriage between modeling and simulation, thus revolutionizing design,” Dr. Alajbegovic said.

It’s not too late to register for 3DEXPERIENCE: A Virtual Journey, so sign up today to enjoy access to further digital programming from Dassault Systèmes.

The post 3DEXPERIENCE: A Virtual Journey, Part 1 appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing.

New Ultimaker Essentials 3D Printing Software Targeted at Enterprises

You’re likely already familiar with Ultimaker’s versatile suite of Cura software. Now, the Dutch professional 3D printing company has launched a software solution that’s meant to help customers get past some of the main barriers of additive manufacturing (AM) adoption. The paid subscription-based platform is called Ultimaker Essentials, and will allow companies to integrate 3D printing into their IT infrastructures, in addition to distributing and updating their existing AM software. Additionally, Ultimaker Essentials includes a brand new eLearning platform to help customers continue gain knowledge about the technology.

Many enterprise IT departments share a common difficulty in trying to successfully manage distribution 3D printing software across multiple workflows. Ultimaker states that its new software offering can streamline the process by ensuring that any plugins and updates are introduced to an organization’s users at the same time, which gives employees more control access—especially helpful during this time when COVID-19 is disrupting daily business as we know it.

“As one of the core pillars of Industry 4.0, 3D printing is an essential part of progressive business solutions and processes. In the wake of the recent pandemic, companies need to quickly realize, if they haven’t already, that global supply chains and manufacturing workflows can be easily disrupted,” Ultimaker CEO Jos Burger stated. “The transition to digital distribution and local manufacturing is now imminent and more imperative than ever. The Ultimaker Essentials launch is targeted at addressing these gaps and removing the final barriers in adoption of 3D printing.”

According to Ultimaker’s 2019 3D Printing Sentiment Index, 69% of the surveyed professionals said that knowledge was the most common barrier to AM adoption; 40% of these also mentioned that they did not have the skillset needed to leverage the technology effectively. Thus, Ultimaker Essentials subscribers will also enjoy access to three eLearning courses from the newly launched Ultimaker 3D Printing Academy.

“We are thrilled to roll-out the Ultimaker 3D Printing Academy as a premier platform for learning, which will significantly increase in value over time. This is only the first step of our program as in Q4 we will expand the Academy by releasing multiple role- and topic-based courses, which will lead to additional certifications,” said Ultimaker CMO Nuno Campos. “We look forward to the continued adoption and education of 3D printing and are excited to help businesses uncover how 3D printing can benefit their business now and in the future.”

The Ultimaker 3D Printing Academy provides custom content created specifically to help professionals in the current workforce overcome these major barriers. The courses range from novice to expert levels, and are also available on their own, not just for Ultimaker Essentials subscribers.

The new software solution comes with a catalog full of verified plugins, in addition to a new direct support function, so 3D printing output can be properly scaled. The company states that organizations which subscribe to Ultimaker Essentials will receive “an enterprise grade solution for adopting a full 3D printing infrastructure.”

If you’re interested in learning more about this new software offering from Ultimaker, you can join today’s live webinar as Ultimaker’s Director of Community Development Matt Griffin, and four guest speakers, discuss the platform in detail. On July 14 at 9 am EDT (6 am PDT, 3 pm CEST, 9 pm SGT), the hour-long virtual event will explain how Ultimaker Essentials can help businesses scale 3D printing benefits. Attendees will learn how Ultimaker is using its new software solution to help solve 3D printing barriers, as well as find out what’s coming next for its popular Cura software and ask questions in a live Q&A session.

In addition to Griffin and Campos, the other webinar presenters from Ultimaker are:

  • Paul Hejmans, SVP Software
  • Caecilie von Techman, Project Manager E-Learning
  • Elder Linssen, Product Marketing

You can register for the webinar here.

(Source/Images courtesy of Ultimaker)

The post New Ultimaker Essentials 3D Printing Software Targeted at Enterprises appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing.

3D Printing Webinar and Virtual Event Roundup, July 7, 2020

We’ve got plenty of 3D printing webinars and virtual events to tell you about for this coming week, starting with nScrypt’s webinar today. 3Ding and Formlabs will each hold a webinar tomorrow, July 8th, and 3D Systems is hosting a virtual event on the 8th. There are two more webinars on July 9th, by KEX Knowledge Exchange and ASME, and Additive Industries is holding a virtual event that day. Finally, a 3D Health Hackathon will take place starting July 10th.

nScrypt’s Cutting Edge of Digital Manufacturing Webinar

On June 30th, nScrypt held the first of a two-part Cutting Edge Digital Manufacturing webinar series, and is holding the second part today, July 7th, at 1 pm ET. In part two of “Pushing the Envelope of Digital Manufacturing,” the speakers will be Eric D. Wachsman, PhD, from the University of Maryland; Eduardo Rojas, PhD, with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University; Hjalti Sigmarsson, PhD, from Oklahoma University; and Craig Armiento, PhD, with the University of Massachusetts Lowell.

Topics of discussion in this webinar include the use of metamaterials, building radio frequency devices, systems, and the first 3D/volumetric electrical circuits and antennas, and the state of the art of 3D manufacturing. Register here.

3DIng “Let’s Talk 3D Printing” Webinar

Indian 3D printer manufacturer 3Ding recently began holding a weekly webinar about 3D printing-related topics, such as SketchUp training, different types of 3D printing, OpenSCAD, slicing, applications in rapid prototyping, and how to choose a 3D printer. Tomorrow, July 8th, the topic of the weekly webinar will be “Live Demo of FabX, Hydra Series 3D Printers & AMA.”

Surendranath Reddy, the founder, CEO, and CTO of 3Ding, is leading the remote webinar session, which will take place at 6:30 am ET and last about 45 minutes. You can join the session here.

Webinar on Formlabs’ New Materials

Formlabs recently launched two new materials, Flexible 80A and Elastic 50A resins, which allows customers to make soft, flexible parts with ease. In a webinar on July 8th at 2:00 pm ET, attendees will get to learn all about these resins with the company’s Materials Product Manager Kathy But and webinar specialist Faris Sheikh. Topics will include when to use these materials, optimal applications, 3D printing material properties like spring back, tensile strength, and shore durometer, and the Ross Flex Test.

“To make soft and flexible parts with traditional methods, such as RTV moldmaking, can be a lengthy process. If you’ve also tried directly 3D printing flexible parts, you probably know there’s not many high performing materials available. That is now changing.

“With the launch of our Flexible 80A and Elastic 50A Resins, you’ll be able to easily fabricate flexible parts that are both soft and hard.”

Register here.

3D Systems’s Virtual Tradeshow 

3D Systems is holding a virtual event on July 8th in order to teach attendees how to transform their manufacturing workflows. There will be a keynote address, networking opportunities, multiple live webinars, and even a virtual exhibition hall. The company will provide examples of digital manufacturing solution workflows with plastic and metal additive manufacturing, subtractive manufacturing, and on-demand services.

“Businesses are focused on lowering risk, resolving supply chain dependencies, streamlining supplier distribution and avoiding interruptions to supply access.

“Join 3D Systems at this exclusive virtual event to find out how Digital Manufacturing Solutions designed for today’s production needs, enable you to integrate additive and subtractive technologies into your manufacturing environment and workflow — providing increased agility, quicker lead times, improved productivity, and allowing you to offer new innovations to your customers.”

All presentations will be in English, and available on-demand for 30 days. Register here.

KEX Knowledge Exchange on Powder Bed Fusion

KEX Knowledge Exchange AG, a former spinoff of Fraunhofer IPT, offers technology consulting. As a service to its industrial and research partners, the company also has a web platform that offers over 7,000 profiles of AM technologies and materials, in addition to industry news, and has now launched a section devoted to webinars, with topics including post-processing and powder bed fusion (PBF) 3D printing.

“Together with one of our appreciated network partners, the ACAM Aachen Center for Additive Manufacturing, we now launched a webinar section,” Jun Kim Doering, a technical writer with KEX, told 3DPrint.com. “Due to the COVID19 situation, ACAM has shifted their focus to an online offering, including webinars on different aspects of the AM technologies and applications.”

The first, “Webinar Powder Bed Fusion (PBF) – Advanced insights into Process, Parameters & Hardware,” will take place this Thursday, July 9th, and Erik Feldbaum, ACAM Aachen Center for Additive Manufacturing, will speak. It’s free for ACAM members, and will cost €175 for non-members.

ASME on 3D Printing in Hospitals

AM Medical, powered by ASME International, will be holding a free, live webinar this Thursday, July 9th, on “Building the Business Case for 3D Printing in Hospitals.” Point-of-care manufacturing leaders will discuss necessary skills, where to find the proper resources, how to address reimbursement, and other important questions during the hourlong session, from 4-5 pm ET. Speakers are Andy Christensen, the President of Somaden; Jonathan Morris, MD, Neuroradiologist and Director of the Mayo Clinic’s 3D Printing Anatomic Modeling Lab; Beth Ripley, MDAssistant Professor of Radiology with VA Puget Sound; Justin RyanResearch Scientist at Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego; and Formlabs’ Director of Healthcare Gaurav Manchanda.

“The ability to manufacture from the patient’s data (medical imaging or surface scan) has been compelling to a community always looking for ways to innovate. With improving patient care as the primary goal, 3D printing has directly impacted more than 1 million patients. More than 25 years ago, anatomical models began to be used for planning of complex surgical procedures. Today, hospitals are using the technology for surgical guides and more. With increasing numbers of hospitals looking to bring 3D printing into their facility, how are they building the business case?”

Register here.

Additive Industries Hosting Digital Event

On July 9th and 10th, Additive Industries is getting the trade show season running again with what it calls “a corona-proof way to get out of the starting blocks.” At its two-day virtual event, attendees can visit the company’s digital booth, view presentations, and talk to the experts to learn more about the MetalFAB1 3D printer and how the company can help turn your ideas into reality…all without traveling or waiting in line.

“While the virtual domain has limitless possibilities, we still live in the physical world. With our exclusive industry additive manufacturing event – we are making the virtual world a reality.”

Register for the virtual event here.

3D Health Hackathon

The Jersey City Rapid Maker Response Group (JCRMRG), a volunteer collective in New Jersey, is hosting a virtual Community Health Hackathon this week in order to foster community entrepreneurship and take on sustainability, supply chain, and manufacturing challenges that are related to healthcare and PPE (personal protective equipment) during COVID-19. There are three categories: sustainable PPE, modular solution labs, and day-to-day PPE, and the deadline to register is this Friday, July 10, at 12 pm ET. Panelists will meet the nine judges during a Zoom call that night to present their ideas, and then the next two days will be spent hacking. The final submission deadline is July 13th at 9 am, and winners will be announced on July 16th.

“Throughout the COVID-19 health crisis healthcare workers faced critical shortages in PPE created by supply chain disruptions and shortages. Jersey City Rapid Maker Response Group, as well as other groups like them around the country, proved that by quickly deploying 3D-printing capabilities and then extending those capabilities through rapid manufacturing – they were able to scale from producing 1,000 face shields a week to 10,000 face shields a day, both at a fraction of traditional pricing.

“We have reached out to leaders in the tech, manufacturing and 3D-printing communities to form a community-led virtual make-athon.  Our collective goal is to continue to bring bright minds together to develop 3D-printing, manufacturing and community-based engineering solutions to address the ongoing needs surrounding supply chain disruptions in emergent and healthcare settings.”

The current prize pool is valued at over $7,500, so what are you waiting for? Register for the hackathon here.

Will you attend any of these events and webinars, or have news to share about future ones? Let us know! Discuss this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts in the comments below.

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3D Printing Webinar and Virtual Event Roundup, June 23, 2020

We’ve got three upcoming webinars to tell you about in this week’s roundup, with two taking place at the same time on June 24th. The first one is focused on metal 3D printing, while the second is about how to use the technology to unlock massive value, specifically in the food and beverage manufacturing sector. Finally, Stratasys is holding the first of two webinars about aerospace 3D printing on June 25th.

BIG 3D Metal Printing Webinar

This Wednesday, June 24th, at 11 am EDT, EOS North America and Additive Manufacturing Customized Machines (AMCM) are hosting the free “BIG 3D Metal Printing” webinar, focusing on how technology advancements in additive manufacturing are driving applications in commercial space hardware. In this one-hour course, attendees will learn why metal 3D printing is more accessible, what DMLS technology is, what materials can be leveraged, and how customized 3D printing is continuing to advance. The speakers – Martin Bullemer, Managing Director of AMCM; Dr. Ankit Saharan, Manager of Research and Applications Development at EOS North America; and Graham Warwick, Aviation Week’s Executive Editor for Technology – will discuss what metal 3D printing is truly capable of creating.

“The challenges of fast development and innovation have lessened because of industrial metal 3D printing (additive manufacturing, or AM). Whether propulsion, structural, or integrated componentry, AM is accelerating the latest space race.

“Now, AM is moving quickly to meet even greater requirements—such as fully 3D printed combustion chambers with high-performance features, lighter weight structural components, or even fully 3D printed satellites. The latest advancement? Fully printed 3D components up to one (1) meter tall.”

Register for the free webinar here.

3D Printing for Food and Beverage Manufacturers

Ultimaker is also holding a free webinar at 11 am EDT this Wednesday, titled “3D printing for food and beverage manufacturers.” If you don’t want to miss either one, you also have the option of attending the first broadcast session of this webinar at 5 am EDT. Even if you’re not in the food and beverage industry, this 50-minute webinar could still be useful, as the company “will be revealing some of the best ideas and strategies that we use to help our biggest customers unlock massive value with 3D printing.”

Ultimaker’s Director of Community Development, Matt Griffin, and Application Engineer, Jeremy Evers, will discuss which AM applications in this industry are currently working, and how to use the technology to achieve excellent results, such as reduced costs, increased line uptime, and optimized efficiency. During the webinar, they will give examples of industry-proven applications that have saved Ultimaker customers a lot of money, provide two sample criteria that the company’s application engineers use to determine which applications can achieve the largest ROI, discuss the future of 3D printing in the food and beverage industry in a post-coronavirus market, and more. Additionally, attendees will have the chance to participate in a live Q&A afterwards. Register here.

Stratasys Aerospace Webinar Series

This Thursday, June 25th, at 10 am EDT, Stratasys will be hosting the first in its new aerospace webinar series, titled “Challenges Of Manufacturing Aircraft Production Parts.” Niccolò Giannelli, Aerospace Application and Account Manager EMEA for Stratasys, will speak during this hour-long webinar about how certifying 3D printed aircraft parts for installation is easier with the company’s Aircraft Interiors Solution (AIS).

Some of the topics to be discussed in this first webinar include the value of both Stratasys’ AM solution and additive manufacturing for aircraft production parts, what comes in the Stratasys AIS package, and the improved performance of airline companies after they’ve implemented the Stratasys Aircraft Interiors Solution. Register here. The next webinar in this series will be held on June 30th.

Will you attend any of these events and webinars, or have news to share about future ones? Let us know! Discuss this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts in the comments below.

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3D Printing Webinar and Virtual Event Roundup, June 16, 2020

We’ve got the details on two webinars and one virtual event in today’s roundup. 3Ding is hosting a series of webinars about 3D printing, while Rize published one focused on generative design. Finally, an interesting online event is coming up near the end of the week.

3DIng “Let’s Talk 3D Printing” Webinar

Indian company 3DIng manufactures and supplies 3D printers and 3D scanners, offers prototyping and professional 3D printing services, and during this time of COVID-19, is also holding a weekly webinar about 3D printing. Every Wednesday, the company hosts a remote session called “Let’s Talk 3D Printing” that focuses on a different topic. The series began in late March with “Applications in Rapid Prototyping, Rapid Tooling & Agile Manufacturing,” and has continued every week since. Surendranath Reddy, the company’s founder, CEO and CTO, leads the webinar sessions, along with another trainer named Praveen.

Once you register for the webinar, you’ll receive related handouts. Topics have ranged from SketchUp and OpenSCAD, slicing and scanning, and even an open Q&A with Reddy. This Wednesday, June 17, the topic will be a hands-on SketchUp workshop, and the topic for the June 24th session has not yet been announced.

Rize Webinar on Generative Design & 3D Printing

Boston-based additive manufacturing company Rize, which specializes in Augmented Polymer Deposition (APD) technology that allows for the easy snap-off release of supports, has published a free webinar, which is available to view on-demand, about how to seamlessly use additive manufacturing and generative design to achieve process innovation. The webinar, which lasts about 20 minutes, features Rize Applications Engineer Neil Foley, who tells viewers how the combination of these two technologies can make it possible to automate and optimize important parameters, like weight distribution and strength, and how to speed up the adoption of new design methodologies in order to “streamline design and production and scale the technology across your company.”

“One of the main challenges of additive manufacturing is that it is not safe and easy for all users. This limits the adoption of next-generation design tools, like generative design, which need early validation that is only possible with 3D printing. Furthermore, design validation requires multiple iterations and the ability to have full digital traceability of 3D printed parts to the original designs.”

Makerbot’s “The Future is Now” Virtual Summit

This Thursday, June 18th, desktop 3D printing company Makerbot is hosting an online event, entitled “The Future is Now, A Virtual 3D Printing Summit.” Over 2,000 people have already signed up, and several big industry names, including JABIL, Stratasys, Forbes, and Makelab, will be participating. The event will kick off at 10 am with remarks from Makerbot CEO Nadav Goshen, and a total of seven sessions will take place, on topics ranging from 3D printing in automotive production and robotics to supply chain automation and product design. After a brief period of virtual networking, the summit will conclude at 4 pm.

“Living in an era characterized by innovation and the rapid implementation of technologies, 3D printing has long passed its tipping point and is now impacting almost every industry globally. With this additive manufacturing revolution well underway, we want to hear directly from the leaders and innovators that are shaping the world with 3D printing.”

Register for the free virtual summit here.

Will you attend any of these events and webinars, or have news to share about future ones? Let us know! Discuss this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts in the Facebook comments below.

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3D Printing Webinar & Virtual Event Roundup, May 31, 2020

With so many events going virtual due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, there’s also been an increase in the number of webinars that companies in the additive manufacturing industry are holding. To make things easier for our readers, since there’s so much online content to choose from these days, 3DPrint.com is compiling all of these available webinars, and the virtual events, into a weekly roundup for you, starting today.

Freeman Technology Webinar

Characterization Tools for Evaluating Polymer Powders for Laser Sintering Webinar

This Tuesday, June 2nd, UK-based Freeman Technology, a Micromeritics company that creates systems for measuring the flow properties of powder materials, will host a webinar at 9 am ET titled “Characterization Tools for Evaluating Polymer Powders for Laser Sintering.” Enrico Gallino, Senior Engineer – Material Specialist at Ricoh UK Products Ltd, will speak about evaluating an AM powder characterization methodology, and will also discuss the results of screening the relevant properties, such as flowability, shape, and thermal properties, of a variety of materials.

“As additive manufacturing (AM) technology transitions from the fabrication of prototypes to serial production of end-use parts, the understanding of the powder properties needed to reliably produce parts of acceptable quality becomes critical,” the webinar site states.

“Achieving the optimal quality for parts does not only depend on setting the right process parameters. Material feedstock also plays an important role when aiming for high performance products. In the case of selective laser sintering, polymer powders are used as a raw material. Therefore, controlling the quality and correctly characterizing the particles used in the process is a key step to successfully apply polymer AM techniques and also to expand the range of material that can be process with this technology.”

Click here to register.

Dassault Systèmes Webinar

Dassault Systèmes be will holding a live webinar on Thursday, June 4th at 10 am ET, titled “Intuitive 3D Designs with CATIA® and SOLIDWORKS® on Mobile Devices.” Participants will have the chance to learn how beneficial flexible design workflows can be when delivering products to market, faster, across many different industries. There will be a live demonstration, using tablets and PCs, on how combining CATIA and SOLIDWORKS on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform will allow your business to add engineering details with simple parametric modeling, create organic surfaces with subdivision (Sub-D) modeling, generate complex patterns and shapes quickly, optimize and evolve designs using an algorithmic approach, and more – all from your own device. The demonstration will be followed by a live Q&A session.

“Discover our portfolio of ready-to-go online Design and Engineering applications in action, which enable you to design from your laptop, your smartphone or tablet! Enjoy increased agility without compromising best-in-class design and engineering capabilities,” the webinar site states.

“With its growing app portfolio and secure cloud technology, the 3DEXPERIENCE platform enables you to manage all facets of your product development process while reducing infrastructure costs, IT overhead, software maintenance and complexity. All 3DEXPERIENCE solutions work together seamlessly making data management, sharing and collaboration easy.”

Click here to register.

3DHEALS 2020 Global Summit

The 3DHEALS conference is going virtual this year, as the 3DHEALS 2020 Global Summit runs from 11 am-9:30 pm ET June 5th and 6th. Offering powerful networking and effective programming on a global stage, this popular bioprinting conference – sponsored by Whova and Zoom – brings together influencers and audiences from over nine countries, offering opportunities and insights that can be beneficial to stakeholders. With over 70 speakers, more than four workshops, startup events, simulated in-conference experience, an interview series hosted by Dr. Jenny Chen, and more, this is one you won’t want to miss.

“3DHEALS2020 is designed to cater to a wide range of professionals, ranging from healthcare early adopter, manufacturers, engineers, legal professionals and policymakers, C-Level executives, entrepreneurs, investors, and more. We aim to create an effective program that maximizes the attendee’s experiences and decreases the barriers in communication among stakeholders,” the event site states.

Click here to register.

Will you attend these events and webinars, or have news to share about future ones? Let us know! Discuss this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts in the comments below.

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3D Printing News Briefs, May 18, 2020: Fraunhofer, Formnext, Visagio & DiManEx, BCN3D Technologies

In today’s 3D Printing News Briefs, Fraunhofer will soon discuss adoption of Industry 4.0-related technologies in a webinar, and we’ve learned that Formnext 2020 is still planned for this November. Moving on, Visagio and DiManEx have announced a partnership. Finally, BCN3D’s technology was used to make an interesting event installation.

Fraunhofer’s Industry 4.0 Webinar

Tomorrow, May 19th, the Fraunhofer Project Center (FPC) at the University of Twente will be holding a free webinar called “The Road to Digitalisation” that explains some of the challenges in adopting technologies related to Industry 4.0, such as 3D printing, as well as the solutions. Industry 4.0 is about optimization, and can offer companies many benefits, such as increased revenue, better quality, and reduced cycle times and costs. But, it can be a tough journey to start, and companies looking to start could use some help.

“Industry 4.0 is all about optimization; from managing big data to efficiency in the production line. All this aims at enabling businesses to make quicker, smarter decisions while minimizing costs. This webinar sets out to explain the challenges and to offer solutions in the adoption of I4.0 related technologies.”

The webinar, featuring Join Biba Visnjicki, Managing Director of FPC, and Thomas Vollmer, Head of Production Quality Dept. from Fraunhofer IPT, will last 60 minutes; register for free here.

Formnext 2020 Still a Go in Frankfurt

As many places in the world are cautiously reopening after recent mass shutdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we need to look to the future. In that vein, Mesago Messe Frankfurt GmbH is still planning to hold the AM industry’s biggest event, formnext 2020, this November 10-13. Recently, the Federal Government and the Federal States of Germany ruled that trade shows are no longer under the ‘major events’ category for health risks, but the health of all the employees, exhibitors, and visitors are still considered the highest priority if the event does indeed take place this fall. That’s why the exhibition organizer is working around the clock to develop an updated health concept, such as introducing contact tracing and decreasing visitor density, along with a supplementary digital/virtual program.

“We remain convinced of the unique value and advantages of a physical exhibition. And although digital interaction will never be able to replace face-to-face contact, it does offer more scope than previously thought possible only a few weeks ago,” stated Sascha F. Wenzler, Vice President of Formnext, Mesago Messe Frankfurt GmbH.

“Ultimately, even in these challenging times, we want to organize a trade show that is as responsive as possible to the current situation and the needs of participants and the market.”

Visagio and DiManEx Partnering to Improve AM Supply Chains

(Image: DiManEx)

Management consultancy Visagio Ltd and DiManEx BV are partnering to strengthen end-to-end 3D printing usage in supply chains. Companies are looking to conquer supply base disruptions, and by pairing Visagio’s supply chain services with DiManEx’s end-to-end 3D printing platform, they can do so by digitizing their inventory and 3D printing parts on demand, which can delivered all over the world. The collaboration is a representation of how both companies address market needs, especially in these challenging times as COVID-19 disrupts the global supply and demand process.

“Companies are increasingly looking for ways to optimize their supply chains and mitigate risks, such as those brought about by pandemics or geo-political tensions. Our platform embeds 3D printing in supply chains easily, realising the concept of ‘Digital Inventory at your Fingertips, Ordered at a Click of a Button’. Coupled with Visagio’s industry and management expertise, this is a winning combination for supply chain optimization,” said Tibor van Melsem Kocsis, the Founder and CEO of DiManEx.

3D Printed Cisco Live 2020 Installation

Thanks to 3D printing, it was possible to quickly iterate not only the main design, but also all the smaller parts of the internal mechanisms.

Speaking of collaborations, Barcelona data interpretation firm and design studio Domestic Data Streamers pairs data and arts with storytelling to develop “participatory projects” for community building and education. Its workshop has long used 3D printers from BCN3D Technologies, and recently turned to the technology again to create an installation for the Cisco Live 2020 event. The studio wanted to give attendees “a better experience” by displaying the event schedule on an interactive Recommendation Wall of clickable screens; once clicked, the animated image turned into a QR code, which visitors could scan for more information. The screens had to be custom-made, and so Domestic Data Streamers turned to its in-house printer farm, and the BCN3D Epsilon 3D printer. They used PETG to print over 40 of the main covers in just four weeks, which equaled major cost savings.

“The printers work very well, we count on a very high success ratio, and the support from the team is always quick and helpful,” said Pol Trias, the Head of Design at Domestic Data Streamers.

“It gave us great agility when it comes to functionally and aesthetically validating the designs at a very low cost…our processes were more efficient and much faster thanks to our BCN3D Epsilon.

“This could not have happened without 3D printing. For a project like this one, where you want high-quality results in a short time and within a limited budget, there is no better option than 3D printing.”

You can learn more about the project here, or check out the video below.

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

The post 3D Printing News Briefs, May 18, 2020: Fraunhofer, Formnext, Visagio & DiManEx, BCN3D Technologies appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing.

SLM Solutions Webinar: “We Want to Give our Customers the Freedom to Innovate”

A new webinar series by 3D metal printer manufacturer SLM Solutions showcases its system’s ability to empower customers to grow in the ever-evolving additive manufacturing (AM) marketplace. For many 3D printing companies, webinars are turning into a fundamental tool to create awareness about new developments and to identify customer needs. For the German-based top metal 3D printing supplier, this new series of webinars can draw in users in search of cost-efficient, fast, and reliable Selective Laser Melting (SLM, DMLS, Powder Bed Fusion) 3D printers for part production, which is the core development at SLM Solutions.

During the hour-long educational talk through the advantages of true open architecture in AM, the Director of Industrialization Strategy for SLM Solutions Americas, Thomas Haymond, explores the company’s goal: building a system that grows with the user. By opening up the system’s architecture, SLM Solutions wants to prove that customers will never outgrow the machines and instead be able to adapt their businesses, reduce their learning curve, and innovate from day one. 

Defined by Haymond as a system that allows for full user access, where there are no closed doors, and essentially everything about the system and its inherent variables is fully discoverable, open-architecture systems are unquestionably important to the company. So, what are the key elements? Haymond defined four:

  1. Powder variety
  2. Open process parameters
  3. Freedom to control variables
  4. Customized development

Certainly, many metal 3D printing manufacturers offer open access to certain aspects of their systems, however, SLM Solutions claims that its product is different and unique because there are no additional requirements associated with it. 

“The initial variable of powder variability is an open architecture element we recognize and we will support you with. Empowering the user to understand this intricate knowledge expedites their evolution and turns them into power users of additive manufacturing technology,” asserted Haymond. “By providing the ability to utilize an unlimited variety of raw materials, opening the doors on all of our parameter configurations, and educating the customer on how to transform all facets of built strategy parameters, we are enabling them to apply the SLM technology in whatever direction they choose.”

Achieving a successful build is heavily dependant on the powder being used, which according to Haymond, is arguably one of the most important system-level variables. In fact, he considers that the first key element of an open architecture system is the ability to vary the raw material, emphasizing the importance of powder quality and variety. That is why SLM Solutions offers a wide assortment of materials, from the traditional to the rather exotic more advanced AM powders, as well as a few new aluminum alloys which they have yet to release.

“So, why is powder critical to success? Powder specifications are critical to succesfull builds. We understand that there is a need for material diversity as this industry is constantly growing and establishing new applications. In the old additive manufacturing world, it was about processing properties and performance; but in the metal additive manufacturing world, powder drives processing, drives properties and ultimately drives performance, something we call P4.”

One of the big perks of SLM Solutions systems is that they work with external powders. Haymond described that there are no fees, penalties, or stigma associated with sourcing raw materials for their SLM systems. However, he indicated that “while we do permit these external powder use we do so with a number of recommendations with respect to powder quality and powder specifications that are critical to building quality and success.”

When customers choose to source powder externally the company claims they will walk them through the three basic requirements, that is flowability, moisture content, and particle size distribution.

SLM Solutions manufacturing headquarters in Lübeck, Germany (Credit: SLM Solutions)

To encourage user development, SLM Solutions said they develop and provide parameters for each of its released materials. The open process parameters are the materials and parts in specific settings that can be varied and impact a user’s build quality. Haymond indicated that there is no need to actively edit any of these available parameter settings, but they are open in case a customer wishes to do alter them in pursuit of a specific development objective. 

“When you purchase one of our systems, you are guaranteed to have access to all build strategies that we have released. Furthermore, the software that we have developed around parameter modification and material development is a very detailed sweep that allows our customers to explore the intricacies of the build strategies that we have released. It is designed to provide the user with as much functionality, information, sensor feedback, and flexibility that is really possible. Both SLM solutions software, that is the Build Processor and the Material Development Module (MDM), facilitate the variation of every available parameter in a very user-friendly fashion, as we strive to provide the most comprehensive software for our customers.” 

Haymond suggested that this access essentially allows users to understand the logic behind the systems’ parameter structure, and learn how to create similar constructs for themselves in pursuit of their growth with SLM Solutions machines, and within the AM industry itself.

“Additionally, through providing this unparalleled level of access we are enabling significant cost and time savings for the development of new materials or the development of new exposure strategies for established materials.”

SLM Solutions machines (Credit: SLM Solutions)

There is no real limit to the number of combinations for a given material family. And SLM Solutions makes it unnecessary to edit the variables because the parameters they claim to provide for any given material are deemed to produce ideal mechanical and physical properties for a wide range of geometries. Yet, like in the previous two elements of open-architecture systems, the company believes that having the freedom to control variables will enhance the user’s experience, allowing them to innovate and grow with the system and technology. 

All the variables are modified with the Build Processor. Haymond explained that they “found many of our customers begin their path to custom development with the use of a new material not currently offered with an optimized parameter set.” So SLM has developed a unique tool within the built processor software, the MDM, which facilitates the automatic varying of individual parameters and will also automatically assign the matrix of parameters across the given build platform. Haymond proposes that users who have experienced a new material development will appreciate that they will no longer have to laboriously and tediously create each individual parameter set and type it in by hand and then assign it to the parts. Instead, the MDM software eliminates all this time consuming and error-prone activities.

“Essentially the MDM allows the user the ability to perform a systematic analysis of the part parameter variation. It is an incredibly useful tool, mostly focused around the editing of the basic parameters. The software is designed to utilize the user-specific rules to create matrices of every parameter setting. So once customers decide which parameters they wish to study and establish their relative boundary conditions the rule editor can be utilized to build the matrix.”

One of the primary tenants of open architecture philosophy means altering and modifying all parameter variables, which will eventually lead to customized development. That’s the goal for SLM Solutions: providing capability of complete customization gives the user freedom.

SLM Solutions machines at work (Credit: SLM Solutions)

As the AM world develops, SLM Solutions asserted that they will continue to develop and release material and process parameter combinations. Even more so, Haymond stated that the “needs of our customers can sometimes outpace our efforts, and rather than forcing our customers to wait for us we choose to empower them to continually strive for the rise of metal AM, using our machines as their vessels.”

“Essentially, it all boils down to providing the capability that the user needs to customize the development. We feel that we want to provide an open architecture to allow customers to grow because this is such a new industry with so much potential, and we are still in the infancy of its development, furthermore, without the flexibility of open architecture, you’ll be forever catching up to market trends. Instead, we want to empower our customers to be the trendsetters.”

High-quality SLM additive manufacturing machines have high costs, especially if parts aren’t optimized or designed for the process. SLM Solutions’ approach to creating true open architecture manufacturing systems expects to offer customers full access to every aspect of the system and its inherent variables, enabling them to optimize their systems. As discussed in the webinar, providing accessibility to control variables and parameters can take the users to new levels. 

The post SLM Solutions Webinar: “We Want to Give our Customers the Freedom to Innovate” appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing.

3D Printing News Briefs: April 4, 2020

It’s the first 3D Printing News Briefs of the month! To start with, SelfCAD released a new update, and ACEO is hosting a webinar series about 3D printing with silicones, while Objectify Technologies and TAGMA India are hosting a webinar series about AM adoption. Finally, SHINING 3D and Scan the World are using 3D scanners to bring art and culture to people during a time when most can’t leave their homes.

SelfCAD 2.9.2 Release

SelfCAD has released its latest software update, SelfCAD 2.9.2, which improves upon existing features and adds new ones to make 3D modeling and printing more efficient. First, there’s a new Environment Map feature in the Settings dropdown menu that lets you add lighting and scenery to your model, and even an environment map. In advanced settings, the new Macro Preview feature lets you see the results of the macros you’ve added without having to finalize your choices.

You can set a Minimum Step Size for Drawing, Transformation, and Deformation tools, and apply several operations, such as Chamfer, Fillet, Round Object, and Simplify, to Profiles. In addition, SelfCAD has fixed some bugs, and added more settings and options to the Round Object tool. If you have any questions or bugs to report, you can join the SelfCAD Facebook group or email support@selfcad.com.

ACEO Presenting 3D Silicone Printing Webinar Series

Due to newly implemented health and safety measures during the COVID-19 pandemic, ACEO continues to be operational, but is unable to receive customers right now. So, in an effort to stay connected during these strange times, the company’s team of application specialists, design engineers, and material experts are presenting a series of webinars – in English – all about silicone 3D printing.

The first one, “ACEO Basics,” will be held Tuesday, April 7, from 9-9:30 CET, and Wednesday, April 8, from 4-4:30 CET. You can sign up for the webinars here; the event password is jVMGwgX$242. Future topics for the series, with dates not yet announced, are “Real Silicones,” “Design Freedom,” and “ACEO Use Cases.” Please email service@aceo3d.com with your name, company/organization, and country if you’d like to sign up. A modern browser (i.e. not Internet Explorer) is recommended to watch the webinars.

Objectify Technologies and TAGMA India Holding Webinars

As many people around the world are staying indoors and away from other people during the pandemic, it’s easy to get bored. But, you can spend your time in a productive way, which is why Objectify Technologies and TAGMA India are holding their own 3D printing webinar series together. The series, themed “3D Printing: Prototype to Production,” was created to promote adoption of and spread awareness about additive manufacturing. Webinars will begin on April 6th and go through April 14th, with topics such as Additive Manufacturing/3D Printing 101, Learnings and Misconceptions, and Current Challenges and Demand of the Industry.

“To help engineers around the world learn something new in this lockdown time, we have come up with a series of webinars on Additive Manufacturing (AM). The idea behind this webinar is to spread awareness regarding the AM technology and help companies in their journey towards industry 4.0,” said Ankit Sahu, Founder & Director, Objectify Technologies Pvt Ltd. “The objective is to encourage individuals ranging from students, researchers, and industrialist, on 3D Printing and the value it possesses for Industry 4.0.

“I thank Mr. DK Sharma, President TAGMA India and the entire team of TAGMA for their support. During this challenging time, it’s the collective effort that will help us all grow. Let us all do our bit to help the industry in skill development.”

3D Scanning to Build a Museum Without Walls

Continuing on in our list of things to do while stuck inside during the coronavirus crisis, SHINING 3D has been working with MyMiniFactoryto to digitize important artifacts for its Scan the World community-built initiative, which archives 3D printable sculptures and other culturally significant objects. Together, they are basically building a 3D museum without walls that anyone can access at any time and from anywhere. Many museums open their data with an open license  in 2D, but don’t have the necessary resources to do so in 3D. Scan the World founder and manager Jon Beck is offering museums a free end-to-end service of scanning the sculptures, with the EinScan Pro 2X Plus, before processing the data into 3D models and uploading them to the museum’s Scan the World profile.

“The quality is very nice for the price that you pay. Scanning is still quite a high-level-entry technology, but what SHINING 3D has been able to do is to create an accessible affordable product, which still produces very good results for a wide range of industries, for me working with sculptures I haven’t found any issues so far working with marble and plaster sculptures and even bronze sculptures. EinScan has been able to solve all of these problems for me,” Beck said.

“There is so much story behind every single artwork whether it’s an original or it’s a copy which is quite beautiful and so, working with each member of staff in the museum who want to tell a different story about their collection is great.”

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