The magical multitool machine gets upgraded with the ZMorph VX. Review the facts on this 3-in-1 3D printer, CNC mill, and laser engraver.
Are you ready for the next generation of multitool 3D printer? Is the world even ready? Nobody knows for sure, but Polish company ZMorph says to hell with the consequences. They’ve gone ahead and announced their new multitool machine, the ZMorph VX.
ZMorph already has a solid reputation for their versatile 3D printers; we had a decent experience with the ZMorph SX not so long ago. Their point of distinction is being able to offer multiple fabrication methods within the one desktop machine. And thanks to their modular design of detachable heads, a ZMorph machine can work with dozens of available fabrication materials. More than enough to satisfy even the most demanding professional designers, engineers, and educators.
The next generation model, the ZMorph VX, boasts advanced solutions in print quality and machine reliability. The company promises that the machine is easier to set up and operate than ever before. In addition, there’s a flexible pricing system for those who want to pick and choose the feature-set for their custom requirements. In addition to 3D printing, you can upgrade to CNC milling, laser engraving, and even food printing.
“Whether you want to make a fully functioning drone, a bluetooth speaker or a plastic enclosure for your project, ZMorph VX is a solution that is always up for the task.”
“We’ve been making digital fabrication machines since 2013. Long enough to learn that quality, reliability, and ease of use are the keys for every creative business,” says Przemek Jaworski, ZMorph CEO, and Founder.
“That’s why we bring the new ZMorph VX to the public — a workhorse, versatile object making machine, ready to prototype or mass produce as 3D printer, CNC cutter or laser engraver. Whether you want to make a fully functioning drone, a bluetooth speaker or a plastic enclosure for your project, ZMorph VX is a solution that is always up for the task.”
ZMorph VX has New Hardware, New Software Improvements
While the preceding SX model already featured a solid aluminum body with fully enclosed electronics, double belt drive, and original closed loop system, the VX model introduces several hardware upgrades of note.
These include:
Super-flat borosilicate 3D printing worktable;
Stiffer construction of X and Y axis with top quality linear guides;
Improved cooling system; a reinforced X axis carriage;
Redesigned Dual Extruder toolhead with interchangeable hotends feature;
Injection-molded plastic parts.
The company has also sought to address the user experience. A significant hardware change is the fully automatic calibration system, which should make the 3D printing process just that little bit less frustrating.
There’s also a new CNC worktable for those who want to work with CNC and laser-engraving. This has a sturdy aluminum construction with pre-set holes to provide a stable, flat surface and easy clamping of materials like wood, acrylic glass, modeling boards, and PCB boards.
On the software side, there’s the completely revamped Voxelizer software. It has “faster and smarter algorithms” plus a cleaner interface for both absolute beginners and experienced pros. This last announcement is perhaps the most encouraging; in previous iterations, the Voxelizer software suite was the weakest link in the ZMorph ecosystem.
So how much is a ZMorph VX going to cost? And when can you buy one? They’re available worldwide now from ZMorph and authorized resellers.
Our tip for prospective buyers? You’re definitely going to want the Dual Extruder with Mixer Hotend in there somewhere, it’s an impressive piece of kit.
Check out our FDM vs SLA Shootout. We simply explain the differences between these 3D printing technologies, and which to use for which application.
FDM vs SLA: Explained
The Prusa i3 MK3 is one of the finest consumer 3D printers you can get. It uses FDM technology to get things printed. (Source: ALL3DP)
FDM is the abbreviation for Fused Deposition Modeling. In FDM, a strand of material (in this case: thermoplastics) is deposited in layers to create a 3D printed object. During printing, the plastic filament is fed through a hot extruder where the plastic gets soft enough that it can be precisely placed by the print head. The melted filament is then deposited layer by layer in the print area to build the workpiece.
There is a broad choice of FDM 3D printers for every budget, starting at a few hundred dollars. Filament spools are relatively inexpensive, starting from $25 per kilo. These factors made FDM printers so popular among makers and home users.
SLA is the abbreviation for Stereolithography Apparatus, or simply stereolithography. Like FDM, SLA is an additive method: Models are built layer by layer. SLA, however, uses a curable photopolymer – typically a liquid resin – that is hardened by applying focused light or UV light (this process is called curing). SLA printers usually build the models from top to bottom, the build platform lifts the model upwards, out of the resin bath.
The light source is either a laser or a digital projector (the technology is often called DLP – Digital Light Processing). Lasers „draw“ the layers; in DLP, an entire slice (a two-dimensional layer) of the model is projected at once into the resin bath.
Laser SLA printers are usually slower than DLP models because of the small surface of the laser beam. In DLP printers, each layer hardens faster as the entire image of one layer is projected onto the resin. Moreover, DLP projectors are more reliable and easier to maintain than customized laser systems as the projectors use the same technology as business and home cinema projectors. The printed models have to undergo a post-processing process, though.
Overall, there are less budget-friendy SLA machines than FDM 3D printers. Resin printers can often be found in a professional context, although the prices came down in the last years.
FDM printerstypically use PLA, PETG, or ABS filament. Most FDM printers can handle nylon, PVA, TPU and a variety of PLA blends (mixed with wood, ceramics, metals, carbon fiber, etc.) Filaments are available in various colors. Some manufacturers even offer a service to manufacture RAL colors by demand.
Most FDM printers can use standard filament rolls that are available in two standardized sizes (diameter: 1.75 or 2.85mm) from various sources. A few printers use proprietary filaments or filament boxes – these are typically more expensive than standard rolls but deliver better quality.
Owners of SLA printers have only a more limited pallet of resin materials. Quite often these are proprietary and cannot be exchanged between printers from different makers. The choice of colors is also limited. Formlabs, for example, only offers black, white, grey and clear resins. On the other hand, they offer more durable or highly specialized materials (i.e. dental, heat-resistant, or flexible resins) for industrial uses.
FDM vs SLA: Precision and Smoothness
SLA printers print with high precision – you get details you won‘t see in most FDM-printed objects (image: Sprintray, the creators of Moonray)
In FDM printers, the printer’s resolution is a factor of the nozzle size and the precision of the extruder movements (X/Y axis). The precision and smoothness of the printed models is also influenced by other factors: As the bonding force between the layers is lower than in SLA printing and as the weight of upper layers may squeeze the layers below, a number of printing problems may ensue (e.g. warping, misalignment of layers, shifting of layers, shrinking of the lower parts – for more details see this article). These compromise the precision and surface smoothness.
SLA printersconsistently produce higher resolution objects and are more accurate than FDM printers. The reason: The resolution is primarily determined by the optical spot size either of the laser or the projector – and that is really small. Moreover, during printing less force is applied to the model. This way, the surface finish is much smoother. SLA prints show details an FDM printer could never produce.
In fact, the fine details an SLA printer produces is the main reason why one would consider getting an SLA printer.
FDM vs SLA: Adhesion/removal after 3D printing
Adhesion to the print bed is a topic when using an FDM printer. Printed objects can be relatively easily removed – if the object sticks to the print bed, a palette knife will do.
In SLA printers, it can be difficult to remove the printed model from the print platform and often there is a lot of resin left on the platform that you have to remove using a palette knife – and this takes more effort than on an FDM printer. Industrial printer manufacturer Carbon3D even came up with a new idea: They use oxygen to create so-called “dead zone” around the printed model (the oxygen keeps the resin at the surface of the model from hardening).
FDM vs SLA: Postprocessing
After printing on an FDM printeryou need to remove supports (if the model has overhangs) and excess plastic either with your fingers or a cutting tool. Sanding helps to get smoother surfaces. More on supports here: 3D Printing Supports Guide – All You Need to Know
Models printed on an SLA printer such as the Form 1+ are covered in sticky resin that has to be removed in a bath of isopropyl alcohol. This is why you get rubber gloves with most SLA printers – to protect your fingers from the resin and alcohol. Depending on the model, supports may be required, too – removing them is as easy as with FDM printers.
FDM vs SLA: 3D printing costs
Consumable in FDM printersare nozzles and filament rolls. As already mentioned, most FDM printers use the same standardized filament rolls, prices for filament have been declining in the last years. 1 kg of PLA filament can be bought for $25, specialized filaments cost more.
In SLA printers, not only resin is consumed: In SLA printers, the resin tank has to be replaced after 2-3 liters of resin have been printed. The reason is that the tank gets smudged inside over time so the light source is no longer able to precisely project the image in the resin. Depending on the manufacturer and model, resin tanks will set you back around $40 to $80.
Another component that needs replacing from time to time is the build platform as it gets marred when the user removes the printed model; a platform can cost up to $100.
The resin is also costly: 1 liter of standard resin will set you back $ 80 to $150.
FDM vs SLA: Which One to Use?
In a nutshell: If high precision and smooth finish is your top priority and if cost is of no or of minor importance for a print job, use an SLA printer. If cost does play a role, use an FDM printer.
When to use FDM
When to use SLA
When intricate details and/or a very smooth surface finish is crucial
When strength and durability of the model is not crucial (models made from resin may suffer when exposed to the sun for extended periods)
For creating molds for casting to facilitate mass-production (e.g. by jewelry or toy makers)
When to use a 3D printing service
There’s a third option that can save you a lot of money. You don’t have to buy a 3D printer to get something printed, you can use a 3D printing service. You can get more information on 3D printing services in this article: 33 Best Online 3D Printing Services of 2018
The start-up has launched a unique carbon fiber 3D printing technology that allows for enhanced scalability. Through the latest cash injection, it hopes to commercialize the technology more quickly.
Carbon fiber 3D printing is set to become a dominant trend in additive manufacturing over the next few years. This is driven in part due to the material’s incredible properties such as strength, temperature resistance, and reduced weight compared to other materials.
Arevo, the Silicon Valley-based 3D printing start-up, has developed a unique method to 3D print carbon fiber to boost scalability. To help the company achieve its goals, it has just received a cash boost of $12.5 million in a Series B funding round, led by Asahi Glass.
Arevo hopes that the financing can help it achieve commercialization of its technology for aerospace, defense, transportation, automotive, consumer electronics, sports, medical and oil and gas industries.
Additionally, it announced the appointment of Jim Miller as CEO. Miller joins Arevo from Amazon and Google where he held roles as vice president of supply chain and operations, respectively.
So what makes Arevo’s composite additive manufacturing technology special? According to an interview by engineering.com with founder Hemant Bheda, Arevo’s process actually merges the carbon fiber strands with thermoplastics such as nylon or polyether ether ketone (PEEK).
The technology achieves a highly precise coating of each fiber with the polymer. Importantly, it doesn’t destroy the fibers in the process. Arevo uses a laser DED technology to achieve this. Traditionally, engineers often use extrusion techniques in the process. However, the laser offers faster speeds and thus increased scale.
Impressively, the porosity of the printed parts is less than 1%. At the same time, the material exhibits a strength that is 5x that of titanium at just a third of the comparable weight.
Following the refinement of the material, Arevo plans to bring the technology to market. The company plans to focus on the software side of things next. Eventually, this should allow users to control and manipulate how the material is deposited.
A closer look at printing with carbon fiber strands. (Image: Arevo)
Print Carbon Fiber Bicycle in Just 18 Days
To demonstrate the properties of its technology further, the company launched a carbon fiber bicycle in collaboration with Studio West. The resulting bike is a unique design. What’s more, the entire process required almost zero human labor, bringing the cost down to $300 for the bicycle frame.
“We invited the designers to ride the bike and they were pleasantly surprised. They mentioned that, for big bike manufacturers who produce carbon bikes, it would take 15 or 16 iterations before they would get this quality of the ride,” Bheda explained. “What this means is that we can take the 18-month design cycle needed to create a new bike design and we can collapse it to less than 18 days.”
Arevo is one of few companies currently working with carbon fiber to 3D print bikes. Japanese company Triple Bottom Line previously presented its fully 3D printed road racer.
Similarly, the Australian company Bastion Cycles launched a 3D printed bicycle made of titanium and carbon fiber back in 2016.
A new experimental Ceramic Resin is a now available for the Form 2 from Formlabs, making ceramic 3D printing the most affordable and accessible it has ever been for engineers and designers.
Stereolithography specialists Formlabs have announced the availability of a special new material for their Form 2 desktop 3D printer. Their experimental Ceramic Resin makes 3D printed ceramics accessible for the first time outside of expensive industrial machines and high-tech research labs.
With this resin, makers can fabricate objects with a stone-like finish and fire them to create a fully ceramic piece. Potential applications for the material are not just engineering research, but also distinctive art and design pieces.
Important to note, however, is that the experimental Ceramic Resin sits in the “Form X” product class. The means this material is more difficult to work with than other products in the Formlabs ecosystem. It will require extra steps, additional experimentation, and a whole lot of patience for successful printing.
Check out the tongue-in-cheek launch video below, which leans hard on 1980s retro-futurism to pitch their product. The gold-plated digital wristwatch is a nice touch.
What’s the Big Deal about Experimental Ceramic Resin?
Looking beyond traditional pottery, ceramics have the advantage of mechanical properties like high heat resistance and electrical conductivity. This makes alumina ceramics a common choice for electronics components like insulators, resistors, and semiconductors.
But did you know that an entire branch of NASA is devoted to ceramics research? They’re developing materials like Nextel fabric, an advanced ceramic that resists fire penetration and keeps satellites from getting smashed to pieces, and GRABER, a ceramic-filled adhesive used to repair small cracks in space. Moreover, the US military is using ceramic materials to design lightweight armor.
So there’s clearly a big opportunity for ceramic 3D printing. But current solutions are prohibitively expensive, with machines costing upwards of $100,000 (according to Formlabs).
With their Ceramic Resin, Formlabs has made the process the most affordable and accessible it has ever been, enabling more engineers and designers to bring rapid iteration with ceramics in-house.
GE awarded $9 million contract by US Navy to develop framework to rapidly 3D print replacement parts for ships, aircraft, and other critical military assets. The focus of the research is 3D printing with metal.
A team of scientists at GE Global Research, the technology development arm for General Electric, have been awarded a four-year contract worth $9 million by the US Navy. Their task is to develop a process for rapidly 3D printing exact digital models of replacement components — and to 3D print these parts in metal.
The team is working together with scientists and engineers from GE Aviation, GE Additive, Honeywell, Penn State, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Navy Nuclear Lab (NNL) and the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM).
The approach is to build “digital twins” from model-based data on parts and sensor-based data from 3D metal printers to dramatically speed up the qualification and certification process. This applies both to replicating and printing replacement parts no longer manufactured for various naval marine and aviation assets, and to create parts for newly designed assets.
GE Digital Twins are described as living, learning digital models of physical assets, parts, processes and even systems. These models are continually updated as new sensor data or engineering knowledge from technical experts is integrated to reflect the exact state of its physical counterpart at any point in time.
“Using GE’s Digital Twin technology, we’re aiming to rapidly speed up the time that parts could be re-engineered or newly created using 3D printing processes,” says Ade Makinde, Principal Engineer, Additive Technologies at GE Global Research.
“With today’s technology, the process for designing a new part can take years. We think we can reduce that timeframe to weeks, with the unique digital solutions under development.”
Makinde explains that it is extremely difficult to quickly make a 1:1 replacement part through 3D printing processes that was originally produced using conventional manufacturing techniques.
“The key challenge with industrial 3D printing is being able to additively build a part that mirrors the exact material composition and properties of the original part that was formed through subtractive measures. With the kind of mission-critical equipment the Navy operates, there is no room for deviations in material performance or manufacturing error.”
US Navy Banking on Digital Twins to Stay in Ship-Shape
Having a rapid process for producing and installing replacement parts would greatly support the US Navy’s efforts to manage and maintain excellence for an aging Navy fleet.
The average age of active Navy ships, for example, is 17 years. The oldest in service was deployed in 1970. In cases where ships are several decades old, replacement parts often are no longer manufactured.
This is similar to what car enthusiasts have experienced when rebuilding or repairing classic or older cars. Just like the automotive sector, the Navy is turning to 3D printing to get the parts they need faster.
“We’re already seeing the proliferation of 3D printing in the automotive sector, which are enabling the manufacture of outdated car parts no longer being made,” said Makinde.
“When it comes to mission-critical assets like Naval ships and aircraft, the bar is higher for producing high quality parts that encounter much higher stresses and tolerances. But as one of the world’s leading aircraft engine makers that produce and maintain a fleet of 35,000+ jet engines that are in service for decades, we bring a unique understanding and depth of expertise to what kind of digital models are required.”
The four- year program will occur in a pair of two-year phases. Phase 1 will focus on the underlying software and hardware developments. In Phase 2, GE will build a complete additive system that demonstrates the rapid and robust creation of a part’s digital model or digital twin and printing of that part using a 3D Direct Metal Laser Melting (DMLM) printer.
GM is using Autodesk’s generative design technology and additive manufacturing to fabricate lighter automotive parts; this seat bracket is 40% lighter and 20% stronger than its predecessor.
General Motors is using generative design software by Autodesk to develop the next generation of lightweight vehicles. According to the automaker, the new technology will be a key factor in developing more efficient, alternative-fuel cars with zero emissions.
GM is the first automaker in North America to use the software. It uses cloud computing and AI-based algorithms to rapidly explore multiple permutations of a part design; it can generate hundreds of high-performance, often organic-looking geometric design options based on goals and parameters set by the user.
These parameters can include weight, strength, material choice, fabrication method, and more. Once generated, the user can then select and 3D print the best option from the available part designs.
“This disruptive technology provides tremendous advancements in how we can design and develop components for our future vehicles to make them lighter and more efficient,” says GM Vice President Ken Kelzer, Global Vehicle Components and Subsystems.
“When we pair the design technology with manufacturing advancements such as 3D printing, our approach to vehicle development is completely transformed and is fundamentally different to co-create with the computer in ways we simply couldn’t have imagined before.”
The new design technology provides significantly more vehicle mass reduction and parts consolidation, the likes of which cannot be achieved through traditional design optimization.
GM and Autodesk engineers have applied this new technology to produce a proof-of-concept part. They’ve demonstrated a new seat bracket that is 40 percent lighter and 20 percent stronger than the original part. It also consolidates eight different components into one 3D printed part.
GM and Autodesk Entering Multi-year Alliance
GM has been a leading innovator in additive manufacturing for more than three decades. The automaker has one of the auto industry’s most comprehensive 3D printing capabilities in the world, with more than 50 rapid prototyping machines that have produced more than 250,000 prototype parts over the last decade.
Looking to the future in a multi-year alliance, GM and Autodesk will be collaborating on projects involving generative design, additive manufacturing, and materials science. Executives and engineers from both companies will participate in a series of onsite engagements to exchange ideas, learnings, and expertise.
“Generative design is the future of manufacturing, and GM is a pioneer in using it to lightweight their future vehicles,” says Scott Reese, Autodesk Senior Vice President for Manufacturing and Construction Products.
“Generative technologies fundamentally change how engineering work is done because the manufacturing process is built into design options from the start. GM engineers will be able to explore hundreds of ready-to-be-manufactured, high-performance design options faster than they were able to validate a single design the old way.”
Eliminating mass in parts where material is not required for performance — combined with parts consolidation — will bring many benefits for car owners. This includes the potential for more interior space, increased range, and enhanced vehicle performance. It also provides vehicle designers a canvas on which to explore designs and shapes like never before.
Carmaker BMW showed a 3D printed motorcycle frame at their Digital Day 2018 in Munich, an S1000RR superbike with a frame and swing arm fabricated using metal powder laser melting.
Every year, the BMW Group hosts a Digital Day at their illustrious headquarters in Munich. It’s a platform for the automaker to showcase some of their latest and greatest developments in automotive technology.
Front and center to these innovations, naturally, is additive manufacturing. The group is already using 3D printing to produce car parts, but the presence of a radical 3D printed motorcycle frame this year showed that the technology still has plenty of road to run.
The S1000RR superbike features a 3D printed aluminium chassis and swingarm. Details on the precise construction method used on the superbike are not provided, but it’s a safe bet that it’s metal powder laser melting.
This is a process where a laser fuses layers of metal powder in a vat to form a shape, layer by layer. BMW is already using this technique for their cars to produce lighter but structurally stiffer components.
3D Printed Motorcycle Frame is Showpiece of Digital Day 2018
Beyond the eye-candy of a 3D printed motorcycle frame, the BMW Group also drew attention to other areas of their 3D printing activities.
An additively manufactured water pump wheel was fitted in DTM racing cars for the first time back in 2010. And the new BMW i8 Roadster features a soft-top cover with an aluminium bracket made using a metal powder laser melting technique.
Elsewhere, the new MINI Yours Customized product line enables customers to personalize the design of selected components and then have them produced via 3D printing.
Last but not least, there’s the grand opening of the Additive Manufacturing Campus at the BMW Group Research and Innovation Centre (FIZ) in Munich in Spring 2019.
Overall, the advantages to the BMW Group are clear; 3D printing provides them with the ability to custom-build highly-complex objects. That, and they can rapidly prototype new components quickly and cheaply. Indeed, the automaker says that it’s already producing over 140,000 prototype parts per year.
With the expiration of key patents, availability of advanced digital modeling software, and improved hardware, additive manufacturing is on the verge of radically changing how products are designed, made and maintained. But a lack of understanding of its fundamental principles, applications, and business implications is proving to be a barrier to broader adoption.
To help professionals and organizations realize the potential of 3D printing — and perhaps accelerate its use — the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and aerospace company Boeing are collaborating on a new online course for professionals. It’s called “Additive Manufacturing for Innovative Design and Production”.
“Our educational collaboration with MIT encourages employees to grow professionally and develop new manufacturing skills,” says Michael Richey, chief learning scientist at Boeing.
“Through a combination of industry and academic expertise, the additive manufacturing curriculum will equip employees with knowledge of the fundamentals of 3D printing, which has the potential to catalyze widespread change across the manufacturing industry.”
The nine-week course will teach critical skills that prepare employees to implement AM in their organizations. The course explains leading AM technologies for polymers, metals, and advanced materials; addresses design for AM via both engineering principles and computational design; and includes quantitative models for assessing the cost and value of components made by AM.
MIT and Boeing Hope to Jumpstart Career Learners in AM Processes
Mike Vander Wel, a production engineering chief engineer at Boeing, says the company has been involved in AM for nearly three decades. They regularly use it to prototype, test, and manufacture small parts for some aircraft.
While new graduates are entering the workforce with a basic knowledge of AM technology, more experienced employees have little or no exposure to it. The MIT-Boeing collaboration is designed to jumpstart career learners on AM processes, applications, and analyses.
Aside from its benefits to business, MIT and Boeing view AM as an opportunity to improve job satisfaction as well.
“To me, accomplishment equates to job satisfaction,” says Vander Wel. “Upon completion of the course, learners will be able to develop additive applications and work collaboratively to solve problems, which will be deeply gratifying.”
Also part of the course from MIT and Boeing is a 3D printed kit used to enrich the learning experience. Similar to a textbook, the kit is used as a reference throughout the course. The kit has metal and polymer parts made by industry-relevant 3D printing processes, including stereolithography, multijet fusion, and direct metal laser sintering. The parts interlock to form a model of MIT’s iconic Building 10 dome.
The Additive Manufacturing for Innovative Design and Production course starts on 30 April, and registration is open now. For more information, visit the course website.
With the new Ultimaker Alliances Program, users will be able to load preconfigured material profiles and 3D print settings from leading material manufacturers.
Here’s a second big announcement from Ultimaker; the 3D printing company is embarking on a series of collaborative alliances with a number of global material companies to meet demand for 3D printer engineering materials.
“High quality 3D prints are the result of an optimized alignment of hardware, software and materials,” said Jos Burger, CEO of Ultimaker.
“The strategic alliances formed […] open up the use of the most sophisticated engineering plastics on Ultimaker printers. customers of the companies and Ultimaker fully embed 3D printing in their existing workflows. With these alliances, more 3D printing users are getting access to sophisticated materials for all kinds of use cases in different segments and industries.”
Partners of the alliance program include DSM, BASF, Dupont Transportation & Advanced Polymers, Owens Corning, Mitsubishi, Henkel, Kuraray, Solvay and Clariant.
Additionally, Ultimaker will offer its software and material knowledge to help partnering companies to generate and maintain their material profiles. In return, this ensures that customers are using reliable materials with their Ultimaker 3D printers.
Furthermore, the new material profiles let users print automatically and use preconfigured settings available in Ultimaker Cura software. In the future, the partnerships could also help nurture more advanced applications.
Alliances Program to Benefit Rapid Protoyping Stages
Global spending on 3D printing technologies is forecast to reach almost $12 billion by 2018, according to research company IDC. With 3D printers popular with enterprise businesses, there’s a higher demand for materials usable throughout the product development process.
For example, a car manufacturer may use a certain plastic to develop most of their parts. At the same time, they could use the materials to print 3D prototypes or end user parts.
The Ultimaker 3D printers have been a key part of Decathlon’s Add Lab, which has been trying to make sports more accessible through improving production and lower prices. Julien Guillen, Leader Additive Manufacturing at the company explained that the Ultimaker S5 allows them to print footwear and helmets.
“Due to the open filament system, we can print […] objects with the materials we prefer – we can test, fail, and improve,” he said.
“We can change the way we prototype, the way we create. This allows us to speed up innovation and evaluate new concepts in an earlier stage, which reduces time and costs. The Ultimaker S5, combined with Ultimaker Cura software, seamlessly fits in our development chain. usability the Decathlon Add Lab’s team deliver the right products for our users, at the right time.”
At the Rapid + TCT Event in Fort Worth this week, 3D printing manufacturer MakerGear are launching their new M3 Independent Dual 3D Printer and MakerGear Cloud Software.
The 3D printing company MakerGear is cutting the ribbon on a new Independent Dual Extrusion (IDEX) system for their flagship M3 desktop 3D printer at the Rapid + TCT Event 2018 in Fort Worth, Texas.
Officially called the M3-ID, the device has two separate print heads which are completely modular and controlled independently from the other. The immediate benefit is the ability to mix and match engineering-grade thermoplastics, elastomers, and composite materials to achieve the ideal balance of mechanical, thermal, and chemical properties.
Sample use cases might be to design and build using soluble PVA and HIPS support materials. Or to combine soft, flexible, and rigid segments of a model to achieve preferred mechanical properties. Or simpy to print multicolor models right out-of-the-box.
There also a pair of additional features not seen on a standard M3 called “True Leveling + Auto Leveling”. All new M3-ID printers will feature a touch probe that improves the print bed leveling process by providing simple instructions to the user if needed.
In addition, the probe also checks the print surface to generate a mesh from 9 data points, so it can compensate for any unavoidable variations in the flatness of the print bed.
Also announced is a MakerGear Enclosure, available as an optional extra. This new 3D printer enclosure helps maintain proper temperature of the print environment, reduces operating noise, and allows venting of printing-related odors.
MakerGear Also Launching MakerGear Cloud Software
Attendees at the RAPID + TCT Conference and Trade show will have the opportunity to see the new M3-ID with enclosure first-hand. The show gets underway on Tuesday 24 April at the Fort Worth Convention Center, Texas and continues until Thursday 26 April.
“Building on the success of our popular M3 3D printer, we’re excited to premiere the new M3-ID Rev. 1 at RAPID this week,” says Rick Pollack, MakerGear CEO.
“Our new features improve on an already world-class printer, which provides our customers with the tools to accomplish the most advanced prototyping and production jobs with an unparalleled degree of precision and reliability.”
MakerGear will also be demonstrating their new MakerGear Cloud software, which is designed to maximize the productivity of a 3D printer fleet through printer cluster mapping and cluster-based print queuing, while protecting users’ IP through advanced administrative control.
The M3-ID is already in stock and ready to ship, with a recommended retail price of $3,299. Made in the USA, all printers in the M3 range boast wifi connectivity, wireless control, an integrated user interface, and high-temperature V4 hot ends that can handle a wide variety of materials.
WASP, the Italian 3D printer manufacturer, has created the WASP Hub network and is expanding in Italy and across the world to cities including, Barcelona, London, Madrid, Paris, Umea, Jersey City and Beirut.
There has been a lot of moving (and shaking) from WASP, the Italian 3D printing company WASP (short for “World’s Advanced Saving Project”), lately.
For example, the company, which was founded in 2012 and is responsible for the largest Delta printer in the world, recently announced that its Shamballa Technology Park had moved.
But, that’s not all as the company is now announcing its expansion of what it’s calling the Hub Network, across the globe. WASP explains in a press release that it created a Hub Network after acquiring a new large office.
This space is equipped with service for large 3D printing and is the new location for the Shamballa Technology Park. Read more about the move, here.
So far, ten hubs have been opened. Their locations include Macerata, Mantua, and Venice in Italy. But also, Barcelona, London, Madrid, Paris, Umea, Jersey City and Beirut. Soon to come are hubs in Milan and Berlin.
The idea is that a hub is a business unit which “create innovation by sharing discoveries, projects, processes, materials and job opportunities,” the company explains in a press release.
What is a WASP Hub?
At a WASP Hub, you’ll be able to find a workspace decked out with digital fabrication machines. Such equipment includes a Delta WASP 2040 TURBO2, a Delta WASP 4070 INDUSTRIAL, a Delta WASP 3MT INDUSTRIAL and a Clay Kit 2.0 with LDM Wasp Extruder.
The company aim is for these spaces to be used as “a laboratory for the creation of objects that can be used in the different research fields identified by WASP as basic human needs: food, health, home, energy, digital fabrication, art, and culture.”
Hubs are started by locals and their current resources. When people with technical skills begin planning a project for “collective wellness”, WASP provides digital manufacturing tools for services and projects.
The company adds in their press release that the overall goal is to generate well-being and economic development, who doesn’t want that? They also hope that their technologies can be used to improve the world and serve mankind. Visit the WASP website for more information.
Ultimaker! HP! Prusa Research! New York City! Some fascinating insights into the 3D printing industry, courtesy of the latest 3D Hubs Trend Report.
It’s the beginning of a new business quarter, and for 3D printing fanatics that means only one thing. It’s time for another 3D Hubs Trend Report.
The 3D Hubs Trend Report is put together every three months using data from 6,000 active international service providers. Between them, they fabricate more than 200,000 3D printed parts every quarter. In turn, customers will routinely rate and review the quality of the prints they have received.
The scale of this activity is truly unique; studying the data provides an extensive overview of the latest trends in both consumer and industrial 3D printing. Without further ado, let’s dive into the latest findings from Q2 2018 spanning January to March.
3D Hubs Trend Report: Highest Rated Desktop 3D Printers
These are the top rated 3D printers out of 700 printer models listed on the 3D Hubs platform, based on print quality ratings from customer review data. Only printers with more than 140 reviews in the quarter are included in these stats.
As can be seen in the chart above, there are two clear winners in this segment. Prusa Research and Ultimaker take 6 of the 10 spots with their range of fused deposition modeling (FDM) machines, leaving barely any room for other companies to make their mark. The only anomaly is the Form 2 from Formlabs, bravely flying the flag for stereolithographic (SLA) 3D printing.
With market share increases for both Prusa Research and Ultimaker from previous trend reports, it’s clear that the battle for market-leader is settling into a two-horse race. But the reassuring thing is that both companies remain committed to open source hardware and software; the customer wins either way.
3D Hubs Trend Report: Most Used Desktop 3D Printers
These are the 10 most productive desktop 3D printers out of 700 printer models listed on 3D Hubs. The data is based on the quantity of customer prints from the previous quarter, which amounted to 67,516 items.
The Prusa Research MK2 is now the most used on the platform, creating 15,087 parts. According to our source at 3D Hubs, many suppliers on the platform are using multiples of this machine to set up print farms for bulk production.
The Form 2 isn’t too far behind, however, with 14,211 parts. Being the only reputable SLA solution on the service — as per the previous chart — means that pretty much every print job of this nature is being fabricated on a Form 2. It has all the makings of a virtuous circle.
One strange detail is the presence of the Fusion3 F400-S. This is technically an industrial 3D printer, and it’s substantially more expensive and sophisticated than an ordinary desktop machine. It doesn’t really belong on this chart.
3D Hubs Trend Report: Most Used Industrial 3D Printers
Technology giant HP is firing on all cylinders in the industrial 3D printer space, if this activity on 3D Hubs is any indication. Their Jet Fusion 4200 machine has doubled its output from 2,500 parts made in Q1 to 5,087 in Q2. This is also nearly twice as much as their nearest rival, the Formiga P110. They’re doing similarly well in the Highest Rated Industrial Printer category, nabbing the second spot after the Formiga P100.
3D Hubs Trend Report: Most Used Materials
The most popular technology on 3D Hubs continues to be FDM, with 68% market share. Essentially, it remains the most affordable way for users to develop a first prototype of their models.
Digging even further, the chart above shows the Most Used Materials on 3D Hubs, with at least half of the top ten specific to desktop FDM machines. This data shows the breakdown in revenue as a percentage for each material.
Standard PLA remains number one, despite a drop of 4% since the previous quarter. Standard ABS is number two with a share of 17%, which is still some distance from the top. PETG, TPU and PLA/HPA take up the fifth, sixth and seventh spots, respectively.
For the third and fourth spots, there’s a dual between SLS and SLA/DLP technologies on a material level. PA 12 is the most popular SLS material, and with 12% share has overtaken the popular SLA/SLP Standard Resin at 8% share. However, SLA/DLP makes up some ground with Transparent and Tough Resins entering the chart for the first time at eighth and ninth, respectively.
3D Hubs Trend Report: Top Print City
The data displayed here shows the number of prints ordered last quarter per city as a percentage of the total. Overall, the US nabs 6 of the 10 spots, while London, Amsterdam, Paris and Berlin represent Europe.
New York has retained its crown as the Top Print City from the previous quarter, with 2.7%. But London has gained 0.5% market share to climb up to 2.4%. The speculation from our sources at 3D Hubs is that the rise is because of students creating prototypes for their end of January assessments.
With a total investment worth over €10 million, automotive giant BMW will open an industrial scale 3D printing campus in Munich, Germany in early 2019.
The BMW Group is investing more than €10 million in a new Additive Manufacturing Campus. Located in Oberschleissheim, just north of Munich, the facility will ensure the carmaker continues developing its expertise in industrial 3D printing.
Within the BMW Group production network, the new Additive Manufacturing Campus will foster the latest technologies in much the same way as a “pilot plant” and make them available for use within the network.
Much of the work carried out will focus on parts manufacturing for prototype construction, series production and customized solutions. The Additive Manufacturing Campus will also act as an interdisciplinary training and project area.
“Our new Additive Manufacturing Campus will concentrate the full spectrum of the BMW Group’s 3D printing expertise at a single location,” says Udo Hänle, Head of Production Integration and Pilot Plant at BMW.
“This will allow us to test new technologies early on and continue developing our pioneering role.”
Located in an existing building with a footprint of over 6,000 square metres, the new centre will accommodate up to 80 associates and over 30 industrial systems for metals and plastics. It’s scheduled to open in Spring 2019.
First Carmaker to 3D Print Production Run of Several Thousand Metal Parts
3D printing is already an integral part of the BMW Group production system. Most recently it was leveraged to generate parts for the BMW i8 Roadster.
“With the BMW i8 Roadster, the BMW Group became the first carmaker to 3D print a production run of several thousand metal parts,” says Jens Ertel, Head of the BMW Group’s Additive Manufacturing Center and the future campus director.
The component is a fixture in the tonneau cover for the soft-top. Made of aluminum alloy, the printed item is lighter than the injection-moulded equivalent, but significantly stiffer. Its ‘bionic’ geometry, inspired by forms found in nature, was optimized for 3D printing.
Additive manufacturing is also gaining traction for custom componentry. The new MINI Yours customization programme allows customers to design certain components themselves, for example. Items like indicator inlays and dashboard trim strips can be 3D printed to their precise specifications.
The carmaker expects that, with time, it will become possible to produce components directly where they are ultimately needed. According to the company, this idea has tremendous potential to supplant existing production technologies.
“The 3D printers that are currently operating across our production network represent a first step towards local part production,” continues Ertel.
“We are already using additive manufacturing to make prototype components on location in Spartanburg (US), Shenyang (China) and Rayong (Thailand). Going forward, we could well imagine integrating it more fully into local production structures to allow small production runs, country-specific editions and customizable components – provided it represents a profitable solution.”
BMW Group Investing Heavily in Additive Manufacturing
Elsewhere, the BMW Group has also been busy investing in promising 3D printing start-ups.
In September 2016, the carmaker’s venture capital arm, BMW i Ventures, invested in the Silicon Valley-based company Carbon, whose DLS (digital light synthesis) printing technology was a breakthrough in the production of parts with high-quality surfaces.
The technique allows significantly larger areas to be processed more rapidly than would otherwise be possible with conventional selective 3D printing. Carbon and the BMW Group have been partners since 2015.
Another investment in additive manufacturing came in February 2017, this time in the start-up Desktop Metal.
Desktop Metal specializes in the additive manufacturing of metal components and has developed highly productive and innovative methodologies. It now works closely with the Additive Manufacturing Centre at the BMW Group.
Big Air meets Big Printing. BigRep and Etihad Airways Engineering announce plans to collaborate on developing next generation additive manufacturing solutions for the aerospace industry.
Since it was first launched three and half years ago, 3D printer manufacturer BigRep has quickly become a world leader in large format 3D printing technology. Today, they enter a new market by partnering with an industry leader in the aerospace industry.
BigRep and Etihad Airways Engineering have announced they are collaborating on a roadmap for the development of the next generation of Additive Manufacturing (AM) solutions for aerospace applications.
The companies seek to employ new approaches to realize the full potential of 3D printing for the production of cabin parts. The goal of the partnership is to accelerate the use of 3D printing in the aviation sector, with a focus on cabin interior parts for new aircraft, as well as for the retrofit market.
Etihad Airways Engineering will leverage its experience around the aircraft cabin lifecycle and its drive to develop novel cabin concepts that will be additively manufactured.
“Etihad Airways Engineering and BigRep share a vision to bring the 3D-printed cabin into production, together with our partners,” says Berhard Randerath, Vice President Engineering, Design & Innovation at Etihad Airways Engineering
“Our goal is to enable 3D-printing technologies for cabin parts – be it on new aircraft programmes or for retrofit installations – to serve our airline customers with innovative and smart solutions.”
Etihad Airways Engineering a Perfect Fit for BigRep
Berlin-based BigRep, which provides hardware, software, materials and services for large-scale 3D printing, sees this partnership with Etihad Airways Engineering as a logical step towards becoming the global leader in the digital manufacturing market.
“We believe that Etihad Airways Engineering, with its expertise, is the perfect fit to cooperatively shape the industrialisation of AM for the aviation industry, ” says Stephan Beyer, Interim CEO & CFO of BigRep GmbH.
“We believe that we offer the best additive manufacturing solutions today with our BigRep equipment, but to unfold the full potential of our technology for the aerospace sector, we have to jointly certify new aviation materials and establish specific AM design and engineering guidelines in parallel.”
Already, the partners have identified a need for a wider spectrum of polymer materials which can pass the aerospace certification process.
Currently, one of the biggest factors preventing the use of additive manufacturing for aircraft cabin interiors is the absence of high-performance materials that are EASA and FAA-certified. Both parties have agreed to jointly develop and test new material grades in accordance with EASA and FAA criteria.
3D printing company Rize has integrated digital rights management into physical 3D printed parts at the voxel-level; embedded QR codes can be used to provide compliance, authenticity and traceability.
This week at the Additive Manufacturing Users Group (AMUG) in St. Louis, 3D printing company Rize announced the launch of digitally augmented parts. They’ve demonstrated a series of 3D printed parts embedded with digital information in the form of QR codes.
The benefit of this is the establishment of a “digital thread” between the digital and physical part, where scanning a QR code would provide detailed information about the origins and purpose of the part. It could even help accelerate Industry 4.0 technologies like blockchain and AR/VR applications.
“The industry has faced significant challenges with parts that are non-compliant due to design changes, piracy, counterfeit and obsolescence, all of which negatively impacts your and your customers’ experiences and results in rework, recalls and loss of brand value,” writes Julie Reece, Vice President of Marketing at Rize.
“With our patented Augmented Polymer Deposition (APD) hybrid process, that combines extrusion and material jetting, you will be able to 3D print industrial parts with embedded markers that create an immutable connection to the digital part and bridge the gap between the virtual and real world.”
See the new technology demonstrated in the short video below:
Rize Demonstrate Advantages of their APD Process
The ability to create digitally augmented parts comes from Rize’s proprietary Augmented Polymer Deposition (APD) technology, which was first launched back in 2016. APD combines extrusion and voxel-level ink jetting capabilities, so that parts can be fabricated with seamless blue ink markings.
Using APD to 3D print secure information on an industrial part, in the form of a QR code for example, a common smartphone app can scan the part and instantly display the corresponding digital information.
One example of a real-world application would be for an engineer to store all of a part’s information online, and maintain digital augmentation of the part throughout its life-cycle.
This new capability also enhances the usage of the new 3MF format for 3D printing, which carries significant detail on the additive part from the digital world into the physical world.
“This is the first step towards embedding intelligent capabilities within the part and connecting them through a digital thread into the digital twin of the part,” remarked Andy Kalambi, Rize President and CEO.
“Rize is leading the integration of additive manufacturing into the digital ecosystem which will redefine the user and customer and experience and ultimately scale the technology to an entirely new segment of commercial and industrial users.”
Together with CEO Maxim Lobovsky, the directors listed on the document include Barry Schuler, a partner with DFJ Growth which led Formlabs’ $19 million Series A funding round in 2013; Brad Feld, co-founder of Foundry Group which led Formlabs’ $35 million Series B funding round two years ago; and Carl Bass, the former CEO of Autodesk (who also invested in the Series B round).
With this latest development, Formlabs has attracted more than $90 million in venture capital.
(Also of note is that Desktop Metal and Markforged are currently locking horns in a lawsuit, as we reported last month.)
Formlabs Prepping Two Big Product Launches in 2018
Headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, Formlabs has been steadily building an 3D printing empire since it was founded in 2011 by three plucky graduates from the MIT Media Lab. Their earliest days were recorded in the Netflix documentary Print the Legend.
Stereolithography (SLA) is their specialism; this is a 3D printing technique that uses a laser to cure liquid resin, forming a solid object layer-by-layer. Their flagship product is the Form 2, which is supported with an ecosystem of materials, software and accessories to optimize the 3D printing process.
The Fuse 1 represents a new dimension and new technology for the company, a Benchtop SLS (selective laser sintering) 3D printer which creates objects from nylon plastic by fusing powder particles with a laser.
Form Cell, meanwhile, is all-in-one 3D printing farm combining multiple Form 2 printers, software and robotics to automate the SLA process.
Both products are being prepped for launch this year, so that extra $30 million will certainly come in handy. Stay tuned for further updates, when we’ll be reporting from the Digital Factory hosted by Formlabs on 14 May in Munich.
The 2017 Shapeways Transparency Report shines a light on how the world’s biggest 3D printing marketplace handles accusations of infringement of intellectual property.
For those folks studying the shifting dynamics of the 3D printing marketplace, the Shapeways Transparency Report 2017 is as good a place to start as any. Published in March 2018, it provides detailed information on how the company handles requests to remove, modify, or disclose information.
The largest portion of the report, according to Shapeways legal counsel Michael Weinberg, covers how they handle accusations of infringement of intellectual property.
“We received 1,622 such accusations in 2017, up slightly from 2016,” he says.
“The report breaks down these accusations by the type of right alleged to have been infringed (copyright, trademark, patent, and right of publicity). It also documents how the counternotice process works in our community.”
The key takeaways from the 2017 Shapeways Transparency Report are:
The number of requests that combine trademark and copyright claims (a practice that can complicate compliance) has remained steady as compared to last year.
16% of all accusations of trademark infringement were withdrawn by the rightsholder after a negotiated settlement between the accuser, Shapeways, and the targeted Shapeways user. Often this involves modifying the terms of a product listing.
50% of all accusations of trademark infringement were withdrawn after being challenged by Shapeways for overstating the rights of the accuser.
All 4 DMCA counternotices submitted by users were successful.
Weinberg says how the company handles accusations of trademark infringement is perhaps the most striking information in the report.
“Unlike copyright, in the United States there is not a statutory safe harbor for sites like Shapeways when it comes to allegations of trademark infringement,” he expains.
“Without such a safe harbor, we cannot easily allow users accused of trademark infringement to challenge accusations leveled against them.”
This means that Shapeways has to review every accusation of trademark infringement to confirm that they have a strong basis in law. If they believe that the accusation can be resolved without completely deactivating the listing (for example, by modifying the title, description, and/or tags), they attempt to broker a solution between the accuser and the accused.
However, if they believe that the accusation does not have a strong basis in law they may refuse to comply with it entirely. In these instances, the shop owner targeted by the accusation might never know about it in the first place.
Either way, the process can take weeks and sometimes months to resolve.
Would Donald Trump regard 3D printed models like these as a trademark infringement?
Data Distortions in Shapeways Transparency Report
A key incident from the 2017 Shapeways Transparency Report is that a single, unidentified rights-holder targeted over 600 models for removal from the site on the grounds of trademark infringement. This led to a significant data distortion, as Weinberg elaborates.
“Upon review, Shapeways believed that a number of the models in dispute were not using the mark in a way that violated the rights of the rightsholder,” he says.
“Shapeways and the rightsholder entered into ultimately unresolved discussions seeking a resolution. Over half of the originally accused models remain in the Shapeways marketplace pending its eventual resolution.”
While those discussions continued, the rightsholder also submitted a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DCMA) takedown request targeting the media or images accompanying the listing. In response, almost 250 models had some descriptive media removed from the listing while the model itself remained.
“Since this was an unprecedented response by a rightsholder and one that Shapeways believes is unlikely to be used in the future,” writes Weinberg, “those models will be counted as targets of unresolved trademark claims but not copyright claims for the purposes of this analysis.”
What becomes clear from the report is that Shapeways would benefit from a streamlined process where their users can challenge accusations of trademark infringement directly.
Something like the DMCA process, which allows rightsholders and users to resolve their disputes without resorting to formal litigation. This would mean that any trademark dispute could be resolved without entangling Shapeways as an intermediary.
One other important (and good) thing to note about the 2017 Shapeways Transparency Report is that their “warrant canary” is still present and correct. This means that Shapeways users have not been targeted by requests for data from government entities.
Keen to learn more? Find the 2017 Shapeways Transparency Report and previous years archived here.
With a 3D printed model showing the iconic red tie and blonde toupee, that’s definitely President Man-Baby. But would he call in the lawyers?
The new Pro Flex filament is a world first for the large-scale FDM industry, according to 3D printer manufacturer BigRep.
BigRep is a large-scale FDM 3D printer manufacturer based in Berlin, and today they announce a new “innovation” in filaments that many users of standard desktop printers may find rather quaint. It’s called Pro Flex, and it’s a flexible material with engineering grade properties for variety of applications.
So yes, tinkerers with modestly sized fused deposition modeling machines will have probably experimented with flexible materials for a while now. But BigRap is confident that this is a world first for the large-scale FDM industry. Given the generous square meter build volume of a BigRep ONE, fabricating something like a bouncy castle with Pro Flex is a distinct possibility.
But of course, the new TPU-based material Pro Flex is meant for more serious applications, providing manufacturers and customers with a flexible engineering material that has been developed and tested to work in tandem with a standard BigRep ONE and a 1 mm extruder.
“Printing elastomers is clearly one of the biggest challenges in the FDM AM industry, so we are proud to have found an industrial-grade solution,” says BigRep Chief Technology Officer Moshe Aknin.
“In terms of applications with Pro Flex, we see high potential for 3D printing in fields like footwear, custom vibration dampers, and seals, due to its high chemical resistance.”
Potential Applications for BigRep Pro Flex Filament
In terms of physical properties, Pro Flex has high temperature resistance and low temperature impact resistance. BigRap claims their new material is durable, has excellent damping behavior and dynamic properties, and will enable companies to explore a broader range of manufacturing opportunities.
For the automotive industry, for example, it can be used for prototyping for gear knobs, door handles, cable sheathing and more. The sporting goods industry is another industry that could benefit, where Pro FLEX can be used for prototyping skateboard wheels, sporting shoe shells, ski tips and ends.
In developing their thermoplastic elastomer, which is a Shore 98 A on the Shore Hardness scale, BigRep studied how elastomers behave in their printers’ extruders. They adapted their material evaluation procedure accordingly.
A note of caution, however. BigRep advises that customers must be experienced in handling extrusion of flexible materials. This is because achieve consistent results can be more challenging than standard filaments.
To this end, BigRep plans to provide a guidance document to all Pro Flex customers. And as part of the BigRep 360-degree service, customer service technicians are also on hand to assist where necessary.
Industrial 3D printer manufacturer Stratasys has spun off a 3D printing operation into a new independent company called Vulcan Labs, specializing in powder-bed fusion technology.
Stratasys, a leading producer of large commercial 3D printers, is launching a new company called Vulcan Labs, which will specialize in power-bed fusion additive manufacturing. The new entity is based in Belton, Texas.
Powder-bed fusion is a process which uses thermal lasers to fuse together powder particles. The new company will strive to improve the technology for speed, consistency and finish, among other things, with an emphasis on production in metals.
Originating from Stratasys’ acquisition of the service bureau Harvest Technologies in 2014, solutions from Vulcan Labs are currently being developed to include:
Optimized build environments and unique multi-laser scan strategies
Closed loop melt pool quality control
Detailed Data Logging and Integration to the factory floor
Automated powder handling and in-situ powder quality characterization
Automated calibration and build set-up capabilities
“We’re extremely excited to continue our long-standing collaboration with Stratasys that began back in 2014. Together, we’ll continue to explore unique solutions that strengthen the production ecosystem across additive manufacturing,” said David K. Leigh, CEO of Vulcan Labs, Inc.
“Our team will bring a unique perspective to solving many of the issues from an end-user perspective. We’re looking forward to delivering new solutions for customers to take control of their applications, while having the tools in place to manage their own quality.”
“Vulcan’s best-in-class team has both the experience and technical know-how necessary to bring PBF into real-world production – a vision perfectly aligned and complementary to our other activities in this space, including Stratasys Direct Manufacturing and our investment in LPW,” said Stratasys CEO, Ilan Levin.
“To provide Vulcan with the best path to achieve its vision, we decided to form a new and independent entity, with Stratasys as an equity stakeholder. We are delighted to continue supporting this team and look forward to collaborating with them and their partners to achieve this vision.”
Blow Molding (also: Blow moulding) and the molding process of polymers is one of the pillars of industrial manufacturing. Without this technology, we wouldn’t have access to cheap glass or plastic bottles or mass-manufactured hollow containers.
Blow molding allows industry players to produce parts and containers fast and cheap in high quantities. But how does this process work and what has 3D printing to do with it? This article will give you all the answers in a nutshell.
What is Blow Molding?
Blow molding started in the glass blowing industry where a liquid glass pulp is enclosed in a two-piece mold and then expanded by blowing into to the pulp. This causes the glass retains the contour of the mold and form a hollow area on the inside.
With the invention of polymeric thermoplastics, this technology started to rev up in the plastic bottle industry. Starting in 1977, the number of plastic containers rose from zero to 10 billion plastic bottles in 1999 due to the soft drink companies in the USA. The outcome isn’t exactly good for the environment, but if you use biodegradable materials or recycle thermoplastic bottles made from PET, things look a bit better.
Blow Molding versus Injection Molding
So, what’s the difference between parts made by injection molding and parts made by a blow molding machine? Injection molding creates solid parts, while blow molding creates hollow parts. If you are looking for something that needs only one rigid wall, injection molding is the right process. Think of bottle caps, cases, combs, and housings for computers and televisions. If you need a flexible, structural piece that even can hold fluid, you’re best off with blow molding. No wonder that billions of water bottles stand for the blow molding technology.
How Plastic Bottles are Made
Producing plastic bottles does not greatly differ from the glass blowing process. The technology used by the bottle forming process is called Injection Blow Molding (IBM). This requires a so-called preform which is much smaller than the actual bottle. The preform can be transported easily and if variants do not differ in weight it can be used uniformly. Like in the glass manufacturing process, the preform is heated up, put into the mold and inflated. Due to the preform, the material expands equally, resulting in a better flow control, surface quality and transparency. After the blow molding process, the bottle heads have to be threaded and the excess material cut off.
What are the Advantages of Blow Molding?
Blow molding scores especially at mass producing at a low price. Depending on the quality of the mold, it can produce more than over 1 million pieces before it has to be replaced. The production is also very fast compared to other molding processes, ejecting a finished product every few seconds. Thin walls and water-cooled molds also reduce cycle time. In addition, once the machine parameters are calibrated, the outputs quality is constant. This is achieved because factoring parameters are stable and controllable. The process of blow molding is also perfect for automation, reducing the need for workers working in a monotone environment.
What are the Limitations of Blow Molding?
Purchasing a molding machine may seem like the biggest investment of a company to start producing. However, before you start producing, you will need a mold. The biggest disadvantage of blow molding lies with the problem of all molding processes. For each type of product you want to produce, you need a new type of mold and this comes with a very steep price. The molds have to be machine milled and produced with a very high surface quality. The molds also have cannulas running through the walls to transport cooling fluids. In addition, the mold often has to be hardened to increase its lifespan. This high cost of molds often reduces a company’s incentive of producing prototypes, especially for low piece numbers.
How does 3D Printing Affect the Blow Molding Process?
This is where 3D printing comes in. With additive factoring, prototypes of molds can be produced faster and at a much lower cost. Unfortunately, 3D printed molds are way behind in durability than their machined counterparts. Still, it is not the goal to create a finished mold, but a prototype or a mold used only for small batches. In addition, it is less difficult and in extreme cases finally possible to create complex internal cooling pipes with 3D printing. The molds are made of metal with laser sintering or durable plastic with the Polyjet technology. The 3D printers of EOS or Stratasys are already helping to enhance the development of molds in all applications.
Which Businesses offer Blow Molding Technology?
If you are interested in acquiring a blow moulding machine or use a blow molding service, you have a choice of over 300 companies. Here are the most successful ones (according to Plastic News)
1. Amcor Rigid Plastics
Company profile: Amcor Rigid Plastics is one of the leading manufacturing companies, developing and producing high-quality packaging for food, beverage, pharmaceutical, medical devices, personal care and other products. Blow molding is an integral part of the company. Amcor is currently offering its service in 200 production sites in 43 countries. 68 percent of the production are flexibles, 32 percent rigid products.
Company profile: What started in 1970 with a simple motor oil container, has become one of the most important companies in blow moulding business. The company offers bottles and containers for food, beverage, household, auto/chem, personal and healthcare businesses. Graham Packaging was early in PET technology and still innovating it today. Also, Graham is one of the world’s largest suppliers of bottle-grade recycled plastics.
Company profile: With total annual sales of $2.7 billion, and more than 40.1 billion containers manufactured per year, Plastipak is one of the big players in blow molding. Founded in 1967, Plastipak started out providing plastic packaging to deliver water for the Young family’s water delivery company. Today, Plastipak now operates more than 60 production sites located in North America, South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia.
Company profile: The Auto Inergy Division is a subdivision of Plastic Omnium. They are manufacturing plastic fuel tank systems. The materials offer a combination of safety, cost, and weight performance (a 30% to 40% weight improvement compared with steel technologies), which are also usable in hybrid vehicles. Plastic Omnium offers solutions adapted for all kinds of engines.
Company profile: Austria-based ALPLA Werke had a turnover of €3.4 billion in 2017 with 176 production facilities and 45 countries.. They are offering plastic packaging of all sorts, including packaging systems, bottles, closures, injection-molded parts, pre-forms, and tubes. Founded in 1955, Alpla claims to be “a family company steeped in tradition, always looking towards the future”.
Now live on Kickstarter is the Gigabot X, a large-scale, direct pellet extrusion 3D printer for fabricating with recycled plastic.
Houston, Texas might seem likely an unlikely location for a revolution in 3D printing, but this is where re:3d have announced the Gigabot X, an open source 3D printer that fabricates with pelletized plastic. The unit is specifically designed to accept recycled pellets, a cleaner and greener approach for fused deposition modeling.
The official launch of the Kickstarter campaign for the Gigabot X took place at the SXSW Festival, with a campaign seeking $50,000 in funding. Pledges of $9,500 or more will secure backers an exclusive Gigabot X Beta 3D printer, plus 5 lbs of pellets to get started.
The first-generation Gigabot is an affordable large format 3D printer which was also a crowdfunding success story in 2013. But in launching the Gigabot X, the gang at re:3D reckon they’re fast approaching the realization of a goal 5 years in the making; a 3D printer that can print using plastic trash.
How so? The answer appears to lie in direct pellet extrusion. Melting small chunks of plastic instead of extruded filament for the input material makes 3D printing directly from recyclables an easier process.
Gigabot X creates a Virtuous Cycle for 3D Printing
There are other benefits that come from printing with pellets. It eliminates the need for extruded plastic filament, for example, which tends to be about 10x more expensive than pelletized plastic.
re:3D also say that direct pellet extrusion dramatically cuts back on printing times; in current tests, they’ve increased print times up to 17x than a filament-fed Gigabot.
There are other pellet printers already on the market, but they’re typically used in larger, more expensive manufacturing systems. According to the Kickstarter page:
“Our goal, much like with the first-generation Gigabot, is to increase 3D printer accessibility and bridge the gap between cost and scale by creating an affordable, large-scale pellet printer.”
In addition to raising funds, the campaign has another important objective; to recruit a number of beta testers who will fine-tune the Gigabot X. With their feedback, they’ll be collaborating with re:3D in an ongoing process of iteration and improvement.
And there will be some work ahead, to be sure. In addition to the direct pellet extruder, a small ecosystem of accessories are required for the Gigabot X. This includes a low-cost dryer, grinder, and feeder system.
It’s an ambitions plan, but if successful it could blaze the trail for 3D printing directly from ground-up plastic. Interested? Visit the official Gigabot X Kickstarter campaign page to learn more.
Shapeways has a new CEO and his name is Gregory Kress; the company will continue its expansion into a 3D printing marketplace where creators can design, make, and sell their ideas.
“While excited about how far we’ve come, I look forward to accelerating Shapeways’ vision to become the complete end-to-end platform helping people, ‘design, make, and sell,’ regardless of their 3D modeling experience,” says Kress.
Shapeways began operations in 2007 as an online 3D printing service. It has since evolved into a sophisticated marketplace for the production, distribution, and supply chain fulfillment of 3D printed goods.
Currently, Shapeways offers over 60 different 3D printing materials and finishes to their customers. They’re closing in on a magic number — their 10 millionth product printed — and receives 140,000 new design uploads each month.
With the hiring of Kress, the company says it has begun a new process; to implement services that will address both creative and business “pain points” for creators. It will expand its end-to-end services for current and new Shapeways users to design, make and sell their work.
Gregory Kress is the Shape(ways) of Things to Come
According to his corporate bio, Kress brings more than fifteen years of relevant experience to his new role at Shapeways.
He most recently served as President and COO of Open Education. There, Kress oversaw the business expanding to more than 400,000 students in 25 countries and supported by over 1,200 employees. Prior to Open Education, he spent 11 years in leadership positions across GE.
“We know people have ideas or want products that can be made and sold thanks to advanced design, production, and fulfillment technology — but most of them don’t know where to begin. Without proper support or infrastructure, the entire process seems inaccessible, complicated, intimidating, and expensive,” says Albert Wenger, Managing Partner at Union Square Ventures.
“Greg is experienced at growing platform businesses and we’re thrilled that he’ll be applying that deep knowledge and energy to empower creators to realize those design dreams.”
Shapeways has factories and offices in New York, the Netherlands, and partners around the globe. Company investors include Union Square Ventures, Index Ventures, Lux Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, INKEF Capital, Hewlett Packard Ventures, and Presidio Ventures.
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