TCT Europe 25.4 by TCT Magazine

EUROPE EDITION VOLUME 25 ISSUE 4 www.tctmagazine.com

MAKING TRACKS SLM SOLUTIONS ON THE ROADMAP TO SUCCESS FOR METAL ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING

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Somos materials Somos Taurus has entered the arena... ®

With a portfolio consisting of a wide variety of category-leading materials, you are sure to find a Somos® material that will fit the needs of your next project — even for final production! Somos® Taurus, the latest addition to the high impact family of stereolithography (SLA) materials, brings the combination of thermal and mechanical performance that until now has only been acheived using 3D printing techniques such as FDM and SLS. If you need some extra help or have a job that you can’t handle in-house, we can connect you with a service bureau that will quickly turn your projects into a reality. Get connected with Somos® at www.dsm.com/somos

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VISIT US

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September 26-28, 2017

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ACCELERATING 3D TECHNOLOGIES

VOLUME 25 ISSUE 4

ISSN 1751-0333

EDITORIAL

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HEAD OF CONTENT

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SLM Solutions Group AG Roggenhorster Straße 9c | D-23556 Lübeck Fon +49 451 16082-0

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ACCELERATING 3D TECHNOLOGIES

FROM THE EDITOR “NOT EVERYONE NEEDS A ROLEX…”

ometimes a £5 Casio will do just fine.” This metaphor was offered up at the International AM & 3D Printing Conference in Nottingham during a discussion on the merits of desktop 3D printing, and I could not agree more. At the same conference, Gartner presented its Hype Cycle for 3D Printing, 2017, causing something of a stir on social media with debates raging about terminology and placement of specific applications. Placed on the downwards slope after mounting the Peak of Inflated Expectations was Consumer 3D Printing. The suggestion that we have not reached the Trough of Disillusionment after some well publicised debacles may come as something of a surprise. The fact is many of the companies one would have associated with consumers, no longer operate in that market and are, instead, finding niches in industrial applications as desktop 3D printers as opposed to consumer 3D printers. One superb example of how desktop 3D printing has embedded itself into the manufacturing process for a major brand can be found on page 12 and has even forced its way on the shortlist of the inaugural TCT Awards. So if the likes of 3D Systems and MakerBot have deserted their ‘one in every home’ vision, is consumer 3D printing dead? Not by a long shot, it is just not the companies many of us recognise that are flooding the market with affordable, working machinery. Monoprice, ANet, Creality, TEVO and Kodama have all released sub-£500 3D printers (some sub-£100) that the DIY community on the likes of Reddit and YouTube love. While it may be argued that this not a ‘true consumer’ market, the majority of these people are not professionals, it is akin to the early gaming industry. Moreover, they are buying from consumer websites like Amazon, Gearbest, Banggood and Monoprice.

For another article I was working on, I recently asked 3D printing market expert Chris Connery of CONTEXT how Monoprice (who will be exhibiting at TCT Show for the first time this year) is performing having only first launched a printer in 2015. “Monoprice was one of the key stories to emerge from 2016 in this affordable personal/desktop printer category, jumping to the #2 global market share position for 2016 in the category. Monoprice’s growth is further evidence that go-to-market strategy and implementation is just as, if not even more important than product specifications for market success. Monoprice has a unique go-to-market proposition in that they have their own portal for sales and make their products available through other outlets as well, such as Amazon. Monoprice has become a go-to eShop for techies and hobbyists, with 3D printing being a natural fit for this clientele. It certainly helps that Monoprice, along with market leader XYZprinting, both have the most aggressively priced desktop 3D printers on the market, but each also have a robust sales and distribution plan.” The truth of the matter is that 3D printing was never going to experience the same market adoption as the smartphone no matter how many cameras, touch screens or apps the manufacturers promised. But what we see, both industrially and in the home, is people buying the printer to fit their needs, this can only be a healthy thing for the diversity of the market.

Druck On

Daniel O’Connor Group Editor

Renishaw Solutions Centres... Equipped with the latest metal AM, machining and metrology systems staffed with knowledgeable engineers, a Solutions Centre offers you a fast, secure and accessible way to rapidly deploy this exciting technology in your business. Find out more at www.renishaw.com/solutionscentres

www.renishaw.com Renishaw Solutions centres ad TCT Strip 0717.indd 1

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EMO Hanover, from 18th to 23rd September 2017

HALL 2 NORTH ENTRANCE

AUTOMATION

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DIGITAL FACTORY

ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING

More about DMG MORI at EMO Hanover 2017 emo.dmgmori.com

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COVER STORY

MAKING TRACKS

Group Editor, Daniel O’Connor reports on how one of the fastest growing businesses in Germany, SLM Solutions is delivering its metal AM solutions on a global scale and powering the world’s first 3D printed supercar.

NEWS

A roundup of the latest news from www.tctmagazine.com

Automotive

CAN YOU JIG IT?

Dan takes a look at the role desktop 3D printing is playing in the world of jigs and fixtures inside Volkswagen Autoeuropa.

REINVENTING THE WHEEL

Editorial Assistant, Sam Davies delves into the future of tyre manufacturing as Michelin presents its Visionary Concept for airless tyres using 3D printing.

REVVING UP PRODUCTION

Deputy Group Editor, Laura Griffiths speaks to Additive Industries about its partnership with Sauber F1 team to bring metal 3D printing to F1.

EXCHANGE AND EXTEND

How HiETA technologies used Renishaw’s metal AM solution to develop design guidelines with parameters for heat transfer in heat exchangers manufactured using laser powder-bed fusion technology.

DRIVING PART OPTIMISATION

How Concept Laser and GoEngineer re-engineered an off-the-shelf RC car chassis into an optimised, singular AM component.

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ACCELERATING 3D TECHNOLOGIES

CONTENTS

TCT | VOLUME 25 | ISSUE 4

Research and Academia

Casting

RETURN OF INVESTMENT

Dan reports on DSM Somos’ Elements material which is overcoming the challenges of SLA for investment casting to produce clean, smooth patterns.

TWO STEPS FORWARD AFTER ONE STEP BACK

Sam speaks to a research group exploiting material geometries to produce a 3D sand printed floor structure capable of bearing one tonne of weight.

RECASTING ADDITIVE IN THE FOUNDRY

Laura speaks to two foundries who have adopted different forms of additive manufacturing to meet the demands of the most challenging parts.

10 YEARS OF RP SUPPORT

UK-based RP Support celebrates ten years in AM from origins as a materials and equipment supplier to developing its own stereolithography machine.

INWED17

THE HISTORY OF 3D PRINTING

Together with our RAPID + TCT partners, SME, we have compiled a brief history of 3D printing dating back to Chuck Hull’s first SLA part in 1983.

TCT Show 2017

AUTODESK UNIVERSITY LONDON: REVIEW

Laura reviews the software giant’s debut event in London focussed on generative design and machine learning.

PREVIEW

This year’s TCT Show is our biggest one yet with over 200 exhibitors filling the expanded show floor with their latest technologies. We’ve got you covered on visitor top tips, tech launches, conference picks and show debuts.

For International Women in Engineering Day 2017, Laura spoke to the women working within the industry about what is being done to encourage more women into STEM careers.

EXHIBITOR SPOTLIGHT

With more floor space than ever before, you’ll need to plan your visit well. Here are just some exhibitors you should be sure to look out for.

INSPIRED MINDS

TCT Show’s popular education programme returns for 2017 to inspire the next generation of engineers.

TCT SHOW AWARDS

This year sees the inaugural TCT Awards and Hall of Fame ceremony taking place. Here are just a few of the names in the running.

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FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK GUEST COLUMNS

TODD GRIMM COLUMN 25 : 4 www.tctmagazine.com

24/07/2017 16:15

COVER STORY

MAKING TRACKS WOR D S : Da nie l O’ C on nor

HERE WAS SOMETHING OF AN INFLUX OF ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING (AM) exhibitors at the 2017 Paris Air Show, SLM Solutions can count themselves as pioneers having been the first metal 3D printing company to exhibit at the world's largest aerospace event back in 2011. “My heart hangs on this show,” Stefan Ritt, VP Global Marketing and Communications, tells me during a sit-down on SLM’s booth in Paris. “That year we reached an agreement with Multistation to be our exclusive French agency, and then in the following two years we sold 30 machines into France. We also made first contact with Ferrari Motorsports at this show now we have an SLM 500 with them.” Stefan has been in metal AM since the very beginning having joined MCP back in 1998. MCP introduced Selective Laser Melting (SLM) technology in 2000, in 2008 MCP became MTT Technologies Group and in 2011, after a UK Germany company split, one-half of MTT became SLM Solutions. Such is Stefan’s experience in Metal AM he represents SLM Solutions as Chairman of a DIN/ISO work group on Additive manufacturing in aerospace, Section coordinator of European Standardisation for ASD-STAND and as an Industry Expert on AM for the European Commission and the European Liaison Officer for the Additive Manufacturing Users Group.

THE ROCKY ROAD The back-end of 2016 was something of a rollercoaster ride for the German metal AM company. It all started with what looked like some promising news as GE announced an intention to acquire SLM Solutions and Arcam in September 2016. Elliot Management - a hedge fund that owns 20% of SLM Solutions - decided the offer was not in the best interests of the company. GE immediately turned its attention to Concept Laser and completed a deal in less than a month. The start of 2017 then saw a CEO removed with immediate effect. Stefan has remained philosophical throughout: "Life is what it is. There's the good old British saying of, 'Keep Calm and Carry On'. We shouldn't feel paralysed now that GE is taking a big chunk. We all have a valid position in this industry; we have a long research and scientific history in this technology. GE has more than 20 SLM Solutions machines throughout the U.S., and there’s a reason we were their first target for acquisition. "It looks like they're now using SLM colours," jokes Stefan about Concept Laser and Arcam's post-GE blue rebranding.

THE ROAD AHEAD

Despite the short-term bumpiness, SLM Solutions has good reason to be bullish; revenue continues to grow at such a rate that German news magazine Focus recognised the company as one of the fastest growing businesses in Germany. The growth means the company is having to move to a new HQ in its home town of Lübeck. In May 2017, SLM celebrated the topping out ceremony of the new building on a 17-acre campus and will move in in Spring 2018. 2017 has also seen several multi-order deals announced via its investor channel including the largest single order of SLM 500 machines to date as an unnamed Chinese organisation ordered ten machines. Considering there were some 13 new Chinese metal 3D printer manufacturers, all using the letters S-L-M at TCT Asia this year, this order totalling up to EUR 12 million - is testament to the quality of technology coming out of SLM Solutions. The machine on display at the Paris Air Show was the SLM 280 2.0 - its mid-range device available in several laser configurations that can rapidly increase the speed at which the machine scans the powder-bed. But Stefan is particularly

ABOVE: The concept car itself

25 : 4 www.tctmagazine.com

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ACCELERATING 3D TECHNOLOGIES

proud of a development in the machine that may seem less significant: "We've worked a lot on the gas flow. The machine build chamber now has sintered side plates that diffuse the gas flow and avoids turbulence inside the build chamber, safeguarding an even quantity and quality of the build. Users including a French aerospace manufacturer, tell us that they detected less than half the amount of microcracks they have with competitor machines they have at the moment."

WE SHOULDN’T FEEL PARALYSED NOW THAT GE IS TAKING A BIG CHUNK. WE ALL HAVE A VALID POSITION IN THIS INDUSTRY; WE HAVE A LONG RESEARCH AND SCIENTIFIC HISTORY IN THIS TECHNOLOGY Staying in Asia, SLM has also signed an agreement to lead metal 3D printing in India alongside DesignTech Systems and the International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials (ARCI) - an Indian Government-led research Stefan Ritt of SLM Solutions organisation. The agreement will see the collaboration establish a test and demonstration centre in Hyderabad with the aim of offering the best possible service of metal AM to Indian industry. Informally known as Cyberabad due to the prominence of companies like Google, Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Amazon, Hyderabad is one of India's key industrial centres and recently ranked second best Indian city to do business in a World Bank Group survey. A seemingly wise move to increase an already prominent presence in Asia’s second largest economy.

ENJOYING THE VIEWS

During our talk, Stefan modestly said of Paris Air Show attendees, "best case scenario they already know SLM Solutions as a brand but to be honest not everyone does." That could be set to change with the kind of exposure afforded by two of the most popular 3D printing videos on YouTube this year. Coincidentally, the first comes courtesy of the aforementioned machines installed at GE facilities. The May 2017 episode of GE's In The Wild series starring Mythbusters' Adam Savage is called, "The Power of 3D Additive Manufacturing" and has over 500,000 views. It shows several SLM machines at GE Power producing gas turbine components used to power homes across the U.S. The second video features a story much closer to SLM's heart, at the time of writing it has only been up for a week and has already had 400,000 views. It is an episode of Jay Leno's Garage featuring the 2015 Divergent Blade - the 3D printed supercar. Leno interviews Kevin Czinger, Founder and CEO of Divergent 3D, on the company’s use of an SLM 500 to produce the majority of the concept car’s frame. Earlier this year SLM Solutions deepened its relationship with

The 3D printed skeleton of the Divergent 3D Concept Car

Divergent 3D beyond the usual machine supplier into a strategic partnership that will see SLM create bespoke hardware and software for the Divergent Manufacturing Platform. The partnership is intended to allow Divergent 3D scale up to mass production. There is already a cooperation with PSA Group (manufacturer of the “Peugeot” and “Citroën” brands) and that was preLeno's Garage... SLM Solutions is a prominent partner in several of these blue-sky thinking automotive projects such as the Divergent 3D one, or the printing of wheels for the Audi Lunar Quattro, or the creation of entirely new tyre moulds (featured later on in this Issue on page 17) and Stefan believes these projects show that the technology is now at a point to truly live up to the promise he first saw in the late 90s: “We want this technology to be part of everyday continuous production; part one has to be the same as part 750. Only now with the improvements in speed and with features like the new gas flow system are people starting to see what can be done.” 

ABOVE: The SLM 280 25 : 4 www.tctmagazine.com

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3D AD D ITIVE MANUFACT URING SLA

Stereolithography

SLS

Selective Laser Sintering

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Direct Metal Printing

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A DVA N C ED MA N U FAC T U R I N G

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Metal Die Casting Sheet Metal

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24/07/2017 14:19

COVER STORY NEWS ROUNDUP

Testing a new design before costly tooling is created can save companies time and money. The cost and typical lead times involved are often expensive and can take many weeks. With the introduction of composite materials like Somos PerFORM, engineers can now use stereolithography’s  PRODWAYS ANNOUNCES DEVELOPMENT OF RAPID ADDITIVE FORGING METAL PRINTING TECHNOLOGY

quick and accurate technology to rapidly create moulds which are capable of producing real injection moulded parts that can reduce cost and time in the product development cycle. Join DSM Somos on 24th August at 3pm (BST) for a free webinar on how rapid tooling and 3D printed moulds can save both time and money. Register: mytct.co/DSM_webinar 

NEWS FOR THESE STORIES IN FULL CLICK TO mytct.co/25_4news

RP SUPPORT APPOINTED CHANNEL PARTNER FOR HP 3D PRINTING  Prodways launched its new Rapid Additive Forging (RAF) 3D metal printing technology prior to the 2017 Paris Air Show. Partnering with Commercy Robotique, a fellow Groupe Gorge subsidiary which specialises in robotised welding, the French company has developed the technology for the production of large titanium parts for critical applications. RAF uses a robot equipped with a head depositing molten metal in the atmosphere of inert gas, layer by layer, to build parts within hours. A patent has been filed for the technology. 

ACCELERATING 3D TECHNOLOGIES

BREAK OUT OF THE TRADITIONAL MOULD 

HP has appointed advanced digital manufacturing solution provider, RP Support Limited (RPS) as a channel partner for its 3D printing technology. RPS, currently celebrating its 10 year anniversary, will sell and service the HP Jet Fusion 3D printers and accessories in the UK market. The HP Jet Fusion 3D 4200 is an open platform allowing users the opportunity to print using different materials, accelerating product innovation to develop new higher performance materials. The new HP 3D printing solution will be exhibited by RPS at TCT Show, NEC, Birmingham on 26 – 28th September, stand #F22. 

 ARBURG UPDATES FREEFORMER

ARBURG, the German machine manufacturer which made its first move into the additive manufacturing market in 2013, has made a series of updates to the Freeformer platform which announced its entrance to the market. At an event to mark the updates to the machine, leading ARBURG personnel acknowledged the need to get better, and how they now have much more confidence in the Freeformer. Most of the updates concentrated on the build chamber. It can now operate at temperatures of up to 120 degrees Celsius. The cylinders have also be aligned, removing the potential for material leakage, and with the non-return valve sealed, the amount of material deposited can now be measured. ARBURG has also made alterations to ensure the batch of material is always pure. 

ARRK EUROPE ADDS PROX800 SLA 3D PRINTER TO UK PROTOTYPING CENTRE ARRK Europe, a global manufacturing company, has added 3D Systems’ ProX800 3D printing platform to its Gloucester Prototyping Centre in the UK. The addition of the machine bolsters ARRK’s stereolithography (SLA) fleet of which there are now 19 platforms across Europe, ten of which are in the Gloucester base. The company cites the expected continuation of the growth of the 3D printing market as the reason for the continued investment in 3D printing technology, and believes it will help ensure it remains well placed to support its customers’ needs going forward. 25 : 4 www.tctmagazine.com

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Automotive

CAN YOU

JIG IT?

Automotive 3D printing technology stories often deal with lightweighting of parts with complex structures that require months of perfecting. We often overlook how the rough and ready world of desktop 3D printing is now reliable enough to fit into the dayto-day assembly of some of the world’s most recognisable vehicles. Daniel O’Connor takes a look at the world of 3D printed jigs and fixtures inside Volkswagen Autoeuropa. 012

25 : 4 www.tctmagazine.com

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fixtures. The parts manufactured on machines that some might dismissively describe as 'hobbyist', are expected to save VW up to €250,000 a year. The particular plant responsible for the innovations was, in 1995, the largest foreign investment ever made in Portugal. VW Autoeuropa is in charge of the assembly of three of the German manufacturer's range; the Scirocco, the Sharan and the Alhambra manufactured for its SEAT subsidiary. "The plant decided to invest in this technology in 2014 with one 3D printer," Luis Pascoa, Pilot Plant Manager told TCT Magazine. "After checking the potential of this technology, the reliability and the ease of use, we decided Ultimaker printers were the best choice for us. Within two months we have a return on investment for all our printers." VW Autoeuropa's team now uses a total of seven Ultimaker systems to make more than 1,000 parts per year, all designed to save time and money on the production line. So efficient is the process that the 3D printed tools are considered best practice across the entire VW Group. ››

25 : 4 www.tctmagazine.com

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ACCELERATING 3D TECHNOLOGIES

“E

MBRACE THE MUNDANE,” industry expert Todd Grimm told the TCT Show audience back in 2015. He urged the gathered massed to go forth with the cost and time-saving benefits 3D printing offered for tooling, jigs and fixtures and apply them throughout industry. Judging by the number of tooling case studies we get here at TCT Towers, many have heeded Todd's words. But '3D Printed Tooling, Jigs and Fixtures,' could be seen in the depths of the 'Trough of Disillusionment' on Gartner's 3D Printing Hype Cycle for 2017. The yearly market research also claimed that this application for 3D printing was some 5 to 10 years from mainstream adoption. Two of the most mainstream brands in their respective industries, Ultimaker and Volkswagen Autoeuropa, have shown that, in this instance, Gartner's analysis is wrong. You don't get much more mainstream than sub £4,000 3D printers being used on a daily basis in the assembly of over 100,000 vehicles a year. VW is the world’s second largest automobile manufacturer, and now, thanks to a forwardthinking plant management team, a significant chunk of its vehicles benefit significantly from 3D printed tooling, jigs and

013

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Automotive ACCELERATING 3D TECHNOLOGIES

LEFT: The wheel protection jig

THE FIXTURE LIST

Amongst the thousands of parts that VW Autoeuropa develops, the most effective have been the simplest of prints like the liftgate badge gauge. This jig ensures that the model badging on the rear of the vehicle is consistent across the board. Assembly line workers, place the jig in a Japanese Poke-Yoke style and voila! A perfectly placed Sharan here and Scirocco there. Previously VW Autoeuropa sourced all its tooling, jigs and fixtures externally. A part like the liftgate badge took 35 days to develop, costing up to €400. Using the Ultimakers the parts, which have proved just as reliable if not more so, are completed in four days at the expense of a mere €10. "Now our gauges are much simpler and have adjustment capacities that were not present from the (external) supplier," said Miguel Jose, a Process Engineer at the plant. "When one element gets damaged, previously, we had to scrap the complete part; currently (with 3D printing) we replace only the fragile parts." With a cost saving of 98% and a time saving of 89%, 3D printing is a no brainer for use on an assembly line. Another part benefitting from a 3D printed overhaul is the wheel

ABOVE: This window gauge used to cost €180 per part - it can now be 3D printed at just €35. Development time shrunk from 8 to 6 days.

Manufacturing aids can now be 3D printed overnight and tested the next morning, which speeds up the development process considerably.

protection jig. Designed, printed and fitted to surround the wheel nut cavities, it allows the assembler to quickly guide and tighten the bolts using familiar heavy duty tools, without scuffing the wheel. The wheel protection jig used to cost up to €800 per part; the desktop 3D printed one? Just €21, a 97% saving. And the time is down to just ten days from a whopping 56 days when supplied externally. Thanks to an open material platform the team at VW Autoeuropa is able to experiment with different materials to add flexibility and stiffness where needed. Another beauty of desktop 3D printing is the small footprint; it allows the teams to iterate directly on the shop floor.

"Our people are continuously focusing on innovation, results and optimisation of our internal processes," said Plant Manger, Luis Pascoa. "This technology allows us to have more effective cooperation between our collaborators on development and assembly process optimisation, all with active participation in the brainstorming exercises. They know that the new jig or fixture will help the exact moment that they use it and improve quality and ergonomics.” VW Autoeuropa is a company embracing the mundane, and if it continues to generate cost-saving like the €150,000 it achieved in the first year and the €250,000 it anticipates year-on-year, then we can expect many more automotive manufacturers to follow suit.  25 : 4 www.tctmagazine.com

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ACCELERATING 3D TECHNOLOGIES

:21 PM

Automotive The Visionary Concept by Michelin

WOR D S : Sam Dav ie s

REINVENTING THE WHEEL

T WAS 1913, when the automotive industry first began to build momentum. That was the year Henry Ford installed the world’s first moving assembly production line for an entire automobile in Ford’s Highland Park manufacturing plant. This method of manufacturing was the platform for the second industrial revolution –the automotive sector being one of the main beneficiaries of this modernisation. A century on, the same sector is beginning to welcome a technology that might play a part in the next industrial revolution: That of additive manufacturing (AM). Some of the leading companies in automotive are harnessing the technology to advance their engines, the tools they work with, and even the tyres that permit their cars

to be mobile. A century on, automotive players are looking to overcome a previously-assumed impossible task, and reinvent the wheel. In 2016, tyre manufacturer Goodyear unveiled Eagle 360, a visionary concept tyre which is based on a customised design considering road conditions and driver habits. The tyre tread will soften on wet roads, creating deeper grooves to enhance grip, and stiffen on dry ones to achieve a similar performance level. Sensors will alert the car to the condition of the tyres and the condition of the roads. The tyres’ spherical shape would enable a car to move sideways, making parking easier. A year on, Michelin, one of Goodyear’s biggest rivals, has unveiled what it’s calling the Visionary Concept,

which boasts many similarities to Eagle 360. Michelin suggests it will have increased grip on wet roads, and will communicate with the vehicle and inform the driver of the road conditions and tyre wear. Michelin’s concept will be airless, made of an alveolar structure, and with stations at the side of the road, tyre tread will be able to be replenished as they wear and as road conditions change. Both concepts rely heavily on 3D printing. At those Michelin stations, will be 3D printing technology, on hand to input a new tread design mid-way through your journey, keeping you safe as you battle wet surfaces or head off-road. With Goodyear’s concept, the tyres will be 3D printed prior to their instalment on the vehicle – their interchangeable design catering for roads dry, damp and bumpy. These futurisms might be decades away before being remotely possible to impose on the way we travel, but they are extensions of work already done by those two companies. Michelin, in particular, was an early adopter of 3D technology, taking on 3D Systems’ ›› 25 : 4 www.tctmagazine.com

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Automotive ACCELERATING 3D TECHNOLOGIES

ABOVE: Left: An SLM Solutions 3D printed tyre mould segment, right: a casting segment.

RIGHT: The Goodyear Eagle 360 tyre with dry tread

Phoenix platform to print metal blades in the tread area of their tyre moulds. In recent years, the company has decided to become independent in its 3D printing efforts, ditching the Phoenix for its own metal 3D printer–under the brand, AddUp, with machines created in collaboration with Fives. This change of direction, while birthing new rivalries, is a reassurance that 3D printing has an influential potential in another aspect of the automotive industry. At least, that’s how Ralf Frohwerk, a man of 30 years’ experience in automotive and, in his role as Global Head of Business Development at SLM Solutions, a burgeoning rival to the likes of Michelin, feels. Frohwerk is somewhat of an expert in the production of tyres, and he’s working for a company committed to improving their manufacture. SLM Solutions’ most successful 3D printer, the 280 2.0 Selective Laser Melting platform, is a machine well-suited to the production of tyre moulds. The company presented it at this year’s Tire Technology Expo in Hannover, where Ralf also delivered a presentation on the topic of using metal 3D printing for the serial production of tyre moulds. Months after relaying his thoughts to an audience at Deutsche Messe, Hannover, he offered TCT his assessment on the growing interest in 3D printing tyre moulds in the context of Michelin’s Visionary Concept. “Michelin now goes their own way,” Frohwerk said. “That means they use their own machine and print their parts by themselves. It’s a good sign for the market that one of the big players is convinced that [using 3D printing for tyre tread production] makes sense, that this is the best way. This is a great message.”

The design of the moulds is key. It’s the ability to make the slightest ofalterations in the geometry, not possible on more conventional machine processes, that make the futuristic concepts of Michelin and Goodyear appealing. It’s what will enhance traction, and therefore safety. The idea of using 3D printing for the production of tyre moulds evolved from the method of implementing small metal blades to create slots in the tread area of tyres. Now, tyre producers are not only beginning to print these metal inserts, but the whole mould of a tyre. These moulds are made up of multiple segments, rather than being a single sheet of metal, and cut at angles of approximately 30 degrees. With the SLM process, the mould design must be adapted to a Twin Shell tire mould design, optimising three dimensional geometries slits, a specific split of tread segment, in multi pieces. This design features, in combination with high productivity due to multilaser technology, up to 4 x 700W with a beam focus 80 μm, reduces time to market and ensurea perfect accuracy and low surface roughness. This, according to Frohwerk, is the way to success using the SLM technology. SLM suggests its 280 machine can cater for tyre moulds of small and medium size, while SLM suggest using the SLM 500 Quad to get the ‘perfect solution’ for larger mould segments. It is perhaps one of the reasons

Frohwerk has noticed an ‘extreme push’ from automotive players in the last 18 months to pursue additive technologies, their benefits and potential. He feels that previously aerospace, energy, and healthcare companies have been the pioneers of AM, but now, the automotive industry’s conservatism is beginning to wane. The forethoughts of Michelin and Goodyear, and the reception of SLM Solutions’ 280 2.0 machine, serve to back this up. Beside the tyre suppliers, OEMs like Volkswagen, Audi, BMW, Toyota are also among those looking at 3D printing as a viable manufacturing technology. Even though that may notnecessarily befor the tyres of their vehicles yet, it adds to the promising future that additive manufacturing has in an industry that has continually fulfilled promise, ever since that assembly production line was installed in 1913. “They are interested,” Frohwerk says. “It needs more time, but I see clear statements from these huge players in the market, that it’s maybe not for mass production for the next two or three years, but everyone is talking about perhaps this is really in serious production between 2020 and 2025. “Everyone is looking for a little benefit and [3D printing tyre moulds] gives them a chance to get an advantage and this is why I’m totally convincedthis will drive tyre moulds [in a new direction] in the next generation.” 25 : 4 www.tctmagazine.com

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Automotive ACCELERATING 3D TECHNOLOGIES

LEFT: Sauber F1 race car.

BELOW:

MetalFAB1 Process & Application Development Tool

WOR D S : Laur a G r iffith s

REVVING UP PRODUCTION

ORMULA 1 IS NO STRANGER to the advantages of additive manufacturing. From McLaren to Ferrari, the heavyweights are all implementing 3D printing in some way, whether for custom tooling or to facilitate end-use parts. The latest team to expand its additive investment is Switzerland-based team, Sauber F1, which recently penned a threeyear technology partnership with Additive Industries to ramp up the production of metal parts for its race-ready cars and third party applications. The wheels were set into motion at last year’s formnext powered by tct where Additive Industries debuted its MetalFAB1 technology, a metal powder bed fusion technology that can be characterised and targeted to meet the demands of regulated industries. Sauber, a user of polymer 3D printing technology for over a decade, met with the Dutch manufacturer at the show and stated its ambition to expand its in-source 3D printing capabilities with the addition of a metal technology. Speaking to TCT Magazine, additive Industries CEO, Daan Kersten said that Sauber recognised “a growing importance in metal additive manufacturing parts for F1”. As a result, Sauber agreed to be the launch

customer for the MetalFAB1 Process and Application Development Tool, an entry level version of the MetalFAB1 machine designed for process and application development and prototyping. The idea is to give first-time users the freedom to gain experience with metal additive manufacturing and then scale up to series production, which can be done easily due to the MetalFAB1’s modular architecture. Sauber will start off developing its process with one in-house system, initially getting to grips with the technology and producing test components to ensure that parts comply with rigid standards. The plan is to then progress to a full-size production line system with multiple modules for series production. As part of the deal, Sauber will invest in two systems over the course of two years which will operate in four different metal powders, two on each machine. “The modular approach allows them to invest in a process application development tool and then later on expand,” Daan explained. “Our system is the only one that can do that. It allows you to really build the system as the demand grows.” Due to the fast-paced nature of F1, teams needs to be able to respond quickly and having this rapid manufacturing capability in-house will be allow Sauber to produce parts both for its own internal and F1 cars, and act as a suppler to third-parties. Daan A.J. Kersten, “Since this innovative Additive Industries & Monisha fabrication technology Kaltenborn, Sauber F1

is still in the early stages of industrialisation, it is an ideal moment for us to take on this challenge with our new partner,” Sauber F1 Team CEO & Team Principal, Monisha Kaltenborn, commented when the partnership was first announced. “By doing so, we will gain and develop the necessary know-how in this area. It is our mission to set new standards.” Additive Industries will be working alongside the team to ensure maximum knowledge transfer and assist them in the steep learning curve in optimising parts specifically for metal AM whilst feeding that experience back into their own product development. The company has already made strides in other industries such as aerospace, securing Airbus APWorks as one of its key Beta customers last year, and also in the industrial equipment manufacturing space with United Grinding Group, selling out its first phase of systems three months after its market launch. “This is really the way we like to work with our customers,” Daan added. “We are not aiming to sell systems to just anyone we really want to team up with companies that have the ambition to scale for series production and to help them. We want to really understand their applications so we can also improve our process and equipment to match their requirements.” Visit Additive Industries at TCT Show 2017 on 26-28th September at NEC, Birmingham, Hall 3, stand A24.”  25 : 4 www.tctmagazine.com

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A Delta Motorsport electric vehicle

WOR D S : Da n ie l O’ C on nor

ACCELERATING 3D TECHNOLOGIES

EXCHANGE AND EXTEND

Automotive

super alloy that were just 150 microns thick. Both Renishaw and HiETA produced samples using a variety of settings; the samples were heat treated and characterised separately at the respective HQs. The results enabled the companies to confirm the optimum parameters on the machines for thin-walled structures and also allowed HiETA to develop a design guidebook with parameters for heat transfer in heat exchangers manu-factured using laser powder- bed fusion technology.

APPLIED SCIENCE

HiETA’s specialised expertise is attractive Micro-turbine range extender project, MiTRE (left) and, cuboid heat exchanger for automotive applications, particularly for electric vehicles, where AM combines improvements in the heat exchanging efficiency of the range extending power HE COVER STAR OF TCT pack with lightweighting and conformal MAGAZINE Volume 25 packaging to extend the effective range Issue 2 featured a metal of the batteries. additively manufactured Delta Motorsport, formed in 2005 and part rising from the water like a based at Silverstone, has a reputation for Halong Bay sea-stack. ‘ADDITIVE highly evolved engineering solutions for IS NOT AN ISLAND’ proclaimed the the automotive industry and, to improve its headline for a piece on Renishaw’s electric vehicle offering, turned to HiETA. complete production process. For another Innovate UK project, Delta and That part was an annular radial flow HiETA manufactured a cuboid recu-perator ABOVE: MetalFAB1 Process & Application Development Tool  recuperator for a micro gas turbine as part of the micro-turbine range extender system designed and manufactured by HiETA Technologies (MiTRE) unveiled by UK’s climate change and industry minister, Nick in collaboration with Delta Motorsport as part of Innovate UK’s Hurd at Cenex’s Low Carbon Vehicle Event at Millbrook in 2016. Selective Laser Manufacture Micro-Turbine (SLaMMIT) project. The “It (AM) has allowed us to cram a lot of technology into a small story behind it is a real additive manufacturing (AM) success story. space,” says Scott Herring, Senior Engineering Manager, Delta HiETA Technologies, founded in 2011, focusses on Motorsport. “It (the cuboid recuperator) has been developed implementing AM in two main areas: thermal management and over four years, and it is, fundamentally, to fill a gap; the gap lightweighting. HiETA uses a range of Renishaw systems to is trying to engineer an electric vehicle with a smaller battery achieve this, having just added a RenAM 500M to its AM250. pack but still have the range capabilities for those one or two off Renishaw’s relationship with HiETA does not stop as machine journeys where you need it.” manufacturer; it has helped HiETA develop processes and data After demonstrating that manufacturing a cuboid heat sets for its products and last year deepened its relationship exchanger component was feasible, Hieta and Delta Motorsport further by increasing investment in HiETA to 24.9%. enlisted Renishaw technology further to create the former Traditionally, the heat exchange products that HiETA is cover star that is the annual radial flow recuperator. This project improving are made with thin sheets of welded material. The aimed to take the design of components to even higher levels complexity of the designs makes production both challenging of complexity. The annular form means the recuperator could and time-consuming, while the material used for the welding be wrapped around other components and contain integrated process adds to the overall weight of the part. Complex, heavy manifolds to give a more compact overall system. and labour intensive? Sounds like a job for AM. After decreasing a build time from 17 days to just 80 hours, Relatively little research had previously been carried out detailed testing showed that the component would meet the in AM’s ability to make the sufficiently thin walls needed for pressure drop and heat transfer requirements with a weight and these heat exchangers. The first test was to ensure that there vol-ume approximately 30% lower than that of a conventionally was a data set for manufacturing leak free walls in nickel manufactured part. A worthy cover star. 

25 : 4 www.tctmagazine.com

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Automotive

W OR DS : L a u r a G r iffit h s

DRIVING PART OPTIMISATION

Re-engineered chassis

F YOU WERE AT RAPID + TCT or the Additive Manufacturing Users Group Conference this year, you may have spotted a strange but undeniably cool-looking RC car racing past your feet on the show floor. That car is the product of a partnership between GoEngineer and Concept Laser, the latest from the 3D technologies provider designed to showcase its extensive capabilities including 3D scanning, topology optimisation and 3D printing. Taking an off-the-shelf Traxxas RC car, the team, led by Manufacturing Application Manager, Tyler Reid set out to re-design a traditional race car chassis using reverse engineering to create a complete integrated assembly that could be manufactured as one piece. Starting by taking a 3D scan of the original body, the team used a Creaform HandySCAN 700 red laser scanner to collect 3D data that was then loaded into Geomagic to rebuild its geometry. “In anticipation for upcoming design optimisation, we only reverse engineered some of the key mounting points on the chassis - the bits we would have to retain if we were going to re-use a lot of the components,” Tyler explained. “So things like the axel mount, where the electronics mount. For everything in between, we basically created a large working envelope.” That envelope was then transported into solidThinking Inspire, a topology optimisation tool which allows you to specify load points, determine where the design will need material and perform FEA and simulation studies to show how the part will perform

ABOVE: Optimised design in SolidWorks

ABOVE & BELOW: Front and rear design 

Original Traxxas model

based on load considerations. With a basic, organic shape created, Tyler then used the PolyNURBS tool within Inspire to sculpt the bulk design before moving into SolidWorks to add details such as electronics mounts. “Being a powder-bed laser machine, it had no problem with the complex geometry of the part,” says Tyler, noting that had the design been optimised for metal powder from the start, it could have looked quite different. “Support structures were able to be created and the shape is a great fit for this type of machine.” Because the chassis is roughly 18 inches long, that severely restricts the choices of machine manufacturers that can handle a print of this size and complexity. Concept Laser’s X LINE 2000R is the world’s largest powder-bed metal AM build platform on the market at 31.5” x 16” x 20”, making it ideal to handle this design. Part count was reduced radically from seven individual injection moulded components to a singular 3D design printed in aluminium. Further complexity could be designed by hollowing out certain parts or including lattice structures to further reduce weight. “If we can use design optimisation to maybe reduce weight, or increase rigidity or stiffness while maintaining strength then we're ahead of the game,” says Tyler. “We took 7 parts on this car and combined them down into one and that's a key benefit of AM, it encourages part consolidation and complexion on the individual part level rather than simplicity amongst many parts.” Taking the project a step further, Tyler experimented with other parts of the vehicle, optimising the rear spoiler and bracket, control arms, the wheels and printing mould tolls to create carbon fibre components. Though the race car represents automotive innovation on a small scale, Tyler states that there is potential to use the lessons learned here in a full-scale automotive environment, using analysis-led design to create better performing, lightweight parts that reduce material costs and energy consumption. Though right now, it’s about dreaming big and starting small. “To take the full chassis of a vehicle and to design optimise an entire chassis is actually a pretty difficult thing to do,” Tyler explained. “If I were to take one component, in real life in automotive, it could be the entire unibody structure like this, but in reality we would be doing so on smaller, simpler parts.”  25 : 4 www.tctmagazine.com

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ACCELERATING 3D TECHNOLOGIES

Seven individual chassis components

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ACCELERATING 3D TECHNOLOGIES

3:30

Research and Academia



WOR D S : S A M DAV IE S

TWO STEPS FORWARD AFTER ONE STEP BACK

TONNE OF WEIGHT rests proudly on a two-centimetre-thick curved shell floor, 3D printed in sand material, achieved only thanks to the formal freedom 3D technology enables. Accomplished with the ExOne S-Print machine, the Block Research Group (BRG) from ETH Zurich STEM University was inspired to rediscover, and reimplement, forgotten techniques that were harnessed hundreds of years ago to construct some of the finest examples of architecture in the world. The introduction of reinforced concrete in the 19th century saw architects focus more on the material they used, rather than the structure’s geometry, to ensure its strength.

ABOVE: Approximately half of the Block Research Group atop of their 3D sand printed floor structure. Philippe Block (right) is joined on the front row by Dr Tom van Mele, co-director of BRG (centre) and Dr Matthias Rippmann, post-doctoral researcher at BRG who developed the floor prototypes (left).

Credit: Block Research Group, ETH Zurich.

Back then it was a development that might have saved a lot of time and effort. Why worry about the complexity of complex geometry, when you can revel in the simplicity of using more material? As we’ve progressed through to the Digital Age, where technology’s influence in every industry continues to grow, nothing has changed, and structures are all too often produced with a materials-driven strategy. Prof. Dr Philippe Block, who leads the BRG, and contributes to the tonne of weight atop of the 2 m x 1.4 m 3D sand printed floor structure, is a traditionalist, not for the sake of it, but because giving proper consideration to the geometry of the assembly produces some impressive results. The team designs the complex geometry of the floor's structure on proprietary software that is a speciality of the BRG. Block and his team demonstrate how a weak material like sand can hold close to 1,500kg thanks to complexity. He explains if you were to take a chunk of the structure out, you could snap it like a chocolate bar. But as a whole, the rib-vaulted geometry provides sufficient strength per construction guidelines, and with less material used, 70% weight reduction compared to a typical concrete slab. It’s an old technique, ›› 25 : 4 www.tctmagazine.com

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tried and tested, and then forgotten about, or just ignored generation after generation. Thanks to the curious brains of researchers, like Block, and the advancements in tech, like 3D printing, it might finally be remembered. “To us, it is interesting to use 3D printing, and use these 3D printed models, to demonstrate something that we’ve forgotten how to do – to get strength through geometry rather than through material capacity,” Block tells TCT. He continues: “We can rapidly generate full-scale prototypes of our new ideas, load test them and demonstrate that you can walk on it, which immediately convinces people. You can put your entire team on it, and it’s even more convincing.”

ABOVE:

BRG’s 3D sand printed floor with rib-vaulted geometry.

Cre dit

Of course, it’s only architects who need coaxing. The general public will trust a floor to be safe, wherever it is. In New York’s Grand Central Terminal, the Oyster Bar is sheltered with a vaulted ceiling made of 15cm thick unreinforced tiles. Above them, millions of New Yorkers walk, unaware that a space the size of a small ruler separates them from the atmosphere of a quaint restaurant below. Block, then, has reason to be optimistic that his group’s 3D sand printing method has potential. The team will showcase the sand printed floor structure on-site as of 2018, and will make the computational framework used to generate the structure’s geometry open source this summer.



ABOVE: BRG’s 3D sand printed floor is made up of five segments.

Additionally, Block and his team will be using wax 3D printing, a collaboration with Laing O’Rourke’s FreeFAB, to produce the moulds to cast a unit of 5 m x 5 m x 2 cm thick, unreinforced concrete floor for the NEST Building in Zurich. Their hope is that it will be a stepping stone in the journey to using an efficient structure in the future. While in this project the material will differ, the geometry remains the key component, and that’s the takeaway from ETH Zurich’s research. “Many people in 3D printing on a construction scale or architectural scale are suggesting that we are far off from relevant applications because the material is not strong enough,” Block says. “But the material is not strong enough because we haven’t coupled geometries that are in line with what the material is suitable for. If you want to 3D print a structure that stands up because of bending, then these 3D printed materials are going to be useless. However, when you discover a geometry that can activate compression, and that can safely carry all the loads to the supports in compression, then suddenly we have geometries that are highly compatible.” And when that happens, a stepping stone can become a destination. 

: He

iko Sta c

hel

25 : 4 www.tctmagazine.com

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ACCELERATING 3D TECHNOLOGIES

Credit: Block Research Group, ETH Zurich

Research and Academia

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Research and Academia

The company has a portfolio of five engineering software products and now has over 150 industry organisations using its software, located in 30 countries worldwide. The LimitState:FORM software, launched publicly in 2016, uses discrete optimisation methods to rapidly identify efficient designs for AM components, providing these as highlevel solid models. Here Matthew talks us through his experience of commercialising a research project.

ACCELERATING 3D TECHNOLOGIES

Matthew Gilbert joined the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Sheffield as a researcher in 1993, becoming a Lecturer in 1996 and Professor in 2013. His longstanding interest in optimisation and its applications in engineering analysis and design saw him co-found LimitState with two academic colleagues, a PhD student, and is its Managing Director.

LimitState’s first products targeted the construction sector, using mathematical optimisation techniques to provide capabilities not present in existing products in the marketplace. Some of the early products were - and I think still are - quite revolutionary in their target sectors, though we greatly underestimated the challenge of getting the message out to potential users. At the University of Sheffield, we undertake a range of additive manufacturing (AM) related research, brought under the banner of the ADAM (Advanced Additive Manufacturing) Research Centre in 2012, led initially by Neil Hopkinson and now by Iain Todd. Iain alerted me to the pressing need for more efficient AM design tools six or seven years ago - the issue is that traditional topology optimisation-based design workflows are cumbersome, involving a double whammy of long run times and the need for labour intensive manual remodelling of low-level mesh output. Given that the outcome of this lengthy process is often a truss-like form, the question arose: why not instead use methods which can identify such forms directly? Layout optimisation techniques could generate

EXPERIENCES OF COMMERCIALISATION

FTER TEN YEARS AS AN ACADEMIC at the University of Sheffield, I took the plunge and entered the unfamiliar world of commercialisation. I realised that a spinout company could provide a means of dispersing new methods developed in the University into industry - rather than languishing in the pages of academic journals. The journey to doing so has brought great personal satisfaction though I underestimated the time investment involved in setting up and running the company, LimitState Ltd. In the beginning, I was involved in everything, from assembling the furniture for our first company office, writing chunks of the software source code, and phoning around potential customers. Currently, my involvement is primarily as a technical consultant and steering the general direction of the company. We were fortunate that when the company formed in the mid2000s, the University was happy to support spinouts with relatively modest early stage income projections, whereas recently they are setting the bar higher.

designs quicker, and the resulting designs would also be much easier to manipulate, if required. The company then secured funding from the UK government (via TSB/Innovate UK), firstly to prove that layout optimisation methods could usefully be used to design lightweight AM components, and later to develop a prototype software application as part of a collaborative R&D project involving the Manufacturing Technology Centre and a number of industry partners (as part of the ‘ANVIL’ project, initiated by David Wimpenny). Working with industry partners from an early stage was new to me but helped us stay focused on meeting the end users’ needs. These projects led to release of the LimitState:FORM design optimisation software in 2016. With backing for AM-related R&D activities from the UK Government, the involvement of a vibrant community of AM researchers, industry players and LimitState projects, my experience has been positive. I’ve also recently witnessed my former ADAM colleague Neil Hopkinson move from academia to industry, to focus on further developing the high-speed sintering technique he invented. I think this is a healthy development - though he is obviously a significant loss to the University. Although colleagues in the U.S. generally seem more alive to commercial opportunities, I don’t see the situation as being radically different in the UK. The amount of support available can vary markedly by institution, irrespective of geographic location. The main difference seems to occur a bit further down the line I’ve lost count of the number of dynamic UK spinout or startup companies acquired by large U.S. corporations in the last few years. It’s a shame that there are so few UK companies with the scale and ambition of their U.S. counterparts, and, given the acquisitions, this looks set to continue.  25 : 4 www.tctmagazine.com

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Research and Academia ACCELERATING 3D TECHNOLOGIES

John Hart is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Here he discusses the role academic institutions are playing in driving the additive manufacturing industry forward.

FROM ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING TO ADAPTIVE PRODUCTION

ANUFACTURING IS ARGUABLY MORE IMPORTANT AND EXCITING THAN EVER; it is critical to economic growth and to the sustainable growth of our world. The convergence of innovations in robotics, computational intelligence, instrumentation, advanced materials, and new processes is enabling production systems to become more agile, responsive, and data-driven. Additive manufacturing (AM) is a cornerstone of the factory of the future, and offers a unique platform for deploying digital technologies for amplified productivity gains. In the past year, many developments indicate a turning point toward the industrialisation of AM. These include major partnerships across the value chain—including design tools, materials, and equipment—and the emergence of novel, high-speed AM processes. Moreover, volume production of parts using AM will soon be a widespread reality. Examples include the scale-up of GE’s LEAP engine which incorporates 3D printed fuel nozzles, and adidas’ partnership with Carbon on the Futurecraft 4D shoe. Countless companies are using AM to improve the efficiency of manufacturing operations using advanced mould tooling and custom fixtures, and to accelerate product development and market testing. These and other demonstrations of AM’s value are driving increased confidence in AM as a production method. Of course, challenges remain, especially in part qualification, post-processing, and surface finishing. Advances in computation and in-process instrumentation are the lynchpin for AM’s ability to reliably produce high-quality, qualified parts: new software will permit upfront simulation of builds, allowing improved design and mitigation of defects; advanced scanning methods will accelerate postbuild inspection, and enable digitisation of legacy designs; and, automation is increasingly affordable and deployable into AMbased production systems, a necessary development for increasing throughput and reducing the labor cost of post-processing.

As we master AM’s physical and digital workflows, unexpected possibilities emerge. The interoperability of an AM-enabled factory – its ability to produce diverse parts while adjusting only the machine’s digital input – will create new business models and establish new vectors for the customer to influence the design process. We must envision what AM may produce that it cannot at present, and chart a course for realising the previously impossible: from building individual replacement parts for appliances and vehicles to patientspecific medicines and tissues delivered at the point-of-care. And while the cost-equivalence of AM to traditional forming methods may never approach the largest volumes of consumer products, the responsiveness and reduced risk of industrial AM requires us to build models that effectively capture its end-to-end value. Academic institutions, such as MIT, have a critical role to play in driving the AM industry forward, and in creating its unknown future possibilities. My research group at MIT is focused at the intersection of materials, processes, and automation for advanced manufacturing. Our recent work includes a high-speed extrusion AM process for polymers and composites, AM of cellulose-based materials as an alternative to conventional thermoplastics, concepts for modular high-precision interfaces among AM parts, and an instrumented testbed for selective laser melting that will enable us to derive new process control strategies. More generally, the Boston area is home to exciting startups in this space – including Desktop Metal, Formlabs, Markforged, Onshape, Righthand Robotics, Rize, and Voxel8 -- many of which have involved MIT faculty and students as co-founders, and provide examples of the ability to drive innovative ideas to market. We’re also focused on education, and created a project-based AM course and a professional short course, “Additive Manufacturing: From 3D Printing to the Factory Floor,” that has trained hundreds of designers, engineers, and executives to understand and deploy AM technologies in their organisations. We are proud of this work, but it is a drop in the bucket. The workforce needs self-paced, digitally delivered, and technically rich educational programs that are adaptable to full-time students and busy professionals alike. Moreover, in Fall 2017 we will launch the MIT Center Additive and Digital Advanced Production Technologies (ADAPT), which will focus on breakthrough research, open education, and technical strategy. By uniting the efforts of universities, startups, and industry, we will best be able to advance our vision of AM and the factory of the future, and create commercial value at a pace that matches our imagination.  25 : 4 www.tctmagazine.com

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TCT 25-4v3.indd 34

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24/07/2017 14:27

RPS ACCELERATING 3D TECHNOLOGIES

ABOVE,

The NEOS 800 stereolithography system

RIGHT & below: SLA parts printed at RPS



WOR DS : L a u r a G r iffit h s

10 YEARS OF RP SUPPORT

017 HAS BEEN THE YEAR for major technology milestones. Autodesk marked its 35th anniversary in January, Lenovo’s ThinkPad laptop turns 25 and the iPhone is celebrating 10 years since its launch - the list goes on. But one decennial anniversary you might not be aware of is that of a company which in its 10 years has gone from being a reliable partner in supplying materials and equipment to the then lesser-known stereolithography (SL) industry, to developing and delivering its own professional system. That company is RP Support. Founded by Steve Moran and Rory Jackson in July 2007, the company quickly made a name for itself after being appointed as a supplier of industryleading DSM Somos stereolithography materials and recruited its first project engineer, Simon Tyler and Director, David Storey in 2008. Expanding to Milton Keynes shortly after, business developed fast and by 2010 the team grew to five people warranting another move to its current location in Aylesbury. Rory Jackson, Director at RPS commented, “It’s been a remarkable decade and our dedication to providing high quality in all areas of our business, with strong customer service and field support, has won us many contracts and we will continue to innovate and actively drive this exciting industry with further ideas in the future.” Some of those key contracts range from major automotive companies (all tight-lipped as is the case with most clients of this nature in the industry but let’s just say, they’re very well-known) to facilitating one

of the industry’s most successful application areas with hearing aid manufacturer, Widex, all of the way to the busy Rapidform department at The Royal College of Art, delivering stereolithography and laser sintering hardware, support and training.

A KEY MILESTONE

By 2012, with five-years of experience under its belt, and a strong knowledge and understanding of the market, RP Support could see the opportunities that existed to provide customers with the 3D printing solutions they needed, and began looking into the development of its own stereolithography machine. RPS Director, David Storey confidently remarked: “We could clearly see the market need that the NEOS 800 now delivers, and we had the best team to design and build it.” Leveraging its hands-on knowledge working closely with SL technology over the last decade, every detail of the NEOS 800 has been carefully selected from its ‘Titanium’ software built from scratch by inhouse engineers down to the paint finish. But that meticulous R&D process has paid

off, and the system has since been piloted by Paragon Rapid Technologies who later became the first recipients of a machine, fondly named Trevor, before fully launching on to the market in September last year. Subsequently RPS has sold its first batch of NEOS 800 systems and has already started production of the second batch. The company made its first overseas sale in May and is actively seeking distributors in Europe. Steve Moran, Director at RPS predicts that in the next five years, RPS will have over 100 machines in the UK and Europe and teases the possibility of a new, smaller machine aimed at the hearing aid, jewellery and medical markets. “We are very proud to be reaching this key milestone at RPS and to know that our amazing team with their combined knowledge and experience has brought us to this point, and built us such a strong reputation in the market,” said Steve. Ten years on, RP Support now employs 22 people. That strong reputation has led to partnerships with the likes of ALM for a range of laser sintering materials and also Markforged, as a value added partner for its carbon fibre, desktop 3D printers. Most recently, RPS has partnered with HP as a leading channel partner for its end-toend HP Jet Fusion 3D printing systems and materials in the UK. In addition, RP Support has refurbished over 100 lasers in their clean room in Aylesbury, which are shipped to customers worldwide. RPS will be continuing its anniversary celebrations at TCT Show in September, stand F22, seven years after it made its show debut, and at formnext powered by tct in November. Visit the team in Birmingham and Frankfurt to learn more.  25 : 4 www.tctmagazine.com

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A BRIEF HISTORY OF 3D PRINTING

You may have noticed that TCT Magazine is up to volume 25 now having first launched in the summer of 1993 as Rapid News - The Magazine of the Prototyping and Tooling Industry. Three years before that our partners over in the U.S., SME, launched the first RAPID conference and together the companies boast decades of 3D printing experience. Here is a brief history of 3D printing compiled by the SME and TCT.

1983 • Charles (Chuck) Hull produces first stereolithography part

• First SME “RAPID” conference held

1991 • Fused deposition modeling (FDM) system released by Stratasys, Inc.

1993

to take hold as both a process and a goal

• Solidscape founded 1994 • ColorJet Printing (CJP)

commercialised

manufacturing company founded

1988 • First commercial installation

• Laminated object

manufacturing (LOM) system commercialised by Helisys

of SLA-1 at General Motors and Baxter Healthcare

• Solid ground curing (SGC)

deposition modeling (FDM)

• Mimics, first widespread software

• Scott Crump invents fused

• First medical model produced using stereolithography by Nick Mankovich at UCLA

1989 • SLS patent issued to Carl Deckard

link between medical imaging and 3DP/AM, released by Materialise

• Portable CMM for metrology, FAROArm developed

• Stratasys, Inc. founded by

1992 • Selective laser sintering (SLS)

• EOS founded by Dr. Hans J.

• Nova Automation, founded in

1986, becomes DTM Corporation

Vancraen

036

stereolithography material, called Stereocol developed by Zeneca Specialties with Materialise

• Direct Dimensions, Inc.

founded by Michael Raphael

• Z Corporation founded 1996 • First ever TCT Show in Garden Heritage Motor centre

• Extrude Hone (ExOne) becomes

the exclusive licensee of the 3DP process ( MIT ) for metal

1997 • Rapid News magazine changes name to Time Compression Technologies (or TCT for short)

1998 • Global Alliance of Rapid

Prototyping Associations (GARPA) founded, and first meeting held

system released by DTM Corp

Langer and Dr. Hans Steinbichler

1990 • Materialise founded by Wilfried

• First selectively colourable

system released by Cubital

Scott Crump

Printing techniques"

machine, direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) system-EOS, released

1986 • 3D Systems, first additive

AM system, SLA-1, is introduced

• MIT patented "3 Dimensional

• The term “rapid tooling” began

(SLA) patent filed

1987 • First commercially available

to TCT, Rapid News launches first edition with cover story on the purchase of LOM 2030 by the Advanced Technology Centre at Warwick University

1995 • First commercial metal

1984 • Stereolithography Apparatus

• Precursor

First additively manufactured • FDM patent issued to Stratasys, Inc 1999 •hardware put on an airplane • Magics, the industrial software solution, released by Materialise 2000 • First hearing aid cases produced using • Phidias project in Europe kicks stereolithography off (runs 1992-1995) to gather evidence on medical applications

• Mammoth Stereolithography developed by Materialise

25 : 4 www.tctmagazine.com

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History of 3D Printing

by Kerstin and Frank Herzog

• Selective Laser Melting (SLM)

technology introduced

• Objet launch first machine 2001 • DTM acquired by 3D Systems • 3D scanning of Lincoln

• First person to walk on

Memorial demonstrated

• Patent for Digital Light

Processing (DLP) to EnvisionTec

2002 • First EBM machine released by a DLP printer and 3D-Bioplotter

2003 • Inkjet printing of viable cells

• Organovo used a bioprinter to

• Electron Beam Additive

print the first blood vessel

Manufacturing (EBAM) launched by Sciaky, Inc.

2010 • MTT Technologies separates

German and English commercial activities, leading to the foundation of SLM Solutions and an Metal AM division at British engineering firm, Renishaw

• Conjoined Egyptian twin boys,

EBM by North Carolina State University team

2011 • First additively manufactured

2005 • First high definition colour 3D

company in the US to receive FDA clearance for an additively manufactured metallic implant

• TCT Show moves from the

Bowyer at University of Bath

• Ultimaker is founded in

• Members of the 3DS Users

• Fab@home project launched by Prof. Hod Lipson

2007 • Organovo established • SME/RTAM petitioned NIST to develop standards for additive manufacturing

2008 • Both Thingiverse and

Shapeways launch 3D printing communities

• FDA clears first additively

• First Medical Manufacturing

manufactured polymeric implant, cranial plate produce by OPM of PEKK Innovations (MMI) program at RAPID

2014 • 3D Systems acquires Medical

Modeling, Layerwise and Simbionix, establishes healthcare vertical

• Multi-jet fusion technology announced by HP

• Launch of TCT Asia in Shanghai • Airbus use metal additive manufactured by Concept Laser to print connector bracket

2015 • CLIP technology introduced by Carbon

Ricoh Arena to its current home in the NEC, Birmingham

• RepRap founded by Dr. Adrian

schematics

as flagship institute for Manufacturing USA

robotic aircraft designed and own by University of Southampton

printer in market, Spectrum Z510, launched by Z Corp

2006 • RepRap releases Darwin

• Exactech becomes the first

joined at the head, are successfully separated in Dallas, TX with the aid of Complex medical models

• Titanium alloy developed for

2013 • Stratasys acquires Makerbot

and launch Cupcake machine

patented by Dr. Thomas Boland at Clemson University

to form committee to develop additive manufacturing standards

2009 • MakerBot Industries founded,

Arcam AB

• EnvisionTEC launch company with

• Stratasys and Objet agree merger • America Makes established

• SME/RTAM approaches ASTM

an additively manufactured prosthetic leg

Netherlands

Group voted to open the group to owners/operators of all commercial 3D technologies, thus becoming the Additive Manufacturing Users Group (AMUG)

2012 • Z Corp acquired by 3D

Systems who also launch consumer range, Cubify

• Formlabs launch on Kickstarter raising $2.9m and instantly become one of world’s largest 3D printing companies by machines ordered.

• Launch of formnext powered

by tct, a new Industry 4.0 show in Frankfurt, Germany

2016 • First FDA approved additively manufactured drug becomes available in the US

• FDA releases draft guidance,

Technical Considerations for Additive Manufactured Devices

• SME and Rapid News

Publications, Ltd, announced partnership to produce RAPID+TCT

2017 • Inaugural RAPID + TCT held in Pittsburgh

• Desktop Metal launches first

• Launch of TCT Awards

system at same show

25 : 4 www.tctmagazine.com

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ACCELERATING 3D TECHNOLOGIES

• Concept Laser GmbH founded

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7/14/17 10:04 AM 24/07/2017 14:28

TCT show PREVIEW ACCELERATING 3D TECHNOLOGIES

26-28 September | Hall 3 at the NEC | Birmingham | uk

TCT SHOW

2017 PREVIEW

WORDS : Daniel O’Connor

17 10:04 AM TCT 25-4v3.indd 39

HE AIM FOR A TRADE SHOW ORGANISER is first, to provide exhibiting companies with a high-level, both in quantity and quality, of attendance, and secondly, provide attendees with a rewarding array of exhibitors and features. It’s a chicken and egg situation; one drives the other. Get it right, and it can be a virtuous circle, get it wrong, and you won’t be a trade show organiser for long. Having first launched in 1996, its safe to say that TCT Show’s circle is as virtuous as it comes. That’s not to say that we can rest on our laurels, the demands of both exhibitors and visitors alike are ever increasing. Our events and operations teams work exceptionally hard to bring the best show possible to fruition. The 2017 edition is a three-day event and going forward it will always be that way. The move to an extra day reflects the nature of our growing global audience, who find that having a show on the doorstep of an international airport exceptionally convenient.

GETTING THERE

Situated slap bang in the middle of the UK, the NEC is the country’s largest exhibition space and its infrastructure, no matter what mode of transport you prefer, is second to none. If you’re coming in by car 75% of the UK can reach the venue within threeand-a-half hours. Stick B40 1NT into your GPS device and you can’t really miss it. Parking details can be found on the NEC’s website, there’s plenty of it but it isn’t free. Birmingham Airport is right on the doorstep, threre’s a free Air-Rail link that basically transports you from the terminal to our show in under two minutes, Elon Musk, stick that in your Hyperloop and smoke it. If you follow me on twitter (@docefc) you’ll be fully aware of my favourite mode of transport; forget the traffic jams and parking, come by train. The NEC has its own station and is a 15 minute, frequent connection from Birmingham New Street, away. Better yet there’s a Virgin Trains special offer; if you’re travelling to an event at the NEC and book via thenec.co.uk/visitors/gettinghere/ you get 25% off. As Ralf from The Simpsons once said ‘Choo Choose the train’.

If you’re a regular reader you could probably play trade show preview bingo with show previews but I’m going to go full on cliche here and say, 2017’s show floor is the biggest and best we’ve ever put on. Here’s some facts to back that claim up:

• The show floor space is 46% bigger

than last year’s, which was 30% larger than the previous year. That show floor is, at the time of writing, 95% filled, 40% of which are first time exhibitors. There are over 200 exhibitors The largest presence on the show floor is 3D Systems, who have taken a 168 sqm space Desktop Metal has the largest exhibition space of any debuting company with a 72 sqm booth

• • • •

Starting on page 45 of this issue Deputy Group Editor, Laura Griffiths has compiled five pages of exhibition teasers from companies like Stratasys, Formlabs, Autodesk, Renishaw and Nano Dimension. All of whom, will be demonstrating something new to the audience. For a full list of exhibitors and the floor-plan visit tctshow.com ›› 25 : 4 www.tctmagazine.com

039

24/07/2017 14:28

NEC BIRMINGHAM, UK | 26-28 SEPTEMBER 2017

INJECTION MOULDING

EXTRUSION ROTATIONAL MOULDING

BLOW MOULDING

RECYCLING THERMOFORMING

MATERIALS VACUUM FORMING

DESIGN FILM EXTRUSION

24/07/2017 14:28

TCT SHOW PREVIEW ACCELERATING 3D TECHNOLOGIES

TCT SHOW 2017 PREVIEW

26-28 September | Hall 3 at the NEC | Birmingham | uk

VISITOR TOP TIPS

Plan your days like you would a music festival- With a FREE conferencing programme across three stages there’s bound to be clashes. Keep an eye on tctshow.com/ content/programme for timings, which may be subject to change, and prioritise the talks that matter most to you.

Get credit where it is due Thanks to the amazing work from our conference team watching talks and attending workshops at TCT Show are now CPD accredited, the talks are still free and now you get the extra bonus of continued professional development.

Contact exhibitors in advance to organise meetings - TCT Show can get busy, you may not be first in line to talk to a company and you may waste some of your precious time waiting around, most of the exhibitors on the online list have contact details, get in touch beforehand.

Come off peak - I’ll let you in on a trade show secret, the last few hours of the final day are the quietest, I have spent enough time at shows across the globe to know that this is a fact of life. What it does mean though, if you’re around then, exhibitors may have more time to talk to you, you’ll stick in their mind later and you never know they might have some previously rationed freebies to get rid of.

Be social - With an expected 10,000 + attendance rate there will be plenty of like-minded people to talk to about your specific project, idea or passion. Chat to people at coffee points, at lunch, in the aisles and on social media using the hashtag #TCTShow.

Explore the co-located events - Specifically our sister show Interplas, the largest plastics show in the UK. With exhibitors like Covestro, Arburg and Nexeo all entering the 3D tech market in the last few years you never know what’s going on in the hall next door. Perhaps a plastics supplier might be able to help with a specific material properties question? Sensors and Instrumentation plus Micro | Nano | Mems show are also taking place at the same time in the NEC.

You don’t have to take our word for how good TCT Show is for visitors and exhibitors alike, here’s a short selection of quotes from visitor surveys last year:

“The TCT Show is free to visit but the value of time spent there as a visitor is huge.” Jeremy Pullin, Director Additive and Design to Manufacture, Sartorius Lab Ltd

“Excellent show! So well organised. I enjoyed every single second and renewed my perspectives, stand by stand, one brand after another. I concluded business and purchased what I wanted, which would better meet my needs.” Lorenzo Ancilli, Founder, Scriptaimago srl

“Awesome show with lots of industry stakeholders making big announcements. Great access and exposure to all the biggest 3D printing related companies.” Andy Linnas, Co-Founder, Thought3d Ltd

“TCT Show remains the only place to experience the full breadth and depth of 3D printing application and innovation. It remains a must attend show.” Christopher Barnett, Futurist, ExplainingTheFuture.com

“Quite honestly it’s the only 3d printing and manufacturing show I bother going to now.” Stuart Bush, Remote Solutions

PROGRAMME

The crown in the jewel for the content team here at TCT Towers is the UK conference programme, whether it’s some product information, academia, an introduction to additive, conglomerate case studies, software demos or any other 3D technology topic you can think of the programme has something for you. There are three stages at TCT this year:

•

The Main Stage will present research developments and real life examples of how 3D technologies are being used within aerospace, automotive, medical, dental and consumer & industrial product design.

•

The Tech Stage will host a range of CPD certified workshops intended to provide attendees with a range of topics and speakers.

• The Product Stage is new for 2017, it

gives visitors the opportunity to hear from both first-time and returning companies about their latest products and services including materials, software, inspection, scanning and more. ›› 25 : 4 www.tctmagazine.com

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TCT SHOW 2017 PREVIEW

ACCELERATING 3D TECHNOLOGIES

11:51

TCT SHOW PREVIEW

26-28 September | Hall 3 at the NEC | Birmingham | uk

With such a plethora of talks to choose from I’d again recommend keeping up with tctshow.com, which will have the full list of timings, locations, bios and abstracts. But for the time being me, our conferencing guru Charlotte Chambers, and Laura have selected a few of our highlights:

LAURA’S PICK • #3DTalk Panel Session, Tech Stage, Sept 26, 15:15 - “It’s no secret that AM is a predominantly male industry. Earlier this year when I wrote about the trials of the gender gap, the response from readers affirmed that there is more to be done to increase the visibility of the women in our industry. So this year we’ve teamed up with Women in 3D Printing and Cyant to host the UK’s first #3DTalk panel session on AM materials. Building on this established international event series, we’re excited to introduce a fantastic line-up of female speakers and raise the profile of women in AM.”

DAN’S PICKS

CHARLOTTE’S PICKS • Graham Tromans, Tech Stage, Sept 26, 11:40 - “Get there early for a seat, Graham’s talks are always packed out and for good reason, if you are new to AM start here.” • Sam Onukuri, Johnson & Johnson, Main Stage, Sept 27, 10:30 - “Johnson & Johnson are using 3D throughout its manufacturing process, Sam is going to tell us

about some of the most exciting developments.”

• Sophie Jones, Added Scientific, Tech Stage, Sept 27, 13:15 - “Added Scientific and Innovate UK are demonstrating how industry and government can work together to drive adoption.” • Todd Grimm, Main Stage, Sept 28, 10:30 - “Todd is an industry-

leading figure, his presentations at TCT are always thought-provoking and insightful.”

• Gerd Manz, Adidas, Main Stage, Sept 28, 11:00 - “The Futurecraft 4D project by Carbon and Adidas is one of the most interesting consumer applications for the technology. It could be a first step towards mass 3D manufacturing.”

• Dave Burns, Main Stage, Sept 26, 10:30 - “I couldn’t think of a better person to kick off TCT Show this year, Dave is both inspirational and insightful, he tells it like it is.” • Mike CurtisRouse, Main Stage, Sept 26, 13:00 - “Love the applications of 3D for the race to space and Mike’s abstract had me hooked from the title’s first two words, ‘Beyond Eath’” • Chris Connery, Tech Stage, Sept 27, 13:45 - “Chris is a go to guy for me whenever I’m writing a piece

on market share, he’s got a great Wall Streetesque presenting style too… bullish” • Achala de Mel, University of Nottingham, Main Stage, Sept 27, 14:30 - “Can’t get enough of the tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, this talk may even help me crack a piece I’ve been trying to write for some time.” • Formlabs and Sinterit, Product Stage, Sept 28, 12:00 - “A bit of a double whammy this but it will be interesting to see how the two companies compare 

25 : 4 www.tctmagazine.com

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24/07/2017 14:29

TCT SHOW PREVIEW ACCELERATING 3D TECHNOLOGIES

TCT SHOW 2017 PREVIEW

26-28 September | Hall 3 at the NEC | Birmingham | uk

EXHIBITOR SPOTLIGHT

c om piled by Laur a Gr iffith s

This year’s TCT Show is our biggest one yet covering more floor space at the NEC Birmingham than ever before with over 200 exhibitors from every corner of the 3D technologies industry. Visitors can expect a wealth of product launches, UK debuts and ground-breaking application examples from some of the most exciting companies around - here are just a few you should keep an eye out for.

RENISHAW TO SHOWCASE STRATASYS PRESENTS RACE WINNING TRANSFIORMERS MCLAREN TCT SHOW MOTO2 BIKE (D38) EXCLUSIVE (D30) Global engineering firm, Renishaw is inviting visitors to discover more about its end-to-end maufacturing solutions for a range of industries. Product highlights include the Renishaw RenAM 500M metal additive manufacturing system, with laser powder bed fusion technology, for series part production and Renishaw vacuum casting. The Renishaw sponsored, race winning TransFIORmers Moto2 bike will be showcased with its unconventional front suspension system, incorporating a metal 3D printed wishbone. Visitors will also be able to see examples of solutions for heat exchange, optimum fluid flow and healthcare. Demonstrations of QuantAM, additive manufacturing build preparation software for Renishaw AM systems are available by request and the team will explain more about Renishaw’s growing network of Additive Manufacturing Solutions Centres. In addition, the Robot Bike Co. R160 customisable mountain bike frame, with Renishaw additively manufactured lugs in titanium, will be displayed off-stand together with the world’s first metal 3D printed bike frame manufactured by Renishaw for Empire Cycles. 

RIZE ONE 3D PRINTER TO MAKE ITS UK DEBUT (C60) Rize will launch its new Rize One 3D printer in the UK at TCT Show, marking the first time that the Rize One 3D printer will be seen live by UK and European audiences. Visitors will be able to see the machine on the show floor and learn about the Rize One’s

Stratasys is set to showcase the latest developments from its ongoing partnership with McLaren Formula 1 Racing. In a TCT Show exclusive, Stratasys will present the 2017 McLarenHonda Formula 1 race car, demonstrating how the race team is using Stratasys FDM and PolyJet technology across a range of applications including prototyping, tooling and final part production. Further emphasising the collaboration, Simon Roberts, Operations Director, McLaren Racing will deliver an insightful keynote on the Main Stage, on Tuesday 26th September at 11am explaining how McLaren Honda’s partnership with Stratasys enables the team to explore new applications and take innovation in F1 to a new level. On the Stratasys stand, visitors will gain insight into the transformational value of strategically implementing additive manufacturing throughout product development with a crosssection of high-profile customer applications, demonstrating how companies small and large are innovating their design and manufacturing processes. Also on the booth will be the Fortus 450mc 3D Printer printing live stand alongside the world’s only full-colour, multi-material 3D printer, Stratasys J750. 

patented, safe and environmentallyfriendly Augmented Polymer Deposition (APD) technology which can produce

injection moulded-quality parts with virtually no postprocessing. Rize will be also be exhibiting isotropic, watertight, parts with high HDT and detailed text and images that are twice as strong as similar technologies. Plus, there will be opportunities for visitors to apply to become a Rize Authorised Reseller. In addition, Rize Founder and President, Eugene Giller, will give a presentation, “Rize One: Changing the way Plastic 3D Printers are Used in Design and Manufacturing” on the TCT Product Stage on 28 September at 11:40am.  25 : 4 www.tctmagazine.com

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EOS

Knuckle made of EOS Aluminium AlSi10Mg: weight reduction of 660 g, increased rigidity. (Source: EOS / Rennteam Uni Stuttgart)

Systems and Equipment for Metal Manufacturing For every solution, innovation with quality is our key guideline: EOS offers Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS) systems for the economic production of high-quality prototypes, end products as well as series products. Visit us at TCT Show, Birmingham, UK September 26-28, 2017 Hall 3, Booth: D 60

Think the impossible. You can get it.

www.eos.info

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TCT SHOW PREVIEW

DESKTOP METAL BRINGS ACCESSIBLE METAL 3D PRINTING TO UK (E38) Following a monumental first outing at RAPID + TCT in May, Boston startup, Desktop Metal comes to the UK for the first time with its groundbreaking metal 3D printing technology. The company has launched two technologies, the first of which is the office-friendly Desktop Metal Studio System which uses a patented Bound Metal Deposition process with Desktop Metal’s Metal Injection Molding (MIM) powders, and will ship from September. The second machine is a Production System built on Single Pass Jetting (SPJ) and can build metal parts within minutes rather than hours. Visitors to TCT Show will be able to get a first-hand look at the Studio System and meet the team on stand E38. 

26-28 September | Hall 3 at the NEC | Birmingham | uk

LPW TECHNOLOGY TO DEMONSTRATE FULL BUILD TRACEABILITY FOR METAL AM (E42) LPW Technology, the market leader in the development, processing and supply of high quality metal powders and end-to-end additive manufacturing solutions, will be showcasing its full traceability solution with the innovative PowderSolve software system and PowderTrace smart hopper. LPW’s sixth outing at the show will see it demonstrating how its cutting-edge 3D technologies deliver effective traceability, from powder to part, in serial AM production. LPW views AM from the perspective of the powder, and at TCT will be highlighting both a newly released software and a hardware component of PowderLife. PowderSolve and

PowderTrace are two products expressly designed to monitor and control powder condition, adding traceability, reliability and confidence throughout the powder lifecycle. Dr Phil Carroll, LPW’s Founder and CEO commented: “Combining PowderTrace’s smart transport and storage capabilities with PowderSolve’s ability to track powder history through different blends, repeated uses and different batches ensures traceability not only of the powder but also user actions and machine specifics, and the built parts. Adding intelligent powder management to AM can increase productivity and reduce costs and risk.”

ACCELERATING 3D TECHNOLOGIES

TCT SHOW 2017 PREVIEW

FORMLABS PRESENTS FUSE 1 FOR FIRST TIME IN UK (H30)

FARLEY GREENE UPDATES FLAGSHIP AUTOMATED SIEVING SYSTEM (F44) Farley Greene, manufacturer of state of the art sieving equipment and technologies, will be exhibiting its updated flagship model, the fully automated Sievgen 04, at TCT Show 2017, demonstrating its integrating fully monitored inert sieving capability, batch logging and increased usability. This unit is aimed at customers looking to increase their production flow, minimising powder handling time, and reducing potential exposure to powder

outside of the build process. Sievgen will also be debuting its manual sieving solution, Sievgen 03, aimed at Universities and Research establishments. Where space is at a premium, this unit, is a small, but highly efficient unit that is both easy and safe to use. It relies on manual powder loading and inerting systems, but still uses ultrasonics to both debind the mesh and increase efficiency. 

Manufacturer of the world’s best-selling desktop stereolithography systems, Formlabs returns to TCT Show this year with an entirely new product that has never before been presented in the UK. The company’s new Fuse 1 system represents a change in direction towards selective laser sintering (SLS) as Formlabs aims to shake up the industry once again with a system that’s compact, safe and affordable with a price tag of $9,999. Launched in June, the Fuse 1 is around 20x less expensive than the next cheapest industrial SLS machine and enables the production of large and geometrically complex prints without the need for supports in Nylon PA 12 and PA 11. The company will also be exhibiting its popular line of Form 2 machines and engineering-grade materials.  25 : 4 www.tctmagazine.com

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“Should I use a Bureau,or buy a 3D Printer...?” It’s a difficult decision but now we’ve made it easier for you. We are offering you the opportunity to find out which is the right solution for you - without losing money while finding out!

Laser Lines will be offering a ‘try before you buy’ option where you can have benchmark parts printed from your own ﬁles to see if the technology is for you. Our promise is that if you decide to buy your own 3D printer within 3 months, we will refund you up to 100% of your bureau costs accrued over that period*.

“What more could you ask for!” Speak to us today to ﬁnd out more about this fantastic opportunity by calling 01295 672500. * Subject to approval.

THE TOTAL SOLUTIONS PROVIDER Find out more about how our TOTAL SOLUTIONS philosophy can help you consolidate your complete 3D print requirements. 01295 672500  3dworld@laserlines.co.uk  www.3dprinting.co.uk

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TCT SHOW PREVIEW

ARCAM TO SHOW BENEFITS OF EBM IN AEROSPACE AND MEDICAL (C66)

Described as bringing together best-in-class additive manufacturing systems, the highest quality materials, and real-world production expertise, Arcam is changing the way manufacturers conceive and produce metal components. Stop by the Arcam stand at TCT and see how Arcam EBM is helping leading edge aerospace

H.C. STARCK LAUNCHES NEW AMPERPRINT METAL AM POWDERS (F66)

H.C. Starck is presenting its new AMPERPRINT range of gas atomised nickel, cobalt and iron based metal powders which are specifically designed for the requirements of additive manufacturing. In alignment with its customers’ needs and latest market developments, H.C. Starck offers high-alloyed AMPERPRINT powders of all major standard compositions as well as customised solutions. The German metal powder producer’s technology concept enables production to be ramped up efficiently while keeping physical and chemical powder properties consistent. The introduction of H.C. Starck’s AMPERPRINT powders comes with the announcement of improved logistic processes. To ensure fast delivery times, a broad selection of standard alloys has been introduced which will be kept in stock in different warehouses worldwide from Q3 2017 on. In addition, H.C. Starck has launched a new 3D printing website which incorporates the company’s new brand identity and provides quick product information. 

26-28 September | Hall 3 at the NEC | Birmingham | uk

companies light-weight and consolidate their parts to achieve a competitive advantage in their marketplace. Learn how orthopaedic implant companies are utilising Arcam EBM to achieve higher productivity and a better-quality implant, utilising the unique advantages of designing and manufacturing with AM. Discover the unique qualities of AP&C powder for additive manufacturing and how their Advanced Plasma Atomization (APA) process achieves the highest quality spherical powders in the industry. 

NANO DIMENSION DEBUTS DRAGONFLY 2020 TO UK VISITORS (A49) UK distributor Anglo Production Processes (APP) will be demonstrating Nano Dimension’s DragonFly 2020 3D Printer for the first time in the UK. The DragonFly 2020 is the first 3D printer for professional PCB and electronics prototyping. Visitors will be able to see fully-functioning circuits printed by the DragonFly, including PCBs, antennas, moulded interconnect devices (MIDs), and more. Nano Dimension says it is “defining and shaping the future of how electronics are made” for industries including consumer electronics, medical devices, defense, aerospace, automotive, IoT and telecom. As a well-known provider of high-tech products to the UK electronics industry, APP is collaborating with Nano Dimension to bring the DragonFly 2020 3D Printer to the UK and Ireland market. 

AUTODESK TO SHOW NETFABB ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING SOLUTION (E50)

Autodesk will demonstrate its Netfabb solution for additive manufacturing along with its full range of Digital Manufacturing software including programs for tooling design, machining, fabrication and inspection at TCT Show. Netfabb provides users with the ability to capitalise on the design

freedom offered by additive manufacturing. It helps in the creation of complex shapes with additive that would be impossible or uneconomic to produce with conventional technology. Once CAD designs are imported, they can be optimised for additive manufacturing using Netfabb’s tools for file repair, efficient part packing and generation of build supports. Netfabb also allows near-net shapes to be created from the part designs if finish machining operations are required in any areas, for example, where a smoother surface finish is required or when particularly precise areas, such as a mating surfaces, need to be produced. Visit the booth to find out more about the software and how you can access a free trial.  25 : 4 www.tctmagazine.com

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TCT SHOW 2017 PREVIEW

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MAKE THE MOST OF ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING Autodesk Netfabb helps you quickly get from 3D model to successfully printed parts. Netfabb combines efficient build preparation capabilities with tools to optimize designs for additive manufacturing, simulate metal additive processes, and plan for CNC post-processing.

Netfabb 2018 Now Available See what’s new in the latest release www.autodesk.com/netfabb-whats-new SEE US AT STAND E50 26-28 SEPTEMBER 2017 NEC, BIRMINGHAM, UK 1966 AUT TCT Magazine Ad 136x192 - Netfabb_AW.indd 1

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TCT SHOW PREVIEW

26-28 September | Hall 3 at the NEC | Birmingham | uk

VSHAPER TO LAUNCH NEW SOFTWARE SOLUTION (F40)

Polish manufacturer of the VSHAPER 3D printer range, Verashape, will be launching its new SOFTSHAPER software at TCT Show alongside its UK partner, AM3D. Offering a variety of industrial desktop and largescale 3D printers, VSHAPER’s technology addresses the needs of a range of industries such as automotive, medical and education. The Verashape team is currently working on a new “globally innovative additive printer” supported by the Polish National Centre for Research and Development. As part of the

ZRAPID TO SHOWCASE CHINA’S LARGEST SLA MACHINE (F30)

project, Verashape has licensed Siemens PLM Software’s Parasolid Communicator software to assist in the import and preparation of models for 3D printing. Verashape has teased that the launch of its latest software solution will not be the only surprise for visitors to its booth. 

SHAREBOT TO GIVE SNEAK PEEK OF NEW PRODUCTS (G43)

Chinese manufacturer, ZRapid is inviting visitors to its booth at TCT show to see its full range of rapid manufacturing solutions. Having spent nearly two decades researching stereolithography technology, the company will introduce visitors to the biggest SLA system on the Chinese AM market, with a build size achievable up to 1000 X 1000 X 600mm, improved processing, excellent surface finish and better dimensional accuracy. Also on the booth will be ZRapid’s large range of industrial 3D printers including its SLM production metal printing systems, SLM, SLS and FMS (foundry sand) machines. 

Italian 3D printer manufacturer, Sharebot is celebrating its fourth year at TCT Show by by presenting its entire family of professional 3D printing solutions. Visitors will be able to see the Sharebot Q with its 40x30 cm print area, the QXXL with 75x35 cm printing area and QDual double extruder for handling support materials. Sharebot will also be exhibiting its professional 3D printers for the dental industry including the SPIRIT, an affordable DLP 3D printer alongside a new line of certified dental resins and other applicationspecific materials. As a result of recent research and development, Sharebot will also be providing a sneak preview of new products that are set to be available on the market in the coming months. 

AMT TO SHOW POST-PROCESSING IN START-UP ZONE (H66P)

Additive Manufacturing Technologies (AMT) are a Sheffield based company leading the way in post processing technology solutions for 3D printed parts. Its first commercial technology, PostPro3D,

allows automated surface finishing of Laser Sintered and Multi Jet Fusion parts, including Nylon and TPU materials. This enabling technology achieves for the first time an injection moulded like surface finish

on 3D Printed parts. AMT will exhibit at TCT Show in the Start-up Zone and will also be providing visitors with an update on the TCT Product Stage with a presentation titled ‘Finishing the Job - Automated Post Processing for 3D Printed Part’ on the Product Stage at 1pm on Wednesday 27th September. 

25 : 4 www.tctmagazine.com

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ACCELERATING 3D TECHNOLOGIES

TCT SHOW 2017 PREVIEW

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INTRODUCING THE HP JET FUSION ORDER NOW FROM OFFICIAL HP PARTNER EUROPAC 3D

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TCT SHOW PREVIEW

26-28 September | Hall 3 at the NEC | Birmingham | uk

INSPIRED MINDS RETURNS FOR TCT SHOW 2017

S TCT SHOW CELEBRATES the present-day amenities of the additive manufacturing world, it will also, once again, work to safeguard the future of the industry we all operate in, making sure the 3D printing applications of tomorrow warrant identical celebration. This year, TCT partners with Black Country Atelier, a local educator in smart product design and manufacturing, and the CREATE Education Project, born from, and now separate to, Ultimaker GB, to educate Key Stage 2 and 3 pupils in 3D printing. The programme, now a regular feature at TCT Show, hopes to be the springboard for many children’s future engineering careers. It hopes to inspire minds. Those minds will arrive in September at the 22nd edition of the TCT Show. They will be exposed to the vibrancy of an additive manufacturing exhibition in full flow. An industry expert will give them a presentation and demonstration of 3D printing technology, a tour of the show floor will follow, and then they will get some hands-on experience of the tech during practical sessions, which last approximately two hours. Paul Croft, an Ultimaker Director and Founder of the CREATE Education Project, believes the education of 3D technologies couldn’t be more important in its influence on the future of the industry. And CREATE’s approach to this schooling is simple, even if the technology they are handling is anything but. The group has developed tailored training programs to support both teachers and students, as they are introduced to 3D printing. CREATE has, in the past, worked with the likes of the BBC, and Croft says there are a number of core pillars to their service: community; reliability; economics; and ‘teachability’. But there’s another too – one that is demonstrated in the scheme’s offering of a free loan scheme which allows classrooms to hire an Ultimaker printer for up to a month. And one which is most likely to capture the imagination of today’s youth, and tomorrow’s professionals. “The key word we use is access,” Croft tells TCT. “People have to be able to access this technology. We want to show [the children] new possibilities, give them further confidence so that they can become advocates for the technology and share the excitement. It’s a chance for them to have access in an inspiring environment, collaborating with good people who share the same values as we do, which is about giving

W O R D S : S am Dav ies

people access to [3D printing technology], and making sure that they’re supported on this journey with an exciting new technology.” Croft, who comes from a family of teachers, projects some 400 pupils will benefit from the 2017 Inspired Minds programme. Working in groups, pupils will learn how to slice a 3D model in design software, before printing the model on an Ultimaker platform. They will also get to take a 3D printed artefact home with them, as well as knowledge of, and hopefully a new-found passion for, 3D printing. Sir Thomas Fremantle, a secondary school in Buckingham, England, attended the programme a few years back and was inspired to develop its own 3D printing syllabus in the school. Children can pursue it as a qualification all the way through to sixth form, and some have even gone onto participate and win in 3D printing events and competitions. The school and the pupils alike have embraced the technology. It is for this potential that CREATE was keen to get involved with TCT Inspired Minds. The group has a passion for education, and with a still burgeoning industry showing concern for the future, Croft and his team are looking forward to offering their knowledge to the next generation in September. “Whilst there’s new breakthroughs happening every single day, not just on the hardware side or the materials side but also in terms of software capabilities and the design capabilities that people have, then without education people aren’t aware of the opportunities that are being laid out in front of them,” assessed Croft. “Perhaps even more importantly, even if they are aware of them, without education they haven’t got access to the skills and the know-how. I would say it’s an absolutely critical component of the future of additive manufacturing.”  25 : 4 www.tctmagazine.com

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TCT show PREVIEW

27 September | Birmingham Town Hall | Birmingham | uk

TCT AWARDS

AWARDS

THE APPLICATION SHORTLIST TCT AEROSPACE APPLICATION AWARD 2017

3D CERAM - 3DOPTIC PROJECT 3D Printing ceramics with their high heat resistance help solve common cracking issues involved when manufacturing optical substrates for space applications like satellite imaging. 3D SYSTEMS - AIRBUS RF WAVEGUIDE FILTERS Airbus worked with 3D Systems to produce the first metal 3D printed RF filter to be tested and validated for use in commercial telecommunications satellites. May pave the way for change in how aerospace companies manufacture RF filters and waveguides. ARISTO-CAST - MAGNESIUM SEAT FRAME This new design and cast of magnesium seat frames could save up to $426 million in fuel for an airline with a fleet of 100 Airbus A380s holding 616 passengers.

HE INAUGURAL TCT AWARDS are to be held at the prestigious Birmingham Town Hall on the evening of Wednesday 27th September (evening of TCT Show day two). The event will be hosted by Robert Llewellyn, best known as Kryten from the long-running cult sci-fi sitcom Red Dwarf, who recently had his head scanned, and 3D printed. Team TCT has steered away from categories like “Best 3D Printer” or “Best Software”. As Todd Grimm explains in his column, most people’s knowledge is restricted to just one or two machines; it would be unfair to pit them against one another. TCT believes that the real driver behind 3D technologies adoption is applications. Our magazine content reflects that, our conference programming reflects that, and the award categories had to reflect that. It’s not what technology you use, but how you use it. I’m pleased to be able to present the shortlist for our applications across the next two pages. Each of these submissions will be sent in full to a selection of the TCT

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SCIAKY - SPACE TANKS Sciaky’s Electron Beam Additive Manufacturing (EBAM) technology saves LockheedMartin significant time and cost associated with producing titanium propellant tanks for space satellites. 

TCT AUTOMOTIVE APPLICATION AWARD 2017

AUDI - MISSION TO THE MOON Audi and PTScientist aim to become the first private entities to explore the moon. To do this, they’ve built the Audi Lunar Quattro, with 3D printed metal wheels it is 20% lighter than its predecessor.

Expert Advisory Board. The board compromises many disciplines, and we will be splitting the categories between those who are best placed to judge particular categories. The winners will be announced by Llewellyn himself on the evening of the awards. The following list is subject to change but is accurate at the time of writing. The applications include a host of partnerships that have taken the project from design through to manufacture, here we’ll be naming the leading party, but full details of all collaborators will be available over at tctawards.com 

DAIMLER - REPLACEMENT BUS PARTS Using EOS SLS systems and DyeMansion’s postprocessing techniques Daimler Buses can swiftly realise customer needs. Daimler is now 3D printing both replacement parts and special feature requests on a daily basis, saving considerable time and money. MCOR - HONDA CARBON FIBRE MOULD After trying many 3D printing techniques, Honda found Mcor’s heat resistance and pressure strength most suitable for building moulds for carbon fibre reinforced plastic parts. STRATASYS - MCLAREN F1 With the support of Stratasys, McLaren was able to deploy 3D printing solutions to rapidly produce raceready parts for the MCL32 F1 car. ULTIMAKER - VW CUSTOM TOOLS The Volkswagen Autoeuropa plant in Portugal is now using desktop Ultimaker machines directly on the assembly floor. The jigs and fixtures it produces have saved up to 95% in cost and are considered best practice across the VW Group. 

25 : 4 www.tctmagazine.com

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For more than 60 years we have been transforming ideas into reality. No matter how complex your product design we will have a solution. Our reputation as a supplier of precision injection moulded products means you can expect nothing less than professional support throughout the manufacturing process from our people in the design engineering department, the tool shop, our rapid prototyping bureau through to the factory floor, assembly and warehousing.

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13/01/2017 09:00

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A frontrunner in medical implant technology We produce metal powders for your individual requirements

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TCT SHOW PREVIEW

TCT CONSUMER PRODUCT APPLICATION AWARD 2017 3D SYSTEMS - WIIV WEARABLE INSOLES Combining an innovative smartphone application with image processing and SLS technologies, Wiiv and 3D Systems SLS are able to print customised insoles and footwear at unparalleled speeds. CARBON - ADIDAS FUTURECRAFT By using Carbon’s Digital Light Synthesis (DLS) Adidas has been able to create its Futurecraft shoe with a latticed midsole designed using 17 years of athlete data. Furthermore, Adidas expects to manufacture of 100,000 of the 3D printed midsoles by November 2018. CRP GROUP - KD-1: WINDFORM 3D PRINTED GOLF DRIVER CLUBHEAD GRP Group’s additive and CNC subsidiaries joined forces with Krone Golf to manufacture KD-1, the first Windform SP 3D printed driver clubhead with CNC machined Titanium. PHILLIP MANGER - PROJECT T.O.S.T. The EAH University student Phillip Manger has developed metal printed skateboard trucks that are a hybrid design combining topological optimisation and lattice structures printed using Concept Laser tech.

27 September | Birmingham Town Hall | Birmingham | uk

TCT CREATIVE APPLICATION AWARD 2017 3D PRINT BUREAU - SAINSBURY’S CHRISTMAS COMMERCIAL Running Stratasys J750 printer 24/7 for three and a half months 3D Print Bureau made 1,500 models for the stop-motion animation advert, which won out in the annual Christmas television commercial. 3D SYSTEMS - ANOMALISA FILM 3D Systems’ ProJet CJP 660 was used by Starburns Industries to create racks of ultra-realistic, interchangeable faces for the puppets of the Charlie Kauffman and Duke Johnson’s Oscar nominated picture. CUSTOM PROTOTYPES - VAN GOGH’S STARRY NIGHT REPLICA SLA technologies as well as Custom Prototypes’ proprietary finishing techniques were used to create a stunning replica of Van Gogh’s famous Starry Night painting. The team analysed the painting’s priming technique and replicated it as a 3D model. LUMA-ID - THE POWER FIST A 42 cm replica of The Power Fist from Sega’s Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War III video game, could punch through a brick wall, and was manufactured for a TV advert in just 11 days. XROBOTS - ONLINE CONTENT PRODUCTION If you’ve ever typed 3D printing into YouTube and not seen a video from James Bruton’s XRobots channel then you’re either not on YouTube or spelling 3D printing incorrectly. XRobots has one million viewers PER WEEK tuning in for how-tos on 3D printing robots. 

MATERIALISE - YUNIKU CUSTOMISABLE EYEWEAR Detailed 3D scanning data of a customer’s face is combined with Yuniku software, which determines the optimal position of the lenses in relation to the eyes. The customised eyewear in collaboration with HOYA is printed using SLS technology in PA 12. 

TCT INDUSTRIAL PRODUCT APPLICATION AWARD 2017 3DEALISE - GENERATIVE ROOF CONSTRUCTION NODE. 3Dealise cooperated with the construction engineers behind the Sydney Opera House, Arup, to optimise the node design for production using 3D printed sand moulds. CA MODELS - VMXM SAMPLE VACUUM VESSEL-V3 Diamond Light Source - the UK’s synchrotron - turned to service bureau CA Models to help manufacture an incredibly complex aluminium vacuum vessel for studying samples at a molecular level. FARO - SCANNED FACTORY The FARO Focus3D X30 Laser Scanner helped to deliver a complete 3D “walk-through” model of a OAL’s complex food manufacturing facility.

AWARDS

MATERIALISE - PHILLIPS LIGHTING 3D PRINTING FOR THE PRODUCTION LINE This partnership is using 3D printing to address manufacturing problems like component failure, line downtime, cycle times, maintenance and repair requirements. SIEMENS - PROJECT PERUN Aimed to demonstrate the feasibility of the Siemens Corporation’s SLM capabilities for the most demanding environments, such as the rigorous quality-assurance requirements of a nuclear power plant. TRINCKLE - ROBOTIC GRIPPERS Trinckle and Kuhn-Stoff GmbH & Co KG to have partnered to simplify the customisation of robotic arm grippers - a common manufacturing pain point. 

TCT HEALTHCARE APPLICATION AWARD 2017 3D SYSTEMS - MCDONALD TWIN SEPARATION By processing the McDonald conjoined twins’ medical imaging data into patient-specific 3D anatomical models, 3D Systems helped the surgeons better understand what they could expect during one of the most complex successful surgeries of all time. ESSENTIUM MATERIALS - TRIFUSION DEVICES Essentium Materials has leveraged its proprietary 3D printing technology to reduce costs and speed up delivery time of load bearing lower-limb prosthetics. MEDISIEVE - MAGNETIC BLOOD FILTRATION A RepRap machine at the University College London is where it all began for a potentially groundbreaking device in the treatment of Malaria. Dr George Frodsham says that without 3D printing his design for drug-free malaria treatment would have proved cost-prohibitive. PROSFIT - 3D PRINTED PROSTHETICS ProsFit’s proprietary PandoFit software (coupled with a 3D scanner) can provide a user with a comfortable definitive socket for a lower-limb prosthetic in 2-3 days. STRATASYS - MAXILLOFACIAL SURGERIES AT QUEENS ELIZABETH HOSPITAL, BIRMINGHAM The use of an in-house PolyJet 3D printer produces customised models for pre-surgical preparations and has reduced surgical planning time by up to 93 percent. SUTRUE - ROBOTIC SUTURING With some exceptional design, Sutrue was able to print metal gears using Concept Laser technology small enough for a robotic suturing device to be used during endoscopic heart surgery. 

25 : 4 www.tctmagazine.com

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TCT AWARDS 2017

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Come See Us At TCT (Stand F9)

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Casting ACCELERATING 3D TECHNOLOGIES

TOP LEFT, LEFT & ABOVE: Parts printed in Somos Element by Peridot Inc. to be fired out in investment casting process.

WOR DS : Da n i e l O ’C o n n o r

RETURN OF INVESTMENT

INCE THE DAWN OF 3D PRINTING users have wanted to create sacrificial patterns to be used in casting applications. It is the next logical step from rapid prototyping. In 1995 Professor Phil Dickens authored a paper on Conversion of RP (Rapid Prototyping) models to investment casting, and in a 2003 publication called, ‘Developments in Rapid Casting’ editor Graham Troman surmised, “This book should leave no doubts in the minds of readers that rapid casting is playing a significant role in the development of prototype castings.” 3D Systems launched Quickcast material for stereolithography (SLA) in the early 90s and since, there have been relatively few developments, much to the frustration of potential super-users. Take U.S. based product and tool development service bureau, Peridot. An early adopter in using stereolithography (SLA) patterns for investment casting, it has been reluctant to use it on jobs for clients like Whirlpool, Caterpillar, ITT Defense, and Taylor Made Systems. The main concerns are residual ash content, leftover elements that may affect alloys and the overall accuracy. At RAPID in 2016 DSM Somos introduced a new material claiming to solve many of these problems. Former Product Manager at Somos, Clive Coady told TCT at the time, “In tooling

we’ve seen Somos Perform come on line and revolutionise tooling for some companies, Somos Element is a material that could do the same for investment casting applications, thanks to its burnout properties and low antimony content.” After Somos Elements launch at RAPID, Peridot’s interest was piqued. The company decided to give the material a trial run for a foundry client manufacturing pump equipment. “There is increasing demand from foundry customers for high-quality patterns that allow them to produce flawless, end-use parts quickly and efficiently,” says Dave Hockemeyer, President of Peridot. “With Somos Element, finally we have a material that can be used to create patterns on an SLA machine that burns out and performs well in the foundry. It is a significant improvement on what we used to do with SLA patterns and means we can help customers produce clean, smooth parts. The customer was very pleased with the parts and has confirmed that they would like to continue using 3D printed patterns.” As machines get incrementally better, the importance of huge chemical companies behind the like of Somos ever increases. DSM, Somos’s parent company, has decades of expertise in formulating chemistry that solves problems exactly like the leftover antimony or residual ash, if this can be applied more companies like Peridot simply, will have to speed up the adoption. Peridot says the Element material cuts investment casting costs and time to market by up to 20%. That pilot scheme is now a fully-fledged solution for the bureau. “Somos Element is proving to be a very important innovation for Peridot,” says Hockemeyer. “We have a long and rich history in metal casting products. Element is quickly becoming a critical part of our business as it provides us with a new, more reliable and better quality alternative to metal printing.”  25 : 4 www.tctmagazine.com

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Casting ACCELERATING 3D TECHNOLOGIES

WOR D S : Lau r a G r iffit h s

RECASTING ADDITIVE IN THE FOUNDRY

ExOne printed core

ETAL CASTING FOUNDRIES AS WE KNOW THEM, have been around since the 1800s. It’s a proven process; liquid metal is poured into a mould which is then removed once cooled to leave a cast solid metal shape from the mould cavity. The principle remains the same today but modern casting techniques have come in to make the process more efficient, cleaner and better quality. Additive manufacturing was briefly heralded as a modern replacement to casting. As the hype has calmed and businesses have come to understand more about the benefits and current

limitations of AM, there’s certainly no necessary urgency for foundries to close their doors. On the contrary, in a resilient twist, some facilities have embraced the benefit of those 3D technologies which are playing a pivotal role in this wellestablished industry.

A CASTING CHALLENGE

Minneapolis-based Prospect Foundry has been dealing with iron castings in low to medium volumes for over 80 years, supplying primarily to OEMs in agriculture, mining and construction industries. Three years ago the foundry came across a particularly challenging project from a



ABOVE: Lestercast foundry

customer, Sunstrand, who required around 1,000 hydraulic valve cores for a piece of machinery. This particular part had been sent around to several foundries who were unable to accept the challenging job before it landed on Prospect’s desk. Having struggled with unsuccessful cores for two months, going back and forth trying different types of sand, binder, coatings and temperatures, in a last ditch attempt, they sought a solution that was less conventional. Back in 2012, the company had spotted a possible technology investment that could help them in accepting more complex parts. Greg Colosimo, Metallurgical Engineer at Prospect Foundry ex-plained how the technology, sand printing from ExOne could, was one of those that at the time, sure looked cool but figured it would never become that useful. Fast forward to 2014 when this particular challenge arose, the team took the plunge and gave ExOne a call. “I asked them about being able to print this core up,” Greg explained. “We use CAD models when we’re making the pattern boxes so we sent the CAD file for the core and they produced them for us. We had stupendous results, we were getting 75% scrap or worse and I think the first time we ran them we had over 90% good castings.” Rather than investing in its own machine, the team outsourced the job to ExOne’s on demand 3D printing service who produced the cores using its S-Max Binder Jetting technology at a facility in Houston. A more economical solution due to the size of the cores, ExOne’s process offers design freedoms not possible in traditional cores and machining approaches using industrial grade materials. Since implementing, Greg estimates that these cores have been used for around 4,000 parts, with Sunstrand continuing to order 500 at a time. ›› 25 : 4 www.tctmagazine.com

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Casting

Old style assembled

LEFT & ABOVE: Unassembled cores

ABOVE: Cast automotive parts (Lestercast)

Though right now 3D printing only impacts a small part of Prospect’s business, Greg believes that “there is a huge opportunity for 3D printing in the foundry” depending on the use case. For example, that particular valve core is just one that the foundry produces for Sunstrand, the rest are made via more traditional methods. However, Greg notes that in the past when the team had to turn down certain jobs where the cores proved impossible to make, had they known about the idea of 3D printing them, those cores might not have been so trying. “I thought it was something that was way out there and it would never become a critical part of the foundry,” Greg commented. “Now I can see that it could very easily become a huge part of the foundry business and eventually pay off to have several printers, or at least one in every foundry. Right now it’s a big cost. I think that foundry owners are going to still go with conventional methods of making cores because they’re proven over such a long period of time.” The wider casting business has progressed from very simple parts that required excess machining to creating more sophisticated near-net shape parts that have holes and passageway built in. Greg suggests that for small and intricate parts, like valves, which would normally be cast heavy and then machined to finish, could be cast to shape in future with 3D printed cores, significantly saving on time and costs.

“If we can cast those parts with the holes and passageways already in, you wouldn’t have to drill them, you wouldn’t have to machine, which could have huge savings in the end. In the future I believe it will find a huge spot in the foundry but I think it’s a part of the whole industry moving forward, it’ll take small places like us to take the first steps and the bigger foundries will move forward with it. Once they get a big foundry to move forward with printed cores, that will be it.”

THREEFOLD BENEFITS

A more common form of 3D printing used in the casting industry is resin-based stereolithography. Popularised by the jewellery industry, the range of castingspecific resins on the market, optimised to deliver better burnout performance, allow designers and manufacturers to capture the finest details on tiny parts. But industrial users are also benefitting from SLA in a bid to reduce the need for costly tooling in the casting process. By no means a new methodology, UK-based Lestercast has been using 3D printing for over a decade. The foundry works with Digital Echo, the UK’s largest 3D printing bureau dedicated to foundry and jewellery investment casting, to produce wax moulds for prototyping. Rather than going through the traditional tooling process with injection moulding, using 3D printed wax patterns brings lead times down from anything up to nine weeks to a matter of days. “The time scale aspect is obviously the main thing but also expense as well because if you’ve got a low quantity of parts then tooling can be reasonably expensive,” Marc Healey, Sales Manager at Lestercast explained. “It can also be used as a very good technical tool because

it can create shapes that tooling would find very difficult to make or very expensive.” After starting out with 3D Systems’ Thermojet technology, the team now uses the service provider’s 3D Systems ProJet machines to create complex castable shapes primarily for the automotive industry. Having a 3D printing service to hand, Lestercast have been able to deliver parts to customers who have been let down by other suppliers and in need of a quick turnaround solution. Working closely with the motorsport sector, having the ability to prototype new designs and make quick changes is imperative and using 3D printing in the tooling process is a major asset. In addition to making wax castings, Lestercast has found other novel ways of incorporating 3D printing into the business. The team has its own in-house Stratasys Objet30 3D printer which was initially brought in to produce plastic tools overnight instead of waiting several weeks for aluminium. Moreover, it’s been useful in providing proof of concept models for machinists working on the shop floor. “It saves time because we can print out a model, give it to the machinist and they can work out the fixtures using a tangible model. Then we’re ready to go when our castings arrive so it also saves time at the front end.” Contrary to the short-lived belief that additive posed a significant threat to the casting business, these foundries are showing where, if used effectively, it can be an asset. Though additive is certainly a tool, there’s a strong belief from the industry that the flexibility, history and cost benefits of investment casting show it will be a long while before AM, particularly in terms of metals, commandeers the market. But to remain competitive you’ve got to take those leaps of faith and keep your finger on the pulse. As Greg said to TCT, “You can’t stay backwards forever, you have to move forward.”

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ACCELERATING 3D TECHNOLOGIES

LEFT: Rapid prototyping tooling at Lestercast

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Women in Engineering

E G G G S Y N

ACCELERATING 3D TECHNOLOGIES



RIGHT: Jan with one of the many machines she operates and maintains.

WOR D S : Lau r a G r iffith s

INWED17: “THERE ARE SO MANY OPPORTUNITIES IN ENGINEERING AND ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING”

definitely happening, just not as quickly as we might like. Understanding why that is and telling the stories of women already in the field, is imperative in HETHER IT’S SPEAKING WITH NORA underlining opportunities. As Women In Engineering TOURE, founder of Women in 3D Printing Day transformed into an international effort year, that about her ambitions with the group or message is being heard louder than ever. watching Dr. Ramille Shah talk at RAPID + Jan Doodson, a Powder Process Technician at metal TCT about her lab’s groundbreaking research, this year’s powder specialist LPW Technology, spoke to TCT about International Women in Engineering Day (INWED) was a her career in additive manufacturing. Jan has spent the last celebration of all of that positive activity around women in four years in the industry at the Cheshire-based company STEM outside this one day of the year – which is exactly but her path wasn’t necessarily the most traditional. how things should be moving. “Although I trained in graphic and textile design, I’ve Still, the facts remain telling. In the UK, always had an interest in hands-on engineering – how Women make up fewer than 10% of the things work and how they fit together,” Jan explained. entire engineering sector according “I’ve actually worked as a car mechanic, although when to recent statistics from the Women’s I initially started at LPW I was temping as a cleaner. I Engineering Society, which launched could see there was a lot of opportunity to progress the first National Women In Engineering here, and I was intrigued by the machinery and the work Day in 2014. That may sound like a shocking that was being undertaken. I applied for a job and now number but that’s actually I’m operating and maintaining the very machines that grown by 1% since last piqued my interest.” year, demonstrating that Jan says there is “no such thing as an average day” change is in her role, citing blending metal powders, operating the argon chamber for highly reactive materials or ensuring particle sizes conform to specification as just a handful of the responsibilities she holds. “There are so many opportunities in engineering and additive manufacturing, and an almost unlimited potential to train, up-skill and progress,” says Jan. “The key skills to bring with you are a willingness to learn, as rapid advances in technology mean every industry is constantly evolving; assertiveness, to ensure your voice is heard; and a really good sense of humour!” Speaking about efforts to encourage more women into the sector, Jan says things are improving and she believes the increased media representation of women in STEM roles could have a real impact on current statistics. Aside from visible role models, Jan cites one of the key factors in facilitating this is the importance of education. “The focus in education is really making a difference – of the three new apprentices here at LPW, one is female,” Jan ››

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ACCELERATING 3D TECHNOLOGIES

15:45

Women in Engineering

commented. “However, whilst the ABOVE STEM initiative is a positive way to & RIGHT: Young encourage more women and girls into engineers engineering, giving them practical lifeat The Skills Show, UK skills and the confidence to realise they (Credit: WISE) can do anything they set their minds to is just as important.” To mark INWED, a new toolkit was launched by WISE to help businesses close the skills gap in the construction, engineering, technology and manufacturing sectors by recruiting more women through apprenticeships. The organisation, which campaigns to get more women into STEM careers, has created the toolkit in partnership with Semta and the Institution of Civil Engineers, to provide businesses with information, tips, case studies and resources to assist them in engaging with women and girls. Speaking with TCT, WISE CEO Helen Wollaston explained: “Most girls switch off physical sciences, engineering, technology and maths because they find the subjects boring and irrelevant to things they care about. Those that do choose science are much more likely to want to be vets or doctors than engineers. Despite hundreds of STEM outreach programmes in schools, the number of girls choosing to stick with these subjects post 16 remains much lower than in other parts of the world. All too often girls who

want to do physics or computer science find they are the only girl in the class – which can be daunting at the age of 16.” Despite recent growth in the number of apprenticeships and an increase of 13,000 more women in technical roles last year, the number of women taking up apprenticeships in engineering and technology related fields has remained much lower. Overall, women only make up 21% of the core STEM workforce and this toolkit, available to download for free from today is designed to support businesses in turning that around. The toolkit has already got the approval from several industry heavyweights including sponsors EDF Energy, HS2 Ltd, Transport for London and Rolls Royce who says that it’s hoping to see more young people enter apprenticeship across the sector through using the toolkit. Helen continues: “Some organisations have managed to recruit above average numbers of girls and women onto their digital, engineering, construction and manufacturing apprenticeship programmes. They usually find the women thrive – outperforming their male counterparts and becoming passionate advocates for the next

LEFT: Helen Wollaston, CEO, WISE generation of girls to follow in their footsteps. We have collated their stories in an online toolkit to show employers, colleges and others offering STEM apprenticeships what they can do to attract, engage, support and retain women. We’re hoping that lots of companies will take it up and we’ll start to see numbers rising in the future so we have lots more women engineers, surveyors and scientists.” Great things are happening in STEM related initiatives and individual businesses all around the world, both to inspire young girls and make sure organisations are retaining and supporting their best female talent. At this year’s TCT Show we will be hosting a female-led #3DTalk panel session, in association with Women in 3D Printing and Cyant, on 3D printing materials, which is welcome to all registered attendees interested in the current and future state of AM materials. On last year’s INWED I commented that in an ideal world we wouldn’t need a day to mark the achievements of engineers based on gender. That remains true but whilst female engineers continue to be met with a well-meaning “good for you” when announcing their occupation or are treated differently to their male colleagues during an industry event, it’s proof that events like this are for the most-part, necessary and should be celebrated. That is exactly why INWED continues to exist to “focus attention on the great opportunities for women in engineering, at a time when it has never been more important to address the engineering skills shortage.” Hear, hear!  25 : 4 www.tctmagazine.com

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Welcome to

Manufacturing

UNBOUND Arcam brings together best-in-class additive manufacturing systems, the highest quality materials, and real-world production expertise, changing the way manufacturers conceive and produce metal components. As the leading provider for titanium additive manufacturing solutions, we use our collective knowledge to inspire and disrupt conventional thinking for production. Welcome to manufacturing unbound. Welcome to Arcam.

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24/07/2017 14:39

Autodesk University ACCELERATING 3D TECHNOLOGIES

ABOVE: MikeHaley, Machine Intelligence Leader, Autodesk

AUTODESK UNIVERSITY LONDON: REVIEW

University of Warwick UAV

WOR DS : L a u r a G r iffit hs

HE FIRST TIME I WENT TO AN AUTODESK UNIVERSITY (AU) EVENT, it was a chilly November in Las Vegas with overexposure to the Sands Expo’s air conditioning and too many turkey croissants for one lifetime. This time, the software giant brought its flagship event to London, swapping croissants for hipster sausage rolls on the UK’s hottest week of the year, making the brain-frazzling talk of machine learning, that little bit more frazzling. As the sun beamed on Tobacco Dock, over 1,000 delegates turned out to hear from Autodesk C-level executives, users and partners who come together to talk about the future of making things. “There is nothing more British than James Bond”, declared Autodesk Senior VP, Chris Bradshaw as he spoke about the UK’s influence on design from the red telephone box to the steam engine. He introduced Autodesk customer, Foster + Partners who said they’re “constantly striving to change the paradigm of design” discussing its recent New Mexico airport design that is designed as a single flowing piece, taking into consideration various environmental constraints - like a volcano. This was followed by a presentation from Mike Haley, Machine Intelligence leader at Autodesk who talked about completely mind-boggling possibilities of machine learning on the factory floor. He used the example of Autodesk robots, Bishop and Ash, who have been taught how to perform complex tasks and even recognise the

BELOW:

THE FUTURE IS MOVING TO MULTI-PURPOSE PROGRAMMABLE AUTOMATED FACTORIES humans around them. Scott Reese, Head of Product Development, spoke about the “velocity” at which Autodesk is introducing new products and updates to enable designers to get their ideas made. He used the example of the BAC’s (Briggs Automotive Company) car which was parked outside the venue, brought to life by a team of just 12 people using Autodesk Fusion 360. The product’s director, Stephen Hooper said Fusion “will allow you to make more informed decisions earlier in the process”.

ALL ABOUT GENERATIVE

In addition to virtual reality and machine learning, the word of the day was unequivocally “generative” and I went along to a talk by Andrew Harris, Design Consultant at Autodesk, which explained the workflow for a generatively designed part. Using the example of a seat bracket made with a combination of generative design, 3D printing and casting, and an automotive

component manufactured with metal 3D printing, it showed the kinds of organic forms that can currently only be produced with Autodesk technology. One particular highlight was a roundtable discussion from Greg Fallon and Ben Schwauren which looked at how generative design fits into the additive manufacturing vision. Using a useful analogy of the development of Google Maps, Greg explained how generative design doesn’t stand to strip engineers of their creativity but rather “allows engineers to see ideas that aren’t obvious”. Given the ubiquity of the subject, it’s hard to believe that generative design began as a research project out of Project Dreamcatcher just four years ago, and has since resulted in partnerships with major industrial players like Airbus. “You don’t have to specify the materials, processes, machines ahead of time. You’ve got your constraints which might be geometrical, thermal or cost and the computer then generates all possible alternatives on different manufacturing ›› 25 : 4 www.tctmagazine.com

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Autodesk University ACCELERATING 3D TECHNOLOGIES

LEFT:

BACs car brought to life with Fusion 360

technologies,” Ben explained. “The designer doesn’t necessarily need to choose one design they can choose a number of alternative designs and then pass this along to colleagues who will then see how it fits into the larger system of products. It creates these opportunities that are often very difficult to do because designers are specialised in specific manufacturing process and they only really know how to design for that process whereas generative opens up the range of things that aren’t even evaluated.” Greg spoke about how the benefits of generative span further than manufacturing in general. Focussing on the architectural space, Autodesk has researched how generative can be used to influence different industries, initially testing it out with an inter-nal project with the re-design of its Toronto office. “We looked at things like lighting, noise, how long it takes to get to the coffee pot from the bathroom and used these as optimisation criteria to come up with around 500 design ideas that we then whittled down to three or four sets and we eventually chose one,” Greg commented. “This is a concept that I think will take care of how design is done across any sort of discipline.”

FIVE MINUTES WITH NEW AUTODESK CEO, ANDREW ANAGNOST

On the eve of AU London, Autodesk announced Andrew Anagnost as its new President and CEO, following the departure of Carl Bass back in February. Having spent 20 years with the company, leading various technical and strategic roles, including the major shift to a subscription-based model, Anagnost is well posi-tioned to take the reigns. I spoke with Andrew during AU London about the future of additive and push button manufacture. LG: We’ve heard a lot about the ‘future of making things’ this week – how do you see the industry evolving in terms of additive manufacturing, robotics and machine intelligence? Andrew: ”We have been early fans of the rise of additive robotics, we believe in our heart of hearts, deep in our soles that the future is moving to multi-purpose program-mable automated factories and the companies that are investing a lot of money in sin-gle purpose factories are not going to exist 5-10 years out. That’s why we’re so excited about manufacturing because if you look at a factory it’s populated with multi-purpose robots, not task-specific robots, but multipurpose robots, a bunch of additive machines and hybrid machines. Those factories are going to be able to build anything in the future and what they’re going to accept is not a set of lines or 3D models but they’re going to accept a stream of bits that tell the robot and the machines what to do and those bits are going to be the currency that decide what gets made. We are so into that opportunity, we know it’s not a two year opportunity, we’re not crazy, we don’t think that all of a sudden this is going to happen but we know it’s a long term certainty. So we’re super excited about the role of additive, we’re super excited about the role of robotics and we also feel we have a responsibility to engage in the new industries that all of this automation is go-ing to create and to engage in re-tooling and re-skilling the people that may find

LEFT:

Andrew Anagnost, Autodesk President and CEO

ABOVE: Generatively designed and printed automotive component

they have to do completely different jobs. We’re not only excited about the technical chal-lenge we also want to engage in the social challenge of new industries and new jobs. You’re excited about this idea of “push button manufacture” – as a software company do you think there is enough communication between software and hardware? We are so still in the world where laser printers and dot matrix printers were 25 years ago, where there’s all of this different hardware, all of the hardware has these different types of drivers, none of it talks together well, there’s no standards yet for how these things communicate, it’s going to take a big software company that has the right vision and the right capabilities to help bring this together and I think there’s one software company I know that could do it and I think that problem is really yet to be solved. So there’s still a whole bunch of work to do with the hardware vendors and by the way some of these hardware vendors, people that make what you think are pretty sophisticated robots and machines, none of those machines talk to the internet yet, they’re just plugged into the wall with a keypad on and that’s just go to change. So we’ve got a lot of work to do. You have a background in the mechanical engineering and have held several titles in business and product development at Autodesk – do you think you will be a hands-on CEO? I’m pretty deep in just about everything this company does, which is a curse and a blessing for the people that work here! Carl went deep a lot in products, I’m probably going to go deep in multiple things. When it comes to products, I’m going to go deep into things I’m passionate about but I’m going to go deep into the brand and I’m going to go deep into what the sales force is doing and how they’re engaging in what cus-tomers are doing. So yes I’m going to be hands on.  25 : 4 www.tctmagazine.com

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GRIMM COLUMN WORDS : TODD GRIMM

ALL FOR ONE… When it comes to AM and an understanding of how it compares to other alternatives, the solution is to build a support group.

Todd Grimm

is a stalwart of the additive manufacturing industry, having held positions across sales and marketing in some of the industry’s biggest names. Todd is currently the AM Industry advisor with AMUG

tgrimm@tagrimm.com

074

HEN IT COMES TIME TO MAKE PARTS, who is making the process selection and with what depth of information? In many cases, the decision is up to an individual or small workgroup. The process selection is often made based on high-level knowledge coupled with some real-world experience. It is rare to find a guru that knows it all, and even rarer to have a deep pool of gurus. The outcome is that you have team members that prefer a few alternatives over all others because they understand them best and feel most comfortable. The deeper process knowledge promotes an expectancy of success. All others fuel a fear of failure or some sense of risk. The fix for this is to know it all—having a working knowledge about all available options so that the best decision can be made. However, at the individual level, this fix is not reasonable; there is simply too much to know. Now add additive manufacturing (AM) into the mix, and the fix becomes ludicrous. When it comes to AM and an understanding of how it compares to other alternatives, the solution is to build a support group. There is too little time and too much to discover to place this burden on individuals in the product development and manufacturing processes. Without a support group, individuals make decisions based on limited knowledge and their preferences and comfort level, In this mode, AM often becomes a runner-up solution no matter how much value it could deliver and how competitive it is. Without a knowledge base and some experience, it can be seen to be a risky proposition. In the last issue, I spoke of the avalanche of new AM solutions being presented. That avalanche is laid upon an already broad base of AM options. What makes investigation quite challenging is that each AM technology is different. There are no generalities that can be loosely applied to a decision-making process. AM has the diversity of all other manufacturing processes combined. To investigate the AM possibilities and interrogate the considerations would be a fulltime job. Moreover, since your team members already have full-time jobs, there is no hope of acquiring all the knowledge needed to decide if AM is the best alternative and then to select the best AM technology for the project. For those that regularly use AM, you may counter that your team members have the

knowledge and experience. However, the odds are that they have one or two go-to AM technologies and the rest are ignored. The hands-on experience creates confidence with a small slice of AM capabilities while the rest are unknown, risky options. The knowledge gap challenge exists at the highest level when determining time, cost and quality in general terms. However, it gets even more challenging when tackling details that influence success. Many of the “givens” expected in traditional processes, such as achievable accuracy, material properties and surface finish, are often not available. Instead, AM technologies offer “typical” values that then need to be qualified based on specific operating parameters. This is information that needs to be quantified through evaluation, not uncovered through individual investigation. Moreover, it needs to be quantified for each AM technology from each AM supplier. Placing the education burden on the individual leaves too much to chance and creates pockets of AM users and non-users. The stronger, wiser approach is to build support groups for the individuals. These teams, which can be informal or formal, amass the needed AM information and then disseminate it, as needed, to offer guidance and suggestions. The support group becomes a resource that enables designers and engineers to make informed decisions. A formal support group would be a dedicated team that has one goal: thorough understanding of all AM technologies, shared as needed. In essence, it would be a corporate help desk for AM. For those that lack the resources for a dedicated team, the informal support group would be the next best thing. In this structure, the individuals with AM experience band together to share what they have learned amongst themselves and throughout the company. Collectively, the support group knows it all without placing the burden on the individuals to become gurus. This opens the door to more AM deployment through a sound understanding of when, where, why and how to use AM. 

25 : 4 www.tctmagazine.com

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