TCT Europe 26.6 by TCT Magazine

EUROPE EDITION VOLUME 26 ISSUE 6 www.tctmagazine.com

MAG

PERPETUATING PRODUCTION GKN AEROSPACE HARNESSES STRATASYS FDM TECHNOLOGY TO ENHANCE TOOLING AND REDUCE DOWNTIME

THE MAGAZINE FOR DESIGN-TO-MANUFACTURING INNOVATION

LOW COST CNC on

XYZ 500 LR

18 HP SPINDLE 580 x 400 mm TABLE 510 x 400 x 450 mm TRAVEL 8000 RPM SPINDLE (12000 RPM optional) SOLID CASTING 2400 KG

all

TR FR A E CN IN E C I ma N ch G in

XYZ 1000 LR

XYZ 750 LR

18 HP SPINDLE 1060 x 500 mm TABLE 1000 x 500 x 500 mm TRAVEL 8000 RPM SPINDLE (12000 RPM optional) SOLID CASTING 4600 KG

18 HP SPINDLE 830 x 410 mm TABLE 750 x 440 x 500 mm TRAVEL 8000 RPM SPINDLE (12000 RPM optional) SOLID CASTING 3500 KG

500 LR P FRO ACKAGE

M ONLY

* £ 3 . 7 2 PER

OUR £128 A W EEK

*Price is with a £5000 + ALL VAT deposit and based on a 39 hour week, 46 week year. Subject to status.

£ 9 9 A WEE K FROM ONLY

The ProtoTRAK® Mill can increase manual production up to 6 fold

R1 0

6 50 ho m le m s PCthr D o’

+VAT SUBJE CT TO STATU S

drawing to component in only minutes

The ProtoTRAK® Lathe can increase manual production up to 15 fold

Call today to arrange a 30 minute ProtoTRAK desktop demo at your place.

To book your demo please call us on 01823 674200

sales@xyzmachinetools.com www.xyzmachinetools.com SHOWROOMS AT: DEVON BLACKBURN NUNEATON SHEFFIELD & LONDON

ALL IN U

STOCKK

NOW

VOLUME 26 ISSUE 6 ISSN 1751-0333

EDITORIAL

PRODUCTION

HEAD OF CONTENT

Sam Hamlyn

DEPUTY GROUP EDITOR

MANAGEMENT

ASSISTANT EDITOR

Duncan Wood

Daniel O’Connor e: daniel.oconnor@rapidnews.com t: + 44 1244 952 398 Laura Griffiths e: laura.griffiths@rapidnews.com t: + 44 1244 952 389 Samuel Davies e: samuel.davies@rapidnews.com t: + 44 1244 952 390 NEWSDESK

Matt Clarke

C.E.O.

VP, CONTENT, STRATEGY AND PARTNERSHIPS

James Woodcock

+44 (0) 1244 680222 REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS

BPA Worldwide Membership

SUBSCRIPTIONS

Todd Grimm tgrimm@tagrimm.com

ADVERTISING HEAD OF MEDIA SALES

Carol Hardy e: carol@rapidnews.com t: + 44 1244 952 386 ADVERTISING MANAGER

Kelley-Jo Beattie e: kelley-jo.beattie@rapidnews.com t: + 44 1244 952 365 ADVERTISING MANAGER

Christine Joinson e: christine.joinson@rapidnews.com t: + 44 1244 952 385 SENIOR SALES

Paul Lindon e: paul.lindon@rapidnews.com t: + 44 1244 952 360 BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT EXECUTIVE

Daniel Bradshaw e: daniel.bradshaw@rapidnews.com t: + 44 1244 952 520 The TCT Magazine is published bi-monthly by Rapid News Publications Ltd Carlton House, Sandpiper Way, Chester Business Park, Chester CH4 9QE, UK.

t: + 44 (0) 1244 680222 f: + 44 (0) 1244 671074

PUBLISHED PRICES Europe Print Subscriptions - Qualifying Criteria UK - Free Europe - Free US/Canada - £249 ROW - £249 N. America Print Subscriptions - Non Qualifying Criteria UK - $249 Europe - $249 US/Canada - Free ROW - $249 FREE on iOS and Android devices – including back catalogue and Buyers’ Guides. © 2018 Rapid News Publications Ltd

While every attempt has been made to ensure that the information contained within this publication is accurate, the publisher accepts no liability for information published in error, or for views expressed. All rights for The TCT Magazine are reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without prior written permission from the publisher is strictly prohibited.

COMMERCIAL 3D PRINTING RENTAL SOLUTIONS WORRIED ABOUT CASHFLOW? SHORT TERM RENTAL FOR OVER CAPACITY PRINT RUNS! P3D RENTALS IS THE SOLUTION! THE ONLY 3D SYSTEMS RENTAL SPECIALISTS! ProJet 2500 Build Size 294 x 211 x 144 mm Accuracy 32 μ layers Rental Price £2600 p/m ProJet 2500 Plus Build Size 294 x 211 x 144 mm Accuracy 32 μ layers Multi Materials Available Rental Price £3013 p/m ProJet 2500 Wax Build Size 295 x 211 x 142 mm Accuracy 16 μ layers Rental Price £3509 p/m

Consumable Package 1 3kg Part Material 5.6kg Support Material Consumable Package 2 6kg Part Material 8.4kg Support Material Consumable Package 3 12kg Part Material 16.8kg Support Material Consumable Package 4 18kg Part Material 22.4kg Support Material

Visit our website www.p3d.ltd Email rental@p3d.ltd Call us on 01656 724299

*Subject to Status, Terms & Conditions & Minimum 3 Month Contract

26 : 6

www.tctmagazine.com

Visit ExOne at Formnext — November 13-16 in Frankfurt — 3.0-F19 Hall 3

AVAILABLE NOW! High resolution metal parts produced with standard MIM powders.

We are Binder Jetting

Realize your vision Cost Effective • Diverse Materials • More than 20 years of Binder Jet expertise!

FROM THE EDITOR I

started this piece off by writing, ‘I’m a pretty decisive person’ and then tried to think of an example to prove that. What I actually started thinking was, how if I’m told to pick something up for dinner, I’ll stand for an age in the supermarket gawping at the chicken in my left hand and then to the beef in my right and back again like an incredibly slow game of tennis. What I’m discovering here is that I’m actually incredibly indecisive. I’m also undecided about how we move forward in additive. At TCT Show, I sat in an ASTM standards panel session nodding in agreement with the summation that we need to create standards so that SMEs can leverage the potential of additive manufacturing. Thirty minutes later, I’m giving aﬃrmation to the assessment of Euopac3D’s John Beckett that we just need to get on with it, ‘do you think the Victorians had standards when they built the Manchester Ship Canal?’ These two polar opposite schools of thought for progression in additive manufacturing are not new. Academics have been fighting for investment in skills and training programmes from governments since the dawn of the technology but for every academic paper on bridging the skills gap, there is an abrasive voice saying we just need to get on with it. If this was an argument in which I had less investment, I’d always lean toward the academic side of thinking, ‘they must be right they’ve done their research’. However, the folks I hear the ‘chuck ‘em in the deep end’ approach from are experienced additive manufacturing engineers who themselves benefitted from learning on the job. Here’s a direct quote from an unnamed member of the TCT Expert Advisory Board on this very issue: “In many cases, the advent of 3D printing is lowering the skills and therefore training requirements for the world of manufacturing thus reducing the training

burden for industry as a whole and not increasing it. For example, I can (and on many occasions have) trained people to competently use a PolyJet printer in less than an hour. I could not train somebody to be a competent machinist in anything like that time.” Then there’s the argument that we need to learn the new design principles set by additive, which I would contend we are starting to do particularly well and the presence of 3D printing in education from an early age could act as something of a reset button for industrial design. The new levels of education are thanks in part to those who have pushed for training but mainly down to, let’s be honest, good (and sometimes overly-excessive) marketing from the OEMs into the education sector. Even then, newly learned design principles may be futile if the hype behind generative design is to be believed, we won’t be modelling but instructing a computer to do so. To that point, the rate at which this industry innovates is a significant problem from a training and standards perspective, take those seven ASTM classifications of additive machinery and tell me which Evolve’s STEP technology fits into? However, you can’t not prepare because something may come along and wipe all that preparation away and the chuck ‘em in the deep end version only works when companies already have established process engineers to do the pushing. What about SMEs looking to start afresh with additive? How do they begin? Maybe we do need standards, education and training after all? So here am I once again, stood in the supermarket, bedazzled by the choices on offer, not making a decision, and by the time I do all the food will be 3D printed.

Druck on.

DANIEL O’CONNOR HEAD OF CONTENT

26 : 6

www.tctmagazine.com

GF Machining Solutions

DMP Factory 500

Meet the AM Factory

The DMP Factory 500 is a workflow-optimized metal 3D printing solution for massive scalability, repeatable high quality parts, high throughput and low TCO, producing seamless parts of up to 500 x 500 x 500 mm in size.

VOLUME 26 ISSUE 6

COVER STORY

8. PERPETUATING PRODUCTION

How GKN Aerospace is using Stratasys technology to enhance tooling and reduce downtime.

DENTAL

11. CATCHING UP WITH ALIGN

Sam Davies finds out how 3D printing is enabling the production of 320,000 patient-specific dental aligners a day.

15. REMEDY FOR DENTAL ANXIETY

How one UK dental lab is embracing modern manufacturing with not one but two Carbon 3D printers.

17. Q&A: SPRINTRAY BETS BIG ON 3D PRINTED DENTURES

Laura Griﬃths speaks to SprintRay CEO, Amir Mansouri about the growth of 3D in dental.

21. IN OTHER NEWS: DENTAL

A look at some of the year’s biggest launches and application stories in digital dentistry.

25 TCT SHOW 2018 25. TCT SHOW REVIEW

In this 15-page TCT Show feature, the editorial ream relives some of the most interesting conversations they had on the TCT Show floor and conference stages, including Xaar, Trumpf, EOS, Siemens and more.

MOULDING & TOOLING

57. TOOLS TO INNOVATE

Laura speaks to Wilson Tool International about the launch of its dedicated AM product division.

83. SIDE STEPPING THE PITFALLS

Dr. Lee-Bath Nelson, co-founder and VP Business at Leo Lane on ensuring safe and secure AM.

59 LAUNCH NEWS 59. SHALOM TO THE XJET AMC

Sam reports from Israel where XJet opened its Additive Manufacturing Center.

61. HP: HEAVY ON METAL PRODUCTION

Laura gets the lowdown on HP Metal Jet from HP’s Global Head of 3D Metals, Tim Weber.

FORMNEXT 2018

IP & FINANCE

SPONSORED BY

85. MEDTECH AND 3D PRINTING

Thomas Prock, German and European Patent Attorney at Marks & Clerk discusses the challenges around IP in the medtech space.

87. BELIEVING IN 3D PRINTED UNICORNS

Laura explores the growth of the billiondollar company in 3D printing and why finance is key to startup success.

TCT Awards

89. THE WINNERS

A rundown of the winners of this year’s TCT Awards.

CONSERVATION 65. FORMNEXT PREVIEW

A round-up of the latest technologies and product debuts you can see on the show floor in Frankfurt.

77. TCT CONFERENCE @ FORMNEXT

The TCT conference team has put together another stellar line-up featuring BMW, Johnson & Johnson and more.

93. HERITAGE FORENSICS

Sam reports on a tour of Warwick Manufacturing Group where 3D technologies are uncovering new facts and curious fates.

94. REIMAGINED DRAGONS

3D Systems on Demand Manufacturing experts help restore UNESCO world heritage site with scan-to-CAD workflow.

98. DON’T LET BAD APPLES SPOIL PROGRESS

Todd Grimm calls time on misinformation and dishonesties in the AM industry.

26 : 6

www.tctmagazine.com

PERPETUATING PRODUCTION GKN AEROSPACE HARNESSES STRATASYS FDM TECHNOLOGY TO ENHANCE TOOLING AND REDUCE DOWNTIME

KN Aerospace is the world’s leading multitechnology tier 1 aerospace supplier, serving over 90% of the world’s aircraft and engine manufacturers. In the last 30 years, the GKN Aerospace team has also earned a reputation as leaders in the application of additive manufacturing technology in the commercial, military and space markets – with five global centres of additive manufacturing excellence. The team at the company’s Filton manufacturing site is responsible for producing and supplying production tools and prototypes to multiple areas of the business. When faced with the need to reduce costly production line downtime, as well as deliver the most fully-functional, ultra-realistic prototypes possible, Additive Manufacturing Polymer Specialist at GKN Aerospace, Rachel Trimble, sought a solution that could meet both these objectives – as well as best prepare them for the future. This saw GKN Aerospace invest in a Stratasys F900 Production 3D Printer, with Filton as the natural site to launch its FDM expertise. For GKN Aerospace’s engineers, any halt in the production line causes huge, and costly problems. Indeed, one such issue is the long lead time and expense required to produce a replacement, should a traditionally-manufactured

SHOWN:

3D PRINTED TOOLING PRODUCED ON THE STRATASYS F900 PRODUCTION 3D PRINTER

26 : 6 www.tctmagazine.com

production line tool suddenly break. In such a scenario, engineers would typically have to wait weeks for a replacement; a downtime they simply could not afford. According to Trimble, the benefit of having a F900 3D Printer in-house has removed the burden of replacing these tools and improved the responsiveness to the engineers’ manufacturing requirements. “A recent process change has led to certain metal parts requiring an additional processing step. Certain elements of the parts must be protected during this step, requiring a specialist bung that is not commercially available. Some trial bungs were sourced, but we couldn’t keep

up with the demand, meaning a large backlog of parts collecting on the shop floor,” Trimble explains. “Now, we can print a small tool which can be used to quickly cut new bungs to the correct size and enable several parts to be processed at once to alleviate the backlog. By printing with Stratasys’ high-performance, engineering-grade thermoplastics, we can produce these tools with repeatable, predictable quality every time. Tools can be produced within three hours and put to use the next morning.” Looking to the future, GKN Aerospace is experimenting with the application of Stratasys’ high-strength, heatresistant ULTEM 1010 material for these applications.

COVER STORY

CUSTOMISED, OPTIMISED, REVOLUTIONISED It is not just time and cost related savings that GKN Aerospace is enjoying. Trimble believes that one of the key benefits of additive manufacturing lies in the creative freedom it affords its users. Previously, GKN Aerospace engineers were limited by the economic and physical constraints of traditional manufacturing. Now, teams can create tools that were impossible to produce prior to the company’s embrace of additive manufacturing. “The F900 offers the largest buildsize of any FDM 3D printer enabling us to quickly produce tools to meet any requirements. Most notably, complex geometries and cavities that would otherwise be problematic are now practical with the F900. We’re already utilising this technology to design, and 3D print, previously inconceivable tools, which then enable us to manufacture extremely complex parts that would be uneconomical or just physically impossible by any other means,” she explains. At GKN Aerospace, this freedom is not just felt in the ability to create designs

SHOWN: PRODUCED ON THE STRATASYS F900 PRODUCTION 3D PRINTER, THIS SMALL TOOL ENABLES GKN TO QUICKLY CUT NEW BUNGS TO THE CORRECT SIZE AND ENABLES SEVERAL PARTS TO BE PROCESSED AT ONCE

that were previously impossible, but also in the ability to improve working environments and processes for production line operators. According to Trimble, creating optimised, accurate 3D printed tools without being restricted by size or shape enables GKN to tailor tools to specific jobs and improve the functionality of their operations. In certain cases, GKN’s engineers are reporting a dramatic reduction of 40% in concessions, and some jobs even reduced from two operators to one. Now, the team are looking at the possibility of producing 3D printing tools in Stratasys’ lightweight, productiongrade materials, that are customised to each operator, thereby minimising RSI-related injuries that could invariably impact manufacturing workflow. For Trimble, this is a whole new value-add beyond the more obvious and easy-toquantify advantages associated with the time and cost eﬃciencies enjoyed from producing the tools. ULTRA-REALISTIC, FULLY-FUNCTIONAL PROTOTYPES Currently one of the most highlyutilised machines at the Filton manufacturing site, the F900 is also deployed regularly for rapid prototyping applications – be it for fit and function tests, or to showcase concept parts to clients. One of its most successful cases to date, was the creation of a fully-functional windscreen housing used in the introduction of a new aircraft. The launch team was on a tight-deadline, with a product unveil in front of a huge audience in Germany, scheduled to a date that could not be moved. However, the timeline hit a glitch, when the windscreen housing was still incomplete just days before the launch.

“THE F900 3D PRINTER OFFERS US THE ENHANCED GEOMETRIC FREEDOM TO CREATE PREVIOUSLY UNTHOUGHT OF 3D PRINTED TOOLS.” RACHEL TRIMBLE,

PHD, ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING POLYMER SPECIALIST, GKN AEROSPACE “In a matter of hours, we were able to produce a prototype of this windscreen housing on the F900,” says Trimble. “The success of the part was instantly clear. The prototype produced was so realistic, and so accurate, that the launch team were not only able to go ahead with the event, but the feedback received confirmed that the 3D printed housing was almost indistinguishable from the real thing.” TO THE FUTURE Looking ahead, the company is excited about the future opportunities achievable with its Stratasys FDM additive manufacturing capability. With continued material advancements allowing for the use of lightweight, functional options in aerospace applications, Trimble anticipates a greater move towards the use of FDM additive manufacturing for high-value, flight-critical, end-use composite parts. “GKN Aerospace’s product range is vast, and although the adoption of new technology can sometimes be slow, we see large-scale FDM and carbon-reinforced parts as the future of additive manufacturing in aerospace. By harnessing Stratasys additive manufacturing for tooling and prototyping, we are enjoying both time and cost savings, amongst other benefits, all whilst simultaneously preparing ourselves for the future,” concludes Trimble.

26 : 6

www.tctmagazine.com

SELECTION

REVOLUTIONARY UNIQUE

THREE COMPONENTS

GRANDMASTER NEXT GENERATION

CUSTOMISED ADDITIVE WORLD CLASS AUTOMATION

1/2018 13 - 16 /1 and E70 , st Hall 3.1 ain, rt am M Frank fu y n G erma

Flexibility in additive manufacturing! This is what our open freeformer system offers. We have now gone one better – with our new freeformer 300-3X. Like its little brother, it does everything a freeformer needs to be able to do. And even more: larger build chamber, three discharge units – now also for complex yet robust hard/ soft combinations. Once again: unique in the industry! www.arburg.com

dental

CATCHING UP WITH ALIGN WORDS: SAM DAVIES

hen a company applies for a patent, it does so to safeguard its innovation for a period of up to 20 years. But any firm with the aptitude for originality tends to have visions beyond a generation, and so must evolve, and continue to evolve so when those patents expire the company is in a healthy enough position not to succumb to the increase in competitors that will follow. In 1997, two Stanford graduates, novices in the world of orthodontics, were bringing to market a novel idea. Some 20 years later, the mass production of that idea would be wholly reliant on the advances in 3D printing, data management software, and other pieces of automation technology. Equally, millions of people around the world would be dependent on Align Technology, developer of Invisalign clear aligners. It wasn’t without its bumps in the road. It never is. Profligacy with marketing budgets was one jolt, while a warning from the FDA re the insuﬃcient reporting of serious reactions to its products was another. In between, one of the founders departed, set up a rival firm and an IP infringement battle ensued, with Align and OrthoClear eventually signing a Binding Settlement.

reported by Forbes last year, and as you might have worked out if your basic maths is up to scratch, is that the company’s early patents are expiring. Those patents lit the fuse that over two decades has continued to burn bright, culminating in the company’s recent revelation that it has the capacity to manufacture up to 320,000 patientspecific aligners a day – that’s 1,600,000 a (five-day) week. It provides a buffer. As does the fact that those patents relate to the company’s earliest digital treatment planning process, and not necessarily the many iterations that followed, which today includes many of the innovations in Align’s subsequent patents – of which there are now 816 issued worldwide. “It took us many years to get to this point,” Srini Kaza, VP of Product Innovation, told TCT, “and we needed to refine as we go. Our technology and process have changed and advanced dramatically since those early patents were written. And there is a substantial experience curve involved.”

That process begins with acquiring the patient’s dentition through a oneminute 3D scan, and then administered through a virtual treatment plan which dictates how the patient’s smile should look, whether they have an overbite or underbite, for example. Once this treatment plan is complete, Align communicates with the dental professionals through its ClinCheck software, uploading the treatment plan for them to modify and send back. 

“STEREOLITHOGRAPHY IS THE BASE TECHNOLOGY WE’RE GOING WITH IN PRODUCTION.”

The latest potential snag, as

ALL IMAGES CREDITeD TO: ALIGN TECHNOLOGY.

26 : 6

www.tctmagazine.com

011

DENTAL dental

This all occurs from the company’s factories in Costa Rica, Chengdu, Cologne and Madrid, and once the go-ahead is given, fabrication commences in Juarez, Mexico, a bona fide manufacturing hotbed, which also houses production facilities for GE Healthcare, Honeywell Aerospace, and Johnson & Johnson, to name a few. Align placed itself there to tap into the wealth of engineering talent. And it shows. In Juarez, Align has an automated workflow, featuring modular operations which manufacture, transport, post process and package the products ready to be shipped to the patient. Using 3D Systems’ ProX SLA systems, the moulds are printed to the patient’s exact specifications using the CAD data generated from the ClinCheck treatment plan. Each mould has its own unique data label which is read by a digital management system to ensure the product is tracked throughout the entire process and goes through the correct production steps. Once on the assembly line, the printed parts stop off at various manufacturing points, like the forming and marking stage whereby a medical-grade polymer is thermal formed over the aligner mould, and then the mould goes through trimming, cutting and polishing stages, which have been defined by the digital treatment plan agreed upon between doctor and manufacturer. Thanks to the unique ID tags on each product, the aligners can then be located and grouped back together ready to be packaged and shipped to the correct person. The 3D printing aspect is only a single cog in a wheel that draws contributions from a plethora of technologies. Yet, without it, the mass customisation of thousands of aligners at a time wouldn’t be tangible. And even then, the fact that each and every set of products to go around the facility’s production carousel is tailored to a different person, only raises the stakes in what is already a massively challenging task. “If we were making 320,000 [of the same] parts a day then I would challenge anybody, ‘why would you use 3D printing? If it’s the same shape, then let’s just use an injection moulder or something like that,’” stresses Kaza. “They’re 320,000 different parts, so that means we have to have 100% of them made, it’s not like we can say we have 95.5% yield and that’s great. We have to make every single part. And you have to track every single part, and you have to eventually

SHOWN:

THE ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING SOLUTION IS USED TO CREATE SACRIFICIAL TOOLING, WHICH LEADS TO THE CREATION OF THE FINAL, PATIENTREADY ALIGNERS WHICH MATCH EVERY STAGE OF THE PATIENT’S TREATMENT PROCESS.

SHOWN:

get them together the right way because they’re all different patients. You’ve got to get the right aligners for the right patient together at the right station, track them, keep control of the data. Taking care of all that is very complex.” And it’s of the utmost importance too. For 20 years, there has been regular investments on updates and upgrades. Indeed, the news that Align can clock up 320,000 aligners a day came about after the company announced it had increased its investment of 3D Systems’ ProX SLA machines. The stereolithography process has practically been a mainstay in the process, and although evolution will continue, it’s unlikely Align will ever move away from the first commercially available 3D printing process. “After all these years, we see that stereolithography is by far the most robust process in terms of production,” Kaza said. “We have done a lot of work turning that into a production process so going to the ProX is just going to the next generation of it. That’s how we look at it, just keeping in tune with the latest technology in the area, keeping in mind that stereolithography is the base technology that we’re going with in production.”

ALIGN USES 3D SYSTEMS’ PROX SLA 3D PRINTING TECHNOLOGY AS PART OF ITS ALIGNER FABRICATION WORKFLOW.

The 3D printing machines, like the entire production workflow, run around the clock, providing a continuous output to serve the global demand for Invisalign products. Later this year, it will begin to be supplemented by an identical base in China which will be smaller and oblige the local customer needs in the local languages. It will harness all the IP in those 800+ patents, and duplicate the automated workflow in Juarez. This concentrated serving of the Chinese market has come about because the country is the company’s fastest growing region. With a new facility, expect another significant increase in output. What started as a novel idea has grown through time into a mammoth workflow, but one that is never standing still. Over the years, Align has introduced its SmartTrack material, designed to better control tooth movement; SmartForce attachments and features that are tied into the design of aligners to make those movements more predictable; and plenty of other workings of the process. Most are patented, some patent pending. The evolution doesn’t stop. Align is consistently focused on investing in new technology to improve productivity and squeeze out more cost. Thus, as its early patents expire, there’s no haste or concern: “Someone may try to manufacture clear aligners, but we believe that would be similar to the technology that we had 10+ years ago,” Kaza assessed. Align has put in two decades of ground work to get to 320,000 parts a day. It didn’t come quick, it didn’t come cheap, and it didn’t come easy. Any supposed competitor has a lot of catching up to do.

26 : 6

www.tctmagazine.com

013

dental

A REMEDY FOR DENTAL ANXIETY WORDS: SAM DAVIES

The suspense spawns weeks in advance, builds in the seems-likeforever recess in the waiting room, and as the dentist dives into your mouth, mouth mirror in-hand, comes to a horrible climax as it is revealed work does indeed need doing. Yet, the same has been apparently true of the entire dental industry, at least it would explain why so many dental manufacturers have turned to additive manufacturing technologies increasingly so in recent years. There are the obvious pros: the time reductions, cost reductions, freedom of design, that have been hammered home ad nauseam, but in a recent chat with the Managing Director of Byrnes Dental Lab, it appears there’s also a remedy for the stress that is synonymous with this practice. Well for the manufacturers, at least.

 ABOVE:

DENTAL MODELS PRINTED ON THE CARBON SYSTEM.

 SHOWN:

That was evident to Ashley Byrne after 24 hours of installing a Carbon M2 DLS system this summer. Another day passing, the sheer eﬃciency of the machine meant a second purchase was made out of necessity. “Suddenly, all the models were exactly the same, they were 100% reproducible, the cleaning was quick, it was easy, it wasn’t messy,” Byrne told TCT. “We could quadruple our volume with no additional stress. In fact, it reduced the pressure on the team.” That team is 31-strong, and in the three years prior had tried with machines from 3D Systems and Formlabs. When the first Carbon system arrived, the company envisaged a period of transition, which would see the workload shared between various printers and outlets. “We were going to do a little bit on a Carbon, and then a few on other printers, and sub-contract [too],” Byrne explained, “but the Carbon was so good we realised we wanted to do everything on the Carbon, but there’s only so many parts you can print in a day and we realised within the first three months we were going to run out of capacity.”

CREDIT: Byrnes Dental Laboratory

here’s nothing quite so daunting as a trip to the dentist.

Hence, a second Carbon machine was ordered. The company is anticipating daily production of up to 200 parts and has also launched a lab-to-lab service. Byrnes is the only dental lab in Europe to own a Carbon machine – never mind two – and understanding that the average size of a lab in their sector is much slighter than itself, has established a sub-contract service so smaller practices can benefit too. In doing so, the company is now on the other side of the fence. Its first dealings with 3D printing were through services of this ilk overseas, but growing frustrated with the time-consuming process, moved to bring the technology in-house. Before then, it was all silicone impressions, gypsum stone, plaster and wax, and exclusively so. Now, it’s not only quicker to produce parts, but replace them as well. If a patient had lost an anti-snoring device, for example, it would take around six hours to manufacture one from scratch, and the patient would be charged full price. Now, Byrnes already has the patient’s data, so the replacement can be printed in half the time at cost. “Everything is reproducible when it’s digital,” Byrne said. “It’s better for the patient, it’s better for the dentist, and it’s better for us.” In those cases, and only those cases – well and some educational courses too – are the same parts printed twice. The combination of intraoral scanning and 3D printing is enabling mass customisation and means the grim process of having silicone impressions shoved in your mouth to ascertain the shape of your teeth is looking more likely a thing of the past. At the time of writing, Byrnes has just produced its 500th print with the Carbon systems. They include applications like bite registration parts, special trays, and surgical guides, and as Carbon continues to update its hardware, this Oxfordshire dental lab is expecting a significant increase in their production capacity and a continued reduction in stress. It’s good timing too. “We’re trying to change the face of dental technology, and bring the industry in line with modern manufacturing, rather than being stuck in the dark ages.”

BYRNES’ CARBON M2 MACHINES.

26 : 6

www.tctmagazine.com

015

dental

Q&A – SPRINTRAY BETS BIG ON 3D PRINTED DENTURES

DEPUTY GROUP EDITOR, LAURA GRIFFITHS SPEAKS TO AMIR MANSOURI, CEO OF SPRINTRAY INC. ABOUT THE GROWTH OF 3D PRINTING IN DENTISTRY.

Q: Since launching in 2014, SprintRay is now very much focused on the dental industry – why did the company decide to go after that particular sector? A: When we first launched the MoonRay on Kickstarter, we had no particular market in mind. 3D printing has changed a lot in the last four years, and one of the oddities we noticed was that Glidewell Laboratories was using our printers for producing dental models, crowns, and bridges. In speaking with dentists, we realised that they were in a unique position to use 3D printing to make a positive impact on end-users. This aligned with our original belief – that 3D printing can affect positive change in the lives of ordinary people – and so we began focusing more and more on dental. Q: What types of users are implementing this technology, are they primarily large dental labs or are you seeing individual practices get on board? A: We’re definitely seeing both. One of the first people in the dental industry to buy and use our printers was a dental surgeon with an individual practice. Compared with the six-figure investments

many individual/group practices make in things like cone-beam scanners, a four-figure 3D printer that gives them production capabilities is a no-brainer. We have practices that have totally overhauled their workflows as the result of integrating our printers. They’ve found so much more control over treatment plans that the dentists are more involved in-patient cases than ever. The future of the clinic is the in-oﬃce production of dental appliances. Workflow revitalisation is a big piece of the puzzle, but it also benefits the patients - when clinics don’t have to have appliances made offsite and shipped, that’s a huge reduction in patient wait time. Q: So, patients themselves are also benefiting from this approach? A: Big time. One of our first dental customers is an Endodontist and a professor at the University of Southern California. Before he brought 3D printing into his practice, he performed root canal surgeries that would often take 1.5 hours of drill time. In particularly diﬃcult cases, he would need to space this out over multiple appointments. Once he integrated a SprintRay 3D printer into his practice, the same surgery is typically performed with

only 10-20 minutes of drill time. And these were in the very early days. Last month, one of our dentists in southern California 3D printed a full set of dentures and delivered them free of charge for a customer who couldn’t afford traditionallyfabricated dentures and hadn’t had teeth since the mid-nineties. Traditionallyfabricated dentures would’ve made this kind of charity cost-prohibitive, but 3D printing cut the cost enough to make it happen. Q: What are some of the most common hurdles customers are facing when first implementing 3D printing into their dental workflows? A: Far and away the biggest diﬃculty is software. Once a print is set up and initiated, a model comes out – that’s the simple part. Introducing a new piece of software into what is usually already a fragile ecosystem of disparate pieces is the biggest hurdle. This is why we put together so many partnerships for integration. Hooking all these programs up so that they can talk to each other is a huge part of making the workflow transition as easy as possible, because these handoffs from scan to modelling to printing are where most people run into trouble. 

26 : 6

www.tctmagazine.com

017

Printers

Visit us at Hall 3.1 Stand H81

Software

Powders

Online Parts Store

Certification

auroralabs3d.com

018

26 : 6

www.tctmagazine.comâ&#x20AC;&#x192;

Creating a powerful 3D metal printing ecosystem

dental

 shown:

NIGHTGUARD 3D PRINTED ON SPRINTRAY MACHINE

 below:

FULL BUILD PLATFORMS OF 3D PRINTED MODELS

Q: The market for desktop 3D printers within dental has grown considerably – how does SprintRay separate itself in this increasingly competitive space? A: Our biggest asset is that we can direct-print dental appliances with our certified open resin system. A lot of large 3D printing companies are dipping their feet into dental. There are some common dental appliances that most stereolithographic printers can crank out, but there are very few that can use FDA-cleared PMMA materials, and even fewer that offer tech support for those third-party resins. As a dentist, if I can’t print denture bases, I can’t print crowns, I can’t print appliances that are going to live in people’s mouths, then I haven’t purchased a dental printer. The free printed dentures we talked about earlier – there are only a handful of printers on the market that can print monolithic dentures in a supported ecosystem. And those that can typically cost double, triple, fivefold of what we charge. We’re working to add new resins all the time to our software, which means that our printer has the capacity to grow as rapidly as the materials. Q: Materials are one of the biggest areas of development for dental – can you tell us about the process of identifying and certifying dental-specific materials? A: Identifying materials often comes out of speaking with dentists and labs to see what they need. Our certification of NextDent came along because we

wanted to provide dentists with direct-printed, FDAapproved materials. The flexibility that brought was huge. Certifying these resins is a huge undertaking that involves printing over and over with minor adjustments to our software – balancing speed with reliability is always a challenge. Dentists don’t have time for failed prints, so our certification process is very rigorous, and we don’t release new resin compatibility until we’re certain that it’ll work every time. Q: Last year, SprintRay struck a partnership with Patterson Dental – how has the business/partnership grown in that time? A: In addition to their sheer size and reach, Patterson has a great history of bringing new technology into practices and it was this history that really excited us. Their success with selling the CEREC system led us to believe that they had what it took to bring 3D printing into full implementation. Together, we’ve been able to bring 3D printing into the oﬃces of dental practices and labs that we couldn’t have reached on our own. As we approach the one-year mark, we find that their team is really embracing 3D printing.

Q: The dental 3D printing market is expected to reach 9.5 billion USD by 2027 – where do you see the biggest potential for the technology? A: Barring huge, unforeseen advancements in materials, we think that dentures and fully-printed teeth are going to be the next big thing. Right now, the patient experience for denture fitting is a nightmare. It involves no fewer than three appointments (often many more) and months of waiting for fabrication, for shipping, for adjustments. 3D printing has the capacity to reduce that to just a few appointments over the course of a week or two. Printed dentures can be quickly adjusted for fit, they’re incredibly strong, and are significantly easier to repair than traditionally-fabricated models. We’re betting big on dentures.

26 : 6

www.tctmagazine.com

019

SMALL IS THE NEW BIG IN ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING Imagine design that defies the rules. Accuracy down to single micro metres. Minimum material waste. Fast track to market. Digital Metal® is a unique 3D metal printing technology that delivers formerly unseen levels of resolution and surface quality. Proven by more than 300,000 highquality components produced, it has become a worldclass benchmark standard. Digital Metal® offers advanced industrial 3Dprinters along with all the support you need to set up your own production. You can also use our printing services to prototype or mass produce components. Want to see how small parts can give your business a big boost? CHECK OU T A L L T HE BENEFIT S OF DIGITA L ME TA L ON DIGITA LMETA L.TECH

DM P2500

DIGITAL METAL IS A HÖGANÄS GROUP COMPANY ®

VISIT US AT FORMNEXT, FRANKFURT GERMANY (13-16 NOVEMBER 2018, STAND 3.0-G40)

dental

IN OTHER NEWS: DENTAL Earlier this year, an industry report projected that the dental 3D printing market is set to grow to 9.5 Billion USD (8.3 EUR) by 2027. The ten-year forecast detailed how the total dental printing industry grew by over 35% year-overyear for the second in a row in 2017 as a result of widespread increases in acceptance and adoption of 3D technologies within the sector. This year, the number of launches and application stories suggest that growth is right on track – here are just a few.

3D SYSTEMS LAUNCHES DMP DENTAL 100 METAL 3D PRINTER In addition to its polymer-based Figure 4 NextDent solution, 3D Systems launched the DMP Dental 100 metal 3D printer offering entry-level metal 3D printing for dental applications. The direct metal 3D printing system offers doubles the productivity of its predecessor with a build volume of 100 x 100 x 80 mm to produce small, complex dental prostheses in Ni-free CoCr materials certified for dental use. The printer is designed to deliver maximum price/ performance ratio, and produces high-quality, metal parts with what 3D Systems says is “the shortest post-processing time in the market.” Based on internal testing, the machine can print up to 90 dental crown copings in a single run in less than four hours, with only 25 minutes’ heat treatment.

PRODWAYS ANNOUNCES DESKTOP DLP 3D PRINTER AND DENTAL PACKAGE Earlier this year, French 3D printer manufacturer Prodways launched a new desktop DLP machine, the ProMaker LD3. Based on the company’s MOVINGLight technology, the machine is designed to serve dental professionals, jewellers, and educators with a native resolution of 50 microns and a build envelope of 64 x 120 x 130 mm. The idea is to package the professional performance of DLP technology into a compact, multi-functional platform, that can operate in any-sized environment. The machine is scheduled to be made available before the end of the year within a dental package that includes specific dental materials and expert support. Those materials will include resins for dental models intended for repair work, such as crowns and bridges, and to be used in thermoforming, such as dental aligners and retainers, along with CE certified resins for implant guides. In addition, Prodways will also supply burnout resins for casting or fixed crowns in ceramic or metal.

CARBON PARTNERS WITH NATIONAL DENTEX LABS Carbon has announced a multi-year agreement with National Dentex Labs (NDX) to deliver a complete 3D printing solution for dental applications. NDX, the largest network of dental labs by revenue in the U.S., has already been applying 3D printing for the production of dental models, casts and implant guides. However, increasing demand for has led the organisation to seek a solution that can meet this growth and provide scalability, fleet management

and the ability to report data and analytics “3D printing has become integral to the dental industry and NDX is at the forefront of using this innovative technology,” said Tom Daulton, CEO of National Dentex Labs. “As we evaluated the options, we needed a solution and a partner that could scale with us while offering eﬃciencies, quality parts, and excellent support and service.” The Silicon Valley company recently installed its Carbon M2 printers in NDX labs and will continue to scale this throughout next year.

26 : 6

www.tctmagazine.com

021

dental

ENVISIONTEC UNVEILS HIGHSPEED 3D PRINTER AND DENTAL MATERIALS At this year’s LMT Dab Day, EnvisionTEC launched its largest high-speed continuous 3D printer to date. The new Vida cDLM offers a build volume of 145 x 81.5 x 100 mm with a XY resolution of 76 microns. Material-depending, EnvisionTEC says the Vida cDLM can print models in half the time of its best-selling Vida desktop machine. For example, when used with EnvisionTEC’s premium E-Model Light material, the Vida cDLM can 3D print 10-12 vertical orthodontic models in 100-micron layers in 90 minutes.

for fast and affordable volume production of models on which to produce clear thermoformed aligners, and E-Ortholign, a biocompatible material designed for direct 3D printing of the “first aligner”, a device used after an orthodontist removes a patient’s brackets to hold teeth in place.

In addition, EnvisionTEC launched two new materials; E-OrthoShape, a resin designed

CLEARCAPS USES STRUCTO 3D PRINTERS TO PRODUCE 250 CLEAR ALIGNER MODELS IN 24 HOURS Dental-specific 3D printers from Singapore-based Structo are being leveraged by clear dental aligner brand, ClearCaps, to accelerate its large-volume manufacturing operations. ClearCaps currently uses 3D software for planning and tracking of its cases including a 3D simulation of the patient’s treatment. Now Structo’s Mask Stereolithography (MSLA)powered DentaForm 3D printers form an integral part of the Berlin company’s manufacturing facilities.

Jesse Bartels, founder of ClearCaps commented: “We always strive to be at the forefront of the latest technology to help us deliver superior treatment outcomes.” Launched last year, the DentaForm is capable of printing up to 10 clear aligner models in 30 minutes thanks to its large-build volume measuring 200 x 150 mm and high print speeds. ClearCaps currently prints around 250 models every 24 hours but the company plans to scale that up in the near future.

RENISHAW REDUCES DENTAL FRAMEWORK BUILD PREPARATION TIME BY UP TO 75% Global engineering firm Renishaw says its QuantAM Dental software can cut preparation time for dental frameworks from two hours or more with existing build preparation software to around 30 minutes. The software is designed to automate additive manufacturing (AM) build preparation for hundreds of dental frameworks in a single operation. The company claims the 75% reduction is enabling dental production facilities to produce patientspecific frameworks at a lower cost. QuantAM Dental automatically imports hundreds of dental frameworks, repairs STL files, automates orientation to eliminate the need for supports on the fitting surfaces and generates supports where necessary. It also automatically adds an identification tag to each framework. The software then groups framework types according to manufacturing requirements (e.g. heat treatment). Finally, the software reviews the files and gives a list of potential errors for any sub-optimal frameworks. The systems operator can then slice the build files ready to transfer them to the AM system. Ed Littlewood, Marketing Manager at Renishaw’s Medical and Dental Products Division commented, “QuantAM Dental consolidates the number of software packages required to produce batches of frameworks, helping to reduce licensing overheads, decrease training requirements and reduce build preparation times daily.”

26 : 6

www.tctmagazine.com

023

OUR SOLUTIONS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF YOUR OWN

HIGHLY SPECIALIZED METAL POWDERS

Au, Ag, Cu, Sn, Ni, Fe, Co, Pd...

AU series Atomisation Plants

AC series Air Classifiers

• Oxidation-free processing by means of de-gassing, vacuum and inert gas features

• For economical and flexible classification of metal powders

• Easy to clean, easy to change nozzle systems: perfectly suited for small batch production and frequent change of alloys

• Separation into fine and coarse powder fractions especially also in the range < 25 µm

• For clean, circular powders with high flowability, Ø 1-200 µm

• Available with oxidation protection by inert gas

Low cleaning efforts with little metal loss and cross contamination. High process stability. Easy and reliable handling.

www.bluepower-casting.com Atomisation Units · Vacuum Pressure Casting Machines · Melting Units · Granulation and Continuous Casting Systems 75045 Walzbachtal · Germany · Phone +49 7203 9218-0 · E-mail: info@bluepower-casting.com

Member 2018

Visit us at

TCT Show

TCT SHOW 2018 SHINES SPOTLIGHT ON GROUND-BREAKING TECHNOLOGIES

he doors closed on the 2018 edition of TCT Show after three days of innovation, announcements and product debuts. More than 250 exhibitors converged on the NEC, Birmingham, to create the largest show floor in the event’s history and to showcase gamechanging design and manufacturing technologies to around 10,000 (audit pending) attendees.

Several partnerships were also struck on the show floor; XJet secured a distribution agreement with Carfulan Group, Additive Industries teamed with Laser Lines to accelerate its UK presence and Link3D partnered with the ACAM Aachen Center for Additive Manufacturing.

“The number of new products on show reflected the current pace of change in the industry,” said Jim Woodcock, VP, Content, Strategy and Partnerships at Rapid News Group. “From advances in additive metal technologies, to materials, to innovative software, the technologies that will shape manufacturing in the future were on display across the show floor.”

The TCT Show conference programme covered the entire industry through almost 100 speakers. Airbus, PepsiCo and BMW took to the main stage highlighting technical breakthroughs and advances. Education and increasing technology adoption is key to every TCT event and three stages of content ensured there was something for all technology interests.

Biggest news from the show floor included: • UK debut of Mimaki’s 10 million colour 3DUJ-553 3D printer in partnership with Hybrid Services. • Trumpf debuted its TruPrint 3000 metals system for the first time. • Shapeways announced its full colour 3D printing service with Stratasys’ J750 machine. • Ultimaker unveiled new material alliances and print core for composites on the desktop. (more on p.51) • DyeMansion showcased increased colour capabilities for its DM60 post-processing machine. • Materialise introduced a simulation module to its Magics software. (more on p.35) • Sculpteo announced the direct integration of FDM to its Fabpilot cloud-based end-to-end solution.

Duncan Wood, Chief Executive at Rapid News Publications Ltd, organisers of the TCT Show, commented: “Yet another amazing

TCT Show to reflect on with so many highlights in the conferences, at the TCT Awards and across the show floor. Add to this the largest number of exhibiting companies ever and a steadily increasing international participation and we can look forward to an even more exciting and internationally focused event in the future. We are already deep in planning for 2019 and we look forward to welcoming the industry again next year.” Over the next 14 pages the editorial team relive some of the most interesting conversations they had on the TCT Show floor and on the TCT Show stages. TCT Show will return to the National Exhibition Centre (NEC), Birmingham, UK, from 24-26 September 2019.

“IT’S BEEN AMAZING AND WE’VE SEEN A REALLY GOOD RESULT. I THINK TCT IS THE FUTURE BECAUSE IN THIS INDUSTRY EVERYBODY NEEDS TO MIX AND BUILD RELATIONSHIPS WITHIN THE INDUSTRY. THAT’S THE AMAZING THING ABOUT TCT, THE MIX OF THE UNIVERSITIES, THE PEOPLE WHO WANT TO ACQUIRE TECHNOLOGY AND THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE A CONCEPT AND WANT TO TRY OUT THEIR DESIGNS.” LEE MOAKES, MANAGING DIRECTOR, TRUMPF UK. 26 : 6

www.tctmagazine.com

025

ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING

GAS-TIGHT BLOWERS FOR PREMIUM-QUALITY 3D METAL PRINTING

▪ Efficient inert gas recirculation and pneumatic powder conveying

▪ Frequency inverter control for optimized adaption to variable process conditions

▪ No oxygen entry – no loss of inert gas

▪ Made in Germany

▪ Prevention of oxidation and lack-of-fusion defects

www.becker-international.com

TCT Show

3DTALK: SMART FACTORIES AND 3D PRINTING

WORDS: Laura Griffiths

AT TCT SHOW 2018, WE HOSTED OUR THIRD #3DTALK PANEL SESSION WITH WOMEN IN 3D PRINTING AND CYANT TO DISCUSS THE CHALLENGES AND TRENDS SHAPING THE SMART FACTORIES OF THE FUTURE.

tephanie DePalma, AddWorks Lead Engineer at GE Additive, Katy Milne, Chief Engineer for DRAMA at The Manufacturing Technology Centre, and Regan Hoult, PowderLife Apprentice at LPW Technology spoke on the TCT Tech Stage where I had the pleasure of co-moderating with Kadine James, 3D Tech Lead at Hobs 3D. Here are some of the highlights from the discussion. What does the concept of smart factory mean to you and your current work? Katy: The project that I’m running is called DRAMA. The ‘D’ in DRAMA is for ‘digital’ and we’re building a facility at the UK’s National Centre where we hope the supply chain companies will be able to come and use the machines themselves. Additive is a digitally driven process. Digitisation and getting rid of paper is one thing which I think makes sense to a lot of us. ‘Smart’ to me means that as you develop your process or run your process you are learning something, it’s not smart if you

are not learning and what I think is really interesting is how we can take that data, once it’s digitised and use that to learn. Regan: LPW has just moved to a new building so a smart factory is our every day. We have things called ‘smart hoppers’. The smart hoppers have a powder eye which tracks the moisture and oxygen content, so we can track the life of the powder. Stephanie: One of the things I love about the concept of the smart factory is the building block of it is really digital enabled and that marries so well with additive because it starts with a digital CAD file and everything throughout the entire process can be digital and if it’s digital that means it can be easily tracked. If it’s easily tracked that means that data can somehow be analysed and quantified to make our processes smarter.

AM is being supplemented by other emerging technologies such as robotics, artificial intelligence – what value are these technologies bringing? Katy: The National Centre for Additive Manufacturing is part of something called the High Value Manufacturing Catapult. They recently released a paper on something called the ‘digital twin’ and the digital twin brings together concepts like artificial intelligence and simulation and in that they identify four applications in the factory space. One of them is process monitoring so collecting the data and having that digital process. One is process control and that can be an autonomous controlled, 

26 : 6

www.tctmagazine.com

027

Take Additive Manufacturing to the Next Level Solvayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Specialty Polymers stand out in meeting the critical requirements that engineers face every day in multiple industries. Building on our broad array of advanced materials, we are developing a portfolio of AM-ready materials designed to bring game-changing solutions to you.

Discover more at: www.solvayamshop.com

TCT Show

is transactional, perhaps materials data handling, could be automated. The opportunity is amazing because we’ve got a massive skills shortage, those people are bored doing those transactional type jobs and they make them unhappy and so that time for us to be more productive and more creative and more innovative is just a huge opportunity. Safety is, of course, a key concern – how are smart features helping to make manufacturing safer? self-controlled factory but also remote controlled so your engineers could be on a beach but controlling the factory. The one I’m most interested in is rapid new product introduction and it’s highly pertinent to AM so how can we use the data and simulation and machine learning to really accelerate that product introduction. Stephanie, GE’s Concept Laser M Line Factory is a modular machine architecture that brings set-up, production and dismantling processes together – do you think we will see a growth in these automated systems? Stephanie: Absolutely, every customer that we talk to is hungry for the M Line Factory, I’m hungry for the M Line Factory to be released so our team can start using it. One of the benefits of it is it’s primed for true AM, having some sort of volume of manufacturing such that you can establish your factory to all the lean and Six Sigma concepts and be enabled with Predix software that helps populate your data for analytical and self-correcting actions. It’s also really complementary with automation so that you really reduce some of your labour and costs that goes into the printing process today. Data traceability is one of the required components of a smart factory. Can you talk about how that can be implemented, and some of the challenges? Regan: With the hopper, with the load cells and the PowderEye, we can track the life of the powder and we can be confident in the powder that we are selling and providing to other companies. So for example, say a part for aerospace, if something were to go wrong with that part then we can look at the life of the powder before the part was built and we can also look at the life after the part was built and we can find out where it went wrong. Katy, the DRAMA project you’re leading aims to establish AM ‘test bed’ facilities for aerospace suppliers – can you talk us through the benefits of being able to test these processes before implementation? Katy: You really want to be able to print right first time and then when you’re trying to validate your process, the current route to do a massive design of experiments where you might have to print the part 100 times in different parameters and that’s extremely

expensive, you’re talking about millions of pounds potentially if you want aerospace pedigree data and so you can use machine learning and simulation to select within this and reduce the amount of waste testing that you do. A major part of the smart factory is automation but there is a fear of automation displacing labour – can you comment on how this will impact skilled engineers? Stephanie: I think that automation is complementary and doesn’t necessarily replace jobs. When we think about the car, the first time the car came out it was very much a manual process that people had to build and assemble these cars and then came automated car production. Did that necessarily destroy our manufacturing industry and our labour force? It changed the skills that are required and some of the roles and responsibility but if anything, it just augmented the manufacturing workforce. I think it’s an addition to it and maybe an opportunity for new types of jobs, I think the same would be applied for additive. Katy: UK manufacturing is already highly automated and machine operator jobs are already quite skilled - machining is automated - so I don’t think that’s an issue. I think digital manufacturing generally or the opportunity of digitisation is to automate things that engineers do. For example, 30% of the work that people do in aerospace which

Regan: Working with powder, there are a lot of safety [concerns] around it, especially when it comes to the hoppers and decanting, so moving powder from one pot to another but with the hoppers that we’ve got now and the technologies, this is a lot safer for our engineers. They’re not inhaling as much powder because we’ve got the technology now that’s going to take powder from one hopper and put it straight into another. We’re also being environmentally friendly because we’re not using as much plastics and our hoppers are totally recyclable as well. On AM for production – do you think better connected, smart processes are going to help us to optimise the process to get to production faster? Katy: If it doesn’t, it would just be a massive missed opportunity. AI, it’s all coming on a pace and additive, they’re next to one another but if additive is matured without taking advantage of those other things it would just be a ridiculous missed opportunity, I think. Stephanie: I think additive in itself is a smart technology and needs to be developed more to work closer with some of those other technologies that are coming up next to them and like Katy said, it’s a massive missed opportunity if they don’t marry together to create the ultimate smart factory.

26 : 6

www.tctmagazine.com

029

Metal Powders for Additive Manufacturing

www.aubertduval.com

3D PRINTING IN DENTISTRY

improve your dental labs workflow Cut days off delivery times and produce more accurate, comfortable and effective orthodontic appliances. Call Tri-Tech 3D to discover which 3D printers fit your needs.

T: 01782 814551 | www.tritech3d.co.uk

2017

030

26 : 6

www.tctmagazine.comâ&#x20AC;&#x192;

TCT Show

THE LOWDOWN ON HIGH LAYDOWN WORDS: Sam Davies

or ten years Xaar has been keeping a keen eye on 3D printing technology.

And yet, this year’s TCT Show was its first as an exhibitor. It’s perhaps surprising that a company specialising in inkjet print heads has only recently made its move into a sector which itself has its fair share of inkjet processes, but it’s here now nonetheless. “This is a place where we want to play,” said Simon Kirk, Senior Product Manager, Xaar, “hence why we’re here.” It shared the floor with a number of its partners in this space: Stratasys, Materialise and BASF, but its primary reason for being in Birmingham was to talk High Laydown. So how was it going? “Good so far. Lots of people wanting to know if we can jet their fluid.” “And can you?” “Yeah. In a variety of ways.” The company’s goal in the additive manufacturing (AM) market is to become a ‘premium fluid deposition

partner of choice for OEMs.’ Its approach is to utilise its print head proficiencies to widen the range of materials available to those manufacturers, depositing them in a controlled way, and scaling that method up. One means of achieving that is through High Laydown, a process compatible with a number of the company’s print heads that deposits a higher volume of ink. Instead of printing through every other nozzle (three cycle mode) like with its standard print heads, High Laydown enables the ability to fire through every channel, single cycle mode. This is all decided within Xaar’s licensable software – there’s no change to the hardware: “It’s like upgrading from Windows 7 to

“WE’VE SEEN A NEED AND ARE TRYING TO FULFIL THAT NEED.”

Windows 10. A software change that gets more out of the hardware.” Should the user wish, more fluid can be put down faster and in thicker layers, making it suitable for parts that have low dimensional tolerances and low resolution. Viscosity is also expanded. Taking Xaar’s 1003 print head as an example, it’s typically capable of between 6 and 26 centipoise, but with High Laydown that goes up to between 55 to 65 centipoise. And precision is assured thanks to Throughflow technology, of which all of Xaar’s print heads boast. This enables the fluid to be continuously circulated through the head, and clears anything that might prevent the channels from firing as they should. The play in the 3D printing market is both prototypes and end use parts. With a higher deposition of fluids, the former can be done in quicker fashion, while for the latter, it can help to produce large components which require greater layer thickness. “It’s that viscosity addition that really stands out more than anything else, the fact we can open up our range of fluids that we can jet beyond standard inkjet,” Kirk told TCT. “It enables us to scale some of the photopolymers that are out

 LEFT:

PARTS PRINTED WITH XAAR’S HIGH LAYDOWN TECHNOLOGY AND HIGH VISCOSITY PHOTORESINS FROM BASF 3D SOLUTIONS

26 : 6

www.tctmagazine.com

031

Keep Prototyping, Start Producing

Beautifully engineered 3D Printed parts for motorsport: Prototypes, Wind-tunnel Models and Production Parts. Carbon SLS & Graphite SLS and SLA technologies.

Visit graphite-am.co.uk or contact: sales@graphite-am.co.uk 01296 482673 We are proud Product Sponsors of Bloodhound SSC

Particle Characterization of Metal Powders POWDER FLOW CHARACTERIZATION POWDER SPREADABILITY TEST AND QUALITY CONTROL

CAMSIZER X2 – Determination of particle size and particle shape with unique Dual Camera Technology based on Dynamic Image Analysis. n Wide measurement range from 0.8 μm to 8 mm n Particle shape analysis (e.g. roundness) also possible in the lower micron range

FRANKFURT 13-16/11/18 VISIT US AT BOOTH C70 IN HALL 3.0

n Reliable detection of smallest amounts of oversize and undersize (<0.01% Vol) n Very good correlation to results of sieve analysis n Dry and wet measurement

Visit us at

www.linkedin.com/company/granutools

Stand 3.0-D02

WWW.GRANUTOOLS.COM contact@granutools.com | +32 483 19 83 39 | Rue Jean-Lambert Defrêne, 107 - 4340 Awans -

032

26 : 6

www.tctmagazine.com

www.retsch-technology.com

TCT Show

there at the minute, and not a lot of people can jet the higher viscosity photopolymers. Now we can scale that, produce a volume ready solution, but it also enables prototypes to print faster. “The only downside is you lose a little bit of resolution, because of the volume of [fluid] coming out. It’s not a huge loss, it’s just a slight loss, and really that can be tailored by which waveform and which fluid you’re putting through the print head, as to how much [resolution] loss you get.” Xaar is seeing interest from aerospace, automotive, and healthcare professionals alike. And the company is being approached directly by end users who need to know which materials and processes to use for certain applications, and from OEMs on behalf of those end users. To better answer those enquiries, Xaar has set its focus on the development of materials, enabling a greater range that can print in higher viscosities. Going forward, Xaar wants to develop materials that will be bespoke, able to withstand higher temperatures, or be flame retardant, for example. It’s one of the reasons why Xaar has been working with BASF this last 12 months, pulling together expertise in hardware and materials to accelerate High Laydown technology. It’s a mutually beneficial relationship. Not only is Xaar looking to develop new fluids that can be jetted with its current print heads, but also develop new print heads for BASF’s current fluids.

in new markets. Its enterprise with Stratasys saw the creation of Xaar 3D, a subsidiary of Xaar PLC, which is headed by Neil Hopkinson to escalate the commercialisation of High Speed Sintering. That development represented somewhat of a catalyst in Xaar’s additive ambitions that had been brewing for a decade. At the focal point of those ambitions is to enable manufacturers to produce the parts they want in the materials they want. It has a broad portfolio of print heads, all of which can deposit a range of fluids. Together, these print heads, High Laydown technology, the software, and the fluids, is Xaar’s offering to users of inkjet AM technologies.

“We’ve been looking at 3D for nearly ten years in terms of what materials can be put through our print heads, but it’s only really since we started looking at it with Neil and team, and when he spun off, looking at how we can service that need with print heads,” Kirk concludes. “This is a viable market for volume print head sales, and that’s been driven by our customers, not by us, because they’ve come to us saying ‘we need your print head to produce this part in volume, using this fluid. Can you help?’ We’ve seen a need and are trying to fulfil that need.”

“How you print the fluid is equally as important as what the fluid properties eventually are,” Kirk said. “You could print a photopolymer using a thermal inkjet print head, but your properties would be weak, prototyping is the best you could get. But if you want to produce a part that goes into a car or into an aeroplane or is used in some sort of volume manufacture, you need to know that the process by which you’re printing it gives you the part properties that you need: tensile strength, elongation at break, things like that.” This, Xaar believes, can be proved on the back of its past endeavours, impacting the graphics, packaging and labelling markets, for instance. At the very least, that prior activity has provided a platform for the company to make new moves

 ABOVE:

XAAR HAS BEEN WORKING WITH BASF TO ACCELERATE HIGH LAYDOWN TECHNOLOGY

26 : 6

www.tctmagazine.com

033

Productive 3D Printing Solutions

n Desktop DLP UV Printers n Three versions with XY resolutions of 50, 75 or 100 microns n Faster and more reliable than laser printers n High Definition and Biocompatible Resins n Effortless Software and Wireless Driven n All backed by laboratory testing, application advice and software

Call us on: 01242 370453 Awesome Technology Ltd, Unit 3â&#x20AC;&#x201C;4 Whitworth Court, Baird Road, Waterwells, Quedgeley, Gloucestershire. GL2 2DG

www.awesometechnology.eu

TCT Show

MATERIALISE SIMULATES METAL 3D PRINTING PRODUCTION WORDS: Laura Griffiths

elgian 3D printing company, Materialise launched its simulation software module for metal 3D printing at this year’s show. The module is being introduced into its flagship Magics software to make simulation easier and optimise production without the need for expert knowledge. Materialise says the module tackles obstacles in the CAD to print process, where the actual printing portion, including machine and material costs, can often account for more than 75 percent of the total production cost. As a result, running multiple test prints, or printing failed or unsuitable parts, can become a huge expense, particularly for metals where, on average, 15 percent of parts fail. With simulation, operators can predict and analyse the behaviour of a part during physical production by creating a virtual prototype. Speaking to TCT, Stefaan Motte, Vice President and General Manager of the Materialise software division says that beta testing of the simulation module, both internally and with external partners, has shown that build failures can be halved. “The good thing 3D printing has brought to the making industry is that you can actually expedite the time from concept to produce parts,” Motte explained. “If you want to bring that to volume you have to go through that optimisation step and if that still takes a long time then you’re hindering yourself there and that

 figure 1:

USERS CAN APPLY SIMULATION RESULTS DIRECTLY TO SUPPORT GENERATION AND ORIENTATION TOOLS.

is where simulation plays such a crucial role. It can make that whole process a lot more cost effective. It can also make that process a lot more time effective by putting it in the virtual world where you can simulate all sorts of different approaches, all sorts of different ideas and select the best out of that and iterate further.” In the usual Magics data preparation environment, users can apply simulation results directly to the support generation and orientation tools. It also includes an integrated calibration feature which guides users to the correct simulation settings for their specific metal machine.

The simulation module is based on an OEM version of the Simufact Additive Solver from simulation leader, Simufact. Simufact Additive is a scalable software tool for metal-based AM processes which allows users to perform tasks such as identifying manufacturing issues, determining best build orientations and optimising supports. Motte says with this latest release, the company is really “focusing on the reality of production engineers and helping them in their day-today activities.” Materialise has long characterised its software solutions as the backbone of the 3D printing industry and has racked up close to three decades of industry experience to back it up, most recently with the launch of its e-Stage for Metal software which is reducing data preparation time for metal builds by up to 90% and finishing time by up to 50%. It’s also not afraid to be open and has been active in its “co-creation” approach, building out its network of partners, like Simufact, combining expertise to produce, here’s the important bit, “meaningful” solutions. “You don’t realise meaningful applications sitting in an ivory tower somewhere or looking at software just from a technology point of view. They come from working together, co-creating as we’ve come to call it over the years,” Motte added. “With all sorts of leaders in the field, large and small companies in different industries and looking at where the technology can add value, solve problems, where it can realise possibilities and where we can realise things that were previously unthinkable.”

 FIGURE 2:

WITH SIMULATION, OPERATORS CAN PREDICT AND ANALYSE THE BEHAVIOUR OF A PART DURING PHYSICAL PRODUCTION. 26 : 6

www.tctmagazine.com

035

FOR ALL OF YOUR LEGACY SLA MACHINE REPAIRS AND SPARES LASERS & MACHINE CONTROLLERS • Laser Heads & Diodes • Laser Power Supply SLA 7000 (J30E) • Laser Power Supply • SLA 250/350/3500/500 & 5000 • Viper Si² Laser Power Supply • Viper Power Supply • Mirror Driver Assemblies • RIM Controller Assemblies • Chamber Controller 2 • Power Supply Assemblies & SPARES

MACHINES FOR SALE

PC’s & BOARDS

• SLA 250 Converted to Solid

3500 / 500 / 5000 & 7000 • DSP Board’s • I/O Board’s • Controller Board’s

• PC’S for SLA 250 /350/

State Laser SYSTEM

• SLA Viper Si² • SLA 350’s • SLA 7000 • Post Processing Equipment • Also able to source Legacy SLA Machines and provide installation and training

MISCELLANEOUS COMPONENTS Encoders, beam profilers, motor drivers, sensors etc UPS (un-interuptable power supplies)

All spare parts needed for your legacy machines can be sourced and supplied

TO MAKE AN ENQUIRY OR CONTACT US

call 07398 927855 or email INFO@3D-SQUARED.COM

WWW.3D-SQUARED.COM

TCT Show

SHARING THE PAIN AND THE GAIN I WORDS: DAN O’CONNOR

n 2002, if you’d have asked me what Siemens was I’d have told you they made mobile phones as I had one, in 2008 I’d have said a manufacturer of white goods as we had a Siemens washing machine, in 2011 the oﬃces in which I worked had a new Siemens sprinkler system installed so maybe they produced sprinkler systems? What this all should have told me is that the company is, in fact, the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe and their business touches many areas. As the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe, naturally additive manufacturing (AM) features on the roadmap. What I hadn’t realised until meeting with Markus Seibold, VP Additive Manufacturing, Siemens Power & Gas at TCT Show was to what extent Siemens sees AM as significant to both its own future and the future of manufacturing full stop.

“AM ALLOWS US TO DRIVE DOWN COST BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY ACCELERATE TIME TO MARKET OF NEW DESIGNS AND THEN TO DRIVE PERFORMANCE.”

“Siemens in additive is three different things,” says Markus. “We are a provider of digitalisation and automation solutions to additive manufacturing machine users as Digital Factory; we are a user of AM for our products, specifically gas turbines; and now through Materials Solutions - a Siemens business, we are a service provider to offer design, engineering and manufacturing services to adjacent industries.” It is on the Materials Solutions booth at TCT Show, where Markus and I met up. In 2015, Siemens Venture Capital invested in Materials Solutions, almost precisely a year later Siemens acquired an 85% stake in the British service provider specialising in metal AM since 2006. It was a move similar to that of GE Aviation’s takeover of Morris Technologies, GE Aviation acquired the company for its expertise and to protect its supply chain

whilst ramping up the series production of parts for the LEAP fuel nozzle. Markus’ division at Siemens is also in the business of series production using AM and by 2025 aims to have 200 individually qualified additively manufactured components in production.

SHOWN:

A SIEMENS POWER & GAS ADDITVELY MANUFACTURED GAS TURBINE BURNER IN COMMERCIAL USE.

“Siemens Power & Gas uses AM to design and make components, predominantly gas turbines, mainly in nickel based super alloys and high-grade steels,” says Markus. “AM allows us to drive down cost but most importantly accelerate time to market of new designs and then to drive performance.” However, unlike GE, who took the Morris Technologies service oﬄine, wiping out the majority of the US’s capacity in metal additive manufacturing, Siemens is looking to take Materials Solutions in the exact opposite direction. Earlier this year, Siemens announced that it would be investing 27 million GBP into a state-of-the-art facility for Materials Solutions in Worcester, UK, Markus believes this increased capacity could act as a hub to drive the AM industry forward. “One of the key things I personally, fundamentally, believe in, and this is reflected in Siemens strategic approach, is cross-industry collaboration,” explains Markus. “So, what we would like to do is encourage players in the automotive industry, in the aerospace industry and in any industry that needs qualified and certified processes to see Materials Solutions as a place to foster and drive collaboration, to share the pain of learning and developing. Siemens will bring its expertise in design, materials and manufacturing knowhow. In exchange we believe that by collaborating with these other industries we can accelerate the material development cycles, the industrialisation cycles and begin to drive down cost.”

26 : 6

www.tctmagazine.com

037

Visit us at formnext, hall 3.0 D50

Industrial Additive Technologies TRUMPF offers both key technologies for metal additive manufacturing: Laser Metal Fusion (LMF) and Laser Metal Deposition (LMD). Both processes meet the characteristics and quality required in various applications. Industrial solutions for the entire process by TRUMPF, based on the following keys to success: robust machines, intelligent digitalization and clever services. www.trumpf.com/s/additivemanufacturing

TCT Show

THE REPEATABLE ROBOTS OF RUTLAND S WORDS: Sam Davies

ixty-two years of history, a 100,000-square foot facility, 10 million GBP (11.4m EUR) annual turnover, 170 employees, 30 injection moulding machines, and now, two collaborative robots and a new 3D printing system.

Rutland Plastics (RP) is a manufacturing service provider, catering for customers in an array of vertical markets, and doing so in large volumes. It had made the short journey across the Midlands to the NEC in Birmingham for their 7th TCT Show, hoping to make new contacts, meet clients, and talk to suppliers. The usual exhibition stuff.

The company also had some news it wanted to share. It had a few days earlier installed the first Stratasys Fortus 380 CF (carbon fibre) system in Europe. Hardly surprising, I thought, that a service provider would invest in a manufacturing technology it previously didn’t have. But upon arriving at Stand H49, it became clear that there was an ulterior motive for bringing this machine in-house. It wasn’t just to serve its customers, at least not directly. Though it still will in certain circumstances. The machine has come in to replace the Objet Connex 350 it had used for rapid prototyping and jigs and fixtures, meaning the company still only boasts a single 3D printer. But one that can allow RP to capitalise on more opportunities. With access to Stratasys’ Nylon 12 CF material, stronger and more durable parts can be made. Additionally, as RP’s Dave Anderson, a Design Engineer, pointed out, when orders below 1,000 components come in, they’ve often been passed on to other moulders who operate shorter runs. Not anymore. “Now we’re able to take those opportunities in and potentially produce them on our new machine,” Anderson told TCT. “Fairly regularly we would have to say no. Sometimes it’s because of materials, sometimes it’s because of scale, volume, and often there’s instances where we will quote injection moulding as a route, but really, they need 1,000 parts and that’s all they’re ever going to need. And yes, it could be viable to mould, but the cost can is actually be quite high, and as a cost comparison, if you 3D printed at 1,000 you would potentially be better off. Plus, you would have a time saving due to the cost required to manufacture a mould too, compared to running a 3D print.”

“WE HOPE COLLABORATIVE ROBOTS WILL BECOME A MAJOR PART OF OUR BUSINESS. IT GIVES US A LOT OF ADVANTAGES.”

For jigs and fixtures, the company says it can design and develop the tools much quicker too. They now have stronger and lighter parts which last much longer. Similarly, prototypes are now practically the same strength as finished products, making a fundamental stage of design even more representative of the manufactured part. 

26 : 6

www.tctmagazine.com

039

Future Proof Your 3D Printing Investment

Open Source Designed Photopolymer 3D Printing Solutions for Commercial and Production Applications.

Learn more: www.uniontech3d.com UnionTech GmbH Friedrich-Ebert-Anlage 36, 60325 Frankfurt am Main, Hessen, Germany info@uniontech3d.com

TCT Show

machine, we can make strong yet light parts, so we’re then not eating into the maximum payload of that robot.”

Then there’s that ulterior motive. While there’s plenty of gains through prototyping, jigs and fixtures, and other short-run requests, there’s potentially more profound ones that centre around those collaborative robots the company has recently introduced. Gains that will streamline the manufacturing process. These robotic arms are 1.3 metres in length with various hinge points, and designed to work side by side with humans, fitted with sensors so they stop dead when in close proximity to their colleagues. They will be deployed in RP’s production facility to assist with the repetitive tasks, for example, removing parts from moulds, drilling away sprues, and packing, freeing up staff to work on more skilled jobs. Where 3D printing comes in is the interchangeable tool ends that attach onto the end of the robotic arm. Their sole function is to automatically grip or suck onto the part they are removing. In some cases, a standard tool end could be used, but such is the variety in shape and weight of the components RP is manufacturing on a day-to-day basis, most need to be specific to the geometry of the part. “They have to be bespoke,” Anderson stressed. “There’s restrictions in the mould tool that may get in the way so the robot hands have to be quite thin, but we need enough length to reach down there, so we’re constrained by how large we can make those fingers because of the environment around it. If we construct it in Nylon 12 CF, which can be very thin but very stiff, that gives us quite good benefits which you wouldn’t get with other materials. “Also, you can only put a certain amount of weight on the end of it, for example let’s say the robot can only take 12 kilograms on, if your part weighs 11 kilograms, you’ve then only got 1 kilogram that your actual end of arm tool can be. By having this material, by having this

The Nylon 12 CF material is the product in which the Fortus 380 CF was built around. It is 35% carbon fibre reinforced, and thus enables the printing of parts that are strong, rigid, and less likely to deform. Ideal, because that’s exactly what RP’s end of arm tools require. The alternative is that they’re weak, break and operations come to a standstill, which is why the company never attempted this application with its old Connex system, even though the installation of robotic arms have been on the agenda for years. “We established the material has got to be very stiff across thin sections, and that really led us down the route of it needs to be carbon-filled,” Anderson explained. “The previous material had a downside where if it was dropped it would shatter and break. This is a production facility with many people every day potentially interacting with this product, so there’s a lot of different variables that can go wrong. That’s why we need something strong, robust and durable. Any issues like that cause machine downtime, pauses all of our eﬃciency and OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness).”

“We hope collaborative robots will become a major part of our business. It gives us a lot of advantages,” Anderson says. “Traditionally, we would have an operator who would manually take off the parts by hand and carry out secondary operations. There’s obviously a considerable cost as a business associated with that, but there’s also repeatability. An operator has to have breaks. An operator may get tired and quality will drop. A robot is repeatable and will stay the same throughout its life as long as it’s serviced and maintained. For us, that’s a big thing.” It’s likely that RP will invest further in the robotic arms, the benefits garnered from the 3D printing of end of arm tools seemingly too much to resist scaling up their integration. And for each new robotic arm, many more end of arm tools. RP might have simply upgraded its additive manufacturing capacity to accommodate the semi-regular request below 1,000 components, or make more realistic prototypes and robust fixtures, but by identifying a selection of new applications for its own use, has facilitated a slicker manufacturing operation that will profit all its clients. “A lot of what we do in terms of the development, the automation and so on, is for our own benefit, but we do pass on those eﬃciency savings to customers.”

SHOWN: STRATASYS FORTUS 380MC CF

Repeatability is key, here. RP injection moulds millions of parts a year, and is looking to become ever more eﬃcient. It can’t do that if the automated pieces of technology onsite can’t operate independently. That’s why the installation of the Fortus 380 CF and the collaborative robots occurred concurrently.

26 : 6

www.tctmagazine.com

041

RAPID PROTOTYPING

We are dedicated to providing an excellent service – from rapid quote to on-time delivery – producing high-quality components at the right price. · Stereolithography

· Silicone Tooling

· Selective Laser Sintering

· Reaction Injection Moulding

· Vacuum Casting

· Water Clear Lenses

· Two Shot and Over-moulding

· Traditional Model Making

· Silicone Components

· Model Finishing

(0191) 454 1900

042

26 : 6

info@amtech-rp.co.uk

www.tctmagazine.com

www.amtech-rp.co.uk

TCT Show

AM SUPPORT: ADDITIVE INDUSTRIES FOCUSES ON UK

WORDS: LAURA GRIFFITHS

n just five years, Dutch company, Additive Industries has gone from teasing its technology to the world with nothing but a large wooden crate on an otherwise empty exhibition stand to offering one of the largest machines you’re likely to see on any additive manufacturing trade show floor. At its second TCT Show event, the company arrived in Birmingham bearing news of a new partnership with UK 3D printing equipment supplier, Laser Lines. The alliance, which will see Laser Lines act as an agent for Additive Industries’ technology in the UK & Ireland, was established to support the company’s presence in industrial markets such as aerospace, automotive, medical and general machine building across the region. The appointment comes off the back of an announcement around the expansion of Additive Industries’ Process & Application development network with the launch of a new centre in the UK. Though no oﬃcial location has been announced, the UK facility will house MetalFAB1 demonstration systems and support process and application development, allowing customers to effectively hire time on the technology and test their application or receive expertise. As of yet, there are no MetalFab1 systems currently installed in the UK but Beard says the company is already talking to a number of potential customers who will be benefit from local development and support at the new facility. “We’re not trying to go for very new people who have never used AM before,” Mark Beard, General Manager UK, Additive Industries said. “So, we leave it open to them, if they want to use their own powder supplier they’re free to do that, if they want to change the parameters, they’re free to do that. Of course, we can assist them with that and that’s why we’re setting up things like the Centre. We’re definitely not about dropping the machine off and running away, we’re supporting our customers.”

The MetalFAB1, Additive Industries’ flagship modular, multilaser powder bed fusion system, has already been successfully adopted in Europe by large industrial customers including Airbus, Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 and GKN, and even unconventional customers like Kaak, a manufacturer of industrial bakery systems. The machine, which sold out its initial phase of beta systems just three months after launch, is the first of its kind to integrate 3D printing, heat treatment, automated build plate handling and storage into one industrial grade production system. Last year the company also introduced a smaller, entry-level MetalFAB1 Process & Application Development Tool for development and prototyping. The idea is to allow customers to develop their process and then scale up with the necessary modules when ready. “It takes [them] on a journey,” Beard explained. “If you can start off with one of our smaller machines you can develop your parameters, really develop your process and then when you’re ready to scale up, it’s not an additional machine or revalidation of the parameters, it’s bolting bits on and off you go.” Aside from automation, Additive Industries is also focused on advancing its AM core, that part of the machine that does the actual printing, by combining simulation and in-process quality controls to ensure they’re delivering reproducible high-quality metal parts. “Any rating of a machine is really the quality of the parts that come out,” Beard added. “It doesn’t matter if it’s half the price, if that part is not doing what it’s supposed to do, it’s just a big lump of metal, it’s no use. The innovations we’re making there are key to ensuring that we’re getting quality parts out the other end.” The company couldn’t disclose exact figures with regards to how many machines are currently out in the field but Beard did share that some customers, like Kaak, are buying not just one but multiple systems. Sauber F1 just installed its third. As beard Beard commented, those customers are “really good validation” of the technology living up to its promise.

26 : 6

www.tctmagazine.com

043

See us at

Your professional & reliable Supplier

One-stop Services

JAN 8-11, 2019

LAS VEGAS, NV Booth: 60913 & 60915 in Design & Source LVCC-South Plaza

from Prototyping to Low-volume Production The 2018 Jakarta Asian Games has been successfully completed in September, but there is something you might not know is that SuNPe also took part in the Games by helping to develop and manufacture the torch. -Prototyping: 2 set prototypes in different colors, ready in 7 working days. -Services: CNC machining (in Metal & Plastic), Milling, Vacuum Casting, and surface finish (Polishing, Sandblasting, Painting...) -Valuable suggestions were offered by our engineering teams in the prototyping period to help client refine their design for the functional and manufacturing purpose.

The Torch of The 2018 Jakarta Asian Games'

Manufacturing at SuNPe

Production: 540 sets in ADC 12, ABS,AL 6061,TPE materials -Leading time: 30 working days for 5 sets tooling manufacturing -Manufacturing Process: Moulding, Die Casting, Injection, Compression Molding, Milling & Lathing -Finish: Polishing, Sandblasting,Painting, and Logo Printing. -Inspection, Assembly and Packing: Parts were well inspected and assembled before shipment, and also the packing material were customized to meet client's requirements.

W: www.sunpe.com T: +86(0)760-2282 5560 F:+86 (0) 760-2221 1992 E: sales@sunpe.com No.70 Tongxing Xi Rd,Dongsheng Town, Zhongshan City, Guangdong, 528414, P.R.C.

TCT Show

HALL OF FAME PANEL:

EXPLORING THE PAST, INSPIRING THE FUTURE

WORDS: DAN O’CONNOR

THREE MORE MAESTROS OF MANUFACTURING JOINED THE TCT HALL OF FAME IN 2018 AND IN THE KEYNOTE SLOT ON DAY TWO HEAD OF CONTENT, DANIEL O’CONNOR (DOC) WAS JOINED ON STAGE BY GREG MORRIS (GM) AND PROFESSOR ELY SACHS (ES) FOR A DISCUSSION ON HOW THE PAST IMPACTS THE FUTURE OF ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING. WHAT FOLLOWS IS AN EXTRACT FROM THE GREATER CONVERSATION WHICH CAN BE FOUND BOTH ON THE TCT YOUTUBE CHANNEL AND EPISODE 20 OF THE TCT PODCAST.

DOC: Design for additive manufacturing now has its own acronym, which must mean we’ve made some progress but can you talk to me about what it was like in the early days trying to get people to push the reset button on their design principles? GM: I would call it almost non-existent back in that 2005 timeframe for quite a while, we were learning as a company that had the technologies internally so you can only imagine how diﬃcult it would be for somebody in an OEM that we would approach and say, “hey, this is a great technology, you ought to think about creating better designs or combining components.” We had to do a lot of evangelising out there and trying to go back to the basics with customers about why they should even consider additive. Design was the number one hurdle because if you just try to make typically the part they had designed for traditional manufacturing technologies, it probably wasn’t going to be a good part to make in additive.

It took a lot of arm twisting, convincing and time to get people to change their point of reference for how they should be treating design for additive. Even today, I would tell you that very few companies out there have a solid, deep understanding of designing for additive and when I say that I’m not talking about the design of the structure but the design and mechanical properties combined and what does that all mean. I’ll use GE as an example, on their Catalyst engine they went from 855 traditionally manufactured components down to 12 additively manufactured components. That doesn’t happen overnight, that happened because there was

enough time for the GE designers and engineers to work with the technology. For 855 to 12, you have to think on a system level not a part level. A lot of companies are structurally not set up to have a system level organisation, they tend to be very siloed in their organisation, for example in automotive, you might have the drivetrain people who focus on drivetrain, they don’t necessarily concern themselves with other parts of the car. You really need to have a full view to be most eﬃcient in designing for additive otherwise you won’t unlock the full potential.

26 : 6

www.tctmagazine.com

045

Metals Additive Manufacturing for Aerospace & Autosport WE ARE SPECIALISTS IN HIGH PERFORMANCE MATERIALS: • Nickel superalloys including: 247LC, In738, In718, In625, Haynes 282, Hastalloy X. • Titanium, stainless and maraging steels. • Processes developed for customer-specific and novel alloys.

APPLICATIONS INCLUDE: • Turbines and turbos • Lightweight structural • Fluidics and hydraulic systems • Tooling for investment die casting

2018 CAPACITY 14 x EOS 250x250 3 x EOS 400x400

AS9100 Rev D & Major Approvals FIND OUT MORE:

+44 (0)1905 732161 info@materialssolutions.co.uk www.materialssolutions.co.uk

TCT Show

DOC: What do you think are the current barriers for small to medium enterprises to manufacture using additive manufacturing? Is it the materials, the technology, the ancillary equipment or all of the above? ES: I think when you’re moving from prototyping to production, reliability becomes the number one concern very quickly. I think at the core it is a question of rate and cost that constitutes the primary barriers. If you look at the 80s CNC machining had taken a pause in development, it was originally developed in the 50s and it had advanced rapidly but then it seemed to be taking a pause. I think some of us who were early in the field, at least I was a little bit fooled by that, maybe it was a natural pause and the progress would resume maybe the progress was a little bit kicked by 3D printing as a competitive threat, who knows? But CNC machining has come a long way, it is quite amazing, so at least in the job shop context that is what you are competing with. The costs [of CNC machining] have come way down, tooling life has gone way up, precision has gone up, the cost and throughput are really substantial barriers. GM: I totally agree, cost is a huge problem because it really limits the number of parts you consider putting into an additive machine and in the end as much as everyone loves additive technologies for the sexiness of it, for most OEMs it will come down to the cost of the component before anything else. You can achieve that cost target by brilliant design and if you can do that combination of taking multiple parts down to one it represents huge cost savings. I really haven’t seen any presentation or published numbers that would really go deep into the cost savings on the supply chain but it has got to be huge because you have less inventory in the supply chain, you have a lot less suppliers, a lot less engineers and designers upfront, you have less assembly time, and on and on. ES: There are huge opportunities for growth and I think this all plays out in a virtuous cycle. You make an advance in feature size or in production rate and now that enables a new set of applications, and that advance combined with this advance enables another set and another set and so on.

There’s a great deal of talk surrounding factories of the future, industry 4.0 and smart manufacturing, what goes hand in hand with that is a worry about jobs. If, let’s say, factories do become smart and a part is designed generatively, printed and postprocessed automatically, what do you think the jobs of the future look like? GM: I don’t get terribly worried about it, I understand the argument, but there are people a lot smarter than me and who have done more studies who can give you all the facts and figures. Mine is an intuitive feel. I’ll use GE as an example, they have this facility in Cincinnati and for every additive machine they put on the floor it seems like there’s a ton more people surrounding it. You’ve got designers, you got quality people, you’ve got machinists, you have purchasing and sourcing, you have a whole new organisation so if anything, I’ve actually seen the employment sky rocket. Throughout history, you cannot stop technological innovation and it would be a fool’s errand to try. ES: I’m personally not quite as sanguine about the impact on society of advances in manufacturing. Just in general, the question of what people are going to do 50 years from now, I probably spend few too many hours worrying about that, especially since there is nothing I can do. What I do think needs to change is education, I split my time between Desktop Metal and MIT and at MIT I’m engaged, with others, in pushing a boulder uphill of trying to reinvent how to teach engineering. We have to reinvent education because education is for the most part not about people learning how to think, which is what it needs to be because if you have to change careers you need a whole different skillset about how to think than you do if you’re really being trained which is what our education was developed a hundred years ago, to do. You’re trained for a job that you’re going to do for the rest of your life. To me that’s the change that needs to happen to accommodate these changes in manufacturing.

26 : 6

www.tctmagazine.com

047

SIMULATE BEFORE YOU CREATE ...with Amphyon - The scientific way to prepare metal AM build jobs Examination Quickly find the optimal build orientation Support optimization Create supports automatically based on simulation Mechanical Process Simulation Simulate the process and predict distortions Predeformation Compensate distortions automatically more information at www.additive.works

we print durable, accurate dental models Use 3D Print Bureau to cut days off your delivery times and produce more accurate, effective dental models.

STOKE-ON-TRENT T: 01782 757320

ROYSTON T: 01763 241436

3DPRINTBUREAU.CO.UK

048

26 : 6â&#x20AC;&#x192; www.tctmagazine.comâ&#x20AC;&#x192;

TCT Show WORDS : LAURA GRIFFITHS

EOS PREPARES FOR THE FACTORY OF THE FUTURE

n a screen at TCT Show, a man could be seen flying over fields and vast stretches of water in a body-controlled jet engine powered suit looking like a real-life Iron Man. But unlike the movies, the only special effects in play here are those of clever bionic design for manufacturing.

BELOW: EOS M 300-4 

The suit, an all-black, almost biker-come-spaceman getup, features two lightweight turbine arm mounts, both 3D printed in aluminium in just three parts and enable the wearer to achieve record-breaking speeds. The company behind the suit is called Gravity Industries and it is just one of many customers German industrial 3D printing leader, EOS is inspiring with its additive solutions and consulting arm. Applications across automotive, medical, and of course, the wacky and wonderful, were the key focus for EOS at TCT Show this year. After launching its latest system, the EOS M 300-4 at IMTS just a few weeks earlier, the company wasn’t simply there to plug its latest hardware but rather show visitors what is possible with AM. “You need to have a business plan to buy a machine,” Dr. Jose Greses, Regional Director at EOS explained. “That’s why we’re supporting our customers, giving them ideas and sure they also bring a lot of ideas on their own but sometimes they don’t know how that would work with additive manufacturing. We have a responsibility to grow them, support them and take them by the hand all the way until the final product is ready for production.” As in life, it’s often the journey, not the destination, that counts, and EOS has identified four key steps in the customer’s process; finding your application, development, ramp up and certification, which are key to successful adoption. Starting with its entry-level EOS M 100 metal system which was on-hand on the booth, application needs range from those small introductory systems all the way to full-scale production. “Our classic lines of machines are very flexible but when it comes to serial production, which is what we are aiming at, companies need machines which are automated, integrated

with other machines for post processing, they need higher productivity and higher quality control and so on. With the M 300-4, we are exactly targeting all those pockets.” The M 300-4 is a multi-laser direct metal laser sintering system intended to be a “futureproof” automation-ready, scalable platform. It boasts a 300 x 300 x 400 mm build volume and its four lasers are able to overlap and reach every millimetre of that build plate. The machine can run 24/7 and features a novel permanent filter system which eliminates the need for sporadic filter changes. Future-thinking, the system is also compatible with EOS Shared Modules, an Industry 4.0 concept first showcased two years ago, which connects the unpacking, transportation and sieving phases of the manufacturing workflow. The last 12 months have seen several hardware launches and materials and software partnerships for the company, namely with Evonik and Siemens NX. At formnext last November, EOS unveiled the EOS P 500, a polymer production system offering low cost per part (30% less than the EOS P 396) and faster builds due to a dual-laser system and new recoater. There has been a delay in the P 500 roll-out but customers, including Materialise and Sintavia, are already lined up. It’s since also introduced the EOS P 810 tested with Boeing and the FORMIGA P 110 Velocis with 20% increased productivity. Following a relocation to new hardware production facilities in Maisach-Gerlinden at the start of this year, EOS set itself an ambitious target of manufacturing 1,000 3D printers a year. With a current install base of around 3,000 EOS systems worldwide, is the demand there?

 ABOVe: 3D PRINTED ARM MOUNTS ON GRAVITY SUIT

“We are preparing ourselves to be able to deliver those 1,000 machines per year. I believe the demand is there if we fulfil certain requirements and these two machines (The M 300-4 and P 500) are aiming to fulfil those requirements.”

26 : 6

www.tctmagazine.com

049

TCT Show

THE UK’S ONE-STOP ADDITIVE SHOP WORDS : Daniel O’Connor

uring a partner dinner the night before TCT Show 2018 opened for business, the Lead Technologist for High Value Manufacturing at Innovate UK, Robin Wilson, informed me that he only had a couple of hours on the show floor and asked what stands he should not miss. Immediately I thought of Europac3D.

the yarn but briefly, it involved a night in Taiwan, an off the cuff registration on Companies House, a phone call from a well-to-do lawyer at the Swire Group (which owns the airline Cathay Pacific) and a slight truncation from its original name, European Pacific.

There were several reasons why Europac sprung to mind, firstly they were one of the biggest stands at TCT Show this year and, being based in Crewe, I felt that the UK’s innovation agency should be aware of its offerings. Secondly on it’s offerings, Europac3D is now something of a one-stop shop for design-to-manufacturing innovation.

Having been a director of a metrology firm sold to a US corporation two decades ago, John set up Europac3D after spotting an opportunity at a conference: “I went to a measuring meeting in Canada with the likes of GM, NASA, BMW and all the big players. When asked what it was they wanted, hands darted up and every single one of them said they wanted non-contact, portable solutions. We decided to go into portable measuring arms and lasers, we brought them in from all over the world and started measuring and scanning.”

“We have cradle to grave,” says Europac3D, Director and Founder John Beckett. “Anything you want to make you’ve either got to scan to copy or design it. If you want to design it we have Siemens NX, which is standard in Red Bull, McClaren, Rolls Royce and the likes. Reverse engineer it? We’ve got some of the best handheld and arm laser scanners. We can take it into 3D printing in two avenues with HP or Union Tech, we can then come out and use laser scanning to check it has printed correctly and, want it in a different material? We can go to straight to DSM request it and bang. For us now, a one-stop shop means a one-stop shop.” If you go back a decade Europac3D didn’t have any 3D printing technologies, it was exclusively a scanning and measurement equipment reseller. You have to go back much further, as John and I do during a sit down at the show, to find out the origins of the name Europac. It’s quite

Spotting the next opportunity and gunning for it has become something of a knack for Europac. When 3D printing came to their attention, they jumped in, investing in a ZCorp machine and almost immediately hit on a zeitgeist of 3D printed selfies in partnership with Wal

Mart-owned British supermarket, Asda, a project which also utilised Europac’s expertise in scanning. Now Europac has matured as a company, it is more proud of work on the TCT Awards Highly Commended industrial application of roller train bearing cages for Bowman Additive printed on an HP Multi Jet Fusion machine. “It’s a really clever design-foradditive project,” explains John. “Nobody has tried it before and they’re going to take on SKF, the biggest bearing manufacturer in the world. They [Bowman Additive] were umming and ahhing about investing in additive and I said leave it to me, we printed them and sent them to a specialist bureau to test for strength and elongation. I said there are your parts, there are your test certificates and they said, ‘you’ve just saved us 12 months work, we think we might buy one.” As alluded to in my editor’s letter Europac3D has a policy of getting the job done, a refreshing attitude and one Innovate UK should be acutely aware of.

 ABOVE:

THE EUROPAC3D TEAM DEMONSTRATING SOME OF ITS VAST ARRAY OF SCANNING EQUIPMENT LIVE ON THE TCT SHOW FLOOR. 26 : 6

www.tctmagazine.com

053

PRODUCTIVITY IN 3D

Start small and grow big > The only modular and scalable industrial additive manufacturing system with integrated software

3D - PRINTED CAST SOLUTIONS

> Designed for safe production of consistently high quality metal

CREATE COMPLEX COMPONENTS

> Fully automated, with integrated (post processing) functionality

Innovative 3D printing solutions for sand & investment casting using common casting materials, where all light and heavy metals that are castable and of series-production quality can be processed. Complex geometric shapes can be created with speed and precision.

parts, using up to 4 full ﬁeld lasers to drive down the total cost per part > In continuous open dialogue with its users monitored, analysed and improved in terms of productivity, quality and usability

voxeljet AG Paul - Lenz - Straße 1a 86316 Friedberg Germany info @ voxeljet.com Process & Application Development, Prototyping

Printers: Professional and Production 3D Printer Supply & Support in Ireland

Small series, Full automation

Larger capacity, Multiple materials, Additional functionality

3D CAD: Siemens NX & Siemens Solid Edge

Come visit us > > > >

Offices in Galway and Dublin. 3D Systems Partner, Siemens 3D CAD Partner.

W: www.3dtechnology.ie T: +353 91-730871 / +353 1- 5547890 E: sales@3dtechnology.ie

054

26 : 6 www.tctmagazine.com

At FormNext (Booth #3.0-E40) In Eindhoven, The Netherlands (HQ) In LA (Camarillo), California, USA (North America) ... or one of our customer locations near you

www.additiveindustries.com team@additiveindustries.com C96 / M93 / Y44 / K55

C70 / M55 / Y0 / K0

PMS 282c

PMS 2727c

TCT Show

TRUMPF LOOKS TO INDUSTRY 4.0

or the first time in the UK, Trumpf exhibited its TruPrint 3000 metal 3D printer at TCT Show 2018. Designed for series production with a build area of 300 x 400 mm it features an interchangeable cylinder which reduces setup times and increases machine productivity. Equipped with a new concept which sees the depacking stations separated from the machine to increase productivity, it’s the perfect example of how the machine tool juggernaut is gearing its solutions towards Industry 4.0. Trumpf’s vision for the factory of the future comes under the name TruConnect, a range of digital solutions for smart manufacturing. From remote monitoring to virtual reality, which Trumpf demoed at its UK facility earlier this year, Trumpf is showing how elements of the production workflow can be connected and simulated to increase productivity and create a seamless experience. The company has experienced tremendous growth over the last few years at 8% year-on-year which most recently equated to 3.6 million EUR turnover. Mirroring the wider manufacturing industry, additive is just a small part of that picture at currently just 5% of Trumpf’s business but the company believes that number will only rise. Lee Moakes, Managing Director at Trumpf UK commented: “We see additive manufacturing, as industry 4.0 and TruConnect, we see both of these branches as very important and to be investing heavily now in those areas while the growth of these areas are going to take several years, it’s going to become an exponential growth over the years to come.”

ULTIMAKER ANNOUNCES MATERIAL ALLIANCES

esktop 3D printing leader, Ultimaker announced a number of new optimised material options for its recently launched Ultimaker S5 machine at TCT Show.

Ultimaker has introduced a software which enables companies to develop their profiles within a matter of weeks.

Major materials manufacturers have joined the company’s material alliance programme which aims to bring a wider variety of professional filaments to the market for its plastic extrusion-based process. At TCT Show, the company exhibited partnerships with DSM and Owens Corning, solidifying its position as an industrial player with the majority of its machines now being deployed in oﬃces rather than makerspaces.

Nuno Campos, CMO at Ultimaker explained, “We are integrating the profiles from Owen’s Corning so basically optimising. That’s really good for a seamless experience. Everything works first time and that is what we want for our customers.”

Owens Corning, an insulation, roofing, and fibreglass composites specialist, was on hand to discuss the new XSTRAND filament which has been designed for functional prototyping and industrial applications due to its strong mechanical and thermal properties. Emmanuel Vaquant, Senior Innovation Leader at Owens Corning said the goal was to take the same material currently used in injection moulding and apply it to 3D printing with dedicated parameters.

To support these new abrasive materials, Ultimaker has introduced a new print core, CC Red 0.6, which features a 0.6 mm diameter nozzle with a customised geometry and wear-resistant ruby cone to deliver reliable printing on the S5.

Specific printing profiles are designed to optimise printing but can take months of development.

The alliance also sees material profiles developed for DSM’s Novamid CF10, a carbon fibre-filled grade PA6/66 filament capable of producing parts with injection moulding-like properties. Both the new print core and material profiles will be available in November with “more on the way” later this year.

One of the pieces of that vision is the TruPrint 5000 system which takes full advantage of the smart factory concept with up to three lasers for maximum productivity, robotics and automated powder handling. formnext 2018 will be the place to learn more.

26 : 6

www.tctmagazine.com

055

The specialist for small parts

Filaments for industrial applicaaons

PLA N Next generaaon biopolymer,

ideal material to replace ABS.

PETG Fast prinnng, tought and easy to use.

NYLON The ﬁrst low-temp nylon

Products available :

designed to extrude at 230°C.

3dprintmasterpro.com info@3dprintmasterpro.com

056

26 : 6 www.tctmagazine.com

Visit us Hall 3.1 Booth A50

The family business has specialized in the production of complicated small parts, which are characterized by high precision, fit and function. Offering a wide range of stereolithography materials, a variety of production (series) materials can be simulated. Over Twenty years of experience, a diverse selection of materials and plant technology allow us to respond to its customers' different needs and desires. And it reacts quickly to requests with production of your parts within 24 hours wherever possible. SL Pro also offers a proprietary, patented process for coloring parts and a tool for setting and checking the fit . Contact us: Phone +49 37208 882902 Web www.the-sl-pro.com Mail info@the-sl-pro.com

Moulding and Tooling

WORDS: LAURA GRIFFITHS

TOOLS TO INNOVATE

ooling, jigs and fixtures have earned a reputation as the somewhat unexciting part of the additive manufacturing (AM) application spectrum. When you’re up against a world of generatively designed automotive parts and jet engines, it’s hard to shine when you’re tucked away on a production line.

Thomas Engineering Inc., is a prime example of how the company is putting significant stock in innovation.

However, “the mundane”, as Todd Grimm called it in a notable keynote at TCT Show 2014, is rightfully having its moment in the spotlight as major manufacturers from Ford to Volkswagen are adopting these unsung technologies as aids on the factory floor. According to a recent report based on AM technology providers, around 7% of customer applications were said to be tooling components, similar to the percentage of customers seeking more common applications such as visual aids and models. Responding to this growing demand, the largest independent manufacturer of tooling systems for punch presses, press brakes, and punch and die components for the stamping and tableting industries, has decided to not only adopt additive but launch an entirely new product division dedicated to the technology. Wilson Tool International has been established for over five decades, growing from a basement shop in Minnesota to a 350,000 square foot US manufacturing facility with a network of seven international manufacturing plants and oﬃces. Its new Wilson Tool Additive venture, one of two recent investments including the purchase of the tablet press tooling division of

“With the rapid advancements in the technology we felt it was time to take advantage of what additive can offer to our customers,” Bryan Rogers, Sr Additive Manufacturing Engineer at Wilson Tool, told TCT. “We’ve done extensive testing with additive over the last couple of years to make sure we have the right technology to fit our markets and their applications. We’ve tested several types of technologies and materials to ensure that we get it right and have the knowledge to best serve our customers. Having the technology is important but knowing how to use and apply it is equally as important, if not more.” The company has been using additive since the mid-1990s for the development of new products and most recently for producing finished parts. Wilson Tool Additive

 ABOVE:

3D PRINTED TOOLS ARE CAPABLE OF UP TO 1,000 BENDS OR MORE

ABOVE: 

SOLV3D GEAR

currently has seven machines in-house and more than a dozen material types across both plastic extrusion-based and light cured resin processes. Wilson Tool Additive has been created to deliver made-to-order, custom press brake tools and manufacturing support parts with 3D printing, reducing lead times from up to six weeks for a standard steel tool down to just hours, via two product lines. The first is Bend3D, offering design and additive manufacture of tools that can be used for forming and air-bending sheet metal. Internal testing has demonstrated these tools are capable of up to 1,000 bends or more, depending on the material type and thickness. “Our Bend3D line can produce a usable tool in days - not weeks, in the cases of traditional manufacturing - and our pricing model puts that tooling at a price that is very advantageous when you need a tool fast,” Rogers explained. “Customers can also use a Bend3D tool while they are waiting for a traditional steel tool to be completed. This way a customer can deliver the first run of their parts faster.” The second is Solv3D, a line of additively manufactured parts which can be used for prototypes, jigs and fixtures or to replace traditionally manufactured low volume steel or plastic end-use parts, eliminating the need for costly moulds. Wilson Tool hasn’t disclosed exactly which hardware it has in-house but with four different technologies already producing parts and plans to expand in the new year, the value and benefits in terms of cost savings and turnaround that AM can bring to traditional manufacturing processes is clear. To manufacturers and their customers, that’s not mundane at all. “I think we’ll see additive grow with current forecasts especially as the technology and speed increases,” Rogers added. “The user-friendliness of the software and hardware together can allow for great future savings and streamlining operations where it can be adopted.”

 LEFT:

BEND3D TOOL 26 : 6

www.tctmagazine.com

057

Digi-optical 3D Printer Whether dental, audio, jewelry or research, all these applications are realizable by MiiCraft 3D printers, a fully open DLP printing system, available in many different configurations, to find the perfect solution for every customer! • Starting with launching the 1st smallest desktop 3D printer in 2012. • In 2016 the new MiiCraft 125 as most accurate and productive optical 3D printer was launched and honored in 2017 with the outstanding Photonics Product Award. • Next step in was 2018 to add an LCD touchscreen and increasing in printing speed by 20%, also the price for end users was massively reduced. So, this machine now offers the best value for money in 15 possible configurations. The market is searching for a more advanced and professional solution. The MiiCraft series will be extended in 2018 with the new MiiCraft Advance series and in 2019 with the MiiCraft Professional series. Miicraft Advanced (405nm only) has a building volume up to 255x235x200mm, a dream for more productivity and flexibility. This printer comes with the dual FHD Engine. The Professional Series targets customers which needs a high accuracy, at the same time an enlarged building area and more flexibility with materials. With a building area of maximum 250x140x200mm which will be realized by an 4K Engine, this printer is THE FIRST 4K DLP printing system! This machine comes with 405, 385 or 365nm wavelength!! This means a total product spectrum of 31 different systems and moreover, individual adjustment, if desired.

See us on Stand 3.1-C18 at Formnext For more information visit us W: www.burms.de T: +49 3641 92 81 387 E: info@burms.de Burms Miicraft.indd 1

12/10/2018 15:21

Developed in collaboration with

Production Control Software for Additive Manufacturing Standardise best practice AM build management

Ensure compliance with dynamic traceability

Streamline control of post-processing subcontractors

Call 03301 200050 to arrange a meeting

www.DNA.am 058

26 : 6 www.tctmagazine.com

Launch news

SHALOM TO THE XJET AMC

ASSISTANT EDITOR, SAM DAVIES REPORTS ON A TRIP TO ISRAEL TO SEE XJET OPEN ITS ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING CENTER.

n the heart of Jerusalem, after treating guests to some authentic Israeli cuisine, there is cause for celebration. Encouraged by a traditional concert of music, a local performer is joined up front by a dozen or so visitors and more than a couple of the XJet team for a dance. Shapes are thrown that I’ve never before seen. The jubilance in this intimate dining room inside the country’s capital is such because hours earlier, after months of organisation, the company’s Additive Manufacturing Center was oﬃcially opened. It is located in Rehovot, just south of Tel Aviv, and is the result of a 10 million USD (8.7m EUR) investment. Housing more than half a dozen Carmel 1400 systems and 15 employees, the 8,000 squarefoot facility will run 24/6 – Saturdays they have off. In the previous 12 months, the company launched its flagship product (formnext 2017); announced two medical users of its technology (AB Universal & Syqe Medical, RAPID + TCT 2018); and secured its first reseller agreement (Carfulan Group, TCT Show 2018); and now, has a base that will accelerate materials and applications development. It’s an exciting time for XJet. The concept is coming to fruition, hence the dancing. “The new AM Center is a crucial part of our pursuit for wide-ranging, multi-material printing,” commented Hanan Gothait, XJet CEO. “XJet Carmel AM systems are currently available with one of two printing materials: stainless steel 316L or zirconia ZrO2. Our vision is a platform that prints with a multitude of metals and ceramics on the same part. We will use the AM Center to develop and demonstrate specialised applications, print test parts for our global customer base, and trial new metal and ceramic materials.”

 TOP:

HANAN GOTHAIT, CEO OF XJET, CUTS THE RIBBON WITH STEPHAN OEHLER, VP OF STRAUMANN, MARKING THE OFFICIAL OPENING OF THE ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING CENTER

 RIGHT:

INSIDE THE AMC

Gothait is the founder of this company, having left Objet in 2005 to set up a new venture, and is thus the proudest of its progress. Thirteen years ago, he set about developing a process that could print in metals and ceramics, acknowledging that the parts produced with it would need to be high quality and high density, and preferably require as little post-processing as possible. Happy with what he had developed, he got the ball rolling with commercialisation in April 2016, and two and half years later is confident in its capabilities. XJet say density of around 99.95% can be achieved with ceramic parts, and postprocessing simply consists of dunking the components in a

Jacuzzi full of room temperature water for a short time to remove the soluble support material. Metal parts do require sintering in addition to support removal, but no polishing. Whatever the material, super fine details are attainable, and just about any geometry you can imagine too, thanks to layers down to five microns. XJet would concur, though, it’s time to let real-life parts do the talking. It has put enough pieces together this last year to ensure there’s a machine to buy and a network through which to acquire it. “The users know more than we about what you can do with additive manufacturing,” XJet CBO, Dror Donai, noted in Rehovot. They can’t find out, though, without a range of materials to play with. So shalom to the XJet AMC. “This is a big achievement for XJet,” Gothait said. “This new, advanced Additive Manufacturing Center will not only accelerate our progress in many directions, it will open many new possibilities for us. It will help us leverage the extraordinary abilities of our technology. “The main goal of the company is to introduce more and more materials. The printer works well, so materials is something we need to push fast. You will see the results in the coming months.” If those results are in any way identical to the performances that night in Jerusalem, it’ll be job well done.

26 : 6

www.tctmagazine.com

059

ARKEMA

LIQUID RESINS FOR

U V- C U R I N G Arkema is offering customers a market-leading portfolio of materials for each of the major 3D printing technologies. Our Sartomer Business Unit, a world leader in photocure solutions, is delivering high performance engineered resins for additive manufacturing under the brand N3XTDIMENSIONÂ®.

MATERIAL PERFORMANCE VERSATILITY ENHANCED PROCESSABILITY TOP SURFACE FINISH HIGH TRANSPARENCY

Visit us at Formnext 2018 Hall 58, Booth #3.1

3D-arkema.com

HP: HEAVY ON METAL PRODUCTION

ince the launch of its long-awaited polymer Multi Jet Fusion technology to the world in 2016, the industry has been keeping a close eye on HP’s movements in the 3D printing market. After delivering on an early promise of full colour printing this year, reportedly shipping more plastic production 3D printers than any other company in the world, and as many as 3.5 million plastic parts already manufactured with the MJF process, it seemed as though the next logical step for the printing giant would be to take on metal. At IMTS in September, those inklings were confirmed as the company debuted its latest offering to the additive manufacturing (AM) market, HP Metal Jet.

LAUNCH NEWS

WORDS: Laura Griffiths

binding agent to build parts within a bed size of 430 x 320 x 200mm. Once unpacked, these “green parts” are then sintered in a standard furnace to produce high-quality isotropic components which meet ASTM and MPIF standards. Unlike MJF, which was introduced as an end-to-end 3D printing solution including printer and post-processing station, HP hasn’t made any plans to include the necessary sintering hardware in its metal offering. Explaining the decision at TCT Show 2018, Paul Gately, Business Manager, HP 3D Printing UK, said the company is working under the notion that most organisations HP is talking to already have sintering equipment in place and though he suggested HP may offer its own solution in time, right now it’s a case of, “why reinvent the wheel?”.

“THE WORLD RUNS ON METALS— BILLIONS OF METAL PARTS ARE MANUFACTURED EACH YEAR, THE LARGEST PORTION OF THEM FOR THE AUTO, INDUSTRIAL, AND MEDICAL INDUSTRIES”

HP has continuously reiterated its ambitions to infiltrate the coveted 12 trillion USD manufacturing market, a pie which, so far, 3D printing has taken only a very small bite of. Metal Jet is the next step in that mission and aims to deliver mass production of functional end-use metal parts with up to 50 times more productivity compared to current binder jetting and selective laser melting technologies.

Building on its MJF architecture, Metal Jet adopts voxel-level binder jetting technology which uses low-cost off-the-shelf metal injection moulding (MIM) powders and a

Speaking in more detail, Tim Weber, Global Head of 3D Metals, HP told TCT: “HP’s Multi Jet Fusion offers a uniquely holistic, end-toend 3D manufacturing solution that delivers its advantages on a single platform, from prototyping to mass-production. In much the same way we’ve accelerated the path to 3D mass-production of plastics, we’re doing the same with the $1 trillion global metals market with Metal Jet, where we see the industries within it like automotive, medical, and heavy industry ripe for transformation.” HP has made its intentions clear; it is not going after specialised production but acutely targeting mass production. In doing so, it is starting by forgoing those high value metals such as titanium which are commonly processed on laser-based AM systems, and initially offering stainless steel, a material of which there are already 1,700 million tonnes used in production worldwide.



LEFT: PART PRODUCED BY METAL JET PRODUCTION PARTNER, GKN

 ABOVE:

HP METAL JET SYSTEM 26 : 6

www.tctmagazine.com

061

UNVEILING NOW! THEFUTUREOFSLS.COM

VISIT US HALL 3.1 9 STAND G7

LAUNCH NEWS

HP describes steel as “the backbone of modern industry” applied commonly in industries such as medical, automotive and industrial equipment, three areas which HP is steering towards in its initial launch alongside manufacturing partners GKN Powder Metallurgy and Parmatech. “The world runs on metals—billions of metal parts are manufactured each year, the largest portion of them for the auto, industrial, and medical industries,” Weber explained. “Until now, metal 3D printing has been relegated to low-volume and expensive specialty applications, but we’re at the tipping point of a burgeoning new era of 3D mass-production. In partnering with global manufacturing leaders GKN Powder Metallurgy and Parmatech, HP Metal Jet will have an immediate and massive impact on the factory production of final parts for customers like Volkswagen, Wilo Group, Okay Industries, Primo Medical, and many more.” Partner GKN Powder Metallurgy produces more than three billion components annually for industrial and automotive applications and expects to print millions of productiongrade HP Metal Jet parts for its customers as early as next year. Volkswagen, no stranger to 3D printing having already adopted Ultimaker’s desktop printing on the production line, is assessing Metal Jet for the manufacture of mass-customisable parts such as key rings and is looking towards leveraging the technology for the mass production of fully-certified lightweight metal components for new product lines as part of a multi-year plan. GKN is also leveraging the technology to produce cost-

 BELOW:

HP METAL JET IS TARGETING REAL MASS PRODUCTION ENVIRONMENTS.

SHOWN: VOLKSWAGEN GEARSHIFT KNOB PRINTED WITH METAL JET

effective industrial parts with higher hydraulic eﬃciency for Wilo, a global manufacturer of pumps and pump system solutions. For Parmatech, a leader in metal injection moulding for medical and industrial sectors, the company believes Metal Jet represents the “first truly viable 3D technology” for industrial-scale metal part production. “The immediacy, scalability, and quality of Metal Jet were all factors in aligning with these industry leaders and their customers, for whom we expect to print millions of productiongrade parts as early as next year,” Weber continued. “Beyond that we also launched the Metal Jet Production Service, which allows customers worldwide to iterate new 3D part designs, produce final parts in volume and integrate Metal Jet into their long-

term production roadmaps with direct support from HP.” Those hoping to get their hands-on Metal Jet are in for a bit of a wait as HP has slated a 2021 release for when we can expect to see the machines become widely available. In the meantime, the Metal Jet Production Service has been launched to enable potential customers to try out the technology for themselves while HP gears up to begin shipping systems, which can be pre-ordered now priced at 399,000 USD, to early stage customers in 2020. Customers can register to the platform where they will be able to upload their files, get a design compatibility check and receive parts produced by HP’s production partners. Though the company was unable to disclose any current order figures to TCT, Weber confirmed they’re already “off to an amazing start.” “We’re thrilled with the market response to the launch of HP Metal Jet and the excitement surrounding a disruptive new solution with the advanced technology, breakthrough economics, and high-quality output that is making the dream of global-scale 3D mass production of metals a reality.”



ABOVE: 3D PRINTED COMPLEX WILO IMPELLER ELIMINATES THE NEED FOR ASSEMBLIES OR SUPPORT STRUCTURES. 26 : 6

www.tctmagazine.com

063

Powder loading, Recovery and Re-classification of AM-Materials

PowTReX

powder intake, suction port

VACUUM POWDER SEPARATOR, PRIMARY FILTER (F9), SECONDARY HEPA FILTER (H14)

Options include:

POWDER BUFFER

- various sieve mesh sizes, incl. 63µm - argon / nitrogen closed loop inerting - multi-point oxygen monitoring - gas re-circulation

POWDER FEEDER

po f ro wde r m A M int ak -M e ac h ine

Transfer used metal powder from machines and unpacking stations at high rate. Screen, classify, return-to-use.

Inside view:

ULTRASONIC SCREENER

COLLECTING BIN or PICK UP HOPPER + FEEDING ELEMENT Oversize Particles back to AM-Machine

For powder handling solutions: VOLKMANN GmbH, Soest / Germany E-Mail: mail@volkmann.info Phone: +49(0) 2921 9604 0 www.volkmann.info

064

26 : 6 www.tctmagazine.com

VOLKMANN, Inc. Bristol, PA 19007 USA

VOLKMANN UK Limited High Wycombe, Bucks Great Britain

VOLKMANN Offi ce NL 7006 LV Doetinchem Netherlands

VOLKMANN France Sarl 91540 Mennecy France

: SYSTEMT N O N - IN IN E R T

formnext Preview SPONSORED BY

FORMNEXT 2018 PREVIEW

FORMNEXT, THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION AND CONFERENCE ON NEXT GENERATION MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGIES, RETURNS TO FRANKFURT ON 13-16TH NOVEMBER, FOR WHAT PROMISES TO BE ANOTHER FOUR PACKED DAYS OF WORLD FIRSTS AND PRODUCT DEBUTS.

ow in its fourth year, the event has expanded to cover more than 36,000 square metres of exhibition space across two levels of Frankfurt Messe Exhibition Hall 3 where 550 exhibiting companies will present their newest products and applications from across the manufacturing value chain. An international roster of exhibitors from 33 nations including market leaders such as 3D Systems, GE Additive, HP, Materialise, SLM Solutions, Stratasys and Trumpf will showcase their latest innovations alongside 165 new exhibitors offering ground-breaking technologies from AI software to new additive production processes. Highlighting the growing presence of additive in the wider manufacturing industry, traditional companies such as BASF, Böhler Edelstahl, HC Starck, Höganäs and Linde will also be on the show floor demonstrating their AM developments and industrial application know-how.

TCT will once again be leading the content programme at this year’s event with another four-day world-class TCT conference @ formnext line-up featuring high-quality, expert talks on design-to-manufacturing innovations from renowned academic researchers, industry experts, and market analysts. With a 59% percent attendee increase between 2016 and 2017, organisers are expecting around 1,500 attendees for the 2018 edition conference from across diverse product development, engineering and manufacturing disciplines. Over the next seven pages, we will be taking a look at just some of the exhibitor highlights visitors can expect to see on the show floor and providing a closer look at the stellar TCT conference @ formnext 2018 speaker line-up. To register visit: www.formnext.com

26 : 6

www.tctmagazine.com

065

We accompany you on your way to the industrialisation of additive manufacturing.

RAYLASE AT FORMNEXT 2018: INTEGRATED SOLUTIONS FOR THE LASER-BASED AM PROCESS For “ITO”, it is imperative for the full potential of additive manufacturing to be exploited. The aerospace and automotive industries in particular require robust, highly productive, industrial-grade machines and processes. But what is the answer to daily challenges in the industrial environment such as the component properties and surface quality of the workpieces, continuous quality control via process monitoring including feedback or long downtimes due to a lack of automated field calibration?

We look forward to meeting you at FORMNEXT 2018 from 13 to 16 November 2018. Come visit us at Stand B60 in Hall 3.0!

RAYLASE offers full-circle solutions for implementing, calibrating, monitoring and controlling SLM processes. With the AM-MODULE NEXT GEN laser deflection system, the SP-ICE-3 control card, the SENSOR-Module for process monitoring and our AM software solutions, machine manufacturers can integrate industrial-grade hardware and software from a single source. They also benefit from our expertise, which is based on our experience of the many AM projects implemented across the globe. From design, consulting and integration, to setting up monitoring, calibration and control functions, right the way through to connection and maintenance – RAYLASE is your reliable, innovative partner for the entire AM process.

www.raylase.de

formnext PREVIEW

EXHIBITOR PREVIEWS

SPONSORED BY

VISITORS TO FORMNEXT 2018 CAN EXPECT A WEALTH OF PRODUCT LAUNCHES AND DEBUTS. HERE ARE JUST A FEW YOU CAN EXPECT TO SEE ACROSS THE TWO FLOORS OF EXHIBITION SPACE.

SIMUFACT (3.0-E79) removing supports and Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP). Key features include tools for best build orientation, integrated support structure capabilities, and the ability to predict manufacturing issues. The software also allows interfacing with third part solutions such as OEM build preparation software. Simufact will provide first insights into its new Simufact Additive release, version 4. Simufact Additive is a simulation solution for metal AM. It puts its focus on build preparation, build simulation and subsequent steps including heat treatment, cutting the base plate,

“Our upcoming version 4 will underline our ambitions to provide the best overall process simulation package – concerning speed, accuracy, functionality, and usability,” states Dr. Gabriel Mc Bain, Simufact´s Senior Director Product Management.

ULTIMAKER (3.1-C20) Desktop 3D printing is giving manufacturers like Volkswagen and Jabil the flexibility to verify concepts and develop end-use parts such as custom tooling to aid their production processes. At formnext, Ultimaker will showcase its new Ultimaker S5 featuring a larger build volume, dual extrusion and advanced connectivity, aimed precisely at those industrial end-users. Visitors will also be able to learn more about its new print core CC Red 0.6, first shown at TCT Show (read more: p.55) and designed to make the S5 compatible with abrasive industrial materials. In-line with its new hardware, Ultimaker has also partnered with several industrial material players as part of its new material alliance programme. After teasing a few names at TCT, the company is being tight-lipped for the time being but promises new developments will be revealed on the show floor.

SLM SOLUTIONS (3.0-D70) SLM Solutions Group AG, integrated solution provider and metal additive manufacturing partner, will show their complete portfolio of additive manufacturing technology – machinery, materials and services at formnext 2018. Visitors are being invited to learn more about a large number of integrated AM solutions including process development, training and software offered to ensure success with selective laser melting. Highlights include the new production SLM 280 machine offering 700W twin lasers, new permanent filters, closed loop powder handling, new gas flow inlet and more.

DESKTOP METAL (3.0-C10) Desktop Metal will be exhibiting its end-to-end metal 3D printing solutions on the show floor. Visitors will be able to see new variations of its Studio System including the new higher resolution Studio System+ and configurable Studio Fleet option which allows users to scale up their capabilities for low to mid volume production. The Production System and a range of parts will also be on the stand alongside examples of use cases which show how Desktop Metal systems are being applied across a variety of industries and tutorials of the company’s Live Parts generative design software. Attendees will also get a preview of Desktop Metal’s newest software tool, Fab Flow, a fully-customisable and integrated solution designed to streamline 3D model optimisation and equipment management.

26 : 6

www.tctmagazine.com

067

Optimize Your AM Build Process (and beyond …)

One time print, 100% fit stumps Precision of stumps and models is the outstanding quality requirement in dental laboratory work. However, until now, hardly any 3D printer delivers high quality results nor a perfect stump fit! But future has now begun! Rapid Shape & Etkon developed a more precise printing technology and combined it with a new, patented stump geometry.

Always a perfect fit! Higher efficiency by automation and assistant functionality Identify the best build orientation Determine and compensate final part distortion automatically Generate and optimize support structures automatically Use Materialise support generation functionality Identify manufacturing issues, such as cracks, shrinklines, recoater contact

formnext · Nov. 13-16. 2018 Frankfurt/ Main

068

26 : 6

We look forward to meet you at the formnext in Frankfurt (Hall 3.0, E 79).

simufact.com/additive

www.tctmagazine.com

Interested? Please contact sales@rapidshape.de

FORMNEXT PREVIEW SPONSORED BY

DYEMANSION (3.1-G61)

SISMA (3.0-C11)

Munich-based company, DyeMansion is expanding its portfolio of post processing solutions to bring additive manufacturing to a new level. The company will show the first finishing samples of its new technology for injection moulded surfaces exclusively at formnext 2018. This new finishing

Italian machine manufacturer, SISMA is introducing its latest product in professional resin-based 3D printing under the brand EVERES. Known for its Laser Metal Fusion and laser stereolithography systems, the company will introduce two DLP printers, the EVERES ZERO and EVERES UNO, designed and built to offer what the company claims will be a “user experience which has never been explored before”. Equipped with innovative technologies (patent pending) the machines are aimed at the jewellery, medical and industrial manufacturing markets. Key features include selfalignment of the build platform, nondegenerative resin vat, high printing speed, self-loading and unloading of the resin, together with Click & Make software.

APIUM (3.1-C70) Apium, a German 3D printing company specialising in extrusion-based technologies for high performance polymers, will showcase the pilot production of its Apium M220, designed for medical 3D printing in PEEK. The company also promises “groundbreaking developments” will be shared regarding medical materials. In addition, Apium will exhibit the Apium P220 system. Apium’s advanced temperature management system within the Apium P-Series proves its quality strength by delivering parts in PEEK and high-performance polymers, metals and composites.

EOS (3.1-G50) At formnext, EOS will present its newest EOS M 300-4 system as part of an EOS Metal AM Production Cell, incorporating numerous solutions for optimised part and data flow across all production steps – from design through post-processing. The modular EOS M 300 platform comes with a configurable and scalable equipment architecture, which enables full flexibility and customised system configurations. As such, it is ideal for organisations demanding reliable and robust industrial standard equipment for AM production in a variety of manufacturing fields – including aerospace, industry and automotive.

solution will be integrated in its wellestablished Print-to-Product workflow and will enable an even wider range of applications. Another big step, first announced at TCT Show, is the standardisation of DyeMansion’s colour range with 170 new RAL colours.

AM VENTURES (3.1-G71)

Strategic investor in industrial 3D Printing technology, AM Ventures Holding GmbH (AMV), will for the first time reveal its whole portfolio at formnext 2018. The company was founded by EOS CEO, Dr. Hans J. Langer in 2015. Since then, AMV has established an ecosystem consisting of sustainable strategic investments and a strong partner network to utilise advanced manufacturing technologies, in particular additive manufacturing, for serial production. Its ecosystem consists of hardware, software, material and application ventures as well as production hubs around the world besides various partnerships with large corporations focusing on the production of disruptive applications. Interested corporates, start-ups, universities, investors and enthusiasts are invited to visit the booth to learn more. 26 : 6

www.tctmagazine.com

069

The evolution of a revolution GE Additive is leading a transformation into a whole new phase of high-volume production. The Arcam EBMÂŽ Spectra H enables rapid parts production at temperatures exceeding 1000Â°C within an extended build platform. Now manufacturers can produce the largest additive TiAl components ever made. See how the Spectra H is advancing the industry at Booth D30 in Hall 3.0.

FORMNEXT PREVIEW SPONSORED BY

XAAR (3.1-A78)

TRINCKLE (3.0-C07)

At formnext 2018, Xaar will showcase its award-winning High Laydown (HL) Technology for material jetting. Showcased at TCT Show in September, Xaar says its printhead technology is at the forefront of creating new opportunities in Photopolymer Jetting. The Xaar 1003 printhead enables the jetting of fluids with viscosities of at least 35cP and with the addition of HL Technology even higher viscosity fluids can be jetted at significantly increased throughput as evident using BASF fluids. This facilitates faster printing of 3D parts with improved mechanical properties such as tensile strength. (Read more: p.31)

Fresh from winning the TCT Industrial Prouction Application Award for the mass customisation of copper inductors at the 2018 TCT Awards, trinkle will be at formnext showing visitors how it transforms AM projects into scalable business. The company will be exhibiting its paramate cloud software, designed for the automation of design and 3D model configuration by using smart algorithms to replace repetitive manual design tasks.

ARBURG (3.1-E70) formnext 2018 sees the world premiere of Arburg‘s new large Freeformer 300-3X with three components, enabling the industrial additive manufacturing of complex functional parts using the Arburg Plastic Freeforming (APF) process in resilient hard/soft combinations with support structures. The carrier surface area is about 50% larger than the Freeformer 200-3X while the build chamber of the Freeformer 300-3X offers space for parts with dimensions up to 234 x 134 x 200 mm. Automatic opening and closing of the build chamber door, as well as optional interfaces, also enable automation of the additive manufacturing process and integration of the Freeformer in complete production lines.

Visitors will also be able to learn about the company’s latest projects with partners such as Ford, Deutsche Bahn, Schmalz, Protiq and Ultimaker. trinckle will show how paramate is helping Ford to create designs for jigs and fixtures automatically and supporting Deutsche Bahn in streamlining internal design processes.

CUBICURE (3.1-G59) Cubicure, a German company focussing on AM of high performance polymers for industrial applications will present a novel photopolymer at formnext offering high strength > 70 MPa and high heat deflection temperature greater than 250°C. Other benefits include good chemical resistance and good fire properties. The material is aimed at applications in tool manufacturing, electronics, automotive and aerospace. With its Hot Lithography 3D printing technology, Cubicure offers a stereolithographic process, which processes viscous photopolymers at operating temperatures of up to 120°C, allowing the use of highly viscous chemical systems that could not previously be processed by stereolithography.

VOLKMANN (3.0-G80) Volkmann will be showcasing the new PowTReX system at this year’s formnext. Volkmann vacuum conveyors have been used within the additive manufacturing industry for decades and the PowTReX brings this technology to a new level with the combination of high conveying and sieving rates. With the growing demand for printing with larger systems, and in greater quantities, the requirements for powder handling are constantly rising with the conveying and sieving tasks becoming more complex. With most of the powder handling done under atmospheric conditions, the inert version of the PowTReX, the PowTReX-i, excludes oxygen during the powder transfer and sieving operations (e.g. for closed loop powder handling under argon).

26 : 6

www.tctmagazine.com

071

TRUE FREEDOM OF DESIGN 170 new RAL colors Expansion of the Print-to-Product workflow Thrilling 3D-printed applications

Visit us at formnext 2018 Booth 3.1 | G61

LIVE & IN COLOR! www.dyemansion.com

072 EH-18001_012_Ad-China_192x136mm_RZ.indd 26 : 6 www.tctmagazine.comâ&#x20AC;&#x192; 1

24.08.18 14:08

FORMNEXT PREVIEW SPONSORED BY

POSTPROCESS TECHNOLOGIES (3.0-H68)

BECKER (3.0-H69) Becker will present its gas-tight blowers for premium-quality 3D metal printing. In powder bed laser melting, the inert gas atmosphere and the control of temperature in the built chamber are major challenges when producing high quality components. In addition, it is necessary to remove metal splashes and smoke that arise during the melting process. For additive manufacturing in highquality atmospheres Becker will showcase its new gas-tight blowers which generate the required flow for eﬃcient recirculation of inert gases. Becker will also present gastight heat exchangers that ensure optimal temperatures in the process chamber, especially important for larger additive machines.

PostProcess Technologies, pioneers of the world’s first automated, digitised post-printing technology, will demo its next generation DEMI support removal solution. The intelligent, software-driven DEMI enables handsfree support removal for FDM, SLA, PolyJet and CLIP at fast cycle times to meet the demands of volume production while ensuring consistency of every part. This next generation design boasts several features optimising operation, access, and user interface. PostProcess’ hardware platform is just one part of their comprehensive solution, also including its AUTOMAT3D software and AM tailored chemistry.

TRUMPF (3.0-D50) Machine tool and laser manufacturer, TRUMPF is set to present its automated 3D printing solutions in Frankfurt in a showcase featuring the TruPrint 5000 system. First introduced at last year’s event, the company’s experts will be on hand to demonstrate how powder bed and melt pool monitoring enables quality inspection on the fly during printing. This marks a major stride towards TRUMPF’s goal of fully automated, 3D print-driven production, enhancing its skill-set in mass additive manufacturing.

MKS INSTRUMENTS (3.1-J13) VISCOTEC (3.0-H54) At formnext 2018, ViscoTec will present a new printhead for accurate printing of 2-component materials in a 3D printer. The company, which manufactures systems required for conveying, dosing, applying, filling and emptying medium to high-viscosity fluids, says the integrated endless piston principle plays an important role as 2-component silicones or polyurethanes can be dispensed layer by layer. The print head will be available in two different sizes; vipro-HEAD 3/3 or vipro-HEAD 5/5. Due to the respective volume flow, the printheads enable layer heights from 150 µm to be realised. The viscous materials cure with each other and give the component the chemical and mechanical properties required for additive manufacturing.

At formnext MKS will present Ophir BeamWatch AM, the industry’s first non-contact laser beam monitoring system for additive manufacturing. First showcased at TCT Show, BeamWatch AM is a lightweight, compact system designed for real-time measurement of the focal shift during laser startup of powder bed fusion manufacturing processes. It measures key beam size, position, and quality parameters, including focus spot size and beam caustic. These measurements allow users to more easily determine when the beam is aligned and in focus, providing more consistent metallurgy. Measurements can be displayed as tabular, 2D, and 3D views, providing a quick display of laser characteristics.

26 : 6

www.tctmagazine.com

073

VISIT US AT PAVILION 3.1, STAND G11 AND DISCOVER OUR SPECIAL OFFER!

technology

3D Scanner Via del Tappezziere, 4 – 40138 Bologna (BO) - Italy +39 05119930101 marketing@egsolutions.com egsolutions.com

CAD Software Reverse Engineering

OPEN FOR INDUSTRY. www.farsoon.com

Open Material Open Configuration Open Application Open System CONTACT

APAC: globalinfo@farsoon.com Europe: wehelpyou@farsoon-eu.com Americas: info@farsoonam.com

Visit us at Formnext 2018!

3.0-G48 074

26 : 6

www.tctmagazine.com

HT1001P

FORMNEXT PREVIEW SPONSORED BY

STRATASYS (3.1-G40)

FRAUNHOFER (3.0-E70) The Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology ILT has taken its “TwoCure” process to the next level by developing it into an industry-ready machine technology. The new technique and machine, which will be presented at formnext, uses resin-based 3D printing to produce large numbers of plastic components without support structures in an automated process.

Stratasys plans to showcase newly advanced solutions that specifically address requirements of customers across a broad range of industries. Highlighting its newest material and application advancements, the stand will incorporate four distinct focus areas – concept modelling, prototyping, tooling and final part production. Each area will feature a wide range of parts and customer use cases, demonstrating the value proposition of Stratasys AM to drive eﬃciencies throughout the product development cycle. In addition, for the first time at a European trade show, Stratasys will outline the latest developments surrounding its metal 3D printing technology with new application parts.

Based on a similar principle to a projector, a LED light unit projects the component’s layered geometry into a liquid resin bath and the polymer hardens in the areas that are illuminated. The other areas of resin solidify through cooling, leaving the cured structures floating freely without supports within the total volume. This enables the entire 3D build volume to be used for printing. The corresponding machine offers a capacity of approximately one litre and a lateral resolution of about 50 micrometres, aimed at companies producing individual small plastic components or batches of up to 1,000 pieces.

FORMLABS (3.1-C88) Desktop stereolithography leader, Formlabs is focusing on improving 3D printing material capabilities. Next to the first SLA ceramic material and wax-filled castable material, Castable Wax, Formlabs has introduced two new engineering resins, Rigid and Grey Pro, offering high precision and versatile material properties. Rigid Resin, Formlab’s first reinforced with glass resin, offers very high stiffness and a polished finish. At the booth, Formlabs

FARSOON TECHNOLOGIES (3.0-G48) Farsoon Technologies, a global supplier of plastic laser sintering and metal laser melting systems, launched its expansion into Europe earlier this year. At the company’s booth, visitors can explore the benefits of Farsoon’s OPEN FOR INDUSTRY philosophy which sees Farsoon systems open to materials from various suppliers with open parameters, enabling optimal fit for industrial applications. Visitors will also be able to learn more about Farsoons’s Continuous Additive Manufacturing Solution (CAMS) solution. Benefits include high productivity, large build envelope, continuous operation and automation, and compatibility with a wide range of industrial materials.

SPEE3D (3.0-C90)

will show products and demos of some of the most innovative uses of its technology, from 3D printed parts for the manufacturing line to mass customisation. Max Lobovsky, co-founder and CEO of Formlabs commented: “We believe we can drive 3D printing into more end-use applications by dramatically improving material properties and significantly decreasing the cost per part, bringing the promise of 3D printed mass customization closer to reality for businesses and consumers.

After debuting at formnext in 2017, Australian 3D printing company, SPEE3D returns to the Frankfurt event following a success at this year’s TCT Awards, taking home the prestigious Hardware System Award (non-polymer) where the company teased of new developments to come. Over the last year, the company has experienced increasing demand for its high speed cold spray-based LightSPEE3D technology with sales in Germany, USA, Asia and Australia. The company will be demonstrating how LightSPEE3D can print metal parts in minutes, rather than hours or days at costs similar to casting with live demos at 11:00am and 2pm each day during the show.

26 : 6

www.tctmagazine.com

075

Make the future with proven powders created by Praxair TruFormE metal powders support every part you make with capacity, quality and experience. • Used by leading OEMs across AM industry • Custom alloys and particle sizing available • Aerospace-grade

Learn more: praxairsurfacetechnologies.com/am Contact us: Praxair Surface Technologies GmbH Am Mühlbach 13, 87487 Wiggensbach Germany Tel: +49 (0) 837 0 9207 0 Fax: +49 (0) 837 0 9207 20 Email: AME_Europe@praxair.com © Copyright 2018 Praxair S.T. Technology, Inc. All rights reserved.

formnext Preview SPONSORED BY

TCT CONFERENCE @ FORMNEXT PREVIEW

Building on the success of last year’s TCT conference @ formnext, the TCT content team has once again secured an unrivalled line-up of speakers covering the latest trends and future developments in additive manufacturing. With over fifty engaging presentations and speakers from thirteen countries, the conference promises to deliver insightful talks suitable for all technical levels from beginner to advanced. Taking place in Hall 4, this year’s agenda is split into four tracks which take place across each show day covering key verticals including transport and business for AM, healthcare and materials and processes, industrial challenges and new research, and post-processing and design. Take a look at some of the highlights from this year’s programme and book now to be a part of this industry leading educational platform: mytct.co/registration

13 TUESDAY 13TH NOVEMBER 10:00 - 10:30 Additive Manufacturing on the Road - Journey from Prototyping to Production Peter Mischke, Technical Specialist - BMW Group 10:30 - 11:00 Disruptive Fuselage Study by Topological Optimisation and Additive Manufacturing Damien Desgaches, R&T Project Manager STELIA Aerospace

11:15 - 11:45 Pushing the Technology Forward: Audi Metal 3D Printing Center Martin Bock, Project Lead of Metal Additive Manufacturing, Audi AG 15:00 - 15:30 Accelerate with 3D Printing at Multiple Locations - Ford’s Approach to Local Digital Manufacturing Lars Bognar, Research Engineer, Ford-Werke GmbH

26 : 6

www.tctmagazine.com

077

The CONFERENCE for Design-to-Manufacturing Innovation

Tct conference @ formnext is a world-leading event focused on additive manufacturing | 3d printing | design | cad/cae | metrology and inspection.

14 15 16 NOVEMBER 2018 MESSE FRANKFURT, GERMANY

World-class companies constantly improve every part of their design-to-manufacturing process chain. With over 60 presentations, TCT conference @ formnext 2018 shows how you can apply new technologies across design, development, engineering and manufacturing functions.

CONFERENCE

BOOK YOUR TICKETS

WWW.tctconferenceformnext.com

formnext Preview SPONSORED BY

WEDNESDAY 14 NOVEMBER

THURSDAY 15 NOVEMBER

FRIDAY 16 NOVEMBER

10:00 - 10:30

How 3D Printing is Transforming Health for Humanity at Johnson & Johnson Sam Onukuri, Head of 3D Printing Centre - Johnson & Johnson

Additive Manufacturing is an Essential Part of the Seamless Digital Chain in Spare Parts Services of Siemens Mobility

The Value Added of Additive Manufacturing for the Smart Factory

10:30 - 11:00 The Medical Device Perspective of 3D Printing Gene Kulesha, Senior Director of Advanced Engineering - ONKOS Surgical 13:15 - 13:45 3D Printed Anatomical Models for Preoperative Planning in Trauma Surgery Dr Lars Brouwers, Surgical Resident in Training - Elisabeth-Tweesteden Hospital 15:00 - 15:30

Kai-Uwe Mietzner, Head of Business Support - Siemens Mobility 11:45 - 12:15 The Integration of AR/VR and Robotics into AM Series Production

Ilan Blaus, Director and Global Additive Manufacturing Lead, Flex Ltd 10:30 - 11:00 Future Aesthetics - Synthesis of Design and Technology Exploration

Albert Sutiono, Head of Technology Grant Oﬃce - NAMIC

Pascal Hien, Designer - Steelcase/FibR GmbH & Moritz Dörstelmann, Managing FibR GmbH

14:30 - 15:00

11:15 - 11:45

Additive Manufacturing of Large, Temperature-Controlled Injection Molding Tools Using Arc Welding and Diffusion Bonding

3D SurFin for Roughness Reduction on Additively Manufactured Components

Printing Pills

Jörg Hildebrand, Assistant Professor Technische Universität Ilmenau

Ricky Wildman, Professor in Chemical Engineering - University of Nottingham

15:30 - 16:00

Sarah Reichelt, Research Scientist Airbus

Implementing Design for AM Knowledge and Experience in Product Development Christoph Klahn, Head of Design for New Technologies – Inspire AG

The evolution of a revolution See how the Spectra H is advancing the industry at Booth D30 in Hall 3.0

91121_Spectra_H_TCT_ad_eng.indd 1

26 : 6

10/19/18 1:01 PM www.tctmagazine.com 079

Strong Enough ? Determine Today Whether Your Part Can Withstand the Demands of Tomorrow

With the add-on module Structural Mechanics Simulation for VGSTUDIO MAX, you can simulate where a part would break directly on CT dataâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;without time-consuming and lossy mesh generation. Harmless discontinuity or serious flaw? Find out with a few clicks whether a pore leads to the failure of the part when force is applied. Learn more at www.volumegraphics.com.

IP & FINANCE

SIDE STEPPING THE PITFALLS: ENSURING SAFE AND SECURE ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING

ransitioning to production with additive manufacturing (AM) is a strategic move for large companies. It opens the door to huge eﬃciencies including, cost savings along with revenue-generating opportunities such as virtual inventory and emergency spare parts, to name a few. However, there are risks that come with the move to digital. Take virtual inventory (or digital inventory) for example. With a digital file, companies need not worry about the cost of batch manufacturing and storing of physical parts. There is also the added benefit of having the flexibility to react to market demands. Sounds ideal, so what’s the problem? Well, there are several issues that are manageable with traditional inventory but can become untenable with virtual inventory. For example, in a physical facility, should theft of an item occur, the company only loses income for one item. On the other hand, if someone steals or misplaces an unprotected digital file, which includes details of how to produce a part, then the company’s intellectual property (IP) is compromised and senior management will suffer many sleepless nights. Not only that, but the person in possession of the file can now reproduce and sell the part as often as they please, resulting in a noticeable loss of income to the company – yet another headache. Unfortunately, there’s more… Parts need to be produced correctly. One might think that if the perpetrator only took the STL (geometry) files and didn’t get their hands on the required printer / material settings, then they can produce only inferior parts. Problem solved? On the contrary, having faulty parts with the company’s logo available on the market is a CEO’s nightmare. This compromises the brand’s integrity and can genuinely affect the bottom-line.

SAFE AND SECURE ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING The good news is that this doesn’t have to be the case. There are a number of forward-thinking companies with solutions that address the issues I’ve outlined. Ensuring IP protection, consistency enforcement, and quantity control allows brands to not only benefit safely and securely from AM in production, but also address any concerns that top management may have. Here are a few key things that companies should consider when they’re looking to address these issues: • IT matters. Check that all the IT procedures and policies are adhered to – IT will not change file handling just for AM files. So, companies need to make sure they can hold those files together with all the other files and treat them the same way (back up policy, disaster recovery, etc.). • The less software to install, the better. Of course, Software as a Service (SaaS) cloud-based solutions are the preferred option as they are instantly accessible and updated. • Seamless integration. This is paramount, and the solution should be easy to fully integrate into an existing workflow. Remember, procurement will treat physical and virtual inventory the same. Before investing, ask about previous integrations – how long did they take? How many people were needed? A solution that’s easy to integrate is a promising indication of a well thought out architecture that will stand the test of time and ecosystem changes. • Make sure all of the eggs are not in one basket. The best solutions make it diﬃcult for unpermitted access to be success. For example, they’ll need more than a username and password to steal your assets. • Last but not least…Of course, you should add to these all the obvious checks (that the solution works well, covers everything, is flexible, etc). Starting with this kind of software basis, the workflow you are putting together will not only be good for business but also good for peace of mind – yours, your manager’s and your CEO’s.

DR LEE-BATH NELSON is co-Founder and VP Business at LEO Lane which enables IP protected, quantity controlled, consistent additive manufacturing any time and every time. She is a veteran in the AM ecosystem and a seasoned hi-tech sector executive. Aside from LEO Lane, she sits on the boards of Sygnia Cyber Consulting (formerly Team8 Cyber Consulting), Elron, and Ore to Excellence (a non-profit). LEO Lane will exhibit at November’s formnext event in Hall 3.1, stand B30A. On Wednesday 14th November at 15.30, on the TCT Introducing Stage, visitors can hear Dr Nelson deliver a presentation entitled ‘Empowering brands to securely manage additive manufacturing, anywhere anytime’.

Additive manufacturing brings with it fantastic eﬃciencies. Partnered with the right SaaS solution, companies can rest assure that they’re not only reducing their inventory cost but also

protecting their brand integrity and ensuring premium product consistency.

26 : 6

www.tctmagazine.com

083

The MAGAZINE for

INNOVATION NEVER STOPS, SO NEITHER DOES TCT TCT is a year-round source of news, learning and opinion. Subscribe for free today to join the global TCT community and ensure you are up-to-date with the news and views that matter throughout the year.

VISIT

myTCT.co/subscribe

MAG

IP & FINANCE

MEDTECH AND 3D PRINTING: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES WORDS : ThomaS Prock, Partner, Chartered (UK), German and European Patent Attorney at Marks & Clerk.

dditive manufacturing promises a revolution in the way we manufacture and distribute goods in a range of industries. The opportunities for the medtech sector are immense, for business, healthcare professionals and patients alike. Ultimately, the benefit of this technology lies in the deskilling and decentralising of the manufacturing process – giving users the ability to manufacture (possibly hitherto impossible to manufacture) designs at the touch of a button. The advantages conferred on legitimate manufacturers by 3D printing however, are also conferred on the counterfeiters and several existing barriers to market are significantly diminished. Currently counterfeiters must acquire the ability to manufacture counterfeit goods that are close enough to the individual product to evade detection. 3D printing however enables the production of devices that are, at least in appearance, identical to those of the original manufacturers. A second challenge for counterfeiters currently is the transporting of fake goods to markets of choice. Given that digital designs for 3D printing can be shared electronically however, this too becomes easier for counterfeiters, and renders traditional border controls ineffective.

DIGITAL FIRST IP

Intellectual property (IP) protection has traditionally focused on products – tangible objects with components and dimensions readily describable in a patent. While physical products remain important, in the brave new world of 3D printing, products will also have digital versions, and businesses will need to place a much greater emphasis on protecting computer-aided design (CAD) files. If effective protection against 3D enabled counterfeit goods is to be obtained, manufacturers will need to refocus their IP strategies. This will require new approaches to defining the breadth of IP protection, as well as approaches to geographic coverage.

GEOGRAPHY

Given the ability to easily share data – and CAD files – globally, broad geographical protection will be increasingly necessary for medtech manufacturers. Currently, IP protection focuses on geographies well-known for manufacturing. Whilst this principle is set to endure, the decentralisation of manufacturing enabled by 3D printing, will mean territorial protection in key markets may also become more important. IP rights that have cross-border scope are particularly attractive in this regards. Such rights include the European registered design right as well as the (European) Unitary Patent (which will hopefully come into force in 2019 subject to wrangling at the German Constitutional Court and the eventual shape of Brexit).

DIVERSIFIED IP PORTFOLIOS

Traditionally, manufacturers IP strategies have focused heavily on patenting. While the importance of patents is unlikely to diminish, a greater focus on protecting digital expressions of a product will lead to further emphasis on other IP rights. Design rights in particular will be key in preventing the illicit dissemination of CAD files. Design rights are especially important in light of ongoing efforts by the European Parliament to improve legislation in this area. As the trend towards ever more bespoke products in the medtech space continues, the manner in which design protection is pursued is also likely to change, with increased focus on maximising the scope of protection provided.

TRAPS FOR THE UNWARY

New ways of manufacturing require new ways of thinking about manufacturing.

HAVING QUALIFIED AS A CHARTERED (UK) AND EUROPEAN PATENT ATTORNEY IN 2007, IN 2014 THOMAS BECAME ONE OF THE FEW PROFESSIONALS TO ALSO QUALIFY AS A PATENTANWALT (GERMAN PATENT ATTORNEY). THOMAS IS AN EXPERT IN THE ELECTRONICS SECTOR ON INTERNET RELATED SUBJECT MATTER AND COMPUTER-IMPLEMENTED INVENTIONS. THOMAS IS MOREOVER ACTIVE IN PROTECTING INVENTIONS IN THE MEDICAL DEVICE FIELD.

Companies currently employing 3D printing techniques may be well placed to anticipate the actions of 3D printing counterfeiters. For others however, who’ve had less exposure to this technology, imaginative and competent IP advice will be vital. Choosing the right advisors will ensure IP protection is future proofed against a changing business environment. Lessons should be learned here from similar processes in other sectors. What can be learned from the computer industry for example which had to adapt quickly from a business model based on stand-alone machines, to one based on networks of machines interacting with each other?

TECH SOLUTIONS TO TECH PROBLEMS Technical problems often come with technical solutions, and alongside revisiting approaches to IP, medtech innovators should also consider the opportunities afforded by other new technologies. Blockchain encryption for example has huge potential in tracking products and enabling end users to verify the genesis of a product in question. 3D printing is poised to change the medtech industry. Focusing IP strategy on the challenge now, will ensure the innovators stay one step ahead of the imitators.

26 : 6

www.tctmagazine.com

085

VISIT US AT FORMNEXT

Hall 3.1, Booth # F21

STREAMLINE YOUR PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT PROCESS WITH PORTABLE 3D SCANNER

Train at The National Centre for Additive Manufacturing DESIGN FOR ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING 3 day hands-on practical training course 04 – 06 Dec 2018 or 12 – 14 Feb 2019 Keep up to speed with the fastest growing metal forming technology in the world Contact us today to discuss how we can best support your staff to develop the essential additive manufacturing and 3D printing skills of the future the-amtc.co.uk/training | training@the-mtc.org | 02476 701774

creaform3d.com | +49 711 1856 8030

IP & FINANCE

WORDS: LAURA GRIFFITHS

BELIEVING IN 3D PRINTED UNICORNS

f I said the words “3D printing” and “unicorn” to you five years ago, an image of a plastic polygonal model in a garish colour would have been a fair enough deduction. A horse-like creature with a spiralling horn pointing from its forehead, unicorns are the stuff of myth, existing only in fairy tales and on novelty pencil cases. In the finance world however, the term unicorn, coined in 2013, is more the stuff of legendary status, used to describe a privately held startup company valued at over 1 billion USD. As of August, there were reportedly around 260 of these companies in the world, including the likes of Uber, Pinterest and Airbnb, and in amongst those household names, a trio of 3D printing unicorns. Earlier this year, Formlabs joined fellow Boston-area company, Desktop Metal and Silicon Valley startup, Carbon on the list after a successful Series C in April raising 30 million USD and an additional 15 million USD in August. It’s the ultimate Kickstarter success story, having started out on the platform in 2012 and growing into one of the world’s leading sellers of stereolithography systems. Carbon, a company which can count Adidas and Ford amongst early adopters of its super-fast CLIP technology and programmable engineering-grade resins, surpassed the billion-dollar threshold early on, topped up with the launch of a 200 million USD Series D last year. Shortly after, Desktop Metal, manufacturer of oﬃce-friendly metal 3D printing systems, reached a billion-dollar valuation just two years in, after a 115 million USD Series D in July 2017 from New Enterprise Associates, Google Ventures, GE Ventures amongst others.

MYTH OR LEGEND? The elusive unicorn however is hard to come by. In a brilliant keynote talk at TCT Show, Dave Burns, Principal and Founder at Global Business Advisory Services LLP, spoke about the challenges and realities faced by manufacturing technology startups. As someone who has spent 15 years directly interfacing with 3D printing and led a company all the way from startup to IPO, it’s no wonder a number of startups have sought Burns’ expertise when embarking on their next steps. Presenting on the TCT Show stage, Burns explained how at least seven out of ten startups fail (in fact, he believes it’s closer to nine). Why? Lack of market alignment, hiring the wrong team, and crucially, running out of cash. For manufacturing technology startups, unicorn status is perhaps even more challenging as the overall journey from the initial beg and borrow phase to positive cash flow bliss

can take a long time. Those investing in or developing a manufacturing technology, rather than say a new app, Burns said, have to understand that cash flow comes much later, often taking 3-5 years. Seed rounds come later, and they’re usually larger due to the nature of the product, which can lead to startups taking technologies to market too soon. “We have a fundamental problem because to get from where we are holistically and globally with the large thing we’re dealing with and get it where we want it to be, we need more investment dollars and we have a dynamic here that makes those investment dollars diﬃcult to come by,” Burns told the TCT Show crowd. “But I remain convinced that the difference between where we are and where we want to go is just investment. It simply is R&D dollars, if we throw enough of them at these basic science problems we have, we’ll solve them.” In the days of the Trough of Disillusionment, we saw companies make huge cuts, close retail points and disband entire business arms – largely in the consumer sector. Now, the landscape is very different, we’re on “the cusp” of something as both Burns and Todd Grimm recently called it, as wistful ideals have long been replaced by real production, meaningful industrial applications and factory of the future concepts which epitomise the true value of 3D printing, validated by major investments from giants like GE. If unicorns are in fact a reality in the 3D printing universe, now might be a good time to start believing.

26 : 6

www.tctmagazine.com

087

In Additive Manufacturing, It’s What’s Inside That Counts

Innovative high-speed milling machines

• Large working Area/ Small Footprint • Aerospace • Prototyping • Print Moulds & Dies • Microfluidics • Engraving For over 20 years, we’ve been powering laser processes and ensuring highest precision in laser sintering applications. Market-leading high performance scan solutions and laser beam positioning equipment – Made in Germany. Visit our booth 3.1-B68 in hall 3.1. at

Frankfurt am Main, 13.–16.11.2018

www.scanlab.de

088

26 : 6

www.tctmagazine.com

• UK service support Datron-neo.com Datron Technology Ltd - 5-7 Potters Lane Kiln Farm - Milton Keynes - MK11 3HE W: datrongroup.com T: 01908 261655 E: tct2@datrontechnology.co.uk

TCT Awards

TCT AWARDS 2018 CELEBRATES BEST OF INDUSTRY

THREE INDUCTEES JOIN THE TCT HALL OF FAME, BMW, EASYJET AND THE EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY AMONGST PRESTIGIOUS AWARD WINNERS.

uring a gala dinner held at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole, the second annual TCT Awards celebrated the people, technology and collaborations behind the best in design-tomanufacturing innovation.. TCT has always existed at the intersection of technology and applications, and the celebratory evening recognised this. The best uses of these ground-breaking technologies are collaborative projects and the TCT Awards recognise the partners in the projects from designers and engineers to the technology providers. Hosted by Robert Llewellyn, a renowned British actor and presenter, the almost 300 guests celebrated into the early hours. In addition to the 14 competitive award categories, the TCT Group inducted three more maestros of manufacturing into the TCT Hall of Fame. Professor Emanuel (Ely) Sachs, Dr Carl Deckard and Greg Morris were honoured during the evening for their contribution to the industry and to the growth in technology adoption. Duncan Wood, Chief Executive of Rapid News Publications Ltd, commented: “Once again it was a privilege to share an evening with so many truly exceptional people. All of the winners are to be congratulated for their successes, and of course in particular the Hall of Fame inductees need a special mention, their innovation, entrepreneurship and commitment has played a huge part in the development and success of the industry. I must also thank our sponsors 3ecruit, as well as our supporting partner, Innovate UK for their endorsement of the event and of course our judges. The TCT Awards night is fast becoming THE night of the year for the industry and we are looking forward to the 2019 edition already!” TCT Awards 2019 will take place in Birmingham, UK on Wednesday 25th September 2018. Please keep an eye on the oﬃcial website www.tctawards.com for updates.

2018 WINNERS AND HIGHLY COMMENDED TCT AEROSPACE APPLICATION AWARD 2018

TCT CONSUMER PRODUCT APPLICATION AWARD 2018

Project MELT

Vitamix Nozzle

WINNER

Tech Lead: BEEVERYCREATIVE End User: European Space Agency Partners: Sonaca Space, OHB-System, Active Space Technologies

HIGHLY COMMENDED

Liquid Rocket Engine Injector Tech Lead: 3D Systems End User: DLR Partners: PLD Space

TCT AUTOMOTIVE APPLICATION AWARD 2018 WINNER

BMW i8 roadster SLM bracket Tech Lead: SLM Solution End User: BMW Partners: SLM Solutions, Materialise, Altair Engineering

HIGHLY COMMENDED

LightHinge+ Tech Lead: Simufact Engineering End User: Edag Engineering Partners: Voestalpine Additive Manufacturing Center, Edag Engineering, Hirtenberger

WINNER

Tech Lead: Carbon End User: Vitamix

HIGHLY COMMENDED MINI YOURS Customised Tech Lead: HP, Carbon, EOS End User: BMW

TCT CREATIVE APPLICATION AWARD 2018 WINNER Embrace - Jewellery with embedded gemstones

Tech Lead: Cooksongold End User: Boltenstern Partners: Heimerle + Meule, University of Technology Vienna, Hafen City University Hamburg

HIGHLY COMMENDED

Ancient Roman Helmet Tech Lead: Custom Prototypes

TCT HARDWARE AWARD 2018 – NON POLYMERS WINNER LightSPEE3D

Tech Lead: SPEE3D

HIGHLY COMMENDED

Desktop Metal Production System Tech Lead: Desktop Metal 26 : 6

www.tctmagazine.com

089

More than just a factory

‘Kexcelled’

‘The key to excellent 3D printing’ starts with reliable and consistent high-quality materials. Through continued material innovation and stringent quality control on manufacturing, we are able to provide users 0.01mm diameter tolerance. This has helped demand grow to 50,000kg per month around the world. Furthermore, we: • • • •

Offer more than 34 types of FDM & SLA materials Provide 3D printing material solutions for various industries Customize special colors & materials on demand Manufacture white label products for resellers

Are you a user searching for easy yet affordable 3D printing materials, or are you looking to be a reseller for Kexcelled or your own brand? If so, do check out our website www.northbridge3d.com to receive free 3D printing samples. Before you know it, you will understand the key to excellent 3D printing.

Northbridge3D EMEA Warehouse & Sales Office, Northbridge Netherlands B.V. E: eu@northbridge3d.com M: +31 (0) 681287779

Asia Factory & Sales Office, North Bridge New Material Technology (Suzhou) Co., Ltd. E: admin@northbridge3d.com T: +86 (0) 512 65801831

Northbridge Kexcelled half page.indd 1 Northbridge3D

Visit us on formnext 2018 in Frankfurt from

EMEA Warehouse & Oﬃce, Northbridge Netherlands B.V. 13 - 16 November, T: Hall C20 W: www.northbridge3d.com E: eu@northbridge3d.com +313.0, (0) Booth 681287779

DIGITAL ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING The ORLAS CREATOR® offers fast and cost-efficient metal 3D printing of high-quality parts directly from 3D CAD data with no need for third party components. Take a close look at our diode-pumped laser systems for manufacturing of advanced 3D structures, enhancement and hardening of surfaces with exceptional quality.

090

26 : 6 www.tctmagazine.com

16/10/2018 16:49

TCT Awards

TCT HARDWARE AWARD 2018- POLYMERS

TCT MATERIALS AWARD 2018- NON POLYMER

TCT SOFTWARE AWARD 2018

Tech Lead: E3D Online

WINNER E3D Tool-Changer

WINNER NanoSteel BLDRmetal L-40

WINNER Materialise e-stage for Metal

Tech Lead: Nanosteel

Tech Lead: Materialise

HIGHLY COMMENDED

TCT HEALTHCARE APPLICATION AWARD 2018

TCT MATERIALS AWARD 2018 - POLYMER

Essentium High Speed Extrusion (HSE) Tech Lead: Essentium Partners: BASF

WINNER Pre-op planning model aids world ﬁrst surgery Tech Lead: Axial 3D End User: Belfast City Hospital

HIGHLY COMMENDED

Single socket upper limb prosthetics Tech Lead: EOS End User: Glaze Prosthetics Partners: Cabiomede, New Era Materials

TCT INDUSTRIAL PRODUCT APPLICATION AWARD 2018

WINNER Mass customisation of copper inductors Tech Lead: Trinckle 3D End User: PROTIQ

HIGHLY COMMENDED

DFAM Rollertrain Bearing Cages Tech Lead: Bowman Additive Production End User: John Handley Bearings Partners: EOS, Europac3D, DyeMansion, 3DPRINT-UK

Copper C18150 Tech Lead: Stratasys Direct Manufacturing

WINNER SABIC EXL AMHI240F ﬁlament Tech Lead: Sabic Partners: RP+M

Axial3Dassure Tech Lead: Axial 3D

TCT RISING STAR AWARD 2018 WINNER HIETA Technologies Ltd HIGHLY COMMENDED SPEE3D

HIGHLY COMMENDED EPX 82 Tech Lead: Carbon

TCT METROLOGY AWARD 2018 WINNER Aircraft Damage Assessment Tech Lead: 3D Systems End User: Easyjet Partners: OR3D

HIGHLY COMMENDED Artec Leo Tech Lead: Artec 3D

TCT POST-PROCESSING AWARD 2018 WINNER DLyte: Metal DryLyte Electropolishing

Tech Lead: Steros GPA Innovate S.L.

HIGHLY COMMENDED ‘Print-to-Product’ workflow Tech Lead: Dyemansion Partners: EOS, Daimler, FKM Sintertechnik, ic! berlin

TCT HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES 2018 DR CARL DECKARD INVENTOR OF SELECTIVE LASER SINTERING

GREG MORRIS

PROCESS PIONEER AND APPLICATION SPECIALIST

PROF EMANUEL ‘ELY’ SACHS

INVENTOR OF BINDER JET PRINTING

26 : 6

www.tctmagazine.com

091

Professional Desktop 3D Printers HIGHEST PRECISION FOR DENTAL APPLICATIONS. SolFlex 3D printers offer outstanding quality, performance and design using DLP®technology. The SolFlex system is an open system which grants freedom of choice in terms of materials, software and processes, so a maximum of flexibility is guaranteed. A broad range of dental applications such as occlusal splints, drilling templates and dental models can be individually printed with high accuracy, saving time and material.

Visit us online: way2production.at

PLUS

The patented VDFS (Vat Deflection Feedback System) monitors and controls the separation process and thus saves up to 40 % of manufacturing time.

OPTIMISE MATERIAL PROPERTIES OF 3D PRINTED METAL COMPONENTS WITH A COMPLETE POST-BUILD PROCESSING SOLUTION Bodycote specialises in the secondary treatments of metal parts built by the additive manufacturing process. Our facilities provide all post-build processing and related quality assurance services: Heat treatments Hot isostatic pressing (HIP) Part removal from build plate Quality testing and inspection

Photo credit: MBFZ Toolcraft GmbH

The world’s leading provider of heat treatments and specialist thermal processing services Visit us at Formnext 2018

Hall 3.0, stand H71

092

26 : 6

www.tctmagazine.com

www.bodycote.com

Conservation



WORDS : SAM DAVIES

HERITAGE FORENSICS: NEW FACTS & CURIOUS FATES

SHOWN: THE OXFORD DODO SPECIMEN EXHIBITED AT THE OXFORD UNIVERSITY MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY CREDIT:UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK/ OXFORD UNIVERSITY MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY.

tour of Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG) arrives at a juncture that takes us back hundreds of years, and then millions. As detailed at the back end of our last issue, WMG has become a reliable partner in the process of providing criminal evidence, from dismembered bodies to death-byblunt-object. They’ve worked on cold cases too, but none so cold as its heritage forensic endeavours. Using the same scanning and printing technology as they do to hold the guilty to account, WMG is finding new facts and uncovering curious fates.

NEW FACTS

The Megalosaurus is a staple of many a science textbook thanks to William Buckland’s categorisation of it back in the 1820s: It was the first ever fossil to be recognised as the remains of a dinosaur, and is exhibited in the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. Over 167 million years ago, it would carry its 9-metre-long and 1400kg body around the land we now know as the UK. In 2017, to preserve the fossil, 3,000 X-ray images were generated using the Nikon XT H320LC CT scanner with a 320kV target head, and Mark Williams of the WMG noticed something inside the dinosaur’s jaw. He and his team decided to print the scan data on

SHOWN: 3D SCAN

OF THE OXFORD DODO. THE LEAD PELLETS CAN BE SEEN IN WHITE.

CREDIT: WMG/ UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK

RIGHT:

an Objet260 Connex3 in a transparent photopolymeric material to better demonstrate this clever mechanism of the Megalosaurus, which they’re sure saw teeth replenished. “X-Ray technology and 3D printing came together, because when we looked inside the jaw we could see something very interesting,” Williams told TCT. “You can see these teeth forming and what happens is they grow up, grow inside the teeth, and these teeth are not rejected, they’re actually resorbed – the enamel is so precious it is actually reabsorbed back into the jaw and then used to reform the teeth. It’s a constant supply.” It’s a significant piece of information true of an entire species of dinosaur. Such a discovery had the Museum wondering what else they could learn from the past of its exhibits.

CURIOUS FATES

So, this year, Williams welcomed the Oxford Dodo, famed not only for being the only dodo fossil with preserved soft tissue, but also for inspiring Lewis Carroll to write Alice in Wonderland. WMG took the remains on to preserve the piece and find out more about how the extinct dodo lived. Instead, it unearthed how this particular bird died.

“We had always assumed that it was a pet that was kept in London that died naturally and obviously donated to a museum,” Williams explained. “We actually found, to the back of the head, it had been shot, and [then] possibly brought to the UK. The whole storyline of the only surviving specimen of its type in the world [changed].” Through the scanning process, in which WMG can maximise the resolution when capturing inanimate objects, a series of millimetre-diameter lead pellets were discovered embedded in the skin and bone. Scanning the fossil in ten sections, the images were configured in a 3D volume and cut through slice by slice non-destructively to confirm their theory. It has been long-debated whether the dodo was hunted to extinction by Dutch sailors embarking on the island of Mauritius, whether fellow animals outfought them for the limited supply of food, or even if their forest habitat was destroyed. The recent findings point towards the former. What’s missing from this story, though, and perhaps surprisingly so given WMG’s work in the courtroom, is who did it and why. WMG will now put the scan data through a 3D printing system, again for exhibit at the Oxford Museum, while the Museum itself is to coordinate molecular genetic analysis to hopefully locate the region where it was shot and killed. They feel it is important to learn as much about this one, solitary dodo as they can, to better understand a species symbolic of human-induced extinction, and more to the point, work out whether it really is. The respective findings of the dinosaur and the dodo were largely unintentional, but finding new facts and uncovering curious fates are the essence of this kind of research. Research that is increasingly dependent on the ability to visualise and print in 3D.

MEGALOSAURUS JAW 26 : 6

www.tctmagazine.com

093

REIMAGINED DRAGONS 3D SYSTEMS ON DEMAND MANUFACTURING EXPERTS HELP RESTORE UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITE WITH SCAN-TO-CAD WORKFLOW AND SLS PRINTING.

HRP was looking for a restoration solution that would answer the quality, weight, time and cost concerns inherent to the project. In searching for a supplier capable of delivering on all aspects, HRP asked 3D Systems to submit a competitive tender, which it subsequently won on the basis of being able to provide the expertise, technology, quality and scalability required to fulfill the project.

DESIGNING THE DRAGONS

he UNESCO World Heritage Site of Kew Gardens, London, UK is home to The Great Pagoda, a striking 163-foot structure commissioned in 1761 by King George III and built in ornate and highly fashionable Chinoiserie style. Central to the design were the 80 painted wooden dragons that adorned the octagonal corners of each successive level. The talk of the town for more than twenty years, the Kew dragons were removed in the 1780s to accommodate roof repairs to the pagoda and were never replaced. Although rumors allege the dragons served as payment for royal gambling debts, experts believe the wood had simply rotted over time. An often revisited topic for conservationists, The Great Pagoda is finally being returned to its former splendor, dragons and all, for the first time in over 200 years thanks to 3D Systems On Demand Manufacturing Service. As Historic Royal Palaces (HRP) began to explore methodologies for replacing the dragons, it faced a dilemma: not only would wooden replacements invite the same longevity issue as before, but the pagoda had not supported the weight of the dragons for two centuries. “One of the most challenging aspects of this project was to minimise the impact imposed by so many dragons on this grade one listed building,” said Craig Hatto, Project Director at Historic Royal Palaces.

094

26 : 6

www.tctmagazine.com

The Kew dragons were brought to life as a collaborative effort between two sets of specialised designers. The exterior appearance of the dragons was recreated by HRP using the scarce historical information available to achieve the most accurate representation possible. Once designed, a dragon prototype was carved from wood to enable the digital manufacturing workflow that followed, undertaken by the second design and engineering team at 3D Systems. Seven additional wooden dragons were carved to adorn the first level of the pagoda, leaving 72 to be created using SLS printing. Using a reverse engineering workflow and a FARO Design ScanArm, the carved wooden dragon was scanned into a 3D design environment that would allow 3D Systems to address HRP’s concerns regarding weight. 3D Systems’ design experts used a variety of software including Geomagic Design X to reverse engineer the scan data into CAD and hollow the scan data to a controlled thickness, preserving both the exterior details and structural integrity in the process. When combined with the intricate exteriors of the hand cut masters, the resulting hollow geometry was too complex to be manufactured traditionally and required additive manufacturing for production. Using a digital manufacturing workflow also enabled 3D Systems to seamlessly scale the dragons to achieve a slightly different size for levels two through ten of the pagoda. In total, 18 designs were prepared, comprised of nine different dragon sizes and a left- and right-hand version of each. 3D Systems’ engineers incorporated another simple yet compelling feature into each of dragon designs by adding built-in mounting features directly into the CAD files. These designs constituted part of the dragons’ construction designs, and were devised and implemented by 3D Systems’ On Demand Manufacturing team in close collaboration with Hockley & Dawson, the other lead engineering team on the project.

conservation

“The final dragons are essentially a perfect copy of the original, but have been improved upon in a way that is invisible to the observer,” said Nick Lewis, General Manager UK, 3D Systems On Demand Manufacturing. “We engineered internal elements for a secure mounting process, but designed them in such a way as to be completely concealed so no nuts, bolts or traces of construction will be visible.”

HIDDEN BENEFITS OF ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING

 SHOWN: 3D PRINTED DRAGON CREATED USING SLS 3D PRINTING AND DURAFORM PA (NYLON 12) MATERIAL ON A 3D SYSTEMS SPRO 230 PRINTER.

Taking advantage of the ability to design for additive manufacturing, 3D Systems’ On Demand Manufacturing team incorporated a series of screws, threads and covers that follow the exact form of the dragons along the spine. 3D Systems’ engineering expertise is built into each of the 18 different versions of the dragons that were SLS printed. As 3D Systems On Demand Manufacturing Regional Sales Manager Simon Hammond points out, the ability to match precision with variety is a consistent benefit of using additive manufacturing for production. “Many hours of careful engineering work were put into the final designs, but by using a digital workflow with 3D CAD and 3D printing, we are able to frontload the time investment,” Hammond says. “Once final files were ready, we could launch into production with 18 different outcomes without 18 sets of tooling and moulds. Designing and manufacturing the same outcome with good cost and sensible timing would be challenging for any other process.” Following 3D scanning and design, early prototypes of the dragons were printed for analysis and testing to ensure the final designs were built in accordance with the stringent requirements of modern construction. Throughout this process, 3D Systems worked diligently to deliver on the customer’s aesthetic requirements while meeting all the technical requirements of the builders. These considerations came into play as 3D Systems’ engineers determined how to best divide the SLS model for printing as well as position and conceal the various caps and closures for mounting.

PRODUCTION 3D PRINTING FOR HISTORICAL RESTORATION

3D Systems’ On Demand Manufacturing teams in the UK and the Netherlands printed the dragons using SLS technology. Due to the large scale of the dragons, each with final dimensions in the 1.2 – 2-metre range, 3D Systems sPro 230 SLS machines were chosen for the task. With a maximum build volume of 550 mm x 550 mm x 750 mm, the sPro 230 enabled the dragons to be produced in a low

 SHOWN: BRINGING THE DRAGONS BACK TO LIFE

REQUIRED A UNIQUE COMBINATION OF RESEARCH AND REVERSE ENGINEERING - SCANNING A WOODCARVED DRAGON WITH THE FARO DESIGN SCANARM INTO 3D SYSTEMS’ GEOMAGIC DESIGN X REVERSE ENGINEERING SOFTWARE.

number of large pieces that were expertly assembled by the 3D Systems team. The dragons were 3D printed in DuraForm PA, a durable polyamide 12 nylon material capable of producing a comparable look and feel to the original dragons. The resolution and mechanical properties of DuraForm PA make it an ideal candidate for complex parts with thin walls or snap fit requirements. In the case of the Kew dragons, these features suited both the functionality requirement of installation as well as the cosmetic requirements of the historic restoration. Once printed, the dragons were finished and hand painted in the UK by the 3D Systems High Wycombe finishing department. 3D Systems’ team also painted the final wooden dragons to ensure visual consistency across the project. “3D Systems is greatly honored to have been selected for this project,” said Lewis. “In addition to the rare opportunity to help restore a cultural and historical landmark, this project showcases the extreme element of what we do. Our expertise extends far beyond 3D printing and we were able to offer guidance across multiple stages of this restoration, from engineering and scalable production through to finishing.”

26 : 6

www.tctmagazine.com

095

THE DIRECTORY

AddQual, iHub, Infinity Park Way, Derby, Derbyshire, DE24 9FU, United Kingdom +44 (0)1332 742820 www.addqual.com

Key services Verification Qualification Post Processing Tooling design

AddQual panel.indd 1

30/05/2018 13:38

PRODUCT SALES & BUREAU SERVICE High-resolution & Large parts Max dim: 700mm Max build: 500x500x500mm Materials: lots of options

Tel: 01420 88645 www.cdg.uk.com

BUREAU SERVICE & PRODUCT SALES Breuckmann 3D scanners Geomagic software Reverse engineering & inspection Best accuracy & resolution

Tel: 01420 88645 www.reveng.co.uk 096

in g, osi tes Scann C omp ybrid P rinting, 3D ts & H d prin gement, 3d 3 l ls a ra ri ate tructu ject ma na mic M rs in s o W Cera Pionee sign and pr rial n, *NE te De Catia F Ultem ma e cured, Ove C av *NEW tes, Autocl 0deg C 0 osi Comp cured at 10 ce Furna achining m is costs! 6 ax ut the Witho ology n h c Full vehicle to Component F1 Te

Projects

T: +44 (0)1865244003 W: dash-cae.co.uk F:www.facebook.com/DashCae

TO ADVERTISE HERE CONTACT CAROL HARDY ON + 44 1244 952 386 OR EMAIL CAROL@RAPIDNEWS.COM 26 : 6

www.tctmagazine.comâ&#x20AC;&#x192;

THE DIRECTORY

THE DIRECTORY D2W

PRINTING CAD SCANNING

NYLON SLS BATCH PRODUCTION www.digits2widgets.com

THE HOME OF 3D PRINTING & SCANNING

TURNKEY SOLUTIONS FULL BUREAU SERVICE PROFESSIONAL ADVICE

+44 (0)1270 216000

Sales@europac3d.com

www.europac3d.com

- Design - Metal Additive - 3,4 & 5-axis CNC Milling - Multi-axis CNC Turning - EDM Wire Erosion - Assembly www.frazernash.com

enquiries@frazernash.com

+44 (0)1730 230 340

tct_advert_1.pdf 1 19/03/2018 11:07:10

CMY

 INSPECTION  MEASUREMENT  REVERSE ENGINEERING  3D PRINTING

www.laser-scanning.co.uk

E: sales@laser-scanning.co.uk T: +44 (0)114 257 3650

To advertise here and have your business seen by over 10,000 design and manufacturing professionals MAG

Please contact Carol Hardy on +44 (0) 1244 952 386 or email carol@rapidnews.com

TO ADVERTISE HERE CONTACT CAROL HARDY ON + 44 1244 952 386 OR EMAIL CAROL@RAPIDNEWS.COM 26 : 6

www.tctmagazine.com

097

grimm column

DON’T LET BAD APPLES SPOIL PROGRESS WORDS : TODD GRIMM

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

tgrimm@tagrimm.com

rom the TCT Show’s main stage, I spoke of being on the cusp of positive change reflected in a shift in attitudes, beliefs and actions. I believe that we are at a transition point from which the AM industry will continue to build momentum that builds in a way that makes advancing into the future easier with each passing day. Essentially, this shift will accelerate the arrival of the promised future. The crux of this observation is that we are experiencing an alignment amongst all the constituents in the industry. Instead of toiling to discover needed information or to make a technology work for the intended application, vendors are now collectively and proactively working to support the user community by supplying real information, real guidance and purpose-built technologies that open the doors to real opportunities. This is in stark contrast to the days of grand visions and bold claims that showed possibility but offered little support in making them a probability. Working in collaboration to meet a shared objective, information is being produced and exchanged and technologies are being developed to address the needs, wants and desires of the user base. Working in concert, possibilities emerge, and the probability of success grows. However, being on the cusp means that we are transitioning, which in turn means that not all of the vendors are abiding by this new discipline. There are still “bad apples” that will exaggerate the truth, mislead through omissions of fact, or blatantly lie. In a very competitive market where it is hard to stand out and be noticed, the motivation to deceive is comprehensible, but it is no longer acceptable. Those that behave badly to serve their interests alone, in stark contrast to the interests of the AM industry, jeopardise progress by

098

26 : 6

www.tctmagazine.com

undermining the momentum that we are building. While one bad apple won’t spoil progress, if we allow too many to exhibit this bad behaviour, we will suffer from their actions. Rather then pushing beyond the cusp, we could roll backwards and have to regain lost momentum. So it is time to put all AM vendors on notice that we, the AM user community, will no longer tolerate this behaviour. We will not overlook or excuse deceit. As a maturing industry, we expect participants to behave accordingly, maturely. I recognise that there is some degree of salesmanship that will have to be tolerated and that the actions of an individual should not condemn his/her organisation. Therefore, I suggest that we start to communicate bad corporate citizenship where misinformation and dishonesties are part of an organisation’s DNA. To get this movement started, I suggest that you start by telling your peers when you encounter a bad apple. Don’t keep it to yourself, allowing the same thing to happen to others, which allows the rottenness to spread and infect the perceptions of broad swaths of our user base. Alternatively, tweet your experience using the hashtag #AMBadApple.

However, be judicious and don’t act with prejudice. Before conveying an experience, contemplate if the action is indicative of the organisation’s directives or just the character of an individual. For those that want to affect change anonymously, message me through LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com/in/ toddgrimm) to share your experiences. I have no intent of exposing deceit based on a single incident, but if a pattern emerges, I will investigate. Where warranted, I will make the information public. Additionally, I will report, without naming companies, the nature of common misdeeds to offer insights on items that must be diligently examined. AM advances with the successes of the user community; solving problems and creating new opportunities. On the other hand, failures, disappointments and letdowns become setbacks. Working together, and working towards common goals, we will experience far more success. Let’s take control by encouraging and supporting AM vendors that are working with us while discouraging bad behavior that erodes the momentum that has been achieved.

Integrated Solutions Provider and Metal Additive Manufacturing Partner

Visit us in Hall 3.0 at Booth D70

“Rosswag GmbH successfully integrated functionally optimized metal AM into their holistic, in-house process chain beneath forging operations through a trusting cooperation with SLM Solutions.” Gregor Graf Head of Engineering, Rosswag GmbH Learn more about the metal powder cooperation between Rosswag and SLM Solutions: https://goo.gl/6HUssV

SLM Solutions Group AG Estlandring 4 | D-23560 Lübeck Fon +49 451 4060-3000

slm-solutions.com