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Metal Mettle: One year on, Renishaw reasserts its commitment to AM Future Factories: Local Motors drives forward a co-creation revolution RAPID and MACH events in preview
leading product development and additive manufacturing since 1992 tct 20/2
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Volume 20/Issue 2 www.tctmagazine.com
EDITORIAL Editor James Woodcock E: james@rapidnews.com T: + 44 (0) 1829 770037
EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Todd Grimm, T.A. Grimm & Associates, Inc. Jeremy Pullin, Renishaw PLC Dr Joel Segal, Nottingham University Graham Tromans, G. P. Tromans Associates Terry Wohlers, Wohlers Associates Dan Johns, Bloodhound SSC
SALES Advertising Manager Carol Hardy E: carol@rapidnews.com T: + 44 (0) 1829 770037
ART Production & Design Manager Sam Hamlyn E: sam@rapidnews.com T: + 44 (0) 1829 770037 Graphic Designer Adrian Price E: adrian@rapidnews.com T: + 44 (0) 1829 770037 Junior Designer Jonathan Jones E: jonathan.jones@rapidnews.com T: + 44 (0) 1829 770037
PUBLISHER Duncan Wood E: duncan@rapidnews.com T: + 44 (0) 7798 844259
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The TCT Magazine is published bi-monthly by Rapid News Publications Ltd Unit 2, Chowley Court, Chowley Oak Lane, Tattenhall, CH3 9GA, UK. Telephone: + 44 (0) 1829 770037 Fax: + 44 (0) 1829 770047 © 2012 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. ISSN 1751-0333
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!FROM
THE EDITOR
The above title is a précis of what follows in this issue of TCT. Specifically we have: Robots and the Fastest Car in the form of the Bloodhound Column, this month demonstrating how the educational reach of the project is really gaining momentum (pg. 21); Pirates in the news thanks to the use of envisionTEC’s technology by Aardman on the new ‘The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists’ movie (pg. 13); the Fast Car in a 4.5 litre Bentley ‘Blower’ faithfully reproduced with a little help from Solidscape (pgs. 23 & 25); and the Faster Car in the Rally Fighter, Local Motors’ first cocreated automobile being built by the community in Arizona (pgs. 35, 37 & 38).
Also over the pond we take a look at the US market with a guest column from Terry Wohlers and a preview of RAPID 2012. Closer to home we have the MACH exhibition at the NEC in preview as well as a features on reverse engineering, PLM and ERP, and long term data archiving. Away from putting this issue together, I was intrigued by a recent report on carbon capture and the UK government’s prize of £1 billion to the company that finds a way to capture and store the carbon dioxide released when fossil fuels are burned. So called CCS is important to the UK government if it is going to meet its own levels of CO2 reduction in the coming years.
The prize has been offered before, although with different rules. The last round ended with all participants withdrawing from the challenge before any prize monies were awarded. What I really want to know is — do any of our readers have ideas on how this could be achieved? Even in theory, is carbon capture a viable route to reducing CO2 emissions? Equally, is anyone actually drawing up an entry for the £1 billion prize? If so I would love to hear from you. james woodcock Erratum: Please note that the pricing information for Optomec’s range of equipment printed in issue 19/6, page 27 was included in error and has been retracted. Please contact the company directly for the latest pricing information.
FROM THE EDITOR
Robots, Rockets, Pirates, Fast Car, Faster Car, Fastest Car.
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preview: Materialise World Conference
A year after Renishaw plc integrated AM into its business the company re-affirms its commitment to the technology and the industry For more detail, please see page 9.
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Get the most from your AM machine Todd Grimm
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Miniature Masterpiece(s) A look at how Misko Models faithfully recreate stunning sports cars with AM at the heart of the process
column: Robots, rockets, 3D printing and supersonic cars? Could it actually get any better? Dan Johns and Steve Lewis, Bloodhound SSC
feature:
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special focus: Focus on the USA We turn our gaze to the USA, including the US Bureau Locator map, RAPID 2012 preview and Terry Wohlers’ US Focus
News for engineering, product development and manufacturing
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Leading Product Development and Additive Manufacturing since 1992
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US focus
special focus on the USA
case study Minature Masterpiece (s)
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Reverse Engineering A selection of case studies and news highlighting the diverse technologies available to modern reverse engineering projects, and some of the interesting applications that this breeds
Terry Wohlers looks at the state of his home market over in the US Terry Wohlers
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feature: Future Factories Local Motors has teamed up with Siemens PLM to unleash a creative automotive community like no other
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feature: PLM and ERP — Better Together Charles Clarke takes a look at the technology behind the acronyms Charles Clarke
The most pertinent company information from the upcoming manufacturing show in Birmingham, UK
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feature: Why would design and engineering companies implement a long term data archive? Theorem Solutions help to guide us down a path less followed to a data management paradise
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!Cover Star Renishaw Commits to AM It has been quite a year for Renishaw, the FTSE 250 listed engineering technologies business that now employs over 2,700 people globally, over 1,800 of which are located in the UK. Last July it reported record turnover of ÂŁ289 million for its financial year ended June 2011, powered by strong growth in all its key geographic markets, including the UK where sales grew 39%. To meet both manufacturing demand and to advance new R&D projects for all its manufacturing and healthcare related businesses, the company currently has over 100 UK vacancies, and will also employ 24 new apprentices and 30 graduates this summer. For a company that invests so heavily in R&D, the launch of new products is a regular occurrence, but the past year has been significant with the launch of not one, but two wholly new product lines.
Since the acquisition Renishaw has fully integrated the former MTT operations into its new Additive Manufacturing Products Division (AMPD) based in Stone, Staffordshire, and has been focusing on the necessary investments to develop the AM business, providing investments in R&D, product engineering, infrastructure, manufacturing capability, and integrating into its global sales and support network. Current laser melting systems are already benefiting from Renishaw’s influence; from piece part manufacture and production logistics, to a larger product inventory. Ongoing developments include a higher power 1 kW laser system which will be available as an upgrade on the current platform, whilst the next generation products aim to bring additive manufacturing to a wider audience with
With a comprehensive production engineering review of the Renishaw laser melting machines already well under way, Renishaw expects to be well placed to service the increasing demands for this exciting emerging technology through its network of world-wide offices. Both the laser melting machines and new Equator gauging system can be seen on the Renishaw stand at MACH 2012 (Hall 5 stand 5640). Renishaw plc www.renishaw.com
COVER STAR
In March 2011 the company announced its first move into the gauging market, with the launch of its Equator versatile gauge, positioned as a radical alternative to dedicated gauges that significantly cuts the costs of purchase, maintenance and fixturing.
bigger build volumes, greater productivity and improved build economics, all expected to be welcome developments as widespread adoption of AM takes hold.
However, it was Renishaw’s decision to purchase additive manufacturing systems supplier MTT Technologies in April 2011 that raised a few eyebrows amongst industry observers. Yet, for those close to the company, the decision to enter this emerging market seemed very logical. The company has had an in-house Rapid Manufacturing Centre for many years, primarily as part of its new product development process. It uses seven additive manufacturing/rapid prototyping machines, plus a host of complementary processes such as vacuum casting, laser cutting, injection moulding and CNC machining. Renishaw has also been using metal-based AM systems for several years to manufacture cobalt chrome frameworks for its dental business. So, with the experiences gained by Renishaw using AM systems for both design and manufacture, and its years of experience within metal part manufacture, both in-house and at tens of thousands of customer sites worldwide, the acquisition of MTT was in many respects very logical.
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!News
!3D SYSTEMS DELIVERS MEDICAL GRADE MATERIALS TO PDR 3D Systems Corporation has announced that PDR, an experienced UK-based medical modelling organisation, has chosen Accura ClearVue for its medical modelling business. Accura ClearVue is an ultra-clear print material that delivers polycarbonate and ABS-like performance for snap fit applications and meets the rigorous requirements of USP Class VI. Comment: The medical market (in terms of external devices, implantable devices or, as here, medical modelling) continues to be one of the strongest growth areas for AM, with advanced medical grade materials breaking new ground on a seemingly daily basis. Although SLA is the oldest of the technologies in use today, new resin development is keeping the technology at the cutting edge of applications, as demonstrated by PDR’s confidence in the 3D Systems tech. In the metals arena dental, orthopaedic and maxillofacial applications — including the now ubiquitous ‘printed jawbone’ story {http://mytct.co/AMjaw} — are demonstrating the medical market’s newfound confidence in AM. 3D Systems Corporation www.3DSystems.com
Comment: The use of ceramics as an AM material is often overlooked, but the research by Prof. Steve Hoskins and Dave Huson demonstrate that it is a useful addition to the AM armoury. ViriClay allows users to
!VOXELJET REPORTS INCREASED DEMAND FOR ALL-IN-ONE SYSTEMS “In the system business, we are noting the positive effect of our numerous international sales cooperation arrangements. Demand for all-in-one 3D print systems from foreign markets has increased significantly”, explained Rudolf Franz, COO of voxeljet technology GmbH, recently. Customers from the automotive industry make up a big part of this demand. Particularly the R&D area, which requires small batches of prototypes and pre-series parts, places great value on the advantages offered by rapid and tool-less mould production directly from CAD data. Comment: Company order books are looking healthy across the board, and the involvement of a global super-industry like automotive is always a welcome sign. Where medical applications seem to be gaining approval all the time, the slow march into
print rapid prototypes in porcelain ceramic, and fire them to 1200°C, which in turn allows testing of glazes on prototyped items. It’s exciting to see how well academia and industry can work together to develop and commercialise new materials. Viridis 3D LLC www.viridis3d.com
automotive and aerospace is still facing significant hurdles. The need for larger parts, more consistent properties and the high real-world operating costs are among the most oft-quoted. Voxeljet’s technology could be seen as a ‘bridge’ technology for direct metal AM — the flexibility of AM with the reliability of a cast end part — while also retaining its unique abilities when dealing with large tool-less mould production.
NEWS
!VIRIDIS3D ANNOUNCES LICENSE AGREEMENT FOR VIRICLAY Viridis3D LLC and University of the West of England, Bristol (UWE) are pleased to announce that they have entered in to a license agreement granting Viridis3D the exclusive rights to market ViriClay, a 3D printable ceramic material developed by Professor Steve Hoskins and Dave Huson of UWE’s Centre for Fine Print Research.
Voxeljet www.voxeljet.com
Video: VistaTek tests the toughness of its top eight AM materials: http://mytct.co/VistaTest
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!News
!UK ARTIST DANIEL HILLDRUP 3D PRINTS ‘FRAGMENTS IN TIME’ Daniel Hilldrup, Artist in Residence at the London Metropolitan University, has unveiled new Objet 3D printed artwork in a series titled 'Fragments in Time', which he describes as ‘contemporary fossils’.
the main characters prototypes. The film was produced on time and within budget with the help of this latest technology. Comment: Another AM technology, another application! Although seemingly a million miles away from the medical, aerospace or automotive industries, this ‘characterful’ application shows that the strengths of AM Flux and Aquiform in Rest were produced on an Objet Connex 3D Printer, making use of its unique capability of printing multiple materials and properties in a single print run, allowing Hilldrup to simulate movement and fluidity in his first piece ‘Flux’. “Necessity being the mother of invention, I’m often influenced and motivated by technology, so I keep an ear to the ground for new technologies,” stated Hilldrup. “I first heard about Objet multimaterial 3D printing and thought ‘wow – this is a game changer’. It was the Objet Connex technology that inspired these pieces. For example, without the multimaterial aspect it would not have been possible to print the Flux candelabra, and if I was to produce it via traditional methods – casting it in a block of glass – it would be a very difficult thing to achieve, and there would be a loss of control over the final piece.”
translate across industries. Here, one-off, highly accurate models are needed quickly in a relevant material — exactly the same sort of challenges facing the medical industry except this time, strict anatomical correctness is less of an issue… envisionTEC www.envisiontec.com
Comment: Objet are experts in finding and promoting new uses for their multimaterial print technology, perhaps one of the contributing factors to the rumours in the press that the Israel-based outfit is “holding acquisition talks with a large electronics corporation”. Further ‘analysis’ has taken place on Twitter, with the company in question touted by some as Hewlett-Packard. HP already have a relationship with Stratasys, selling the Minneapolis-based company’s FDM technology as the Designjet3d. Could this announcement mark the start of another turbulent year for the industry, or are reports way off the mark? Only time will tell, certainly Objet are keeping schtum. Objet www.objet.com
Ultra-high-res 3D Printer Breaks Speed-Records at TU Vienna: http://mytct.co/viennacar
NEWS
!ENVISIONTEC SUPPORTS AARDMAN'S LATEST FEATURE "THE PIRATES! IN AN ADVENTURE WITH SCIENTISTS" For their latest feature film, "The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists", Aardman chose the envisionTEC Perfactory Standard machine as their first choice for 3D printing of the heads and mouths of the characters. The mouths needed to be highly accurate and interchangeable, all exactly fitting the characters’ heads. With so many mouths required during filming, the system needed to run 24/7 and be capable of producing hundreds of pieces every day. envisionTEC UK supplied Aardman with four Perfactory Standard machines, all set to produce the mouths within 30 micron accuracy running the E-Shell range of materials. Aardman started work in 2009 manufacturing maquettes and heads with interchangeable mouths for all
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!News !LUXION RELEASES KEYSHOT 3.1: REAL-TIME ENVIRONMENT EDITING, METALLIC PAINT AND MORE Luxion, a developer of advanced rendering and lighting technology and maker of KeyShot is releasing KeyShot 3.1 and with it real-time environment editing features. Keyshot 3.1 marks the first major update of the release that introduced a patent-pending animation system, a revamped user interface and over 600 new
@tinkercad is a browser-based 3D design tool for makers, DIYers, crafters and kids! Design real things that come out of the 3D printer!
materials. This update introduces timesaving new features and improvements including a new, reportedly unique metallic paint material, interactive HDR editing that allows real-time editing of the lighting environments, material templates that allow 3D professionals to ‘auto-paint’ their models, network rendering to queue render jobs and spread them across multiple computers and more. Peter Kossev of PixelMathematics had this to say about KeyShot 3.1: “It is pure
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pleasure to work with KeyShot. The environment editor is so well integrated and the results are simply great. This was already a great product, but now is really a complete product. And together with the animation package, it is just one fantastic tool that leaves everyone else in the dust.” Luxion ApS www.keyshot.com
!AUTODESK ENTERS PLM WITH CLOUD-BASED OFFERING Autodesk has announced the availability of PLM 360, a cloud-based ‘alternative’ to the current crop of PLM solutions that offers a competitive pricing structure. Unlike traditional PLM systems which Autodesk describes as “historically... expensive and complicated” - Autodesk PLM 360 is instant-on and easily configurable to meet customer-specific product-lifecycle process needs across the enterprise. Autodesk also claims that it is the first cloud-based PLM solution focused on business applications beyond engineering and bill of material management. As a result, employees in a range of roles can better access product and project-related information that helps them continuously improve the products they design and manufacture. Full Story — http://mytct.co/adsk360
NEWS
Autodesk www.autodesk.com !IDAC: YOUR ENGINEERING ANALYSIS PARTNER With experience in Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE), Finite Element Analysis (FEA), Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and the ANSYS engineering software suite, IDAC has encouraged the development and application of simulation methods to solve the most demanding engineering problems in every major physics discipline, across a very broad range of industries. As a value-added reseller of ANSYS simulation software, IDAC provides engineering analysis software sales, consultancy, training and technical services to a variety of global and UK customers using FEA and CFD software. If you would like to know more about the services and products offered by IDAC, visit the free Simulation Open Day on 26th April 2012 or 19th July 2012. IDAC www.idac.co.uk
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Get the Most from Your AM Machine Words | Todd Grimm
The Pareto principle (AKA the 80/20 rule) is a little bit generous when it comes to the additive manufacturing industry.
barriers to direct digital manufacturing (DDM). When someone assumes that an injection moulded part needs the same material properties, same batch size and same annual production volume, DDM doesn’t stand a chance.
About eight years ago, a good friend of mine — who has since left the industry — shared his field experience and his concerns with what he observed. He vented his frustration with what he saw day in and day out: operators that knew little more than the basics; operators that just use defaults to get acceptable parts out the door.
If no one questions why, nothing changes. Now, if you are ready to get more out of that AM machine, you will have to put more into it, especially if you have future DDM plans.
His take was that only 10 percent of all users build parts with more than the basic, default build styles. Eight years has not changed anything. From conversations with applications engineers and product managers, I’ve learned that this still holds true. Someone needs parts, so files are prepped with stock styles and built with whatever material is in the machine at the moment.
The attendees at this event fell into one of two camps. Either they were advanced users (ten-percenters) willing to share what they know, or they were part of the majority but with a desire to go beyond run-of-the-mill system operation. They are hungry to learn more; to do more.
This MO (modus operandi) produces passable parts but leaves so much of additive manufacturing’s value untouched. It also leads people to believe that this is the best that can be done, which can result in less demand.
Throughout the conference, I heard exclamations such as “I didn’t know I can do that” or “I didn’t know that material existed.” This is evidence that there is so much more to learn.
Ninety-percenters limit the applications, reduce the value, diminish the return on investment (ROI) and impede progress or innovation. While additive manufacturing holds claim to design freedom, endless possibilities and product innovation, defaulting to basic operations throttles all three.
Your Return on Invested Time What drives those people? Why do they invest time and energy to learn better ways to build parts? It is simple; they know that advanced knowledge and advanced operations will help them to be better, faster and cheaper.
I know, you are already pressed for time. But I encourage you to realise the full potential of your machines by committing to applying what time you can find to getting more out them.
GRIMM COLUMN
Mingling with Users My attendance at the Additive Manufacturing Users Group (AMUG) conference has confirmed the reports from application engineers. At this gathering, topics and conversations were focused on how to do things right with an explanation of why.
Stock build styles and general-purpose materials do a fair job of balancing these three goals. But they will not produce exceptional results by any measure. Knowing more about the machines and materials, and putting that knowledge to use, allows you to tune the qualities of the part — strength, accuracy, finish and feature detail — minimise the total process time and reduce material consumption.
Stop or Read On If you can answer the following question, read no further. You are in at least the twenty-fifth percentile. “Why do you do what you do?” In other words, what is the rationale behind your build styles and material choice? “Because that is the way we always have done it,” is not an acceptable answer. If you must read on, don’t feel bad. You are in the majority. You are like most others when it comes to additive manufacturing as well as traditional manufacturing processes and everyday software applications. For example, a status quo operation is one of the
While there is a sense of pride in this achievement, the return on your time investment will be measured by an increase in demand for AM parts and a broadening of the applications for which it can be used. This, in turn, increases the ROI for the additive manufacturing system. That may be the greatest reward. While you and all your associates know the value of having the continued on page 19
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The Materialise World Conference:
technology in-house, others are probably questioning the expense of owning and operating it. Unless you work for a small company or have an inexpensive system, I can almost guarantee that someone in management is questioning why you don’t outsource the work.
April 18-20 in Leuven, Belgium
Without clear value, that question can result in a loss of your beloved technology. So, knowing more and doing more increases the value of in-house additive manufacturing, which further justifies its existence. More and better parts with more applications makes AM a must-have.
If you want to join the ten-percent club, first commit to finding or making the time to expand beyond the status quo. Then rally some management support to send you to vendor-supplied training. If you’ve never had a class, start with the introductory training. You may know most of what they teach, but you will pick up techniques that you’ve never used. Once that’s complete, rally support to send you to an advanced course. When back in the office, commit to spending a little extra time reviewing parts with an eye on the application to find a better way. Also, commit to using what you learned in class every day. Without practice, the education will be forgotten. Before or after the classroom education, find others with your technology and start trading experiences, tips and tricks. You can do this through your personal network or through an event like TCT Live or the AMUG conference. The last commitment is to experimentation. Try new settings and options when you have a bit of capacity (your time and the machine’s) to try something new when a failure can be treated as a learning experience. I know you don’t have free time for all of this commitment. In your day-to-day activities, you have to set priorities. Amongst all the parts to build, fires to put out and meetings to attend, I hope that you place a high priority on expanding your additive manufacturing skills. That can be the difference between having a simple modeling tool or a powerful production machine. Todd Grimm is President of T. A. Grimm and Associates, an AM-focused consultancy. www.tagrimm.com
During the Materialise World Conference, experts from around the world will be brought together to experience and discuss the technology and solutions that are already starting to make this revolution a reality. During the three-day conference, participants will discuss how they can contribute to a world: • where designers are empowered to create better products, • where doctors are empowered to provide better treatment though customised medical solutions, • where biomedical experts are empowered to take their research to the next level, • where manufacturers are empowered to better serve and support their customers, • where consumers are empowered to create something personal through their involvement in the design process. Specialised tracks will be pursued in the summits below: The Materialise Automotive Summit (April 18-19): From Vision to Precision The current use of Additive Manufacturing (AM) in the automotive industry is just the tip of the iceberg compared to the potential for this technology. Come and discover how other companies are applying these technologies and breaking down the barriers. The Materialise Additive Manufacturing Summit (April 18-19): Game Changing in Manufacturing See how design driven manufacturing is revolutionising industries. AM cannot only decrease time-to-market, but it is also a cost competitive alternative to manufacturing. Find out how to decrease the number of components required, compact designs to limit space, use internal structures to reduce weight, and gain design freedom. tct 20/2
The Medical Innovation Conference (April 18-20): Engineering on Anatomy With the technology Materialise provides to medical device manufacturers and biomedical engineers, patients are already receiving personalised implants. See how others are using patient-specific 3D anatomical data; from medical imaging (CT or MRI) in their R&D, to better medical devices and procedures. The Research & Technology Track (April 20): Performance Increases in Metal AMTechnologies See examples of how R&D is opening up new opportunities and transforming theory into practice within the world of metal AM. Presentations will be given by experts from companies, universities, and international organisations. Taking the Podium at the Materialise World Conference Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council, will speak on the opening day of the conference. His speech will mark the official opening of Materialise’s third building and will follow a presentation by Materialise’s CEO, Wilfried Vancraen. Both men believe in the power of happiness, with Herman Van Rompuy encouraging world leaders to make happiness and well-being a political priority in 2012 and Wilfried Vancraen working towards a better, healthier, and happier world through Additive Manufacturing.
MATERIALISE PREVIEW
Moving Forward The threshold for becoming a ten-percenter is actually quite low. You don’t need to be superior. You just need to do more than the basics. While the threshold is low, it may not be easy to surmount.
Other speaker highlights include presentations from Google, Bloodhound SCC, McLaren, EADS (Airbus), and many more. Presenting a Fashion Show like No Other The catwalks of Paris, London, and New York may dominate in the world of haute couture, but a special catwalk in Leuven is set to dominate in the world of 3D Printing. www.materialise.com/mwc2012
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Robots, rockets, 3D printing and supersonic cars? Could it actually get any better? platforms, but also provide them with open–source applications which help them learn faster by minimising the cost barriers… this technology has to connect with the next generation, before they get taught conventional engineering methods.”
How often do you find yourself wishing you were 14 again? Space hoppers and Chopper bikes aside: not all that often I bet. However, that’s exactly the sort of musing that some of the work currently being done in education has been provoking. Hardly surprising as ‘its not like it was in our day’. The land speed record rules mean the car has to do two runs within an hour. Between the runs the rocket has to be changed for the return run. City of Bristol College lectures used that as the inspiration to create an integrated learning experience. The robotic rocket swap project brings together many of the engineering challenges along with a practical problem for the Bloodhound team. As great an activity as it most certainly is, the really interesting bit is how it was delivered as a result of working in collaboration with industry and a unique engineering project. Consequently this work will be made widely available via the internet on an opensource basis, with all organisations involved posting the CAD models, detail drawings and STL files for free download. Dan Johns, Bloodhound University Program Leader, said: “It’s very exciting to help schools and colleges to not only use 3D Printing
So how did this all come about? There are a number of players involved but here it is in a nutshell: • Bloodhound Education Team meet with City of Bristol College lecturers Tim Nutman and Joe Sklenar and scope out the project concept • Tim and Joe produce a working model which is displayed at a Bloodhound sponsors event • 3D Systems Bits From Bytes are also there and donate a BFB3000 on long term loan to help with further development work • Bloodhound Education Team secures funding from LSIS (Learning and Skills Improvement Service) to be released to colleges producing Bloodhound related educational materials • City of Bristol College successfully apply for the funding which enables Tim and Joe to further develop the activity • 3D Systems Bits From Bytes, Bloodhound Education Team, LSIS and COBC all have a great resource available for free download
BLOODHOUND COLUMN
Words | Dan Johns and Steve Lewis @ Bloodhound SSC
As with any collaborative initiative, the success of this is down to each organisation having a champion to drive it forward. None worked harder than Tim Nutman and Joe Sklenar, the lecturers who put in the hours of design and testing to make the concept a reality. Using their experience with 14-19 year old learners they have created something that will hopefully go some way towards inspiring the next generation of engineers and designers. Industry partnering with education: it’s a powerful thing. Probably why we have noticed in our travels that this is an increasing trend. It seems that recently many more companies are placing a higher importance on engaging with the education community. With the widening skills gap in the UK and work experience becoming non-mandatory for secondary schools this is a timely awakening. tct 20/2
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Masterpiece(s) SolidScape last came to the forefront of the AM industry almost one year ago when it was acquired by Stratasys in a transaction worth around $38 million. Soon afterwards TCT’s Duncan Wood visited the Merrimack set up to see for himself the changes in place. One of the most startling revelations was that 25% of Solidscape’s machines — known for their high-accuracy wax-based printing — were active outside of the jewellery industry, an industry closely linked to Solidscape in the minds of the AM community. This represented around 1000 machines active in areas as diverse as medical applications, electronics and toy development. Two companies that know all too well how important Solidscape’s accuracy is outside of the jewellery industry are Misko Models and Horbach GmbH. Misko — who proclaim that they
make “Simply the best carmodels in the world” — employ Horbach for casting work on the stunning scale replicas. Misko Models have recreated one of motoring’s most distinguished icons, a 1931 Bentley 4.5 litre ‘Blower’, at 1:5 ratio. Weighing in at a substantial 24 kg this is not to be confused with a toy — this is a serious piece of kit that fuses the very best in precision manufacturing techniques and the unmistakable love of a craftsman. Exhibited in the flesh at Euromold last December, the car drew wave after wave of admiring stares from the aisles — and it’s not difficult to see why. The original Bentley Blower was somewhat of an unwanted success from the point of view of Bentley, given that their mantra when introducing the 4.5 litre (succeeding the 3 litre) was “There’s no replacement for tct 20/2
The 7,300 ‘miniature masterpieces’ on the ‘Blower’ allow: -
Workable steering Adjustable ignition Workable choke on steering wheel Workable gearstick Motor hood can be opened Fuel tank cap and radiator cap can be opened Wheels can be removed by central lock nut (with original tooling) Workable handbrake Workable brake and clutch Moveable windscreen Doors can be opened Seats can be removed to access the bottom Workable car jack
CASE STUDY
Miniature
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displacement!” — the Bentley founder, W. O. Bentley preferred to increase the engine size over any forced induction systems. Luckily for history, one of the ‘Bentley Boys’, Sir Henry Birkin, decided to try it anyway, producing five supercharged models to compete at the Le Mans endurance race at Le Circuit de la Sarthe. Misko took around 18 months to painstakingly recreate the Blower down to the smallest possible detail. While the input of the highly trained craftsmen remains at the heart of the model making process, AM technology — specifically Solidscape’s high-accuracy process — can push the models to new limits of precision and faithful replication. The Misko model is comprised of 7,300 individual parts that are so accurate that they carry the original Bentley part numbers! A replica of the original tool kit, including working jack, was also included in the project. With an estimated 34 original vehicles still in existence, this project has as much importance for the heritage of the 4.5 litre Blower as for the developments in model making facilitated by AM.
aluminium, brass, bronze, nickelsilver (copper/nickel/zinc alloy) from the wax cores, all with excellent surface finish and accuracy. For this type of work absolute speed is not of the highest importance — it is most important to get the quality as high as possible, which is what we always strive to do.” Much of the casting for critical engine components was undertaken by Horbach GmbH based from models created on Solidscape machines. Precision was of paramount importance for the model’s many moving parts such as the workable brake, clutch, choke and adjustable ignition — more so than on the original even, which had scale on its side. Christian Müller CEO at Horbach explained: “The quality of parts we can create using the Solidscape 3D printer are beyond what we could previously achieve with other AM systems, CNC machining and even skilled handwork. We believe that the quality of the parts is now the best in the world. Every detail, down to custommade screws, is bespoke to this product; nothing ‘off-the-shelf ’ was used in the model’s creation. “We do a lot of work now for Misko, and the capability of the Solidscape machine for use with the lost-wax casting process is central to that. We have cast from tct 20/2
Fabio Esposito, Vice President, Worldwide Sales and Marketing at Solidscape explained: “This stunning Bentley model was a huge hit at the Euromold show in Frankfurt, Germany. When precision counts, top professionals count on Solidscape. This is a fitting example of how Misko Models and Horbach GmbH employed our industry-leading precision in 3D printing to create this model masterpiece.
CASE STUDY
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Specification of the original car: - Chassis-Number MS 3931 - Motor-Number MS 3931 - License plate FS 1179 - Year build: May 1931 - Type of body: Saloon W - Body maker: Gurney Nutting - First owner: James F. Bryson
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US Focus Every year at around this time TCT looks West, across the Atlantic to the New World. With the Additive Manufacturing Users Group (AMUG) and the SME’s RAPID expo on the horizon it’s a great time to take stock and compare and contrast Europe and its American cousins. It’s a lazy stereotype to say that Americans love to do things BIG, but sometimes it’s just the truth. With 3D Systems growing at an unprecedented rate (something that has the business media and stock-tippers all a fluster), Stratasys still growing and now rumours of a possible HP/Objet tie-up (which at the time of going to print was unconfirmed with no comment offered by the Israeli outfit), it’s all about growth in the USA. When it comes to events however, Europe
still has the edge on size. Euromold and TCT Live overshadow the US events by orders of magnitude, but the reasons are more complex than they first appear. For a start Euromold is a mouldmaking and tooling show, which happens to have a large AM community. Admittedly even Hall 11 of the Messe Frankfurt (the home of AM at Euromold) is vast compared to the US competition. Amerimold is also a more diverse show than the likes of TCT Live and RAPID, and the AMUG is a conference led event with very strict entry rules. Despite the relative lack of size, RAPID remains a must-attend event for anyone in the US, and an increasingly large swathe of Europeans, and it is still the best place to meet the US players face-to-face. The tireless Event Adivisory Committee comprised of Kevin Ayers (Federal Bureau tct 20/2
of Investigation (FBI)); Andy Christensen (Medical Modeling Inc.); TCT’s own columnist Todd Grimm (T. A. Grimm & Associates); David Leigh (Harvest Technologies Corp.); and Graham Tromans (G. P. Tromans Associates) have the knowledge and enthusiasm to ensure that year-on-year visitors and exhibitors leave the RAPID event educated, entertained and ready to make AM work for them. As mentioned above, the AMUG is a more difficult event to pigeonhole — it is conference-led, but incorporates elements of a traditional expo event, networking event and hands-on training. It will for the first time be opening its doors in earnest to users of all AM equipment, which is a fantastically exciting prospect for the industry.
US FOCUS
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Additive Manufacturing in the United States The US is still the largest economy for additive manufacturing (AM) products and services. Our research shows that it outpaces other countries by a large margin. An estimated 36.9% of all industrial AM systems sold worldwide in 2010 went to organisations in the US. This compares to Germany’s 14.7% (second after the US) and the UK’s 2.6% (number seven). When considering cumulative installations (1988–2010), the US had 41.1% of all industrial systems installed worldwide. The country with the second most cumulative installations is Japan, with 10.2%. Data for 2011 will be available in May 2012.
new parts are qualified and certified for flight. Meanwhile, GE Aviation is excited about the future of building complex metal parts by additive manufacturing. The company plans to use additive manufacturing to produce two metal parts, a fuel injector and a leading edge for fan blades, for its gas turbine jet engines by early next year. These parts will be in full-scale production by 2016, with runs in the thousands. Robert McEwan, general manager of Airfoils and Manufacturing Technologies at GE Aviation, believes that within our lifetime, at least 50% of the engine will be made by additive manufacturing.
I’ve seen more interest in AM by the US government over the past year than ever before. In November 2011, the White House initiated a project to look at a wide range of implications associated with the technology and its future impact. As part of a March 2012 press release issued by the White House, AM was discussed as one of three areas of opportunity in product development and manufacturing.
Morris Technologies has become the “go to” company in the US for services associated with the production of metal parts by additive manufacturing. Morris and its sister company, Rapid Quality Manufacturing, are now running 20 direct metal laser sintering machines from EOS. Most recently, Morris added an electron beam melting system from Arcam to its impressive capacity.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and other national labs are increasing their experience and capacity in additive manufacturing. One of them hosted an intriguing AM event in February 2012 involving highlevel officials across many agencies in Washington. The intelligence community is looking at possible threats associated with using AM in adverse ways.
The Additive Manufacturing Consortium (AMC) is a US organisation launched recently by EWI. According to Ian Harris, AMC director, the consortium was developed in response to a need for collaboration, including design allowable data. The focus of the AMC is to advance the manufacturing readiness of AM technologies and to generate precompetitive data to benefit its members. The AMC consists of 33 partners from the private sector, US government, and research. Among them are the Boeing, GE, General Dynamics, Goodrich, Honeywell, Lockheed Martin, Morris Technologies, Northrop Grumman, Rolls-Royce, and Sciaky. US government agencies involved are the Air Force, Army, NASA, Navair, and NIST. The AMC also includes many research and business partners.
ASTM International Committee F42 on Additive Manufacturing Technologies is more active than ever. The committee was launched in 2009 and has already published four standards, with many new ones in the works. Among the US organisations involved are Boeing, EWI, GE Aviation, Harvest Technologies, Georgia Tech, Goodrich, Honeywell, Lockheed Martin, Medical Modeling, Morris Technologies, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), RapidTech, the University of Louisville, and the University of Texas.
The RepRap community, which started at the University of Bath in the UK, has taken on a life of its own. Today, many small US companies and individuals are creating RepRap parts, subassemblies, and kits. An example is Aleph Objects, Inc., a company that offers a range of RepRap products, such as stepper motors, controller boards, power supplies, and nozzles. It also produces a fully assembled and tested LulzBot Pruza Mendel 2.0 (RepRap) machine for $1,200. The company is located just 19 km (12 miles) from Wohlers Associates, although I have not yet visited the company.
The launch of new AM system manufacturers in the US continues. A seven-person startup company named Asiga, based in Southern California, introduced a very small 3D printer called Pico at EuroMold 2011 in December. The $7,000 system uses DLP and LED technology to solidify thin layers of photopolymer. Essential Dynamics has introduced a syringe-based 3D printer called Imagine for $2,995 at the January International Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2012) in Las Vegas, Nevada. Similar to the Fab@Home machine developed at Cornell University, the Imagine system is capable of extruding many types of materials, including silicone, epoxy, organics, cheese, and chocolate. Fabrisonic is a new company that was launched recently. It is a joint venture between EWI, an engineering consulting and manufacturing technologies company, and Solidica, Inc., the company that originally developed ultrasonic additive manufacturing (UAM) technology. UAM is a sheet lamination process that ultrasonically welds metal tapes to form parts. The process integrates CNC machining to ensure a good surface finish and fine detail. The aerospace industry continues to influence innovation in additive manufacturing. Boeing now has 200 part numbers on 10 production aircraft. These numbers are expected to increase as
US FOCUS
Words | Terry Wohlers, Wohlers Associates, Inc.
The speed at which RepRap and related projects have developed, and the number of kits and systems being purchased, is nothing short of astounding. At the same time, I’m seeing a lot of disconnect between the RepRap community and the established additive manufacturing industry. To some degree, neither group wants to acknowledge the significance, or even the existence, of the other. I certainly do not share this view because I believe both are quite interesting and important. Interest in additive manufacturing is at an all-time high, especially in the mainstream press and among bloggers. Recent stories have appeared in USA Today, Forbes, and Bloomberg BusinessWeek, and more are on the way. This is generating interest among those who are not familiar with the technology. This, in turn, is creating a new level of excitement, followed by new ideas and pockets of funding. The snowball continues to roll and swell in size, and there’s no end in sight.
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RPDG, Inc. - HQ Tel 001 (619) 270-1116 Web www.RPDG.com
Solid Concepts Inc. Tel 001 (888) 311-1017 Web www.solidconcepts.com
RPDG, Inc. - Silicon Valley Tel 001 (408) 230-5890 Web www.RPDG.com
RPDG, Inc. - Northwest Tel 001 (503) 313-9553 Web www.RPDG.com
Solid Concepts Inc. Tel 001 (888) 311-1017 Web www.solidconcepts.com Quickparts Tel 001 (770) 901-3200 Web www.quickparts.com
Armstrong Mold Tel 001 (315) 437-1517 Web www.armstrongmold.com
Solid Concepts Inc. Tel 001 (888) 311-1017 Web www.solidconcepts.com
Solid Concepts Inc. Tel 001 (888) 311-1017 Web www.solidconcepts.com
RPDG, Inc. - Midwest Tel 001 (815) 321-1511 Web www.RPDG.com
RPDG, Inc. - Southeast Tel 001 (843) 676 5834 Web www.RPDG.com
3Dproparts Tel 001 (877) 337-7672 Outside US 001 (931) 762 6004 Web www.3Dproparts.com
C.Ideas Tel 001 (847) 639-1000 Web www.buildparts.com
RPDG, Inc. - Northeast Tel 001 (860) 488-1467 Web www.RPDG.com
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tct 20/2 Contact: Mike Littrell Location: 125 Erick Street Suite #115, Crystal Lake, IL 60014 Tel: 001 (847) 639-1000 E-mail: info@buildparts.com Web: www.buildparts.com Year Established: 1998 RPD Equipment (In House): FDM, Polyjet, MJM, SLA, Urethane Online Quotation/File Upload Service: Yes Typical Turnaround Time: 1 to 3 Days Average Shipping Time: Standard or Priority Overnight Comment: With over 19 in house FDM and Polyjet machines, C.Ideas is a leader in providing quality on-time prototypes and DDM services.
C.Ideas
Contact: Customer Service Location: Valencia CA, Poway CA, Tucson AZ, Austin TX, Troy MI Tel: 001 (888) 311-1017 Email: info@solidconcepts.com Web: www.solidconcepts.com Year Established: 1991 RPD Equipment (In House): SLA, PolyJet, SLS, DMLS, FDM, CNC, Cast Urethane, CompositeCast, FRP, RTM, Tooling, Injection Molding Online Quotation/File Upload Service: RapidQuotes Instant Online Quotes & Account Management Typical Turnaround Time: 2-5 days Average Shipping Time: FedEx Overnight
US FOCUS
Contact: Brian Ford Location: 301 Perimeter Center North, Suite 500, Atlanta, Georgia 30346 Tel: US: 001 (877) 521-8683 / Outside US: 001 (770) 901-3200 Email: quote@quickparts.com Web: www.quickparts.com Year Established: 1999 RPD Equipment (In House): SLA, SLS, 3D Printing, Cast Urethane, CNC Machining, Injection Molding Online Quotation/File Upload Service: Instant Online Quoting Typical Turnaround Time: 1-5 business days Average Shipping Time: Priority Overnight Comment: Powered by 3D Systems, Quickparts offers patented instant online quoting and a wide variety of solutions. Experts in Rapid Prototyping, CNC Machining, and Injection molding. Get your quote today..
Quickparts
Contact: Bob Summa Location: East Syracuse, NY Tel: 001 (315) 437-1517 Email: sales@armstrongmold.com Web: www.armstrongmold.com Year Established: 1969 RPD Equipment (In House): Yes Online Quotation/File Upload Service: Yes Typical Turnaround Time: 1-5 weeks Average Shipping Time: 1-3 days Comment: Functional Metal and Plastic Prototypes.
Contact: Tom Mueller Location: 333 Three D Systems Circle, Rock Hill, SC 29730 Tel: US: 001 (877) 337-7672 / Outside US: 001 (931) 762-6004 Email: info@3dproparts.com Web: www.3Dproparts.com Year Established: 2009 RPD Equipment (In House): SLA, SLS, 3D Printing, Rapid Casting of Urethane and Metals, QuickCast, MQast, Voxeljet Online Quotation/File Upload Service: Instant Online Quoting Typical Turnaround Time: 1 - 5 business days Average Shipping Time: Priority Overnight Comment: Powered by 3D Systems, the additive manufacturing pioneer and leader.
Solid Concepts Inc.
Armstrong Mold
3Dproparts
Northeast Contact: John Christin Location: New Milford, CT Tel: 001 (860) 488-1467 Email: ProjectsNE@RPDG.com Typical Turnaround Time: 5 Days Midwest Contact: Jim Hill Location: Chicago, IL Tel: 001 (815) 321-1511 Email: ProjectsMW@RPDG.com Typical Turnaround Time: 6 Days Southeast Contact: Jonathan Wilke Location: Florence, SC Tel: 001 (843) 676-5834 Email: ProjectsSE@RPDG.com Typical Turnaround Time: 7 Days
HQ Contact: Customer Service Location: San Diego, CA Tel: 001 (619) 270-1116 Email: ProjectsSoCal@RPDG.com Typical Turnaround Time: 2 Days Silicon Valley Contact: Steve Edgington Location: Silicon Valley, CA Tel: 001 (408) 230-5890 Email: ProjectsSV@RPDG.com Typical Turnaround Time: 3 Days Northwest Contact: Jesse Lea Location: Portland, OR Tel: 001 (503) 313-9553 Email: ProjectsNW@RPDG.com Typical Turnaround Time: 4 Days
Web: www.RPDG.com Year Established: 2003 RPD Equipment (In House): Hi-Res SLA, Polyjet, Hi-Speed CNC, EDM, Injection Molding, Laser Cutting, Urethane Casting Online Quotation/File Upload Service: Rapid Quote - www.RPDG.com or Quotes@RPDG.com Average Shipping Time: Over night (FedEx, UPS) Comment: RPDG provides prototype and short-run production of plastic, metal, and elastomer parts. Our global ISO registered facilities offer exceptional quality, service and speed.
Rapid Product Development Group, Inc.
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MAY 22-25, 2012 Hyatt Regency, Atlanta, Georgia
PREVIEW Who is exhibiting?
3D Systems Advanced RP American Foundry Society American Precision Prototyping LLC Applied Technology Integration Arcam AB Armstrong Mold Corp BJB Enterprises Inc C Ideas Inc Capture 3D Inc CGI 3D Scanning CCAT Inc Creaform 3d Delcam Delta Micro Factory Corp Desktop Engineering Direct Dimensions Inc DSM Somos EMS, Inc envisionTEC Inc EOS of North America Ex One Company Faro Technologies Inc Geomagic Inc Harvest Technologies Hexagon Metrology Inc Innovative Polymers Inc Innovmetric Software InTech Industries Inc Invest Cast Inc Jesse Garant & Associates Konica Minolta Sensing USA Materialise USA Materialise USA Mcor Technologies Medical Modeling Inc Morris Technologies Inc Motorola Solutions netfabb GmbH Nikon Metrology Inc North Star Imaging Inc Objet Geometries Product Development Solutions RPDG Inc Rapidform Inc Renishaw Inc RePliForm Robotic Solutions Roland DGA Saguenay Foundry SensAble Technologies Inc ShapeGrabber Inc Silicones Inc SLM Solutions GmbH Society of Manufacturing Engineers Solid Concepts Inc SIMT Steinbichler Vision Systems Stratasys Inc TCT Magazine Tebis America Inc Technique Inc VacuCoat Technologies Vista Technologies LLC Wenzel America Ltd WTWH Media
Stand 120 239 350 212 344 326 152 114 327 308 101 237 301 248 242 341 312 215 207 110 109 220 302 320 145 103 332 214 240 238 311 305 201 113 126 348 107 233 149 316 317 226 236 209 306 141 137 249 322 213 200 319 333 102 140 133 138 328 132 241 309 331 150 232 300 337
Who is speaking? As ever the keynotes and conference sessions are an itegral part of the RAPID event, and this year boasts a strong line up of globally respected speakers from a myriad of applications and processes. The Keynotes kick off on Wednesday morning with Paul Doe, Chief Designer at Prodrive Rally Programs with a presentation entitled Rapid Results: Prodrive's Development of the MINI John Cooper Works World Rally Car. Prodrive have been very open about the use of both AM and CAD software systems in their design, development and manufacturing processes, and Paul’s presentation will doubtless be quite an eye-opener. Thursday sees the return of industry veteran Terry Wohlers to the stage. Terry has worked over the years to build the most comprehensive view of the technologies, companies and applications in the AM world. His annual report is considered the a ‘must have’ for anyone wishing to stay current with the industry. If you get chance to talk with Terry while at the show I would recommend it, if not do ensure you see his keynote address. The conference streams then diversify to cover topics ranging from Transportation to Casting. A selection of the presentations is below: Additive Manufacturing in Medicine Requires a Multidisciplinary Approach Peter Liacouras, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center; Integrated Rapid 3D Mapping and Laser Additive Repair of Gas Turbine Engine Components Matthew Donovan, Goodrich and Lijue Xue, Nat'l Research Council Canada; Ceramics Custom Cranial Implant Produced by Stereolithography JB Lafron, 3D Ceram USA; The Evolution of a Sugar Bowl Stephen Hoskins, University of the West of England, Bristol; Hybrid Micro-Scale Additive Manufacturing for 3D Structural Electronics Jae-Won Choi, The University of Akron.
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Show Hours Wednesday 23rd May: 09:00 – 18:00 Thursday 24th May: 09:00 – 18:00
Special Events Contemporary Art Gallery Why have an art gallery at RAPID? Additive manufacturing/3D printing, 3D imaging and digital sculpture are used creatively in a new approach to art creation and production. This new, highspeed, on-demand medium allows the impossible to be possible from the finite barriers of reproduction for a single artist, to the unlimited reproductions of artists' works. This new artistic medium will provide an economic boon to the artists themselves, as well as to the additive manufacturing industry as a whole.
3D Printing Fashion Show May 22 @ 17:00 The 3D Printing Fashion Show will be held during the opening Networking Reception, May 22, 2012, at the Hyatt Regency in Atlanta, GA. During the reception, models will walk the runway while an Event Advisor announces who designed the piece, their inspiration, which company created it and what additive manufacturing processes and materials were used.
US FOCUS
Exhibitor
FUNDAMENTALS: Rapid Technologies & Additive Manufacturing Graham Tromans, G. P. Tromans Associates. If you’re new to additive technologies, this workshop, taking place on Tuesday 22nd at 09:00 is the perfect way to ensure you get the most out of RAPID 2012. The workshop introduces participants to the world of additive technologies with discussions on the most widely used additive technologies and how they are applied, including: • Stereolithography (SL) • Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) • Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) ...and many more
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}
Words | Jim Woodcock
In many ways the age of the factory has already passed for whole swathes of the Western world. Where once monolithic structures housed thousands of workers turning out everything the world needed to progress, there now stand strip-lit offices full of computers and a handful of workers providing the services the global economy needs to survive. But what if we change our perception of what a factory is, what it does, and who’s inside? These are questions that US start up Local Motors is posing to the world, and the answers are pretty exciting — unless you’re heavily invested in Detroit…
Local Motors aims to empower individuals and companies to change every aspect of mobility, now. Quite an aim, but equally they have quite an arsenal of options at their disposal to help them achieve it, not least of which is a 16,000 strong community of co-creators.
Local Motors allows automotive engineering enthusiasts, be it professional, amateur or hobbyist, to work together to design, develop, build and modify completely new cars. If you’re a petrol head you will have already seen the Rally Fighter, the first co-created vehicle, on the likes of Top Gear USA or even at some of the engineering shows across the US. The Rally Fighter was the first co-created vehicle worked on by some 150 co-creators and is built at the Arizona MicroFactory. The ‘big picture’ for LM is a future where cars are tailored to specific uses, as directed by a community, and then built by that community, in that community. They have never heard the phrase ‘one size fits all’, and if they did they wouldn’t understand it.
CO-CREATION FEATURE
Local Motors Mission Statement: “To lead the next generation of crowdpowered automotive manufacturing, design, and technology in order to enable the creation of game changing vehicles.”
The Local Motors community has a number of ways of collaborating on a project: over the web through ‘The Forge’; through the MicroFactories project; and through the Local Motors Labs, an automotive hacker space. I met with Local Motors Labs Director of New Business Development, Damien Declercq, on the UK leg of his ‘Forging Tour’, during which he was scouring the globe for suitable new locations for Local Motors’ MicroFactories. He explained: “We would like to have MicroFactories everywhere but the places we can really deploy them are limited. In addition to the first Micro Factory in Arizona, we would like to have one in Europe, Asia and South America.”
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Having said that, many of the parts for the Rally Fighter are off-the-shelf parts from a variety of manufacturers: A GM Camaro engine (what else!?); the fuel tank from a 3-Series BMW; door handles from a Mazda MX5 (or ‘Miata’ as they’re known in the US)… This modular approach to OEM parts means that the bulk of the heavy engineering work is already done, but that doesn’t mean the Rally Fighter is a mish-mash of parts. The pictures here show that! Each part is selected to fit with the engineering demands laid out by the design. The Rally Fighter, for example, is lightweight, powerful and tough, and the OEM components are used with that in mind. The rear axle is from Ford’s F150 pickup truck, the very epitome of American tough, and sits perfectly with the Rally Fighter as a whole.
expert on hand to guide you through the process.
In order to get 150 independent minds pulling in the same direction, Local Motors ran a series of competitions to help focus the co-creation process. The initial design of the Rally Fighter was the entry of Sangho Kim who was an art student when he submitted his sketches — he now works for GM in Asia! When an entry was chosen by the community the internal LM team work much like any other auto maker to ensure that the issues of engineering feasibility were dealt with. In many ways LM is a normal car maker, except it has a 16,000 strong community at its disposal to not only guide it, but to get involved and make projects a reality.
Design1 is for the moment exclusively available through the LM community, though it is an interesting experiment in implementing a CAD subscription model. Design1 has many of the features you would expect to see in high-end (read: not $19.95/month) software, namely the ‘Synchronous Technology’ side of Solid Edge, which combines the flexibility of direct modeling with predictability and precise control of history based parametric systems.
To combat this problem LM has teamed up with Siemens to offer Solid Edge Design1, a fully functional CAD suite that runs on a subscription basis to the LM community, and a version of its JT viewer (JT being a lightweight 3D file commonly used in the automotive industry).
For LM the benefits are clear — a connected co-creation community that has a level field on which to play. For users the advantages are equally huge, namely having the functionality of a mainstream CAD product for under $20 per month instead of a couple of thousand dollars for a seat and subscriptions and updates and etc. If the abilities of Design1 start to hamper the co-creation process — for example you might want to perform some FEA or do some cable routing — LM community members can use one of four other levels of Solid Edge software:
CO-CREATION FEATURE
The process of co-creation sounds like a dream for manufacturers and community members alike — one gets the experience of a lifetime and the other gets a willing and able band of volunteers to solve problems, right? LM soon realised that the community needs tools to release it’s creativity — hence you can go down to the Micro-Factory and build your Rally Fighter surrounded by all the tools you will need, and an
The tools at the fuzzy front end, the concept and design stages of the process, are more difficult. Damien explained: “There are many free or very cheap CAD systems out there that could be suitable for the community, but many of them are like drawing with your elbows — you’ll get a result eventually, but it will take a lot of time and a lot of patience!”
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1. Solid Edge Design and Drafting — Adds professional level drafting and history based modeling @ $99/mo 2. Solid Edge Foundation — Adds surfacing, sheet metal modeling, frames and more @$179/mo 3. Solid Edge Classic — Adds photorealistic rendering, basic FEA, standard parts, and more @ $229/mo 4. Solid Edge Premium — The whole enchilada! Full FEA simulation, wire harness design, and pipe and tube routing @ $299/mo. Each subscription runs for a month, after which time the use can revert to a more limited version should they no longer need the premium features. Importantly for the large co-creative community, Design1 is able to import and convert a majority of CAD formats and edit them as though they are native Solid Edge files, meaning members can easily work on a model made in ProE, Inventor or SolidWorks as well as output in STEP, STL or IGES from other systems. The models can then be output as either native Solid Edge, or converted through the website to another format. The JT viewer is equally important, as much of the community will likely relish the opportunity to interact with the designs without wishing to make changes directly to the models. For example LM recently ran a design competition for a set of wheels, open to the LM co-creative community using a free trial of the Design1 software. These entries were then voted on by the LM community — a tool like the JT viewer allows members to examine the designs in detail before voting, much like a review process in any other company.
on a commercially available vehicle before they finished their studies, for example. Both LM and the Siemens PLM involvement show a glimpse of the way in which industry is starting to move. While Henry Ford believed in the economies of scale to succeed in manufacturing cars, LM believes in the economies of community to succeed. Give the community the chance to co-create a vehicle and you should have a lot of happy customers. For Siemens it is a great opportunity to test the waters with both a subscription model, but also tailored packages aimed towards specific groups. It’s perhaps pushing a little far to compare Design1 to the ‘apps’ that form the backbone of the mobile computing industry, but there is no doubt that like Adobe and its ‘Photoshop Elements’ product, CAD vendors are coming to the conclusion that CAD is no longer the domain of the professional alone (something many CAD professionals are getting very upset about) but something that is being embraced much more widely. Will everyone end up using CAD or CAD-like systems? Probably not. But if you asked my mum whether she would ever use a computer when I was born, she would have balked. Nowadays you can find her on Skype all day if you know where to look (she has it running while she designs shop signage on her laptop). Initiatives like Design1 through LM show a future of on-demand software that is cheap enough to just ‘have a go’ with. Sounds pretty exciting to me! Local Motors — www.local-motors.com Siemens PLM — www.siemens.com
The LM project is one of a number of crowd-sourcing and co-creation initiatives that are being brought to life by evolving technology. Where LM differs is the serious engineering that the community is involved in and, of course, the final product that can be seen on a road near you (OK, maybe not that near to you at the moment!). LM could be a hobby, or it could be used as a springboard for future design engineers — as already mentioned the designer of the Rally Fighter went on to get a job in the mainstream automotive industry. It would certainly be a talking point on any CV if the applicant already had a part
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CO-CREATION FEATURE
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Reverse Engineering Feature It is easy to forget that product development, engineering and manufacturing processes seldom start from scratch. This collection of short case studies demonstrates that very well — from the retro-fitting of a throaty exhaust system to a supercar, to the adaptation of an existing CAA approved aeroplane part for installation of new equipment, to rebuilding an ‘ancient’ steam locomotive from a collection of broken parts. Reverse engineering has been transformed by the technologies showcased here — from the extremely high accuracy now possible with non-contact laser and white light scanners, to enhanced CAD and point-cloud manipulation software (and of course the hardware on which it runs) that allow users to quickly process millions of points, turning them into workable models for production. Reverse engineering can be used to virtually recreate an almost infinite number of artifacts, subassemblies, and parts without needing to know anything of the original design and manufacture techniques. It is here that the links to AM are strongest, as demonstrated in the steam locomotive study from Geomagic. The freedom of manufacture opened up by AM allows us to recreate a part faithfully from an appropriate material without the original moulds, tools, dies or designs.
2Excel Aviation Ltd — Piper PA-31-310 Navajo Nose Cone
Scimitar — the dedicated research and development department of 2Excel Aviation — design, test and evaluate avionic systems for use in military and civilian applications. To enable them to accurately mount the nose cone mounted instrumentation test system onto the airframe, a new nose cone needed to be manufactured without the extrusions from the surface. The company requested that the nose cone be symmetrical, as the instruments were sensitive to geometry, whilst still fitting to the original airframe mating surface. Objectives • Measure the current nose cone and airframe in position • Digitise the external surface of the nose cone, 1 m of airframe and mating surfaces • Capture critical geometry including locating pins, spheres, hole centres and diameters • Align all data to agreed aircraft coordinate system • Reverse engineer from the scan data, creating a symmetrical nose cone • Evaluate new CAD model against original scan data
Three systems were used to capture the necessary data for this project: 1. TRITOP With the current nose cone fitted to the airframe, coded and un-coded markers were applied to, and around, the areas to be captured. Extra markers were applied near the edges of the mating surfaces. This allowed PD to use the same coordinate system to scan the surface currently hidden inside the airframe. 2. ATOS The TRITOP file was imported into the ATOS scanning software, for use as a reference frame. PD then began to scan the airframe in the assembled state. When all the required data from the exterior was captured, the nose cone was carefully removed and the markers located around the edges were used to align the scan of the once hidden surface. The point cloud data was then converted by the software to form a polygon mesh file, checked for errors and post processed. The original data was saved in order to produce an inspection report on the new CAD model. For this project, the STL file was exported, for use in the available CAE systems. 3. TOUCH PROBE The optically tracked touch probe was used to determine the location and size of each hole on the airframe and nose cone mounting surfaces. Reverse Engineering: Creating CAD Surfaces The STL file created from the scan data was imported into the CAD software. Using exact geometry matched (within agreed tolerance) to the mesh, a CAD surface was produced. This was tct 20/2
mirrored to create a symmetrical nose cone. The .IGS files from the Touch Probe were then used to trim holes and features in the correct positions within the global coordinate system. Inspection & Verification
Finally the new CAD data was verified against the original scan. Scimitar were keen to keep the new nose as close to the original as possible, whilst removing the features. PD supplied an inspection report using the inspection module of the ATOS Professional software.
REVERSE ENGINEERING
In order to install new hardware in the nose cone of a test aircraft, 2Excel Aviation required a new nose cone to be manufactured for their Piper Navajo. Physical Digital’s (PD) optical scanning technology was utilised to reverse engineer the new component to a high level of accuracy; using a combination of photogrammetry and 3D digitising to capture surface data.
The graphical representation above shows the vector distance between the original scan data and the new CAD model. The green areas are within 1 mm of the original. It is interesting to note the red area on the top right: this shows the airframe has been deformed. In this project the symmetry was important and the CAD was made slightly smaller to allow manual blending to the airframe. A complete set of data was supplied to Scimitar, including: • Original scan data • New CAD Model • Inspection reports • GOM INSPECT (free inspection software for further analysis). Physical Digital www.physicaldigital.com
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Full Steam Ahead! “Replica parts, like the steam injector, are notoriously difficult and costly to source and manufacture”, explained Jarman. “The problem is that we need all restoration work to be as near to the original as possible in order to preserve the character of the item in question,” he added.
What do you do when you need a replacement for a crucial part of a steam locomotive that was originally manufactured in 1877 and for which no drawings — and certainly no CAD models — exist?
The task, therefore, was to find a costeffective way of producing an accurate, operational replica of an existing — but damaged — item for which there were no drawings or any other form of design information. Through Geomagic Studio 3D the team could create accurate 3D digital models of physical objects from 3D scan data.
This was the problem faced by Paul Jarman at Beamish Museum in the northeast of England. The answer to his problem was provided by the Digital Factory team at the Institute for Automotive and Manufacturing Advanced Practice (AMAP) at the University of Sunderland. Using Geomagic Studio 3D imaging and reverse engineering software, the team not only solved the problem, it saved Beamish Museum valuable time and unnecessary costs. Digital Factory is a training and technology transfer project focused around digital engineering technologies. In addition to providing companies with training in the use of vendor-specific CAD/CAM/CAE software, as well as appropriate e-learning material, short courses, university-accredited courses and work-based training, the Digital Factory team provides companies with access to its Resource Centre. Here a range of hardware and software technologies, including Geomagic Studio 3D imaging and reverse engineering software and Geomagic Qualify 3D inspection software, is available for companies to use, under the guidance of Digital Factory team members. Replacement parts – cost-effectively The project undertaken by AMAP Digital Factory for Beamish Museum provides a good example of the benefits that today’s 3D imaging technology for reverse engineering can bring not just to historic equipment renovation projects but to metal or plastics products manufacturing in general. It was a restoration project on an 1877 Lewin locomotive that gave Beamish Museum’s Paul Jarman reason to call in the Digital Factory team to see if it could help. As part of the restoration project, a number of damaged objects, including a vital steam injector, needed to be replaced.
Physical to digital – and back The Beamish Museum project was lead by Sajid Abdullah, lead consultant with Digital Factory. Using a Z-Corp (now part of 3D Systems) 3D optical scanner, he and his team scanned the original steam injector and transferred the resulting ‘point cloud’ data directly into Geomagic Studio. Here the individual scan files were registered with each other to create a single 3D point cloud model and the software’s intelligent noise reduction tools were used to eliminate any ‘noise’, or errors that had occurred during the scanning process. Next, the software’s Wrap feature was used to automatically ‘wrap’ a polygon surface around the point cloud. Tools within Geomagic Studio then allowed the team to refine this polygon model, by filling any holes that might have been left by the scanning process and by smoothing, fitting, trimming, projecting and extending boundary edges, where necessary, to create an accurate, ‘water-tight’ digital polygon model of the original steam injector. The final step in the 3D modelling process was to then use Geomagic Studio to automatically convert the finished polygon model into a high quality NURBS (nonuniform rational b-spline) digital surface model. This was then exported to CATIA 3D software for engineering detailing through Geomagic’s Parametric Exchange technology, which enables the transfer of parametric model data directly to popular parametric CAD systems in those systems’ native formats. After detailing, the final 3D digital model was saved as an STL file and transferred to a Spectrum Z 150 rapid prototyping machine where a precise, physical replica of the original steam injector was tct 20/2
Cleaned and wrapped scan data in Studio 3D
Z Printer model and cast metal part
produced. This accurate, physical model could then be used as a casting pattern for a mould to manufacture a new part in metal. The whole process, from scanning the original injector to having an exact replica in their hands, took the team just three days.
REVERSE ENGINEERING
The Digital Factory team at the Institute for Automotive and Manufacturing Advanced Practice in the UK used Geomagic Studio 3D imaging and reverse engineering software to help Beamish Museum produce a replacement part for a historic steam locomotive.
“What this showed Beamish Museum, is that 3D reverse engineering using Geomagic Studio, when combined with CAD and rapid prototyping, enables accurate replacement parts to be manufactured cost-effectively using either casting or injection moulding processes, or indeed other manufacturing and machining processes,” explained Abdullah. The benefit from the museum’s point of view was that it was able to avoid the costly and time consuming process of sourcing a replacement part using traditional design and manufacturing techniques. It also enabled them to see a way forward for similar requirements in the future. Geomagic www.geomagic.com
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Paper Chase
Perfecting the Sports Car Roar Words | Tom Charron, Rapidform VP of Marketing & Product Management
Dell Innovation Services were faced with a customer that had built a paper laminating machine, but had lost all manufacturing documentation over the years. They needed to build more systems and asked Dell to reverse engineer the system for them. Dell Innovation Services were responsible for: Mechanical Subsystems • 3D scanning of critical components • 3D modeling of all components and hardware • Identification of all “off-the-shelf ” products Electrical Subsystems • 3D modeling of control box • Electrical schematic of control box, heating elements, and system • Hydraulic schematic of system control lines • Identification of all “off-the-shelf ” products Logistics • Determine make vs. buy decision on all components • Develop detailed BOM of all components including vendors and part numbers Engineering Competencies Utilised • Mechanical design/CAD modeling • Electrical Design/Schematics • Manufacturing Results Dell Innovation Services performed 3D scanning on two main side plates, producing data suitable to remanufacture the parts. The final bill of materials came to over 325 items of which 28% were reversed engineered and manufactured and 72% were found to be compatible with off-theshelf parts — something impossible to know without comprehensive reverse engineeering given the lack of original design and manufacturing data. The timeline for the complete reverse engineering of the laminating machine was less than 3 months, at the end of which Dell Innovation Services delivered a package included full 3D CAD model representations of all components, manufacturing instructions for all fabricated parts, detailed assembly instructions, and complete electrical and hydraulic schematics. Dell Innovation Services (formerly eServ) www.eserv.biz
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Supercars are designed to excite all the senses with raw power, unique aesthetics, and exceptional handling. The right acoustics can also jumpstart the sensory overload craved by their owners and admirers alike. Capristo Exhaust Systems GmbH is known worldwide for enhancing those emotions by perfecting the way high performance sports cars sound with personalised exhaust systems. Since 2007, Antonio Capristo and team have been using 3D scanning technology to redesign exhaust systems faster and more precisely, in just a few hours. Capristo caters to owners of ‘exotic’ cars. For years, he was frustrated with one particular aspect of his business: the process of designing a new exhaust system that fits perfectly in each car’s existing underbody. His team often had to keep customers’ cars for days to remove the factory exhaust system and painstakingly measure the space it fits into. Even then, they would end up having to build a prototype exhaust system, install it, find problems, then hand modify or even scrap and rebuild it until the fit was right. With the adoption of 3D laser scanning technology, Capristo can keep a customer’s car for less than an hour. Capristo remarked: “It’s not only about the time savings — the precision and control that using the 3D scanner offers us are just as important.” The team at Capristo starts by removing a car’s existing exhaust system and scanning the areas of the vehicle around it. With each scan, the scanner collects several hundred thousand measurements, ultimately forming a point cloud with several million data points that precisely indicates the location of various components under the car. This data is opened in a specialised reverse engineering software, Rapidform XOR, to create a polygon mesh model of the car’s underbody. It is from this virtual representation that Capristo can design a new exhaust system to fit a specific car. The new designs require well defined dimensions, which Capristo employees use to bend, cut and weld the exhaust pipes, while ensuring the new assembly does not get too close to existing components. A complete 3D CAD model is needed, but regular CAD software cannot take advantage of all the information contained in the 3D scan data. CAD systems are built to handle surfaces and solids with defined dimensions such as radius and height – not the millions of individual triangles that make up the scan data. tct 20/2
This is where Rapidform XOR comes into play. It combines the scan data and CAD models in one application, allowing the 3D scan data to be leveraged in the design of new components. The software allows Capristo to design the new exhaust system around the vehicle’s underbody. The model they create is a parametric CAD solid, with specific dimensions and constraints. It is identical to a design made in any modern CAD software, so the file from Rapidform can be used to program pipe bending equipment and CNCs to manufacture parts. “We are saving hundreds of man hours each year using the 3D laser scanner and Rapidform to scan cars and design new exhaust systems directly from the scan data, and we’re doing it more precisely and with higher customer satisfaction. We recognised a 100% return on investment in the first year.” said Capristo. Years of expertise and strong engineering skills, combined with 3D scanning technology, have determined the speed and accuracy at which Capristo can make his customers’ Prancing Horses sing. http://www.capristoexhaust.com The Fastest Path to CAD Rapidform XOR3 SP1, released in April 2012, has increased automation for the reverse engineering process. The software automatically recognises complete modeling features in the scan data, allowing the user to create extrusions, revolutions and freeform surfaces. This cuts the modeling time by 80%. As with everything designed in Rapidform XOR, the feature is editable either inside Rapidform or in any of the CAD applications that XOR interfaces with. These include SolidWorks, Siemens NX, Creo Parametric, and also new for 2012, Autodesk Inventor. Try Rapidform XOR3 SP1 for yourself and learn from the experts on-site at RAPID 2012 in booth 306. http://www.rapidform.com/new/2012reveals/ for more information.
REVERSE ENGINEERING
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PLM ERP
&
CHARLES CLARKE
THE CAD/CAM BUSINESS HAS BEEN AN ALPHABET SOUP SINCE NOAH WAS A BOY, BUT WHEN PLM CAME ALONG MOST PEOPLE BREATHED A SIGH OF RELIEF IN THAT THIS SINGLE ACRONYM SEEMED TO EMBRACE ALL THE OTHERS.
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All was simple for five minutes until the Enterprise Software vendors decided PLM was a good idea and companies like Oracle and SAP started offering PLM modules. And of course they weren’t the same as the CAD PLM modules as geometry and design were not the main focii for these companies. But the mere fact that they were offering PLM confused the market still further, at a time when CAD people were cautiously feeling their way with PLM. For the longest time PLM was considered to be valid only for big companies in markets like aerospace, defence and automotive, where traceability and compliance was important and product retirement or recycling was a growing issue. As PLM became more widely accepted it’s place within the grand scheme of things became clearer. According to Bill Neuman (Fig. 2), Vice President, Software Development at PTC this is how the software landscape has been transformed in most manufacturing companies: “To many people PLM was just like ‘grown up’ PDM — data with links, but for the software vendors, coming off the back of the solid modelling revolution, PLM or PDM and ERP have been a constant problem. They are difficult to describe and sell because it’s very tricky to predict the benefits or even to make them sound interesting let alone attractive.” Well if you’re petrolhead PTC is on your side. Recently, PTC hosted what they called ‘PTC Live — Executive Exchange’ for customers and invited guests at Prodrive — Aston Martin Racing. Here we were treated to the most common sense discussion about PLM in the context of Enterprise software I’ve ever heard and all against the backdrop of probably the most successful automotive engineering consultancies the UK has produced. I would love to get sidetracked into the cars, but the main event featured PTC presentations, a customer perspective from General Dynamics and the analyst view from Cambashi. In summary today’s manufacturing landscape shows PLM and ERP as equal partners (as Fig. 1), with some variance depending on the kinds of organisations and products involved. PLM on the creative, design side and ERP on the manufacturing side. According to CIMdata: “PLM manages the innovation process — enabling companies to create right-to-market products quickly and to exploit part re-use… ERP ensures that a quality product is produced according to customer demand in a timely, cost controlled manner.” “PLM looks after the intellectual assets in the process,” said Neuman. “Things like the eBOM, Compliance and Partner Programmes. Whereas ERP looks after the continuous physical processes like inventory tracking, materials handling, forecasting and production planning.”
This results in two distinct value chains — the creative product development value chain and the logistical product execution value chain. The more mass market the product the more the logistical value chain predominates — the more ‘one off ’ the product, the more product development would dominate. According to Neuman the glue that helps these processes coexist is the process design that bridges the gap and builds the effective interface between PLM and ERP. In the Logistic Value Chain this process design takes place in the ERP system and conversely in the PLM system where the Product Development value chain predominates. The Cambashi view concurs with the different roles of PLM and ERP and it introduces the concept of the Industry Network where information flows in an integrated ‘social networking’ fashion to pull and not push data. For example users would subscribe to “changes to part” rather than receive ECOs, with more emphasis on collaboration and the revival of Business Process Management (BPM) to integrate people for new automation and flexibility of business processes. Amongst those big companies in the know, there is general agreement over what PLM means and what it can do for the enterprise. But there is a serious lack understanding amongst the general user community and there is still a significant schism in the PLM church. On the design or geometry generation side of manufacturing, PLM is “just another name for PDM (Product Data Management) and PDM has been around since the 1980s. Most engineering professionals understand what it means and what it can do. On the Enterprise Software side of manufacturing, PLM is about ‘cradle to grave’ product management and tracking, or as SAP puts it “PLM is software that provides the single source of truth for all product-related information”. And by implication, to SAP, geometry is only a very small part of the process. According to Kevin Asbridge, PTC’s UK Sales Director: “Production in the 1990s was all about ERP. Those of us in production management all read Eli Goldratt's ‘The Goal’ and other esteemed publications and all efforts were directed towards optimising that transactional engine in the company to get maximum efficiency to the enterprise. “That's really all we thought about and engineering and product development was kind of external to that process,”
Fig. 1 - PLM’s growth and diversification has balanced out ERP, making the two complementary tct 20/2
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PLM implementations can be pricey, but here’s the clincher: in the consumer products market companies can save the cost of the software in express-shipping charges for prototypes alone. Prototype costs can also be reduced significantly, and companies can handle more than twice the new concepts they did before. The word coming back from users most often is that the major benefits of PLM are workflow management and synchronisation of data across enterprises. Or like the advert says – surprise, surprise it does “exactly what it says on the tin.” PLM is not rocket science it’s just joined up thinking and taking every opportunity to allow the computers to take the strain internally and externally. Today, many manufacturers are integrating PLM and ERP to improve efficiency and quality. Companies can now ensure that BOM data, captured by the PLM system, is made available to all functions that need it. And, because the PLM system can provide routing and manufacturing process plans as well, critical upstream and downstream processes are linked and made more efficient and productive. For the vast majority of manufacturers, the question should not be ERP or PLM, but how to implement and integrate these two solutions most effectively. Choosing the right ERP and PLM systems for the business is crucial, and manufacturers should not have to compromise on the benefits of either to realise the value in both. The value begins when product development and execution processes are no longer implemented separately, and the functions of PLM and ERP are deployed in a seamless, end-to-end solution. Through the well-executed integration of ERP and PLM, companies can develop a smooth flow of major innovations such as new and more highly differentiated products, as well as ongoing business innovations like continuous cost and quality improvement. Integrated ERP/PLM systems help deliver value across the entire range of innovation, whilst providing the continuous controls a modern manufacturing enterprise requires. This integration can provide a significant competitive advantage, as it drives nimble manufacturing, enabling manufacturers to make the most of every significant and niche market opportunity. Enterprise centric vs. design centric — who is giving the right service to the user? It has been suggested that all these new, powerful and affordable design systems were doing draftsmen and designers out of a job. The opposite is true — fast systems mean that you know you've got it wrong sooner, so, far from making engineers redundant, fast, linked systems improve product quality substantially. So who really cares which ‘centricity’ is right as long as the job gets done and it’s the best job possible.
CHARLES CLARKE
continued Asbridge. “If they could just get their act together and get a decent data set over to us, we could really convert that efficiently into products and get them out the door. “That's still the case, we need an efficient transactional engine to run the business, but increasingly as product lifecycles shorten and the products become more and more complex this is a tyranny that is set to continue,” said Asbridge. “So we need to be able to knit these two worlds together in a very effective manner, so that we get very early disclosure of product information through into the manufacturing space. So that we are able to act on that information for supply chain planning and to put in place the supply chain networks. We need to be able to respond as changes come through and as new product comes through based on new product platforms. It's a really challenging time — we've almost got two software behemoths in ERP and PLM and working out how they fit together most effectively is the challenge.” Going back to the users, we have been bombarded with PLM messages from the major CAD/CAM vendors for the last 12 years and yet very few SMEs have taken the leap of faith. Largely because PLM is seen as a ‘Big CAD’ data management and manufacturing control solution that is expensive, time consuming to implement and risky for small enterprises. It’s okay for the likes of Boeing and General Motors who have the expertise on site to implement it and enough slack in their business processes to accommodate relatively long implementation cycles. SMEs are generally not using ‘Big CAD’ products like CATIA, Siemens NX or PTC and it’s very noticeable that Autodesk and SolidWorks seem to have deliberately shied away from PLM in their outbound messaging, until recently. Autodesk have recently launched its own PLM solution for example, Autodesk 360 PLM: mytct.co/adsk360. The challenge for the PLM industry is to condition PLM for SMEs rather than just the large automotive, aerospace and defence concerns who have the time and resources to deploy these applications internationally. This challenge has been met to some extent by ‘on-demand’ hosted PLM solutions that offer quick start-up and relief from the complex IT infrastructures that normally surround enterprise PLM solutions. In addition, on-demand applications offer a wide range of ‘big company’ PLM capabilities without requiring dedicated IT personnel, nor any major changes in company practice, helping SMEs do what they do best. Today, SMEs (and larger companies) can use a range of hosted PLM solutions offered by Agile (now owned by Oracle), Arena Solutions, and PTC, along with on-demand collaboration solutions. “The PLM on demand product that we introduced about five years ago was probably a little too early for the market”, says Richard Allan, Channel Business Development Director at PTC. “It was ideal for companies that didn't want to invest in an in-house PLM system, but it was probably too early for the ‘mentality’ of the market and the available hardware technology.” The PLM market seems to be polarising into the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’. A formative distinction was made back in 1997 when Dassault Systèmes acquired SolidWorks. Companies now well into PLM were described back then as being ‘enterprise’ or ‘process’ centric. These are companies trying to collaborate and share data within and across enterprises. At the other end of the scale were the ‘design centric’ companies whose interest in computer automation was purely geometric. These distinctions are still largely valid. The difference today is in the ‘easy’ and general acceptance of the concepts of PLM even within small companies. According to Mike Burkett Research VP at Gartner, Inc and previously of AMR Research: “PLM is not just for big companies, but for small companies with significant complexity.”
Fig. 2 - Bill Neuman
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MACH Preview Sponsored by RENISHAW For more information visit our website at: www.renishaw.com
It is somewhat disappointing for me as editor of this magazine while looking forward to our the forthcoming celebrations of 20 years in print — to discover that quietly, in Birmingham, the MACH exhibition — will soon be celebrating 100 years since its inaugural show.
work with, weighed less and would evolve properties as disparate as chalk and cheese… Any of this sounding familiar?!
100 years! When that first MACH opened its doors at Earl’s Court in 1912 who knows what sort of crazy ideas were there! I mean, imagine a derivative of oil that could one day replace much of the metal and wood that would then have been the very core of manufacturing… Folly! Impossible! Heresy! Just a few short years after Leo Baekeland managed to produce Bakelite in a reproducible and usable manner, predictions of the new plastics age would have seemed as implausible as a man on the moon or Skyping over Wi-Fi. The plastics came, and our reliance on woods, metals, bone and ceramics diminished. They were cheaper to produce, easier to
Additive Manufacturing Takes Centre Stage
AM is the new revolution in manufacturing. Where once the establishment scoffed, it’s now taking note. It’s not separate to mainstream manufacturing anymore. It’s there, on the floors of the MACH show, shoulder to shoulder with its subtractive cousins. Working in the metals and ceramics and plastics of old — but with a new approach that is having as profound an effect as the early plastics must have had 100 years ago. It is equally important to note that plastics did not replace all of the old materials. Likewise techniques like forging, milling, casting and moulding still lead the way in most areas, and the chances are that in many they won’t ever be replaced. It is when using both new and old techniques together that the greatest benefits are achieved. MACH offers a fantastic opportunity to see first hand how established technologies are developing alongside the new. Manufacturing is all about margins, and you can be sure that he who stands still falls back.
MACH PREVIEW
Renishaw will be exhibiting its range of precision engineering technologies at MACH including brand new products, such as Equator — the versatile gauge — and the AM250 selective laser melting machine for creating complex parts in a variety of metals, using an additive manufacturing process. Equator gauging system Equator is a radical new alternative to traditional dedicated gauging, filling a gap in the market never before addressed. Its patented low-cost design, unique in construction and method of operation, is capable of high-speed comparative gauging for inspection of high-volume manufactured parts. It has been developed and proven on the shop-floor in collaboration with industry-leading companies in multiple industries and applications. Equator has been conceived and developed by working closely with automotive, aerospace and medical gauging users, alongside their manufacturing machines. The result is a lightweight, fast and highly repeatable gauge that operators can use with ‘push-button' simplicity. Equator can switch between parts in seconds, perfect for flexible manufacturing processes or accepting parts from multiple machines. AM250 — selective laser melting machine Renishaw will highlight for the first time its range of additive manufacturing technologies. On show will be the AM250 Selective Laser Melting (SLM) machine, which utilises a pioneering, additive manufacturing process capable of producing fully dense metal parts direct from 3D CAD, using a high-powered fibre laser. Parts are built from a range of fine metal powders that are fully melted in a tightly controlled atmosphere, in layer thicknesses ranging from 20 to 100 microns. Renishaw plc www.renishaw.com Stand: 5640
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Laser Prototypes Showcases Increased SLS Range Following the recent expansion of SLS production capabilities Laser Prototypes have just added three functional new materials to its SLS range with working samples of these new SLS materials on display at MACH 2012. PrimeCast 101 combines high accuracy, fine surface quality and good strength making it ideally suited for the production of casting patterns. A low melting point and minimum ash residue have proven popular for use in the production of lost patterns for investment castings. Ideally suited to the electronic, aerospace and automotive industries the flame retardant Prime Part FR offers high temperature resistance with a melting point of 176°C. Metallic in appearance, Alumide offers exceptional surface finishing properties, high strength and high heat capacity and is suitable for the production of tools for wind tunnel testing. High stiffness and part quality make Alumide popular for small series production of tools and fixtures. “The recent expansion of our SLS capabilities is an exciting development for us, we have noticed an increased level of interest in SLS for production over the past year, customer feedback has been very positive and we believe that the incorporation of Alumide, PrimeCast and PrimePart FR will allow us to better meet this growing customer requirement,” commented Campbell Evans, Sales & Marketing Director. Further information on the new SLS materials along with samples of the entire Laser Prototypes material range and a demo model of the new EOS Formiga P100 machine can be seen on the companies stand. Laser Prototypes www.laserproto.com Stand: 5895
New Software Releases from Dutton Simulation Dutton Simulation will present its updated range of Computer Aided Engineering software for product and process simulation at April’s MACH show at the NEC, with updates from key suppliers of metal forming simulation and announcements of new software for plastic injection moulding and finite element analysis for product design. For metal forming, Dutton’s two key suppliers both have new products. Forming Technologies have released Version 10.0 of FormingSuite, incorporating industry-standard components FASTBLANK and COSTOPTIMISER; the modular package offers upfront feasibility analysis as well as cost estimation and optimisation for sheet metal parts. Dutton will also show the updated V5.8.1 of DYNAFORM from ETA, which can be used to analyse a wide variety of metal forming processes with
Delcam’s Vortex Heads for MACH Delcam will preview its new Vortex strategy for high-speed area clearance on its stand at MACH. Vortex will be the major enhancement for the 2013 release of Delcam’s PowerMILL CAM system for high-speed and five-axis machining. The new strategy will also be added to the FeatureCAM software for feature-based programming and the PartMaker system for Swiss-type lathes later this year. Vortex, for which Delcam has a patent pending, has been developed by the company specifically to gain the maximum benefit from solid carbide tooling, in particular those designs that can give deeper cuts by using the full flute length as the cutting surface. It can be used for two- and three-axis roughing, positional five-axis area clearance and for
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advanced modules for Dieface Engineering, Die System Analysis and Springback Compensation. Dutton now offers plastic injection moulding simulation from Moldex3D. Version 11 of eDesign offers a powerful combination of full 3D simulation for accuracy and parallel processing for fast solutions — setting the price/performance benchmark in this field. Finally, Dutton Simulation is now representing NEi Software, supporting their range of analysis tools for product design, based on the renowned NASTRAN solver. These solutions are available standalone or as CAD integrated systems. Dutton Simulation www.duttonsimulation.com Stand: 4919 rest machining based on stock models or reference toolpaths. Like other Delcam roughing strategies, Vortex toolpaths are calculated to give more efficient machining by following the shape of the part and by keeping air moves to a minimum. This is particularly important for rest machining operations. “Anyone using the Vortex strategy will be able to hear the difference immediately,” claimed Mark Forth, Product Manager for Delcam’s Advanced Manufacturing Solutions. “Conventional roughing produces a sound of varying pitch, which indicates tool overload and chatter, while Vortex roughing gives a constant pitch showing that the tool is operating under consistent conditions.” Delcam www.delcam.com Stand: 4011
MACH PREVIEW
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ACT Introduces World First's at MACH 2012
Office 3D Printer on Show Objet Printer Solutions (OPS), a Derby based rapid prototyping systems provider, is set to exhibit the Objet30 3D printer at MACH. The Objet30 enables designers and engineers to build true-to-life models and prototypes featuring ultra-precise details straight from their office desk. The machine can be viewed at the company’s stand. The Object30 is an office-friendly desktop system capable of printing high-quality, finely detailed models in a range of different materials. Models produced by the Objet30 can be painted, drilled, machined or used as a mould or for vacuum forming because of its 281 micron layer resolution. This is a significant benefit for design agencies, engineering companies, consultancies and small manufacturers. This 3D printer is suitable for office or design-studio environments, as it’s a quiet machine with a small footprint. It measures just 82.5 cm in width and 62 cm in depth and the height of the device does not exceed 59 cm. In addition, the tray is 300 mm wide by 20 mm deep and 150 mm high, which allows for a variety of products shapes and size to be printed. Furthermore, the Objet30 boasts outstanding resolution of 600 x 600 x 900 dpi, as well as accuracy of 0.1 mm. These characteristics ensure that prototypes are true to nature and thus give the client a good idea of how the finished product will look and function. “Up until recently the technology available meant that rapid prototyping remained the territory of specialist bureaux with costly equipment but things have now changed significantly,” explained Chris Fulton, product specialist engineer at OPS. “But design studios now have the opportunity to move the process in-house. The new desktop range from Objet, which includes the Objet30, enables designers to shorten the time to market and test their creative ideas far more quickly. Furthermore, this can be done at the fraction of the cost, as there is no need for a third party specialist bureau,” concluded Fulton. The Objet30 is capable of printing in five different materials and colours; VeroWhitePlus, VeroBlue, VeroBlack, VeroGray and DurusWhite. It is part of Objet’s family of 3D printers, which includes the world’s only multi-material range, the Connex, as well as the high-performance Eden range. OPS www.ops-uk.com Stand: 5279
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Since the launch of the Nine9 Series of interchangeable indexable insert tools at MACH 2010, Advanced Carbide Tooling (ACT) has extended the range considerably to introduce a number of new concepts at the 2012 event. ACT will be re-iterating the exceptional flexibility of its Nine9 Series of cutting tools with the new Chamfer Mill, the iCenter and the 100 degree toolholder that all offer interchange-ability to deliver a complete tooling solution. The new indexable chamfer mill addition to the Nine9 range is a 45 degree cutter that incorporates a patented dual relief ground insert that uses ACT's optimised coating technology to deliver improved feed rates and cutting speeds when conducting chamfering processes. With an optimal design that provides four cutting edges per insert, customers can reduce tooling costs whilst a finely lapped cutting edge improves chip breaking to promote extended tool life. Available with a number of AlTiN and TiN coated grades, the new 45 degree inserts can machine carbon and alloy steels, hardened and stainless steels, cast iron and non-ferrous materials. The new chamfer mill is available with two or four indexable inserts with a diameter from 12 mm to 33 mm. As the leading solution for chamfering and countersinking, the new addition features the smallest inserts in the world for chamfer milling with the ability to machine down to 7 mm diameters. Completely diverse, like all cutters in the Nine9 range the chamfer tools are ideal for countersinking, circular chamfering, contour chamfering and face milling. Another new addition to the exciting chamfer mill is a single edged cutter that is capable of machining small holes and bores. With the UK aerospace industry witnessing relentless growth levels, the chamfer mill series has been further extended to incorporate a 100 degree spotting and chamfering tool. This new concept is the result of ACT's research and development work with the UK's aerospace sector to meet the industry's demands for tool that delivers a 100 degree cutter suitable for screw heads and rivets in the sector. As 100 degrees is the aerospace standard, ACT has now launched the industry's first tailored solution for efficiently machining countersinks and chamfers. Not only capable of increasing speeds and feeds, the 100 degree series also improves accuracy and surface finishes that are a critical element in the industry. ACT (Advanced Carbide Tooling) Ltd www.advancedcarbidetooling.co.uk Stand: 5029
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Why would design and engineering companies implement a long term data archive? The previous article in this series (TCT Bites, Volume 1, Issue 2: http://mytct.co/BITES2) discussed long term data archiving of engineering data (LTDA) in order to understand what it means.
Why implement LTDA? There is no point in doing anything unless it has a positive effect on the business, or put another way, that not doing it has a damaging effect. So, the simple answer is that a business would undertake an LTDA project because it is good for the business. However the decision to do something or not do it is rarely straightforward and it is normal for a number of projects to be considered at the same time and for the most worthy to be adopted.
Fig.1 — Business drivers in LTDA adoption Risk Factor associated with not having a long term archive for engineering data
Business Implications
Failure to correctly store and manage long term data can infringe a company’s legal obligations nationally and internationally.
Loss of reputation – loss of sales Costs of legal actions and possibly fines Cost of lost business. Compliance with standards such as ITAR and EAR will be difficult and expensive. Business opportunities will be lost.
Failure to comply with contractual terms for the management of design data may infringe a contract with a customer.
This could result in penalty payments and loss of future business with that customer and others once common knowledge. Winning new contracts from any customer will become more difficult.
Defence of product liability claims will be very difficult if not impossible without access to archived data.
Very serious cost and survivability implications
The long term intellectual property of the company atrophies.
The company’s net worth diminishes.
Legacy design data is no longer available to current generation of designers.
New product design and development slows resulting in the organisation becoming less innovative and less competitive.
Failure to be able to access and use archived data may be a breach of ISO 9000 certification
Reputation for quality diminishes and sales decline. Quality audit by customers becomes a major issue rather than just an illustration of business as usual. The disruption caused by an audit where archived data cannot be easily retrieved can have a significant cost for a business. tct 20/2
Not doing LTDA might be the result of not being able to show that it is more important than another project. For example an LTDA project might be delayed where there is an apparently better return on investment through installing a new machine tool. This means that LTDA projects need to be thoroughly understood and the case for a long term data archive properly presented. Since the decision to implement a long term data archive is likely to be most heavily influenced by business criteria let’s start by looking at the business reasons to do it. It would be understandable for engineers to find their eyes glaze over at this point and their thoughts turn to something more tangible — but stay with us. These reasons may be the key decision making factors in a process that could ensure the survival of the business that employs you. Business drivers The business drivers for LTDA are mostly associated with risk. This might sound negative, but risk avoidance is a major part of business success and this table summarises some of the risk factors of not creating a process for Long Term Data Archiving and the resulting implications.
DATA MANAGEMENT
The description of LTDA could be paraphrased as “an automatic process in which legacy engineering data is held in an archive that will be accessible and useable in the future, including the automatic archiving of newly created data at an appropriate point in its life cycle”. In this, the second in the series of articles about LTDA we ask the question “why bother?” and discover some of the reasons why LTDA is becoming one of the hottest topics in engineering companies both at technical levels and in the boardrooms.
See Figure 1 for the list of risk factors and business implications of not implementing an LTDA. Technical drivers Whilst the business drivers might be the heavyweight reasons behind a decision to implement a long term data archive process, the technical issues are also significant. Most of the companies that are mature users of CAD may have gone through two or three changes in their CAD systems since they began using computer aided design. Some CAD vendor companies have since gone out of business or been acquired by competitors.
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In some companies there are individuals who can still “get at” old data and some who have retained the skill needed to operate the last generation(s) of CAD systems in which the data now resides. They will not be there forever. Skilled as they may be and valuable as they may be, they represent a point of possible failure in a process that currently works but wouldn’t work if they were not there. Sooner or later they will not be there. There is little else that can be done other than to extract that data from its legacy application, move the data from its current format to an acceptable archive format and to move it onto a current platform. These are technical challenges and if any one of them failed it could result in the legacy data being no longer accessible. Once the issue reaches that stage it also becomes a business issue. This problem of the decay in CAD systems doesn’t exist in isolation. There are other changes that compound the issue. Data storage systems have changed, reel to reel tapes, cassettes, ½”, ¼” and other formats no longer exist and any data on these
media will be very difficult to recover. It doesn’t stop there. The Unix operating system and the engineering workstation are fast being replaced by PCs with performance equal to or greater than that of engineering workstations, so the whole environment in which the data was created and once held has also changed. In addition, at some time during their use of CAD, a company is likely to have used a PDM system based upon a relational database, to store CAD and associated data. This enabled whole data sets to be logically grouped together, including CAD, analysis, manufacturing data and a host of associated data. Many of the early databases have been superseded by more modern database systems and it is common for these to be incompatible with those of the past. Bringing forward the data that has been held in old database systems is another major consideration in LTDA and it is equally important to consider how that data should be structured in an archive so that it can be easily retrieved in the future. These technical drivers combine to present serious challenges to engineering, design and manufacturing organisations, to such a level that productivity can diminish, innovation becomes rarer, costs rise, quality falls and the business stagnates. New design activities will not be able to take advantage of previous design work,
resulting in slower new product development which will result in missed opportunities and reduced sales. Not implementing a Long Term Data Archive starts to look like an unacceptable risk. However LTDA is not a “commodity purchase”, it can’t be bought ‘off the shelf ’ and implementing LTDA means the creation of a business process that will have a lasting impact on the business. This means in answering the question “Why create a long term data archive process?” serious consideration needs to be given to the fact that that the decision to implement LTDA is likely to be made in the boardroom and one of the main challenges will be to raise awareness of the need, to a level where it finds its way onto a boardroom agenda. Why do LTDA? The year 2011 may be remembered for a Worldwide Banking system that underestimated risk and a number of governments did too, both with costly outcomes. Turning a “blind eye” to the risks associated with an unmanaged accumulation of data could have similar consequences and this could be the most important reason for implementing a process to manage Long Term Data Archiving. Theorem Solutions www.theorem.com
DATA MANAGEMENT
As a result knowledge of once popular CAD systems and their data formats is rare, except where it has been retained in specialist companies. Some data — perhaps important data — is going to become very difficult to access and use. Some of it may already have reached this stage.
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TCT directory TO ADVERTISE HERE CALL CAROL HARDY ON 01829 770037 OR EMAIL CAROL@RAPIDNEWS.COM TA K I N G D E S I G N T O P R O D U C T I O N STEREOLITHOGRAPHY (SLA) 3D PRINTING (OBJET) SELECTIVE LASER SINTERING (SLS) DIRECT METAL LASER SINTERING (DMLS) FUSED DEPOSITION MODELLING (FDM) VACUUM CASTING CNC PRECISION MACHINING (3,4 & 5 AXIS) PROFESSIONAL PAINT /FINISHING FACILITY t. 01786 464434 e. sales@camodels.co.uk
www.camodels.co.uk
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