TCT Europe 20.3 by TCT Magazine

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CA Models Moves into Metal AM with Concept Laser

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ANNIVERSARY

JUNE 12

ISSUE

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TCTâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s TOP 20 Most Influential People Revealed! TCT Celebrates 20 Years in the Industry UK Design Map leading product development and additive manufacturing since 1992 tct 20/2

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Volume 20/Issue 3 www.tctmagazine.com

EDITORIAL Group 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 Group 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

PUBLISHER Duncan Wood E: duncan@rapidnews.com T: + 44 (0) 7798 844259

C.E.O. Mark Blezard E: mark@rapidnews.com T: + 44 (0) 1829 770037

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

The TCT Magazine is endorsed by the following organisations as a leading resource for information on Rapid Product Development and Additive Manufacturing technologies.

AMUG

The Global Alliance of Rapid Prototyping Associations

The Additive Manufacturing Association

Medilink WM

Member of Gauge and Toolmakers Association

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JUNE 12

!From The Editor

Welcome to this, the start of TCT’s celebrations of 20 years print!

Gone are some of the academics and tech developers, to be replaced by individuals putting the technology to work in innovative ways. It’s a reflection of something I have picked up on recently across the industry — instead of writing the technologies off as unfinished and limited in ability, there is an increasing attitude of giving things a go, promoting the abilities the technologies do have and finding new and exciting ways to use them. This does not mean that technology innovation is now less important than application development. I feel I must stress that. However, an organisation like MakieLab, or i.materialise or Shapeways has the potential to drive technology development along at a startling pace as well as reach a potentially enormous audience. If I were a systems seller I wouldn’t necessarily mind what my

machines ended up making, so long as someone was buying them in volume. Equally, for users of this technology in industry the spread of new applications should not be something to be feared, derided or skeptical about — the potential benefits for all users are completely unknown, let’s see where it takes us. A number of industry commentators have been quite dismissive of the consumer 3D printing sector, in my opinion quite wrongly. I can see how some mainstream coverage has those that are interested in these technologies in industry a little worried, but it is largely beyond the control of any one person to change it. Equally I don’t think that the professional will be left high and dry as all the systems manufacturers and bureaux run to chase the consumer Pound, Euro or Dollar. This is largely corroborated by two of the leading players in the industry, Objet and Stratasys, reaffirming their commitment to the professional (for now). What conclusions can we draw? Well, we can conclude that to a large extent you can see what you want to see by looking in the place you know you’ll find it. It’s also true that predicting the future is really quite difficult for even the most educated individual!

In other news: materials are still the key to the future according to some of the bestestablished companies in the industry. Independently several people throughout the issue highlight the lack of viable materials as a major stumbling point for future growth. The recent PA12 shortage caused by a serious explosion and fire at one Evonik plant in Germany, and the subsequent rush to develop viable alternatives gives some indication of how far the industry has to come not only in materials development, but also in supply chain management and sourcing. Lastly I would like to draw your attention to a new launch from the TCT team — www.prsnlz.me. I won’t give too much away here, only that it is for makers and consumers of 3D printed goods. You can read more on page 33…

FROM THE EDITOR

I am going to preface this issue with the following caution: blood pressure may be seriously adversely affected by arguing about the TCT Top 20 Most Influential. We asked you, the readers, who were the most important players in the industry today and compiled the results — which are startling in comparison with the last time we ran this feature back in 2007.

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www.tctmagazine.com

TCT VOLUME 20 | 3

contents 01

For more detail, please see page 9.

editorial insight

review:

special focus:

AMUG Conference

Eight Reasons to Keep Your Service Bureaux Todd Grimm

Materialise World Conference

column: When the 3D Penny Drops Dan Johns, Bloodhound SSC

21 AMUG review

CA Models is set to become the first UK bureau to offer Concept Laser’s LaserCUSING selective laser melting technology with the imminent delivery of an M2 System.

column:

column Bloodhound

column Todd Grimm

on the cover:

11 tct news and comment

cover star Lead News

editorial insight

on the cover

tct news and comment

Top 20 Most Influential People Who holds the most influence in today’s AM / 3D printing world? As voted for by the readers of TCT, the top 20 reveals who’s in the driving seat at this exciting time for the industry.

News for engineering, product development and manufacturing

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leading product development and additive manufacturing since 1992

Gordon Murray Design and the New Industrial Revolution Charles Clarke explores how modern simulation techniques are helping to ‘drive’ forward a new way of producing vehicles for the future

A collection of studies and stories from some of TCT’s longest standing contributors, as well as some more recent partners:

35 CRDM: Two Decades of Development

Charles Clarke

56 feature Midas Pattern

feature:

UK Design Bureaux Map

feature Charles Clarke

20 Years of TCT

33 20 Years of TCT

Materialise World Conference

Top 20 People

feature: Midas Pattern Company — Celebrating 23 years of Innovation This year Midas Pattern Company, manufacturer of high quality, lowvolume precision polyurethane mouldings, is celebrating 23 years at the forefront of UK innovation

37 Laser Prototypes: 19912012 — From Novelty to Necessity

39 Selective Laser Sintering at 20

43 Delcam: 20 Years of

feature: Design Map At-a-Glance overview of the UK’s leading design agencies

Software Development

44 Theorem Solutions: 20:20

Vision or How the World is Moving On tct 20/3

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!Cover Star CA Models is moving into Metal Additive Manufacture with Concept Laser

Clark Campbell, Managing Director of CA Models commented: “As a company we recognised a significant opportunity in the increasing number of enquiries from customers for metal, rapid prototype parts. The M2 from Concept Laser offers a flexible and cutting edge technology that will allow CA Models to expand into this new arena quickly and effectively.” An essential requirement for CA Models is the ability to remove the prototype components straight from the machine for post working in order to achieve final fit tolerances which is not always viable from the build itself. Clark added: “By utilising the 5 axis CNC machines we have in-house, we will be able to build parts suited to metal laser melting but have the ability to post machine afterwards.”

CA Models Limited has become recognised as a market leader in the Product Development Industry. Its integrated rapid prototyping service has been developed through continuous investment in new skills, technology and materials. Optimum quality prototypes are produced via Stereolithography, Selective Laser Sintering, Fused Deposition Modeling, 3D Printing and CNC Machining. Finishing services have also advanced with the installation of a state-of-the-art painting facility that allows a broader range of finishes from high gloss to powder coating.

COVER STAR

Stirling based CA Models Limited is poised for the imminent installation of its new Concept Laser M2 cusing System, making the company unique in being the first service provider in the UK to offer Concept Laser technology.

A further benefit to CA Models is the fact that Concept Laser works internationally, with a diverse range of users from multiple sectors and this has the potential to open up new collaboration opportunities that will keep CA Models at the forefront of development in this dynamic field.

The Concept Laser M2 machine will significantly enhance the company’s capabilities by producing complex components quickly, accurately and economically from CAD data. Powder materials such as Aluminium and Titanium will be popular with CA Models customers, primarily based within the Aerospace, Automotive, Oil and Gas, Medical and Satellite industries. The materials used will be beneficial from an environmental perspective as all Concept Laser powder materials are 100% reusable for follow on applications. The M2 will be equipped with the latest generation 400 W laser, and features an automated external sieving station to handle and process the powder; all within an ATEX approved system. Selection of a supplier for the M2 machine was influenced by the fact that Concept Laser offers a comprehensive range of machines and focuses solely on metals. As part of the Hofmann Innovation Group, Concept Laser is able to offer unparalleled engineering knowledge in the way the machines are developed and utilised.

Clark continued “No single machine or technology can provide all of the solutions and most customers just want you to say ‘Yes we can produce the parts you require’ without getting into the details of how we will achieve it. This new machine, therefore, will allow CA Models to capture a new and developing market, offering a service that is unique in the UK.” CA Models’ new machine has been supplied by ES Technology Limited who is responsible for the sales, service and support of the full range of Concept Laser systems within the United Kingdom and Ireland. ES Technology also has a Concept Laser Mlab system at its Daventry office, which is available for demonstration and product evaluation purposes. Concept Laser www.concept-laser.de

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!News

A full-colour 3D printed face from Mcor’s Iris

!MCOR LAUNCHES FULL COLOUR PAPER 3D PRINTER AT RAPID 2012 Ireland-based Mcor used the RAPID 2012 event in Atlanta to launch both the Matrix 300 into the US market and also preview its upcoming Mcor Iris full-colour 3D printer. The new system works in the same way as the Laminated Object Manufacturing (LOM) Matrix 300, with the addition of a full-colur 2D printer to add colour to the layers only where needed. In simple terms the process combines two stages — 2D printing and the paper cutting and stacking on which LOM is based. The company explained that the pure white nature of the paper media, along with the advanced colour reproduction now possible with 2D printing means that Mcor Iris models will have some of the best full-colour reproduction available in 3D printing. Comment: When it comes to colour in 3D printing there has been some contention about exactly who should be able to promote a ‘colour’ printer. The use of coloured ABS plastic with FDM machines and their derivatives lead to a boom in the number of systems claiming the ability to prodcuce parts in colour, while companies like ZCorporation (now part of 3D Systems) adopted the ‘full-colour’ moniker to define its ability to produce a spectrum of colours in the same print. The latest ‘full-colour’ process from Mcor truly deserves to use that name. Although only a handful of parts were on show at RAPID, and there was no working machine to watch, the parts that were there were impressive in their detail and colour / image recreation. The Iris will hopefully be ready before the end of 2012.

Comment: Bespoke’s Scott Summit is a well known advocate of the power of AM for changing lives for the better through the use of customised, personalised prosthetics. A regular speaker at events within the industry and across the globe he has obviously caught the eye of acquisition hungry 3D Systems. Abe Reichental, CEO at 3D Systems, in a conversation during RAPID explained how the medical applications of AM and related

!ENVISIONTEC LAUNCHES THE PERFACTORY μICRO AT JCK EnvisionTEC, Inc. has announced the unveiling of the Perfactory μicro at JCK Las Vegas, Booth B6678, May 31st to June 4th and the Atlanta Jewelry Show, Aug 11–13. The Perfactory μicro is user friendly, and the smallest personal desktop 3-dimensional manufacturing system in its family. With its state-of-the-art Direct Light Projection technology from Texas Instruments, the Perfactory μicro system produces the finest detail, in the shortest period of time. Its LED light source requires zero maintenance and very low operational costs, making it a great addition to an already impressive lineup of Perfactory high resolution printers.

Bespoke have become famous for giving prosthetics a personal touch

tecghnologies are the things that give the most satisfaction — an echoing of the sentiments of Fried Vancraen at the Materialise World Conference. It certainly looks as though medicine is set to see an explosion of AM in the detection, modelling and treatment of disease and injury. 3D Systems www.3dsystems.com

Comment: This development from EnvisionTEC could be read as a response to a couple of new DLP based systems making their way to market at around this size. At the last Euromold event Asiga launched the FreeForm Pico Plus, a 220 mm x 225 mm DLP-based system that bears a striking similarity to the EnvisionTec Perfactory μicro system. EnvisionTec’s highregard in the jewellery industry will certainly help differentiate this system from the competitors however, and the fact that: ‘The Perfactory μicro base price is $14,540 and comes with a 2 year warranty. The Perfactory Software Suite includes EnvisionTEC Magics 16, a $5,750 value, free of charge with every printer,’ will certainly help!

NEWS

!3D SYSTEMS ACQUIRES BESPOKE INNOVATIONS 3D Systems Corporation has announced that it has acquired Bespoke Innovations, Inc. (“Bespoke”), a startup based in San Francisco, California, that is bringing a more personal approach to the way a broad spectrum of medical devices are developed and used. Bespoke develops proprietary, integrated scan, design and print technology that is designed to deliver custom fit prosthetics, orthotics and orthopedic devices that improve treatment and lifestyle outcomes.

EnvisionTEC www.envisiontec.com The EnvisionTec µicro is the smallest in the Perfactory range, ideal for jewellers

Mcor Technologies www.mcortechnologies.com Video: An oldy but a goody — 3D Foam 'Printing': http://mytct.co/KIeb4L

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!News !ARRK INCREASES CAPABILITY AND CAPACITY WITH NEXT GENERATION DIGITAL SLS MACHINE Product Development Specialist, ARRK Europe, has added a new 3D Systems SPro 60 HD-HS machine to its fleet of Selective Laser Sintering machines at its Gloucester Prototyping Centre. The new machine is believed to be only the second of its kind to be installed in the UK, and the first for an RP bureau. It is now fully

operational and capable of producing parts up to 30% faster than ARRK’s current high speed machines, with a similar build envelope. This digital machine ensures that ARRK remains at the cutting edge of innovation and technology. ARRK’s Gloucester Technical Centre currently offers a range of materials across its many SLS machines, from Glass Filled Nylon, DuraForm PA, HST and its flexible EX material.

ARRK Europe www.arrkeurope.com

!QUILL SUPPORT FOR ADVANCED MILLING IN EDGECAM Further enhancements to the recentlyintroduced Waveform Roughing strategy, and Quill Support for advanced milling, are just two of the features in the latest release of Edgecam CAM software, from the Vero group. Unveiled in the previous edition, the Waveform Roughing Strategy offers reportedly greater stability, more precise machining and faster metal removal. The new Edgecam 2012 R2 takes this process to the next level, including improvements to the entry methods, ordering and calculation speeds.

NEWS

The following are just some of the other improvements in functionality and ease-of-use in Edgecam 2012 R2, from Vero Software: Advanced 5 Axis Simultaneous Milling: The new Advanced 5 Axis Simultaneous Milling license introduces new parameters to control the toolpath, a new dialog with images to help explain the options available and the option to machine multi-blade components. Advanced Milling – Quill Support: Quills (secondary Z axis) can now be included in milling machine configurations, enabling the user to switch between the z axes, control which one is in use, and see the quills movement in Simulator. Ease of Use: When editing an Edgecam cycle, the original geometry picks are now retained and do not need to be reselected unless the user chooses to. A similar time-saving feature is the improved picking of edges on solid models and 2D profiles, ensuring that the user has full control of picking entities that will be used by other functions within Edgecam. General Manager Raf Lobato said: “Extensive research and ongoing development ensures Edgecam constantly enables users to gain the absolute maximum performance from their CNC machines and the CAM process, maintaining a competitive edge.” Vero UK Limited www.vero-software.com www.edgecam.com

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!News !RAPIDPARTS ‘SWITCH’ ON INJECTION MOULDING SERVICES FOR EATON The Middleton, Manchester site of Eaton Electric, world-renowned electrical product manufacturer, opted to use services provided by specialist, fast-track plastic injection moulded parts manufacturer, Rapidparts, when developing its new modular grid switch range small units that fit into frames mainly for use in office and commercial applications, but also for some domestic use.

“Rapidparts said they would start machining rapid injection mould tooling immediately and could provide parts in the actual design material [polycarbonate] within 15 days,” explained Eaton’s Quality Support Engineer. “We had tried rapid prototypes produced using stereolithography [SLA] but because of the material you don’t really get a true feel for the functionality of these components. Using the service provided by Rapidparts we could give the parts a proper ‘form, fit and function’ test, including strength testing.”

After Eaton examined the new parts in more depth they decided that some would require prototyping. Having used Rapidparts for a number of previous quick-turnaround injection mould requirements, the company got back in touch.

Rapidparts prototyped the three main mouldings required for the new grid switch modules: a base which houses the metal contact parts; a cover that fits over it; and the internal rocker. A small quantity of around 500 of each part was supplied and ‘worked very well’ according to Eaton.

!3T WINS AS 9100 REV C FOR METAL AM PRODUCTION 3T RPD has been awarded AS 9100 Rev C for the production of metal parts using additive manufacturing (AM). 3T is reportedly the first AM Company in the UK to hold AS 9100 Rev C, ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 13485:2003.

The AS 9100 standard is the international management system standard for the Aircraft, Space and Defence (AS&D) industry. The standard provides suppliers with a comprehensive quality system for ensuring safe and reliable products to the aerospace industry. AS 9100 Rev C was released in 2009 and extends the previous standard to include the defence industry as well as aviation and space.

“The advantages of AM, such as the ability to build parts with reduced weight whilst maintaining the structural strength, mean that the technology offers real opportunities to engineers in many fields and especially aircraft design. We look forward to working with designers in the aerospace and defence industries to capitalise on the benefits of AM.”

Rapidparts Ltd www.rapidpartsuk.com

3T’s Quality Manager, Rachel Eggington said: “The improved standard includes a greater focus on project management and customer satisfaction, which reflects 3T’s core values. We are now registered on the OASIS Database and would like to issue an open invitation to Aircraft, Space and Defence companies to come and audit us, so that they can verify our quality systems and we can join their approved supplier list.”

NEWS

Announcing the award, Ian Halliday, 3T’s CEO said: “Achieving AS 9100 for our metal AM production demonstrates our continuing quest to build the best parts for our customers. It shows we are pursuing the highest standards of excellence and believe it will reinforce our customers’ confidence in our processes.”

“I think we had one issue where one particular switch wasn’t functioning correctly,” said Mr Roczniak. “However, we talked to Rapidparts and they quickly made a clear polycarbonate version so we could see the switching mechanism in action. It allowed us to discover that one of the terminals wasn’t sitting down properly and so we made a small design modification to compensate. Ultimately it’s far cheaper to make changes at the prototype stage than when in production.”

3T RPD www.3trpd.co.uk

Video: Sky News says 3D printing could change the world: http://mytct.co/Ksedij

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Eight Reasons to Keep Your Service Bureaux WORDS | TODD GRIMM @ T.A. GRIMM & ASSOCIATES, INC

A decade ago, there were predictions that AM service bureaux would disappear. The premise was that as system costs declined, every company would have in-house capabilities, rendering service bureaux obsolete. There are eight reasons that the demise of service bureaux will not occur. In these eight reasons, there is also a cautionary tale for those trying to justify the purchase of a new AM system. The bottom line is that a proposal based on the elimination of service bureau expenditures will threaten the success of your operations, as described in reason #1. 1. If all you have is a hammer... everything looks like a nail. To keep things simple, consider a company that now has just one AM system. Can it do the job for all applications while meeting all requirements? There is no need to identify the system because in all cases the answer is, “No.” If there were one technology that could do it all, there would be no need for alternatives. And AM labs around the world would not need an arsenal of systems that include multiple technologies. A system justification based on the elimination of service expenditures forces all projects onto that one system, whether or not it can do the job. The outcome puts your AM initiative in jeopardy. Internal customers become dissatisfied, and they either return to the old standby processes for all future work or take matters into their own hands and buy parts on the outside. Meanwhile, your new system sits idle. The hammer and nail analogy builds from reasons #2 and #3. 2. Processes For the most part, AM technologies are not competitive. Although they may overlap, few share the same strengths and limitations. Use service bureaux to fill the capability gap between what you have and what your customers need. Pairing a technology with the project’s requirements will produce optimal results. 3. Materials Materials are the life-blood of AM. Without the right material for the job, AM is not a viable option. To expand its use and broaden the applications, manufacturers have introduced a lot of materials, spanning plastics, metals, ceramic, sand and even glass. There is no technology that can make parts in all these material classes. So, buy a system that makes parts in your most commonly used material class and outsource projects for all others. Another reason to turn to service bureaux is to have access to all the materials for your technology. To meet your customers’ needs, offer the materials with the highest demand and turn to a service bureau for those you don’t carry. 4. Capacity If you have the internal resources to handle all your AM jobs, you have too much capacity. In off-peak periods, your systems sit idle for hours on end. That is an expensive proposition, and I can guarantee that management has taken note of this fact.

A better, and more cost-effective approach, is to own just enough AM equipment to handle the average daily workload. When the peak demand occurs, outsource the overflow.

5. Labour Turning a raw part into a pretty showpiece, pristine pattern or beautiful product takes a lot of hard work. The labour hours can add up to big costs. If you are doing this work as a sideline to your real job, there is also a very large opportunity cost. Make a wise financial decision and offload this time-consuming and tedious task to a service bureau. They have the staff and the skill to take your STL file and deliver a show-quality piece or market-ready product. 6. Secondary processes With the growth in the low-cost, personal 3D printers, service bureaux have lost much of the early model and prototype work. Those basic applications, where speed of delivery is valued over quality, are well served with in-house systems. In response, service bureaux offer skill and expertise in the processes that convert a part into something much, much more. Urethane castings, plated parts, investment castings are just a few of the secondary processes offered. Rather than building a supply chain and gaining the expertise, outsource this work to a company that already has everything in place. 7. Try before you buy You will never know everything about a technology until you start using it. Therefore, a purchasing decision may be ill advised if it is based on what you read and what you hear. Before making an investment, trial the technology through a service bureau. Discover what is realistic in terms of part quality and uncover the operational considerations. The service bureau will likely reveal the truths that only an operator will know in an attempt to convince you to keep outsourcing. Armed with the facts, you will be making an educated purchasing decision. 8. Contract manufacturing With each passing year, manufacturing end-use parts with AM will grow substantially. When it is your time to take this step forward, ask yourself it makes more sense to outsource the work to a contract manufacturer that uses AM. Turning a prototyping lab into a production operation isn’t a simple matter. AM’s unique qualities and inherent limitations require a top-to-bottom process change and a shift in measurement, monitoring and control practices. Qualified service bureaux have already done the hard work. Why take on this challenge when best practices and standards are still being developed? A better approach is to contract the services until such time that your demand is predictable, investment is justifiable and process is stable. Using service bureaux in conjunction with your in-house systems will give you the best results and lowest overall costs while extending your capabilities and AM applications. That, in turn, will make your internal customers and management very happy, which will entrench AM in your design, engineering and manufacturing processes.

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GRIMM COLUMN

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Goodbye Man-Shed, Hello Home FabLab! WORDS | DAN JOHNS @ BLOODHOUND SSC

Each birthday passes and nine years on I still want them to have a radio controlled car. I mean a proper one. One that they can carefully build, using assembly instructions, tools, and their own choice of body style. Then promptly destroy it against a wall on its maiden test. I’m not trying to re-live my own childhood, as most of things I played with are still around today in one form or another. There isn’t much new. They’ve had the cheap ready-to-go radio control cars that have a range equal to their own attention span, but their interest, from the instant gratification of getting it out of the box and playing with it, was instantly lost in as much time as it took me to disconnect it from all the packaging and safety instructions in the first place. It’s the same for most things they play with, apart from Bionicles, a reconfigurable robot figures from LEGO. I was impressed with their creativity and endurance as they would spend tens of minutes and sometimes even a whole hour making new creations. These home-made creations were actually quite good, almost as if they’d invested a lot of time and thought, and dare I say design. It turns out that LEGO has a Bionicle website where they go to configure their own creatures and share their designs with others, and then assemble them from the bits of LEGO they have. There is a whole Bionicle community of creatives developing and sharing content. My sons even have their own online collections and online names. I might have said earlier there isn’t much new. Well, there is. They are nine and six years old, and they design their own toys in a digital environment. That’s new, and now I get it. Now I get 3D Printing. Why not go the next step Mr. LEGO and give me the data file so I can print some bits for my Bionicle? I mean their Bionicle.

My working life has largely been spent developing applications in Industry for AM machines, so I’ve been lucky enough to ‘play’ with, and have access to, many different platforms. When I’ve needed to repair things at home my instinct is to go into the shed and design a fix, and then take it to work and ‘print’ it. Simple things that would be far cheaper to make conventionally like a cap for the end of a rake I modified to hang it up, a door latch on a trailer, book ends, and a TV remote cover. Yep, I pimped that at a time when mobile phones weren’t fashion accessories. The list is (expensively) quite long. I’ve taken for granted that I have inadvertently domesticated 3D Printing and my industrial work has actually been a virtual ‘home workshop’ for 20 years. It may seem counter intuitive, but since I worked in ‘Industrial Sheds’, I’ve never needed to create a home workshop. I’m a trained toolmaker, so I have the skills to use mills and lathes, but I’ve never brought one home. But with my first AM machine, a DTM 2000, I did wonder if I could clear a space in the shed. So with so many new 3D printing product launches now hitting the market (just keep an eye on www.prsnlz.me! Ed) almost every month, maybe I need to reconsider the function of a shed. I need to swap the cans of engine oil and the smell of WD40 for spools of ABS wire and the smell of melting plastic. Since Mr. LEGO hasn’t yet cottoned onto the idea of releasing free content for the boys to print their personalised weapons for their army of Bionicals, they will have to start learning CAD, else they’ll need to make do with printing a lot of Bloodhound models. Fortunately their fate of being exploited as a model-making sweat shop has been avoided. Someone’s thought of that, and child friendly ‘CAD’ software is now emerging for the home. So the boys can have the computer in the house with a very long USB cable to the shed, my modernised shed. I’m not taking the 3D Printers into the house just yet; else my shed will become just a shed again, so for now it is repurposed as a ‘Home Studio’. A place to be creative and make stuff. My own Fab Lab. So just like the RC car, I think the boys will love it.

BLOODHOUND

When I knew I was to become a parent for the first time I admittedly got rather excited when I found out that it was a boy. Like so many of us blokes my immediate thoughts were about all the practical toys I could ‘legitimately’ buy for a new born baby, like a radio controlled car; obviously. Fortunately the next few thoughts were rather more rational, grounded and daunting as I assumed the normally associated sense of terror, like most when the penny drops, so I bought him something practical. A cot. It was much the same when my second son arrived two and half years later, albeit slightly less terrifying, but still no radio controlled car.

If you find you are going to become a parent, go and buy the little nipper a 3D Printer, put it next to the cot and print a custom made dummy, or one day even a chocolate teething ring. When they grow up they can then print their own toys, their own RC car body styling, and at the same time do the world a favour; saving on all the packaging and endless bloody safety instructions.

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AMUG review

Conferences and exhibitions are like Marmite — you either love them or hate them. Generally you love them if you only get to attend a couple of them a year and you can learn, network and find suppliers all in one place. You tend to hate them if you spend your life at the airport en route to the next one! I love them even though for certain periods of the year I fall into the second category, mostly because I am a face-to-face kind of person. I don’t mind emailing, I don’t like speaking on the phone — but for me there’s nothing like ‘pressing the flesh’ and seeing the whites of the eyes. Business is all about relationships as everyone knows, and conferences and exhibitions provide the most efficient route to building and maintaining relationships possible. There are different reasons for attending different events however; each has its unique selling point. The AMUG’s USP is not the conference, it’s not the exhibition, and it’s not even the fishing trips and golf days! The main reason to attend AMUG is… the attendees! It’s the perfect self-fulfilling prophecy. If you don’t meet someone there that you glean some information from that you wouldn’t get elsewhere, you’re ‘doing it wrong’. That’s not to belittle the conference or exhibition however, as both are valuable resources and add to the AMUG’s armoury. This year saw the conference head west to the supposedly sunny and warm Costa Mesa, California. Weather-wise all I can say is better luck in Jacksonville, Florida next April. This year was the first time that the AMUG appeared as an open platform for all the users of all AM equipment. The two Diamond sponsors for 2012 were the soon-to-be-united Stratasys and Objet, and you could see from the conference schedule that there was a weighting towards these two companies and their technologies. It was also plain to see that despite the open platform some major names were missing from the participating vendors, despite the efforts of the organising committee. With luck the AMUG will be able to tempt in ever greater numbers of participants in the form of exhibitors, sponsors and attendees as word spreads — the 2012 event was already almost double the size of the 2011 meeting, with predictions for similar growth in 2013. The addition of more vendors would also be a good thing not only for the AMUG (and remember the organisers do this all for the community, not the money) but also for the wider AM community.

Don’t hang around at the breakfast burritos too long or you’ll have to play the embarrasing ‘squeeze down the aisle’ game...

Highlights I have said this many times before to anyone who’s willing to listen — the organising team behind the AMUG (and indeed their direct bosses and employers) deserve a huge amount of recognition for their unpaid and tireless work on the event. Without a shadow of a doubt it is one of the most professional outfits of volunteers I have ever seen. The standout conference sessions for me demonstrated the true breadth of the technology applications out there today. The ever entertaining Jason Lopes gave us a taste of how Legacy Effects use AM in conjunction with other technologies to help make spectacular Hollywood blockbusters such as Iron Man and Real Steel. I was able to see first hand how the giant robots featured in Real Steel were made, then watch the film on the plane on the way home. It wouldn’t surprise me if Tom Sorovetz, AMUG logistics supremo, set this up.

AMUG

Courtesy of Ed Winters Photography

Seemingly a million miles away from the glitz and glamour of Hollywood presentations on the medical applications of AM, as well as the technical presentations and sessions about the nitty-gritty details of the technology ensured attendees got to see the plethora of technologies, their intricate details and where, and how, they were being implemented.

Courtesy of Ed Winters Photography

Next year the conference will take place in Jacksonville, Florida on the 14th–18th April, at the Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront — a stunning looking location, and if it reaches the organisers’ expectations in terms of size will certainly be a must-attend event.

2012–2013 AMUG board (left to right): Todd Grimm, Tom Sorovetz, Brad Palumbo, Gary Rabinovitz, Tim Gornet, Vince Antewenter, Bret Border and Mark Barfoot.

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As you will now know, Fried was recently voted as the most influential in AM and 3D printing by the readers of this magazine. It’s easy to see why he and his company command such respect. From the stance on defense contracts (no, thank you) to their willingness to open their doors to the world every two years through the Materialise World Conference, the company projects and image of self-assuredness without ego. The ‘take home’ message from the company’s World Conference is this — Materialise is here to make a positive difference to the world. Through all the company’s areas of interest its employees are driven not only by profit (though a company must remain viable, of course) but also by a desire to just ‘make things better’. It’s the sort of outlook that allows them to be as enthusiastic about fashion as they are about cranio-maxillofacial surgery! The presentations highlighted again and again that Materialise believes that the technologies in its portfolio allow a ‘personal touch’. It is little wonder then that the company filled three days of sessions with an exciting mix of presentations that incorporated all that Materialise believes in, interspersed with a small exhibition and ample networking opportunities. The conference was broken down into four main tracks: Automotive, Additive Manufacturing, Medical Innovation and Research and Technology with the main keynote speech delivered by Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council. Each track consisted of both external and internal speakers allowing attendees to see the fine details of the products from the teams that developed them, as well as the real-world applications.

Stand out presentations If there was one presentation that really got people talking it was Hubert Vermeersch’s talk on the first full face transplant to take place in Belgium. Hubert, from the University Hospital of Ghent, demonstrated how Materialise’s portfolio of surgical solutions helped surgeons to prepare for and undertake a hugely complex operation more quickly and safely than would have otherwise been possible. To give a sense of scale, the operation directly involved 65 medical staff from 29 different fields, and even with the help from Materialise’s solutions still took the team some 20 hours to perform. The digitally planned operation was the 19th face transplant to be carried out worldwide and involved the reconstruction of nerves, bone, muscle and veins in addition to the skin. Pro Plan CMF (standing for cranio maxillofacial) is a collaboration between Materialise and global medical device company Synthes. The software was used extensively in the planning of the operation and used computerised tomography (CT) data to create a virtual representation of the patient’s skull on which the operation can be carefully and accurately planned before the surgeons even scrub up. AM came into play with both creation of physical models of the patient for the team to study as well as 3D printed guides used during the procedure. As if to highlight how easily Materialise spans the professional and consumer worlds, all models and guides were created in the same production facility that is used for the i.materialise output! While the presentation itself contained some fairly graphic images of the surgery being conducted, it was somehow impossible to feel squeamish as the remarkable nature of the operation simply mesmerised the audience. Streamics One of the in-house presentations that caught my attention was about one of the company’s new solutions for additive manufacturing business models — Streamics. Billed as “a modular solution that meets the specific needs of your Additive Manufacturing business,”

Streamics joins the better known Magics, eStage and 3-matic software solutions in the software for AM portfolio. Streamics was released on the first day of the conference and is available now for implementation into AM-centric businesses. Materialise has been working with AM for 20 years and knows better than most what challenges are specific to working with AM. It is also hugely experienced in the art of software, as seen with their Magics suite, which prompted Legacy Effects’ Jason Lopes to say: “I can't tell you how much Magics has upped our game”, during his presentation at the AMUG Conference. The Streamics system was tested in-house at Materialise’s own Medical Production division and is implemented across the company’s business divisions with the aim of streamlining automation and control of AM processes. Take a look at the video here: http://mytct.co/streamics. New Business Models While much of the emphasis about the applications of AM centred around improving existing business models and processes, one presentation looked specifically at the new opportunities made available through AM. Onno Ponfoort from consultancy Berenschot used the ‘Direct Spares’ model to demonstrate some of the dos and don’ts of the new AMenabled business. Pointing to the Apple App Store and Threadless t-shirts, Onno explained that AM allows us to think differently about business — there are business models that haven’t yet been thought up that could be the next ‘killer application’ for AM technologies! Summary Overall the Materialise World Conference brings together the products of services of a single company and shows them off with help of amazing applications. There are few companies in this market that could get away with that, especially over three days, but Materialise proved again that they tend to see the world in an unashamedly individual way. To see the presentation slides from across the World Conference, head to http://mytct.co/mwcpres.

MATERIALISE WORLD CONFERENCE

Materialise is the sort of company that most people would love to work for: diverse, open, friendly and ambitious. The company’s culture is a direct reflection of the personality of its founder and CEO, Fried Vancraen.

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It is five years since TCT conducted a readerpoll of the most influential members of the industry — and my, how things have changed. Firstly, and perhaps most importantly, this poll shows that readers’ perceptions of what exactly ‘the industry’ is, and what it encompasses has changed significantly. Many of the names from 2007 did not receive enough support to feature on a top 30 or even 40. Many of the names on this list are new, and embody the diversification of the industry. This is likely the last time you will see a ‘mixed’ list like this from TCT as we

will run the maker and consumer top 20 over on www.prsnlz.me in the future and the industrial Top 20 here in TCT. I am glad to run the Top 20 in this format however — while the names, their positions on the list and lack of others will no doubt cause furious backlash from some quarters, I believe that the list well represents the thought leaders of a group of technologies with shared heritage. Fried Vancraen is, in my opinion, a worthy winner — having met him several times I am

always struck by his thoughful nature and quiet manner as much as his vision, passion and commitment to Materialise and the wider industry. The other names on the Top 5 are also truely representative of AM and 3D printing now. From Abe Reichental’s ever-growing 3D Systems empire to Bre Pettis’ open-source MakerBot operation, these individuals and their companies are shaping the industry today and for the future.

TOP 20 PEOPLE Wilfried Vancraen, Materialise

After finishing a Masters in ElectroMechanical Engineering in 1985, Wilfried Vancraen worked as a Research Engineer and Consultant at the Research Institute of the Belgian Metalworking Industry, which is where he first discovered 3D printing.

Passionate about this new technology and firm in his belief that it could help create a better and healthier world, he started Materialise in July 1990, where he remains CEO to this day. Wilfried holds several patents related to the technical and medical applications of 3D printing and remains committed to using the technology

Terry Wohlers, Wohlers Associates

provider of end-to-end solutions that are transforming entire industries by empowering professionals and consumers worldwide to create and make. Abe is a passionate maker and community service leader. He is the recipient of the regional 2011 E&Y entrepreneur of the year Abe Reichental has been the award, two Innovator Awards and President and Chief Executive holds 25 U.S. patents. His Officer of 3D Systems since activities include several non-profit September 2003. board memberships, frequent speaking engagements in various Through his passion to democratise product development and the ideation-to-production process, management organisations, the company has evolved and participation in several Harvard expanded its business model from a Business School Case Studies and supplier of 3D printers to a Singularity University programme.

Terry Wohlers is principal consultant and president of Wohlers Associates, Inc., an independent consulting firm he founded 25 years ago. Through this company, Wohlers has provided consulting assistance to more than 170 organisations in 23 countries. He has authored nearly 400 books, articles, and technical papers and has given 90 keynote presentations on

Bre Pettis, MakerBot

Passionate about invention, innovation, and all things DIY, Bre Pettis is the founder of NYCResistor, a hacker collective in Brooklyn, that incubated MakerBot Industries, where he is CEO.

five continents. He has been interviewed by Bloomberg BusinessWeek, The Economist, Forbes, Fortune, USA Today, and others, and has appeared on several television news programs. Terry’s annual report is one of the most often quoted sources of information on the global AM and 3DP industry. In 2004, Wohlers received an Honorary Doctoral Degree of Mechanical Engineering from Central University of Technology located in Bloemfontein, South Africa.

Peter Weijmarshausen, Shapeways

MakerBot Industries helps to bring 3D printing to the masses with low cost, open source 3D printers. MakerBot users print their creations and share their designs on Thingiverse.com, a community hub with over 20,000 downloadable designs. Before cofounding MakerBot, Bre was a TV host/producer for Make Magazine, a new media creator for Etsy.com, a schoolteacher, artist, and puppeteer.

Prior to Shapeways, Peter was the CTO of Sangine, where he and his team designed and developed satellite broadband modems and Director of Engineering at Aramiska, where he was responsible for delivering a business broadband service via Satellite. Peter Weijmarshausen is the CEO of Shapeways, one of the world’s leading 3D printing marketplaces and communities. The NY start-up harnesses 3D printing to help anyone turn ideas into a physical reality, making product design more accessible, personal and inspiring. Shapeways prints everything on-demand, which means that every order is customised and personalised.

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TOP 20 PEOPLE

Abe Reichental, 3D Systems

to make positive changes in people’s lives. In recognition of his work, he was awarded the RTAM/SME Industry Achievement Award in 2011, which is considered one of the highest honours in the 3D printing industry.

Earlier in his career, Peter worked as ICT manager for Not a Number where he facilitated the adoption of the widely successful open source 3D software Blender. His global expertise is in the fields of Entrepreneurship, Internet marketing and business development, 3D printing, designing and implementing scalable Internet services.

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Kai is a founder and CEO of Tinkercad, the world’s first browser based solid CAD that helps to encourage amateur designers to get started with 3D printing.

Since its launch in 2011 the site has grown into a large community of non-professional users collaborating and sharing designs. Before founding Tinkercad Kai worked at Google as a systems engineer and has previously founded two companies, among them an indie game studio. His favorite pastimes includes writing ARM machine language, building yet another robotic rover and designing asynchronous distributed systems.

Scott Crump, Stratasys

Scott Crump has been the CEO, President, and Chairman of Stratasys since its inception in 1988 and was the Chief Financial Officer until May 1997. Scott and his wife Lisa Crump are cofounders of Stratasys, and Scott is the inventor of the Company’s FDM technology.

Outside the Top 5 the list becomes alphabetical, rather than a reflection of the number of nominations recorded. Adrian Bowyer, Bath University & RepRap Engineering. He is now a part-time senior lecturer.

Adrian Bowyer did a first degree in mechanical engineering at Imperial College in 1973, and then did a PhD in tribology there.

From 1982 to 1988, Scott was a co-founder and Vice President of Sales for IDEA, INC., a manufacturer of force, load and pressure transducers. The company later changed its name to SI Technologies, Inc. Scott continued to be a director and shareholder of that company until its sale to Vishay Intertechnologies, Inc. in 2005.

In 1977 he moved to Bath University’s Department of Mathematical Sciences to do research in stochastic computational geometry. He then spent several years as the head of Bath’s Microprocessor Unit in what is now Bath University Computing Services.

Scott is a registered professional engineer and received a BS degree in Mechanical Engineering from Washington State University in 1976 and a business degree from the Anderson School of Business Management at UCLA.

In 1984 he took up a lectureship in manufacturing in Bath’s Department of Mechanical

His main areas of research are geometric modelling and geometric computing in general (he is one of the creators of the Bowyer-Watson algorithm for Voronoi diagrams), the application of computers to manufacturing, and the engineering use of biology, called Biomimetics. In Biomimetics he works on selfcopying and self-assembly in engineering. Bowyer is the originator of the worldwide RepRap Project — a project that has created an opensource self-copying 3D printer: a REPlicating RAPid-prototyper. He is also a founder and director of RepRap Professional Ltd — a company formed to sell RepRaprelated products and services.

Todd Grimm, T. A. Grimm and Associates Compression and has become an analyst for GigaOM, which provides expert analysis and research on emerging technology markets.

Ping Fu, Geomagic

Honoured in 2005 by Inc. Magazine as “The Entrepreneur of the Year”, Ping Fu describes herself as an artist and a scientist whose chosen expression is business. In 1997 Ping co-founded Geomagic, a leading US software company which pioneers 3D technologies that fundamentally change the way products are designed and manufactured around the world: Used for repairing vintage cars at Jay Leno’s garage to digitally recreating the Statue of Liberty, Geomagic aims to enable design and production of one-of-the-kind products and services at a cost less than mass production.

Before co-founding Geomagic, Ping Fu was Director of Visualization at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, where she initiated and managed the NCSA Mosaic software project that led to Netscape and Internet Explorer. She has more than 20 years of software industry experience in database, networking, geometry processing, and computer graphics. Ping was recently recognised by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services as an Outstanding American By Choice and in 2012 has presented at TED and SXSW events. Since 2010, Ping has been serving on the NACIE (National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship) board at the White House and is a member of NCWIT (National Council on Women in Technology).

Todd Grimm is president of T. A. Grimm & Associates, which offers additive manufacturing and 3D imaging consulting and communications services. He is also a columnist for TCT magazine and editor for ENGINEERING.com. In the 22 years that he has been involved with additive manufacturing, he has played many roles in the industry: author, writer, speaker and advisor. Todd is the author of “User’s Guide to Rapid Prototyping” and has written hundreds of articles for a wide range of publications. He has served as an editorial advisor for both TCT magazine and Time-

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TCT Live has included Todd as a keynote presenter in three of its conferences. Likewise, the Additive Manufacturing Users Group (AMUG) has featured Todd as its keynote speaker for its 2010, 2011 and 2012 conferences. Recently, AMUG appointed him to its board as the AM Industry Advisor. Todd has served as an advisor for the Society of Manufacturing Engineers’ (SME) technical communities and the organisation’s RAPID conference. He is a Past Chairman of the society’s Rapid Technologies and Additive Manufacturing (RTAM) community and its 3D Imaging technical group. He is also a recipient of SME’s Master-Level Certificate in additive manufacturing.

TOP 20 PEOPLE

Kai Backman, Tinkercad

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Lisa Harouni, Digital Forming

Lisa Harouni is the co-founder and CEO of Digital Forming, a company that works on the software side of 3D printing. Digital Forming’s co-design platform allows professional designers and design orientated companies to exploit the benefits of 3D printing technologies for the mass customisation and cocreation of lifestyle products.

Neil Hopkinson, The University of Sheffield

Wired Magazine recently described her to be “in the vanguard of a wave of entrepreneurs who want to make it easy for anyone to design and create bespoke products at the click of a button.” Lisa has presented 3D printing and Digital Forming’s work across the globe over platforms such as TED, WIRED, and the Lift Conference, as well as through major international press and television such as the Economist, the International Herald Tribune and Sky News. With a background in economics, she started her career working in the G7 Economics team at Deutsche Bank before moving over to the consumer products business.

Neil is Professor of Manufacturing Engineering at The University of Sheffield where he leads the crossdisciplinary Advanced Additive Manufacturing (AdAM) Group. He has secured over £3.5M of funding generating a wide range of advancements in manufacturing.

competing on price and speed with high volume injection moulding. He is also named on other patents including a method to eliminate supports from metal AM processes. Neil is the lead editor of the world's first book dedicated to additive manufacturing for the creation of end use products and has published over 100 papers, including over 40 journal papers. He has won various global awards for technology including the SME award for breakthrough technology 2009 (the only non-USA recipient of this award) and at the tender age of 38 was recognised by AMUG as an industry ‘dinosaur’.

Neil is lead inventor of high speed sintering that utilises inkjet technology to significantly increase the commercial potential for sintering based AM to the point of

Chuck Hull, 3D Systems Charles W. Hull, ‘Chuck’, is the Chief Technology Officer and founder of 3D Systems Corporation in Rock Hill, South Carolina. Chuck invented stereolithography, the first commercial 3D printing and rapid prototyping technology over 26 years ago. Chuck holds more than 60 US patents in the field and has received numerous awards and recognition for his pioneering work in 3D printing which continues to this day.

Dan Johns, Bloodhound SSC

From as early as he can remember, Dan has had a fascination with the processes for building and making things. It was therefore no surprise that he trained first as a toolmaker and then qualified Mechanical Engineering. He started his career in the Engineering Centre at Exeter University. It was here that Dan first encountered additive technologies when the centre acquired an early DTM machine for Rapid Prototyping.

Dan has spent the last 20 years driving innovations and developing applications with the different processes across industry.

Dan’s illustrious career has seen him introduce innovative applications and real business benefits of additive manufacturing (AM) to a number of high profile companies. These include Howmet Alcoa, where AM was used significantly in the development of the Trent 900 engine for RollsRoyce; and Airbus, which now boasts one of the UK’s most advanced AM technology centres for aerospace component development. Currently, Dan is working on one of the most challenging — and open source — engineering projects in the UK: Bloodhound SSC. Bringing his knowledge and experience of AM to this project is allowing him to fully demonstrate the sweet spot of AM for high engineering projects to a much wider audience. And this is Dan’s other passion — inspiring and sharing the AM message.

Hans Langer, EOS

Dr. Hans J. Langer founded EOS in 1989 and today is its major shareholder steering the strategic direction of the EOS group as CEO.

He contributes more than 30 years of experience in sales and marketing of laser based solutions. Before founding EOS his career included being Managing Director Europe at General Scanning, Inc. On a scientific level he worked at the Max-Planck-Institute for plasma physics at LudwigMaximilians university in Munich where he received his Ph. D. with a thesis on laser technology.

Scott Phillips, Sciaky

A Cum Laude Honors graduate of Michigan State University, holding dual degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Scott Phillips has “come up through the ranks” at Phillips Service Industries, Inc. (PSI), a private holding company located in Livonia, Michigan that oversees a diverse collection of technologybased subsidiaries. Beginning his career in 1984 as a Project Engineer, Scott has gone on

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to hold a variety of positions at PSI, including Sales Engineer, Engineering Manager, Assistant COO and COO. In 2000, Scott was promoted to his current position of President & CEO. Year after year, Scott pushes the technological boundaries of PSI’s subsidiaries, while plotting out a course for further diversification. Scott’s leadership and passion for innovation were critical to Sciaky’s launching of Direct Manufacturing (DM). Today, Sciaky’s DM remains the only large-scale, fullyprogrammable means of achieving near-net shape parts made of highvalue metals like titanium, stainless steel, nickel and refractory alloys. A resident of Ann Arbor, Michigan, Scott enjoys outdoor activities with his wife and two children.

TOP 20 PEOPLE

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Jeremy Pullin, Renishaw

David Reis, Objet

Gary Rabinovitz, Reebok & AMUG the position of president for the SLS Users Group from November 2001 through the September 2002 conference. He is also a past member of the Editorial Advisory Board of “Time Compression Technologies” publication.

Gary Rabinovitz holds a degree in Physical Education from Plymouth State University, Plymouth NH. He has managed the Additive Manufacturing Lab at Reebok International’s World Head Quarters, for nearly 15 years. This lab operates Selective Laser Sintering technology, Z Corporation’s 3D printing technology and Objet’s Connex 3D printing technology. Gary held

printing and additive manufacturing. Objet has cultivated an outstanding reputation as an enabling 3D printing and rapid prototyping technology for product design and development.

David is set to have an interesting year having been named CEO of the combined company that will be formed when Objet and Stratasys merge later this year. Appointed to the position of Objet CEO in March 2009 after serving as a company director since 2003, Reis has seen business increase by 80% with 93% increase in profits and 155% increase in unit sales. Succeeding in building an infrastructure to serve thousands of customers worldwide, including a substantial share of the relevant Fortune 500, Reis has elevated the business into a global leader in 3D

In the fall of 2002, Gary accepted the position of Z Corporation User Group president, a position which he held for 4 years. Gary is currently the president of the AMUG (Additive Manufacturing Users Group) whose mission statement is as follows: AMUG educates and advances the uses and applications of AM technologies. Gary has also been a member of SME for the past 15 years and a Bright Minds Mentor for the past six years.

Alice Taylor, MakieLab series machines in London and Reading. The dolls are then finished in-house before sending to customers. MakieLab is working on bringing skin colours and more to the process and is actively interested in partnerships here. Previous to MakieLab, Alice was Commissioning Editor for Founded in early 2011 by Alice Education at Channel 4, where she Taylor and three co-founders: Sulka commissioned a string of multiple Haro (Habbo), Luke Petre (Little award-winning games and media Big Planet), and Jo Roach (Channel targeting teens & tweens, 4), MakieLab has just alpha including two BAFTAs for Bow launched MAKIES: a build-yourStreet Runner and Privates, Best own 3D-printed ultra-customisable Game & Best Educational for action doll community, soon to be 1066 and Smokescreen at SXSWi, followed by the associated and the Prix Jeunesse for Routes. playspace and mobile app. Previous to Channel 4, Alice was VP Digital Media at BBC MAKIES creates 10” poseable Worldwide in Los Angeles. action dolls on EOS p100/300

From 2006 to 2008 Reis served as CEO and President of NUR Macroprinters Ltd, a wide format printer manufacturer that was acquired by HP. Prior to joining NUR, Reis was CEO and President of ImageID, an automatic identification and data capture solution provider, and of Scitex Vision, a developer and manufacturer of wide-format printers. Reis holds a B.A. in Economics and Management from the Technion/Israel Institute of Technology and an MBA. from the University of Denver.

Graham Tromans, G. P. Tromans Associates EDITOR’S CHOICE by Jim Woodcock

In deciding whether I should make my own nomimation for most influential, I got to thinking about those in the industry that have been of most help to me while learning the ropes on TCT. It is true that many of this Top 20 have directly or indirectly helped me form my opinions, learn about the processes and discover the applications that abound within this growing, diversifying industry. Having thought long and hard I would like to present Graham Tromans as the Editor’s Choice. Although receiving enough votes to be in the list anyway, I have plucked Graham out (meaning the list is technically 21 people...) for my pick.

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Active in the UK, Europe, the USA and Asia, Graham works tirelessly for the SME, RTAM, AMUG and TCT in educating audiences about AM. He is one of only two ‘double dinosaurs’ — achieving recognition for services to SLA and SLS by the 3D Systems User Group (now AMUG). In 2007 Graham became a Master-Level Rapid Technologies & Additive Manufacturing Certificate holder, which was presented by the SME, USA; he is the first and only person to be presented with this award in the UK. Throughout my two years on TCT, Graham has always been on hand with advice, information and support. We’ve closed a few bars together too...

TOP 20 PEOPLE

Jeremy set up and now runs the Rapid manufacturing centre at Renishaw's headquarters in Gloucestershire including both additive and conventional technologies. The centre serves all of the product divisions across the Renishaw group for prototyping, modelling and low volume production. Jeremy has presented After completing a four year and chaired at conferences around apprenticeship, Jeremy completed a Europe for AM, CAM and CNC degree in mechanical engineering technologies. He currently sits on a in Bristol. He went on to support number of committees for AM and later develop CNC technologies in the UK. manufacturing systems including both hardware and software.

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Foreword TCT at 20 — past, present and future Marking the 20th year in print for TCT is quite a milestone for the magazine, the direct staff and the whole company.

Why did we launch personalize?

In the two decades since the co-founders Mark Blezard (still with us as CEO) and Chris Young (recently departed for pastures new) launched what is now TCT, the Rapid News Communications Group (RNCG) has built a broad portfolio of magazines, websites, digital products and live events in the UK, Europe, Middle East and USA. We are active in the plastics industry where our titles European Plastic Product Manufacturer, Medical Plastics News, Middle Eastern Plastics and British Plastics and Rubber, along with the shows Interplas and Mediplas make us one of the most successful communications company in this sphere globally.

All of these products fall under the umbrella company of Rapid News Communications Group — because in 1992 Mark can Chris spotted an emerging industry and set about developing a magazine to cater for it. Rather than starting from scratch the duo took on a University of Warwick newsletter called… Rapid News! Little did they know how that title would impact on the development of their company. Rapid News the magazine became Time Compression Technologies — then followed Time Compression Technologies USA and, following the sale of that property, a rebranding of what was the European edition to The TCT Magazine and latterly simply TCT. So it has been 20 years of constant evolution, reflecting perfectly the industry that we have been covering. In fact we’ve had nearly as many names as the technologies themselves! The most recent addition to the Rapid News portfolio is Personalize, itself a portfolio of website, Newsstand magazine and event pavilion.

Since the very early days of rapid prototyping and rapid manufacturing, there has been a split in the uses of the technology between preproduction and production. More recently this has been a split between industry and personal use of technologies that share a heritage. The launch of Personalize shows that we are committed to covering additive technologies in all their applications, in all forms and for all users. We see the split, and we have catered for it. Is this the final word? Hardly likely — if we learn anything from our 20 years it is that things change quickly around here, but we do our best to be current now and plan for but not worry about the future. It’s already here. The launch of Personalize also marks our commitment to this magazine, it’s readers and advertisers. TCT is a magazine for industry, focusing on the tools you need to get your products and projects to completion quicker, or to make products that without AM would be impossible. So our 20-year anniversary allows us to draw a line in the sand, to set out our stall for the next 20 years (well, 12 months maybe?!) with renewed focus and determination to help two distinct but closely related industries succeed. We’re still excited by everything we cover from a portable 3D printer on Kickstarter to a continuous AM platform we see at a tradeshow. As Group Editor I still get a kick from seeing how AM is applied in diverse industries globally and from seeing kids using a 3D printer for the first time. The following pages contain case studies, stories and reflection from some of our longest lasting partners. They have all been around a long time (for their respective technologies) and were amongst the first companies to feature in and support Rapid News, Time Compression Technologies, The TCT Magazine and TCT. Finally, a huge thank you to all the contributors, readers, advertisers and advisors we have gained over the last 20 years, your help has been invaluable in helping us to report on and promote RP, AM and 3DP, and your ongoing support is very greatly appreciated by the whole team.

20 YEARS OF TCT

We also have a portfolio of products in the micro- and nanomanufacturing industry, where we run a global magazine and shows in the UK and USA. In addition we have a long-established magazine for pharmaceutical manufacturers, European Pharmaceutical Manufacturer.

Personalize’s remit is to cover ‘at-home’ and ‘from-home’ 3D printing technologies in the form of designing, making and commissioning personalised products for the consumer. It will touch on industrial applications where there is significant crossover, but for the most part it will be consumer facing and tasked with raising awareness and use of 3D printing in the wider consumer world.

Jim Woodcock

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As anyone in the Rapid Prototyping industry will be aware, the past 20 years have seen both fast and fascinating developments from staggering reductions in time needed to manufacture prototypes, to new and innovative manufacturing techniques; from a costprohibitive and limited CAD market to the potential for a thriving ‘at-home’ 3D printing industry, the Rapid Prototyping landscape of today is barely recognisable from the market in which TCT magazine launched two decades ago. The industry has certainly changed and so has the name, with a move away from prototyping to Additive Manufacturing (AM). As the UK’s longest established provider of rapid prototyping and rapid tooling services, CRDM has been at the forefront of many of these incredible changes and has evolved rapidly as part of the growing industry. Founded in 1995 with a rented stereolithography machine (one of only 10 in the UK at the time) and two employees, CRDM now inhabits 22,250 sq ft purpose built facility with 50 employees, doubled turnover in the last three years and seen investment equivalent to £1 million in the previous 12 months. “When we first started out, the rapid prototyping industry was very much in its infancy — the machines were rare and the services they could offer were understood by only a few companies” said Graham Bennett, CRDM’s founder, “The cost and time needed was off-putting for most people. Aluminium casting prototypes could take up to 22 weeks to create and CAD packages cost £80,000. Over the years we’ve seen, and been part of, a

complete change in companies’ awareness of the process and the accepted idea of how long rapid prototypes and injection mould tools should take.” As a result, CRDM has also witnessed a change in the type of clients with SMEs and sole traders joining the market alongside the bigger players. “The feasibility of CAD for smaller enterprises has been the single most important change in the industry – packages are about 98% cheaper than they were, and the software has developed beyond recognition” explained Graham, who helped CRDM purchase a CAD package in 1995 to begin making prototypes, a second stereolithography machine 18 months later and a plastics sintering machine in 1998 — only the third in the country. By 2000, CRDM had purchased further metal sintering machines and employed 25 people. In 2005, the bureau moved into injection moulding and continued to grow to its current 50-strong workforce, adding further machines and riding industry changes as it grew.

CRDM was a pioneer in using EOS’ DMLS technology (1999), combining two SLA machines with one laser (2002) and using Carbon Filled Nylon for SLS (2005). It was the first UK bureau to use EOS metal sintering technology and to manufacture parts for aircraft. Since its establishment, CRDM has made more metal sintered tools than any other UK organisation and has grown from producing 200 prototypes in 1995 to more than 50,000 in 2012. So, what of future developments for the industry? “In the short term, we will see the development of better materials, which will increase awareness and understanding of the industry.” said Graham, “In the longer term, high-speed 3D printers will be one of the main advances and the home market for 3D printing will continue to grow exponentially.” Far from seeing the rapidly developing 3D printing home market as a threat to commercial bureaux, CRDM is positive about the changes.

“When an industry evolves as quickly as ours has, successful bureaux need to be willing to take calculated risks and develop into the emerging technologies,” commented Martin James, CRDM’s Chairman, “Our success comes from making consistently good calls on which technologies will succeed and which will, ultimately, not. That judgement comes from an awareness of what our customers want, and an awareness and responsiveness to the market as it develops.”

“The raising consumer consciousness of 3D printing can only be a good thing.” Martin explained, “It’s inevitable that giving people the tools to 3D print for themselves will take some work away from bureaux, but the amount of work it will potentially bring in through increased awareness, engagement with a wider market and changing attitudes will outweigh any losses. The fact that ‘rapid prototyping’ is now beginning to filter through to such a wide audience will bring a new wave of clients to our rapidly changing industry.”

CRDM’s ability to read and respond to market changes has led to a long list of firsts —

CRDM www.crdm.co.uk

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20 YEARS OF TCT

Two Decades of Development

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HANMAN

28 years’ of experience gives Hanman Advanced Castings the edge when it comes to supplying high quality parts at a competitive price. Hanman has recognised that it is not enough to simply have dimensionally accurate prototype alloy castings — they also need to mechanically simulate production parts in every way.

that are completely representative of the production item both in terms of accuracy and surface quality in order for the parts to be tested to destruction and used for field trials rather than just used for fit and function applications. Following this successful project, Dyson will work with Hanman Advanced Castings on future projects.

Hanman has concentrated on perfecting its casting processes — operation and team — to ensure the company’s clients get the highest quality parts, delivered quickly, cost-effectively and with a personal service. To ensure the best possible service Hanman also offers CNC Machining, Vacuum Casting, Prototype Injection Moulding, Foundry Patterns, Tooling for Composites, Jigs and Fixtures, Models and Mock-ups, Vacuum Forming Tooling, Tooling for Polyurethane Moulding and Models and Masters for GRP moulds and small batch runs of Kevlar and GRP mouldings.

To see how this process can work for you, call + 44 1452 501928.

ADVANCED CASTINGS

Profile Hanman Advanced Castings Unit 24B, Morelands Trading Estate, Bristol Road, Gloucester, GL1 5RZ, UK

Tel: + 44 1452 501928

Fax: + 44 1452 421141

Email: sales@hanmans.com

Web:

www.hanmans.com

Through many years of experience working with some of the biggest and most demanding manufacturing companies in the world, Hanman has perfected advanced casting processes that will simulate production castings. This enables not only casting one-offs for product testing, but casting batches used for setting up manufacturing and quality processes. This capability was in evidence when Hanman was commissioned to supply Dyson with the castings it required to produce its revolutionary new air blade hand dryer — the Dyson Airblade™. According to Hanman Advanced Casting, Dyson is just one of many clients that now demand fully functional prototypes

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1991 - 2012: Novelty to Necessity

In 1991, Laser Prototypes Europe Ltd was set up as a pioneering new company offering Rapid Prototyping technologies including Stereolithography and Vacuum Casting as a bureau service available to companies throughout the UK and Ireland. Offering a radically faster alternative to traditional methods, early customers included Ford, GEC Marconi and BAe. “Our very first customer was ACCO Rexel in 1991,” reminisces Tom Walls, Managing Director and owner of the company. “Back then, Stereolithography was a novelty rather than a necessity. Nobody in the UK had really even heard of RP and it was only just about to hit the screens of Tomorrows World.” Tom was one of the founder members of the International Rapid Prototyping Association, whose newsletter would eventually become TCT . His significant contribution to the promotion of Rapid Prototyping and Manufacturing in the UK and Ireland was recognised in his nomination as a Fellow of the Institute of Mechanical Engineering in 1999. “Materials and resins have always been pivotal in determining how and to whom we offer our services. The very first acrylic SLA resins were so unstable and fragile that once a part was built, it was to be placed on a desk, looked at by all involved and touched by nobody!” says Tom, who first witnessed the SLA process in its infancy whilst on a business trip with Shorts Bombardier in the USA. Striving to improve on the performance of RP materials, Laser Prototypes was selected to be the European distributor for Allied Signal’s new EXactomer SLA resin, a radical move towards the tougher epoxy resins we have come to know today. Early customers for this new material included Materialise and BAe Warton. The first company to install an EOS Stereolithography machine, ahead of Land Rover and Daewoo, Laser Prototypes continued to offer the very latest technologies and materials to customers throughout the 90s. tct 20/3

Since then, they have noticed clear changes in the technologies and customers’ requirements, and believe that the shift is due in the majority to advanced materials. Currently offering 13 different SLA and SLS materials, Laser Prototypes has THE widest range of resins and powders available to customers, and this has been driven wholly by customer demand. “Customers have more confidence and more uses for parts nowadays. Sales tools, tooling aids, functional testing, medical trials, wind tunnel tests and full production runs are only some of the mainstream uses for the processes we offer. That’s even before we look at film props, bespoke furniture, jewellery and clothing and customised action figures! We have a material and a process for every need!” commented Campbell Evans, Sales Director at Laser Prototypes. Laser Prototypes celebrated 20 years in the RP industry last year, with a “bubbly and buns” party at TCT , and we are looking for to seeing what the next twenty years brings… “The company is moving to new custom built premises towards the end of this year, which will allow it to continue to offer the very latest in AM technologies and materials.” MD Tom Walls is excited at the prospect of the next 20 years in business, and sees a major shift towards end production using Rapid Prototyping technologies: “Some components on the latest machines are already manufactured using their own processes, and with the continuous improvement in materials, this can only continue to escalate. Design for manufacture and design curbs in favour of cost cuts could be tossed aside in favour of sleek designs produced quickly AND cost effectively, not from tools but built directly on an SLA or SLS machine. Materials used are already at a production acceptable stage and so have hugely expanded the range of applications for which additive manufacturing can be used. The Somos Watershed material is ISO and USP Grade VI approved for medical trials, the Ultem 9085 aerospace approved material, PEEK and flame retardant SLS materials are all well accepted materials for production, the problem is that we need more of them and at lower costs to really compete with injection moulding toe-to-toe.” Roll on the next 20 years!

20 YEARS OF TCT

20 years ago, the world was experiencing the whirlwind introduction of a range of ‘additive manufacturing’ processes, which would radically affect our attitudes to design and manufacturing. From the SLA process in 1986 to FDM, Laminated Object Manufacturing in 1991 and Selective Laser Sintering in 1992, we have been inundated with a host of processes, each different in their methodology, and some of which haven’t stood the test of time, but all of which have sought to do the same one thing — the fast production of high quality, functional components in as short a time as possible.

Laser Prototypes Europe Ltd www.laserproto.com

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SLS@20

Alongside the 20 year anniversary of The TCT Magazine lies another 20 year milestone of interest, the introduction of Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) to the additive manufacturing market. Where did it all start? The technology of Selective Laser Sintering originated in the mid 1980’s when it was pioneered and patented by Dr Carl Deckard at the University of Texas. As is well known today the technology uses a high power laser to selectively fuse small particles of powdered material, by scanning cross-sections generated from a CAD file into a desired 3-dimensional shape. The technology produces parts from a variety of base materials ranging from wax and polystyrene to nylons and metals. In the late 1980’s a group of investors including BF Goodrich were involved in early material development, but it was only after the technology was licensed to DTM Corporation that the first machines were installed in beta sites at Kodak and the University of Louisville in 1991, with the first commercially available Sinterstation® 2000 from DTM being introduced to the market in 1992. Then just two years later EOS entered the European market in 1994 commercialising their first EOSINT Laser Sintering equipment. So 20 years on, how has material development helped this technology to evolve?

ALM PA 850 black, a new nylon 11 powder (Image courtesy of RP Support)

New Material Suppliers 3D Systems completed its acquisition of DTM in 2001 but it took until 2004 for the Laser Sintering market to start moving forward with material developments, following three years where little of significance had happened whilst EOS and 3D Systems were in litigation. New material suppliers entered the sector to compete against 3D Systems and EOS including Advanced Laser Materials (ALM) in 2004, Exceltec in 2004 and CRP Technology, already active in Europe, entered the US market in 2006.

Sintered part being removed from the powder cake (Image courtesy of Paragon Rapid Technologies)

ALM (www.alm-llc.com), based in Temple, Texas has grown to become one of the leading providers of laser sintering materials, supplying an extensive range of high-performance powders based on Nylon 11, Nylon 12, Polystyrenes, TPEs (thermo-plastic-elastomers) and PEEKs. Developed in close cooperation with customers, the current range consists of more than 50 materials, from base resins, glass or mineral filled, carbon fibre reinforced materials and flame retardant formulations through to high-performance, processable Nylon 11s, conventional stabilised Nylon 12s, specialist polystyrene and TPE powders as well as customised materials developed under contract. Through a strategic partnership entered into with EOS in 2009, ALM also offers customers specialist high temperature laser sintering powders with a heat deflection temperature (HDT) of 165°C. Partnerships with DSM Somos (www.dsmsomos.com) and Integra Services (www.integra-support.com) also allow ALM to offer stereolithography (SL) materials and full service solutions for all laser sintering and stereolithography platforms. ALM distributes its performance sintering powders into the UK market through its distributor RP Support (www.rpsupport.co.uk). Exceltec (www.exceltec.eu), based in Chassieu, France distributes a small range of polymer powders into the European market. The InnovaPA range of materials consists of five powders, three nylon 11 materials; an unfilled powder available in black, a glass filled formulation, and one powder developed specifically for medical applications. Exceltec also offers two Nylon 12 materials; an unfilled powder available in natural, grey, black, red and blue and a filled nylon 12 with glass beads and aluminium. Exceltec also distributes FR106, a Nylon 11 flame retardant formulation from ALM.

CRP Technology (www. crptechnology.com) is an established company based in Modena, Italy supplying a specialist range of composite high performance sintering materials to produce parts for wind tunnel applications as well as finished and functional parts for limited production runs. Marketed as Windform additive manufacturing materials, the range comprises six formulations based on polyamide and polystyrene, with glass filled, glass and aluminium filled, flexible and carbon fibre reinforced materials. CRP also offers customers an in-house additive manufacturing service through the use of its Windform materials.

F-35A Lightning II (Image courtesy of Lockheed Martin, photographer Paul Weatherman)

Material Developments As new materials were developed so did the applications for the technology. The introduction of polyamide 11 in 1993 introduced the possibility of a true functional prototype to the RP market. Interestingly, Nylon 11 and Nylon 12 have remained the base materials for the majority of sintering powders over the last 20 years but with the introduction of new grades and the development of powders with a variety of different additives, the Nylon 11 materials have significantly improved in mechanical performance now offering excellent strength and impact resistance with elongation to break at around 40%.

20 YEARS OF TCT

David Storey is Executive Director at RP Support Limited Rick Booth is Vice President at ALM LLC

Original Nylon 11 materials required highly skilled operatives to build good parts but with more recent developments Nylon 11 materials have become as processable as Nylon 12 powders, originally introduced for ease of use due to a wider processing window and to improve the recycle rate of the powders. The introduction of Nylon 12 powders lead to an almost 3 x increase in SLS equipment sales but today any modern SLS equipment can be run on Nylon 11 or Nylon 12 materials which still account for 85-90% of the laser sintering powder business.

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One of the most exciting announcements about next generation materials came in May this year when ALM announced at the EOS Users Group that it is developing a new series of high performance powders focused on alternative polymers that are commonly used for manufacturing, moving away from Nylon 11 and 12.

The latest high-performance polymer PEEK was introduced by EOS in 2009 . The EOS PEEK HP3 material, belonging to the group of polyaryletherketone (PAEK) polymers, is a semi-crystalline, thermoplastic material producing parts that achieve a tensile strength up to 95 MPa and a Young’s modulus up to 4,400 MPa, offering mechanical properties of up to 100% higher than the market dominating materials Nylon 11 and Nylon 12. The continuous use temperature ranges within 180°C (mechanical dynamic), 240°C (mechanical static) and 260°C (electrical) depending on the field of application. The PEEK materials were introduced to run on the new high-temperature system EOSINT P 800, the only high temperature hardware available on the market today, originally developed for Toyota F1. The high temperature is required to process the polymer powders that melt at 370°C. Today, laser sintering has many examples of limited run manufacturing applications. Through its relationship with EOS, ALM has developed a carbon fibre filled PEEK sintering material specifically for a US government project which is supplied to produce parts for the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). Other specialist materials developed by ALM include a PAEK polymer supplied to Oxford Performance Materials (www.oxfordpm.com) for manufacturing biomedical implants.

In addition to this, ALM is also developing midrange temperature performance nylon materials for components requiring higher thermal performance with an HDT of 120°C – 130°C. Applications include under-the-hood components for automotive markets and moulds for shoe soles for designers of sports shoes. Introduction of sport shoes to the market is very competitive and designers will introduce up to three or four new designs per month. Prototype designs need to be worn and shown, which requires the manufacture of a left and a right sole, in three or four different sizes and laser sintering is the preferred method for the manufacture of shoe moulds. To respond to the current global supply shortage of Nylon 12, in addition to switching its customers to processable Nylon 11 materials, ALM is also sourcing an alternative focusing on nylon copolymer systems. With the goals of stabilising supply and formulating lower cost materials with improved processing, thermal stability, recyclability and mechanical properties, a supply chain is already in place, with the new materials expected to be trialled in the market within 3 – 4 months.

The technology of laser sintering is frequently seen to push the boundaries into limited run manufacturing primarily within aerospace in the US market and within medical and automotive / Formula 1 markets within Europe, where users are typically looking for the strongest, lightweight materials possible. Next Generation Materials Final components in manufacturing today are made from polymers such as Nylon 6, ABS, Polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE) but these polymers are currently not available to run on SLS platforms. This is a key restriction that limits how far this technology can evolve into manufacturing, so the development of high performance, cost effective powders for laser sintering in materials such as Nylon 6 is imperative.

Laser sintered biomedical implant (Image courtesy of Oxford Performance Materials)

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Laser sintering powder PA 250 ACF, aluminium and carbon fibre filled, 200X magnification (Image courtesy of ALM)

SLS for Additive Manufacturing Attitudes to design development and manufacturing have changed significantly over the last 20 years and we already see innovative, forward thinking companies using laser sintering for the manufacture of limited run components. In service bureaux today approximately 30–40% of their business is for manufacturing, with the remainder for functional prototype parts, and the limited run manufacturing proportion is growing. However, if the future of SLS is to truly be manufacturing and not prototyping, significant changes to both materials and hardware need to be implemented. The development of SLS hardware has come a long way since the first Sinterstation 2000 platform that had refrigeration units for running wax materials, to the sPro range of printers from 3D Systems or the EOSINT P 800 from EOS today but current hardware platforms have no auto feedback on controls, and as heaters degrade over time, IR sensors change over time and laser power reduces over time, these variables that need to be controlled are not yet built into the systems to meet manufacturing standards. Calibration of IR sensors or checking the thermal gradient across the powder bed may be possible at the start of a build but how do we determine whether the laser power remains constant during the build? All SLS platforms can run unattended but how do we guarantee everything is perfect during the build which may run for 36 hours? Today many companies build sacrificial parts such as tensile bars and checking the mechanical properties of the tensile bars shows if the parts built for manufacture are acceptable, but is this reliable enough for true additive manufacturing?

20 YEARS OF TCT

The EOSINT P760 Laser Sintering Equipment (Image courtesy of EOS)

To do this ALM has developed and patented a new technique that allows modification of the structure of semi-crystal materials such as Nylon 6, PP and PAEK currently not suitable to run on Laser Sintering platforms, to make them processable for this technology. Powders such as Nylons have a melting point of 1840C to 2200C providing thermal properties of parts with an HDT of 100°C – 180°C, mechanical properties suitable for production applications, whilst PAEK and PP formulations will provide powders that are lower cost and recyclable to meet manufacturing price points. This promises to bring significant changes to the reality of SLS AM in the next 12 – 24 months.

By combining hardware platforms that have improved built-in controls for manufacturing with materials that have mechanical properties more consistent with those used in manufacturing today such as ABS or Nylon 6, the more realistic additive manufacturing will become.

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20 years of CAM software developments Developments in CAM programming software have been closely linked to progress in three related technologies — computer hardware, machine tools and cutting tools. The overall result has been much faster calculation of more efficient toolpaths, plus wider application of the technology, expanding from the aerospace, automotive and toolmaking industries, into areas as diverse as signmaking, jewellery manufacture and dental restorations.

The complexity of the latest mill-turn machines makes simulation essential to ensure safe operation on the machine

Toolpaths able to give the full benefits of modern cutting tools are much more complex

Computer hardware The increased power and reduced cost of computer hardware have arguably had the greatest impact on CAM since, without them, it would be impossibly expensive and time-consuming to produce programs to take full advantage of the latest generation of machine tools and cutting tools. After steadily increasing processor speeds, in the last few years, there has been a step change in processing power through the universal availability of multi-processor equipment. The minimum specification for a computer to run Delcam software in 1992 was 50MHz 486 processor, 20 Mb RAM, and 500Mb hard disk, running Interactive Workstation Unix software. The cheapest laptop from PC World now comes with a dual core processor, 4 Gb RAM and 320Gb hard drive, plus 64-bit Windows software. There are two main benefits from multi-processor computers; background processing and parallel processing (also called multithreading). Background processing allows the user to prepare, simulate or edit one toolpath in the foreground, while simultaneously calculating other toolpaths in the background. With parallel processing, the computer can perform different parts of a single complex calculation at the same time. Both technologies allow calculation times to be reduced significantly, so giving much greater productivity from the user. At the same time, 64-bit operation also contributes to the ability to program larger components in shorter times. The ability to undertake background processing has been important for simulations of the machining process, which can now be completed in the background, simultaneous with other programming work. This aspect of programming has also benefited from the better quality of the graphics that can be provided. Accurate, three-dimensional models of machine tools can be produced to simulate the complete machining process. It is, of course, much cheaper to find mistakes on the computer than on the machine tool. Machine tool complexity Reduced costs and increased capabilities can also be seen in today’s machine tools, especially five-axis machines and mill-turn equipment. For both types of equipment, the main advantage is the ability to complete the manufacture of more complex parts in a single operation, which obviously saves time compared to performing the job in a series of set-ups. The problem with this more advanced equipment is that calculating toolpaths for their operation is much more complicated than for simple lathes or three-axis machines. Not only are there more options to consider but the software will need to undertake more comprehensive checking to ensure that collisions will not occur. For example, many CAM systems now include some sort of automatic collision avoidance during five-axis machining. The generation of stock models, to show the material remaining after each operation, is also more complex with this more advanced equipment.

Cutting tool developments Modern cutting tools can operate at speeds that would have been unthinkable 20 years ago, with solid carbide tooling also able to give deeper cuts by using the full flute length as the cutting surface. However, to obtain the full benefits of these tools, much more complicated toolpaths need to be developed that protect the cutter from any sudden changes in direction or loading. To put this into context, in 1991, Delcam’s multiple-surface machining was restricted to parallel machining paths and could only give guaranteed gouge-free machining with ball-nosed slot drills, yet was still regarded as the most reliable CAM system then available. The latest Vortex strategy produces much more complex toolpaths based on a controlled engagement angle to maintain the optimum cutting conditions for the entire toolpath. Like other specialist strategies for high-efficiency machining, this greater toolpath complexity is generated automatically, so maintaining the ease of use of the software.

20 YEARS OF TCT

Complex calculations such as automatic collision avoidance need the power of modern hardware

The future It seems inevitable that the same three drivers — more powerful computers, more sophisticated machine tools and more capable cutting tools — will continue to determine the future development of CAM software. The degree of automation incorporated into the software will continue to make the systems easier to learn and to use, despite the continued increase in the sophistication of the results that need to be produced. Simulations, especially of the surface finish to be left on the part, will become more accurate, giving even greater confidence that the results shown on the computer screen will be duplicated on the machine. Delcam plc www.delcam.com

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Scenes familiar 20 years ago are seen less and less

20:20 Vision or How The World is Moving On Just a few more things to do before the end of the working day, actually the end of not just any working day, the end of the last working day. Bob has been a design engineer all his life and is now looking forward to a long and happy retirement. He casts his eyes around the empty desk and his gaze settles on a copy of TCT. Ironic, he thought, that they should be celebrating 20 years of publication and looking forward to many more, when he was closing a chapter that spanned more than double that. TCT, he remembered, had once been called Time Compression Technologies and before that Rapid News. It had been devoted to a readership that enjoyed the latest news and discussion about the design and manufacturing goal of reducing the time for a design to go from concept to prototype, then concept to production. In those days the drawing board was becoming increasingly rare and CAD/CAM was coming out of its infancy to provide designers with new three-dimensional facilities that promised great things. Most designers then, working on complex mechanical components, were using a high resolution graphics screen attached to a Unix workstation that had cost tens of thousands of pounds. The software they utilised was equally expensive and required considerable skill to operate. All the talk was that CAD was to become the master of everything in the design and manufacturing realm and that through its use, designers and engineers would lead industries such as automotive and aerospace to a new generation of sophisticated and efficient products. Bob could see that in many respects this has happened but he wonders if the greatest contribution of this technology during his career had been the linking of design and manufacturing. Originally the link

between design and manufacturing hadn’t actually been a link, it was sometimes more of a barrier. In those days people would refer to the ‘brick wall’ between design and manufacturing, this being a place where designs were ‘thrown over’ for manufacturing to “get on with”. The ability to apply tool paths to 3D models and to create post processed instructions for manufacturing machines directly from a CAD model brought this separation to an end. Design engineers and manufacturing engineers soon had common ground and an ability to work more closely than ever before. Not only did it bring about genuine improvements in productivity, it enabled the machining of components directly from the CAD model and as a result things could be cut that simply could not have been machined before. Most two axis machining could be easily programmed by experienced manufacturing engineers, but three axis work was difficult and 4 or 5 axis very difficult. The merging of CAD and CAM solved this. Bob smiled as he thought about the first time someone had introduced him to high technology rapid prototyping. To Bob and his generation, rapid prototyping could be achieved by opening the door to the model shop and shouting “get on with it!”. However, as CAD/CAM has matured it has brought with it amazing new ways to create physical 3D models. At first these were coarse and small, needed considerable hand finishing and could only be made in materials that were not suitable for the finished part. Even that has changed. Accurate small components can now be made directly from the 3D model, very cheaply. What’s more, now there are real productive manufacturing processes that will make components in metals, even expensive metals such as titanium that are very difficult to work by more traditional means. How things have changed.

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20 YEARS OF TCT

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“Bob has been a design engineer all his life and is now looking forward to a long and happy retirement.”

A smiling Jim Woodcock talking to us wherever we are... A somewhat dystopic view of the future!

As Bob reflected on the aspects of his work that he had most enjoyed his thoughts moved on to those things that he was glad he wasn’t going to have to do any more. He would not miss the struggle he went through when he received 3D assemblies or components from customers or suppliers in a different CAD format to his own. Sometimes he received whole assemblies when he only wanted some key reference geometry — getting to that point was often very frustrating. The whole issue of working with external 3D data, CDs, email attachments, USB sticks and more, all needing to be recorded for audit trail purposes, was not what he had signed up for and not what he had trained for. He wouldn’t miss it. Neither would he miss the responsibility his long service had earned him for managing the thousands of files of CAD models the business had generated long ago and now being held on out of date hardware in redundant operating systems. He was one of few people in the business who knew how to work these old systems and how to get at the legacy data they held. This has been a major distraction from his core activities and he will be glad to see the back of it. Who might inherit the task was no longer his concern and neither was he bothered that sooner or later someone would have to be the architect of a legacy migration of all their old CAD data from redundant formats into something that would be accessible for years to come. Somewhere there are specialists to whom this is ‘business as usual’. Bob wondered if the design engineer of the next 20 years will be rid of the time wasting that currently surrounds engineering interoperability? Will OEMs and their supply chains be able to work together seamlessly? Will future systems mean that every aspect of the design engineer’s work is automatically documented and recorded, reducing tedium and freeing up time for creative design and engineering? Will legacy data be held in such a way that it will be easily accessible to authorised users and will current work be automatically archived? All these questions flooded through Bob’s mind until he realised that for him — it didn’t matter. For the rest of us however these are real and serious questions. New technology will bring changes over the next 20 years and as is typical with technological changes, some of them will be useful and some will be technology looking for a place to belong. The workplace will certainly change. Bigger higher resolutions screens will become common place, maybe they won’t be screens, maybe the whole work desk will be a display of some sort. Perhaps the phone on the desk will go, to be replaced by a tele-video facility on the display which is our desk. The keyboard will go and the mouse too, being replaced by something that senses movement or even reads thoughts, but will these changes bring time savings or cost reduction?

Technology will mean that our workplace becomes mobile. Wherever we are, our work will be with us morning, noon and night, and we are going to need to work hard to manage that divide we call our work/life balance. TCT will no longer be a glossy magazine on the desktop or in the magazine rack, it will be reaching out to us from whatever mobile computing device we are using, whether that is a *pad* of some sort, a smart phone, a pair of spectacles, an electronic implant under our skin or even a TV in our own front rooms. Our every habit from eating preferences to hobbies, circle of friends, personal location and so much more will be known. Imagine that, a smiling Jim Woodcock talking to us wherever we are — whatever we are doing! Clearly not everything about this brave new world is going to be good. For almost everybody, but particularly the design engineer, security of information will become a real challenge. Whereas for the man in the street, taking personal responsibility for some passwords and pin numbers may be sufficient, the same person interacting with work on systems outside the workplace might have the need to ensure security of company information — very difficult unless new technology is also going to solve that need. Maybe the boundaries between work and life will blur and the most successful businesses and most successful people will be found in those who are able to allow their work to become their lives. Does it all depend upon the definition of the word successful? Perhaps the most significant influence on the changes that will come in the next 20 years will come about because of the technology we currently call ‘The Cloud’. The new interfaces, enhanced mobile computing, business interoperability in supply chains, enhanced security and much more may only be possible because of the great reach and flexibility afforded by ‘cloud’ technology. In addition Cloud technology will seamlessly incorporate new technology to deliver higher speed communications, faster computation and vastly greater data storage that a solutions hungry engineering world will demand.

20 YEARS OF TCT

‘Bob’ wouldn’t miss the responsibility his long service had earned him for managing the thousands of files of CAD models the business had generated long ago.

So that’s it, Bob can retire. As an engineer he will work in the future on the old electric lathe in his garage, and he may even create the odd 3D component on the 3D printing system his colleagues gave him to mark his retirement. He can forget it all, that is until they day he gets the phone call that invites him back to work on a freelance consultancy basis, alongside the specialists who have been tasked with being the architects of a CAD migration and Long Term Archive solution so desperately needed by his previous employer. Theorem Solutions, specialist in CAD Data Exchange, CAD data migration and Long Term Data Archive, congratulates TCT on a successful first 20 years and wishes TCT continued success for the future. www.theoremsolutions.com

Check out the next issue of TCT for more celebrations of our 20th year where we will hear from more of our long-time contributors and advisors. tct 20/3

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Gordon Murray Design and the New Industrial Revolution

WORDS | CHARLES CLARKE

“To go faster just add lightness” — this is a quote from Colin Chapman, the legendary F1 designer, founder of Lotus and pioneer of lightweight road cars Gordon Murray has had an illustrious career working at Brabham Formula One Team as Technical Director, winning two world championships (1981 and 1983) during his 17 years with the team. Gordon joined McLaren Racing as Technical Director in 1988 and three consecutive championship wins (1988, 1989 and 1990) followed. In 1990 Gordon moved away from Formula One, after 50 Grand Prix wins, to enable him to concentrate his efforts on establishing a new Company for the McLaren Group — McLaren Cars Ltd, now assimilated into McLaren Automotive. The Company’s first project, the F1 Road Car is still regarded as the world’s best engineered car. A racing version won two world sports car championships and the Le Mans 24-hour race on its first attempt in 1995. At McLaren Cars Murray completed several other successful projects culminating with Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren programme.

Lightness has always been a critical design criterion for Murray. From his early involvement with the (Light Car Company) LCC Rocket, still the world’s lightest and fastest, road legal, racecar, to his appointment to the Lotus Advisory Council last year, he has always echoed the Chapman design ethic. In the context of his current activities, if we are allowed to paraphrase the great man, the

current approach at Gordon Murray Design (GMD) would be “for sustainable transportation just add lightness.” The focus at GMD at the moment is the T.27 Electric City Car and the T.32 electric sports car for Toray Industries Inc. There are a couple of other vehicle programmes, but they are still very much under wraps. The first objective is focused on the UK and building a consortium to get the T.25 and T.27 into manufacture. GMD will then focus on the rest of Europe from an export perspective. The vehicles would be on general sale two years after the consortium has been established. Ultimately GMD are in the business of selling iStream licences rather than making cars.

iStream Apologies for labouring the Lotus connection, but it is palpable. One of Chapman’s great early road cars was the original Lotus Elan — it was not without its faults (I owned one), but it was the first time we had a steel chassis underlying a glass fibre composite body. And if we fastforward a couple of decades Lotus Engineering pioneered the Lotus Variable Vehicle Architecture. The similarities in approach to iStream are spooky — two great engineers adopting a similar approach to a similar problem — that’s never happened before.

The T.27 is both a prototype electric car and a test bed for the new iStream manufacturing process. The contention at GMD is that stamped steel has served us well in the past in vehicle production, but that it is no longer the best way to cope with our global transportation challenges. Gordon Murray puts it very succinctly: “We are all facing the beginning of what promises to be the next industrial revolution and we will have to apply all the lateral thinking and innovation we can muster to solve the problems we face with energy, pollution and congestion.” tct 20/3

The iStream process seeks to reduce all costs associated with developing a vehicle, from factory development and assembly to tooling design and end of life. Whereas the traditional approach to vehicle manufacturing sees stamped steel used for the body structure,

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GMD's innovative iStream manufacturing process uses lightweight composite panels bonded to a tubular metallic frame. iStream is being developed as intellectual property for GMD which it intends to license to companies wishing to diversify into the car market. However, in order to make iStream successful, GMD must prove that a vehicle, which relies on composite panels for much of its structural integrity, can meet strict performance targets. To do this, GMD has developed a number of demonstrator vehicles including the T.25 and T.27 that utilise the iStream philosophy. The iStream assembly process has several discrete phases. During the first part, the

powertrain, wiring harnesses, brakes, suspension and all major components can be fitted directly onto the chassis prior to the body panels being fitted. The body panels are delivered to the line prepainted and they are ‘married’ to the completed chassis near the end of the assembly process, helping to reduce paint damage normally associated with a standard assembly line. All external panels can be mechanically fixed to the chassis. The construction method allows the chassis to be scaled in size for different products with each new design requiring only low-cost tooling and software changes. This flexibility means that the chassis can be used as a standard ‘platform’ to deliver different vehicle types and model variants e.g. car, urban delivery van, taxi, emergency support vehicle, just like the Lotus VVA does with folded steel and aluminium extrusions. Combining this flexibility with the separate chassis and assembly lines means that the same factory could be used to manufacture many different variants. Entirely new model variants can be produced with significantly reduced lead times from concept to market. Simplified assembly with easier access reduces assembly times and the risks of inline damage — avoiding the additional delay and cost associated with rework.

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Pre-painted body panels mean that there is no need for a paint shop in the assembly plant, which removes the complications associated with VOC emissions. Mechanical fixing of body panels is quick and low-energy and they impart exceptional stiffness to the whole assembly. It also makes future repairs relatively simple, as replacement panels are quicker and easier to fix. There is also the future potential to adapt the factory to take in ‘used cars’ to be upgraded or refurbed, reusing core parts such as the chassis and running gear with significant environmental benefits including reduced landfill and recycling at end-of-life. This process could also be used for cosmetic updates to suit customer preferences, as replacing body panels is relatively simple.

CHARLES CLARKE

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The method developed for GMD allowed the analysis stage to inform the design stage directly through the creation of representative virtual models of the composite material developed much earlier than in a standard development process. Design direction can be quickly explored, manipulated and assessed, but without creating compute intensive analyses. Accelerating the analysis process enables GMD to investigate more design variations rapidly and achieve the optimal design configuration in a much shorter period of time. Defining Material Behaviour

Composite materials have been used in the aerospace industry for many years because of their lightweight and high-performance characteristics, but the issue of product weight is not limited to aircraft. Automotive manufacturers are increasingly viewing the material as a method of minimising mass and fuel consumption. The material has many design challenges. Composite ply layer stacking order and fibre direction creates a huge number of design variables to take into account when simulating complex events such as crash. Furthermore, the inherent high cost of the material can lead many to view composites as the preserve of high-end sports vehicles. Selecting an Experienced Simulation Development Partner GMD is a small, focused and highly talented company with a huge amount of vehicle engineering pedigree and experience. The iStream project requires a deep understanding of the behaviour of composite material and how it can be modelled accurately to prove its suitability as a structural component. GMD is an established user of Altair's HyperWorks suite of simulation technologies. When the company was looking for an external partner with simulation expertise, Altair ProductDesign, was the natural choice. Altair is able to link its software development business with its engineering services, allowing Altair ProductDesign to apply experiences gained during projects to influence directly the functionality and accuracy of the software suite. This was a key decision factor for GMD who saw the interaction between the two businesses as a crucial differentiating factor over other product development companies. Streamlined Model Build Altair ProductDesign was asked to improve the virtual modelling of the composite materials used in iStream to achieve correlation with physical test results.

The first task was to build accurate material models for the iStream sandwich panels. The panels are considerably lighter than metal alternatives while maintaining strength and stiffness as well as being inexpensive to maintain and avoid many corrosion issues. To model the structure effectively requires detailed modelling of the glass fibre laminates, soft core and the structural adhesive used to bond the panels to the frame. GMD tasked Altair ProductDesign with creating a highly tuneable CAE model of an iStream chassis in order to appraise the load paths in frontal and side dynamic impacts. Using Altair’s HyperWorks suite, Altair ProductDesign suggested a finite element modelling method that utilised 1D beam and shell elements for different parts of the vehicle structure with much of the model creation work conducted by Altair’s offshore capability to speed up this time consuming phase. This is the big win — the ability to model and simulate accurately, complex 3D structural interactions with vastly dissimilar materials is no easy task. And to do it in such a way that it confirms physical test results is a real bonus both for design and design verification. Once you have calibrated the technique it can be reused on new, similar projects. HyperWorks is the ‘stand out’ CAE product of the moment with an effective easy-to-use multi-physics solver appropriate to the solution of complex 3D structural interactions, with multiple materials. Extensive CAD integration and automation of functions, frees engineers to use their creativity and talents to innovate, rather than focusing the majority of their time on data input and management. HyperWorks has modules that can solve most, if not all, of the development tasks with only one licence agreement and one software family. The flexible HyperWorks licensing system allows you to use the modules companywide, which is especially useful for small companies. This helps to consolidate software costs, to be flexible in the use of the software, and to intensify collaboration of different CAE users and locations.

Once a level of confidence in the material behaviour at a component level is achieved, the material simulation moves beyond discrete components and onto a system characterisation level. Here, sub and full systems are analysed, allowing the engineers to view the interaction of each part on the surrounding components during loading. Altair ProductDesign and GMD will carry out a range of virtual simulation tests using HyperWorks’ RADIOSS solver to define the material’s behaviour under various loading conditions including crash. The virtual testing process is performed with an understanding of the physical test requirements to ensure that results can be correlated effectively without the need to repeat tests unnecessarily. Conclusion: Developing Innovative Vehicles with Added Confidence As the analysis and correlation to physical test stages of the project become finalised, Altair ProductDesign will continue to work with GMD and develop the iStream structure to improve crash performance. The use of advanced materials requires innovative methods of design and validation to ensure that they perform at the highest levels without compromise to safety. The combination of simulation expertise from Altair ProductDesign and the vehicle development and composite expertise of GMD has been a highly effective partnership that will help to prove the value of the innovative iStream process.

CHARLES CLARKE

Overcoming the Challenges of Composite Design through Simulation

Understanding the behaviour of the composite materials is a crucial step in the development cycle as the level of knowledge within the automotive industry is not as mature as it is with metallics.

“Working directly with the Altair ProductDesign team and how they integrate and interact with Altair’s software division and all the other components of the organisation has been invaluable to us,” said Simon Maher, Senior Stress & Materials Engineer, Gordon Murray Design.

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UK Bureaux Design Map NORTH

AgentDraw Ltd 0116 284 1386 www.agentdraw.co.uk Optima Design Services 01623 621619 www.optima-design.co.uk

4D Products 0151 324 0038 Blueprint Product Design 01422 385000 Design 4 Plastics 01937 845176 Lucid Group Limited 0161 860 0058 Materialise 0114 254 1249

www.4dproducts.co.uk www.blueprintproductdesign.com www.design4plastics.com www.lucidinnovation.com www.materialise.com

DESIGN MAP

CENTRAL

WALES AND WEST

LONDON AND SOUTH EAST

Absolute Product Design 01752 766166 www.absolutepd.com GX Design Engineers 01291 673437 www.gxl.co.uk

AG Prototypes 01707 391120 www.agprototypes.com Cambridge Ind. Design 01223 872012 www.cambridge-industrialdesign.com Crucible Industrial Design 01235 833785 www.crucibleid.com

All locations are approximate and the publishers cannot be held responsible for any omissions.

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Midas Pattern Company – Celebrating 23 Years of Innovation This year Midas Pattern Company, a manufacturer of high quality, low-volume precision polyurethane mouldings, is celebrating 23 years at the forefront of UK innovation. From a modest 800 sq ft of industrial space in St. Neots, Cambridgeshire, and a total staff of just two, Midas has expanded through the intervening years to reach its current size, with 85 employees and 30,000 sq ft of dedicated premises in Bedford. MD, Alan Rance, who founded Midas in 1989, explained the philosophy behind its success: “From the beginning we have been a specialist company, supplying a specialist market. Our aim has always been to build longterm business relationships with our customers, based on a real in-depth understanding of their requirements. To meet and exceed those requirements, we have followed a long-term strategy of investing in the latest technology, while maintaining and cherishing traditional expertise, creating a company that offers a multitude of patternmaking, modelmaking and related tooling processes, alongside our core competency in polyurethane mouldings.” Over the years this has led the company to develop unique, patented processes: Midas’ FASTrim system is used to produce rapid prototype mouldings in production specification UL94 VO rated cast polyurethane in days rather than weeks or months. The parts produced are ready for testing, validation, design sign-off, and of course, for sale, making FASTrim an ideal alternative to SLS/SLA/Vacuum casting processes.

MRIM, Midas’ unique composite resin tooling system, is used to produce high quality, complex polyurethane mouldings; including square faces, undercuts, metal inserts and collapsible cores — and the tools are guaranteed for the production of up to 5000 parts. MRIM can be used to mould parts from A4 size up to 2.5 m x 1.00 m x 0.5 m. One of the highlights of the company’s history was winning the PIA Toolmaker award in 2011, as it recognised the uniqueness of the Midas MRIM tooling system, which has been a key factor in the company’s market-leading position in the low volume PU market in the UK. The company has just completed the latest round of investment in its facilities, including another large moulding preparation plant, a centralised vacuum extraction system in the CNC machine shop, the re-organisation of the pattern and model shop and a large dust and swarf extraction system in the fettling area — and that is all in addition to the launch of a newly refreshed website in January. Looking to the future, Alan Rance commented: “I believe the market is starting to realise the importance of cost savings and efficiency throughout the operation, rather than just looking at ‘ticket price’, and that UK buyers are once again beginning to put a financial value on great quality, on-time delivery and minimal level of rejects. We have been delighted to see work coming back home — a trend we believe will continue as UK engineering once again proves that it has the skills to succeed in a world market.

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“Of course, for real growth to return to the sector, we have to hope that the EU can work its way out of recession and begin to recover from the austerity measures under which most European businesses are suffering at the moment. I see the recovery, whenever it comes, as being a slow one — until then we must wait patiently as the global markets readjust to the current situation. Meanwhile, we need to maintain our position in the market, retaining our existing strengths and adding to our portfolio whenever we can, so that we are ready, fit and strong to take advantage of the opportunities when upturn comes. “For Midas, we are confident that our customer focused sales and service strategy will ensure that we continue to build market share, and as this happens we will naturally invest further in whatever technologies are appropriate, while at the same time continuing to invest in traditional skills and training, to ensure that we stay ‘ahead of the pack’ for the next 23 years.” Midas Pattern Co. Ltd www.midas-pattern.co.uk

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!tct directory

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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!tct directory To advertise here call Carol Hardy on 01829 770037 or email carol@rapidnews.com

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