TCT Europe 21.3 by TCT Magazine

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tct

ISSUE

June 2013

21|3

Leaders of the New School additive manufacturing and professional 3D printing tct 20/2

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tct

additive manufacturing and professional 3D printing

ISSN 1751-0333

GROUP EDITOR James Woodcock e: james@rapidnews.com t: + 44 (0) 1244 680222

DIGITAL AND COMMUNITY EDITORS Rose Brooke | rose.brooke@rapidnews.com Daniel O’Connor | daniel.oconnor@rapidnews.com

REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS Todd Grimm | T. A. Grimm & Associates, Inc. | tgrimm@tagrimm.com Joris Peels | www.voxelfab.com | joris@voxelfab.com

GROUP ADVERTISING MANAGER Carol Hardy e: carol@rapidnews.com t: + 44 (0) 1244 680222

DESIGN Sam Hamlyn e: sam@rapidnews.com Adrian Price e: adrian@rapidnews.com

C.O.O. / PUBLISHER Duncan Wood e: duncan@rapidnews.com t: + 44 (0) 7798 844259

C.E.O. Mark Blezard e: mark@rapidnews.com t: + 44 (0) 1244 680222 Published Prices Print Subscriptions - Qualifying Criteria UK - Free Europe - Free US/Canada - £79 ROW - £99 Print Subscriptions - Non Qualifying Criteria UK - £79 Europe - £89 US/Canada - £99 ROW - £119 Newstand Subscriptions (Via Apple) All Territories Annual - £24.99 p.a - equates to $35.99, €28.99 or 37.99 AUD All Territories Single Issue - £4.99 - equates to $5.99, €4.99 or 6.49 AUD The TCT Magazine is published bi-monthly by Rapid News Publications Ltd Carlton House, Sandpiper Way, Chester Business Park, Chester CH4 9QE, UK. t: + 44 (0) 1244 680222 f: + 44 (0) 1244 671074 © 2013 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.

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THE EDITOR A

s you will have no doubt noticed, we’ve done something a little different with the front cover this issue. On it are six faces from the AM and 3D printing sphere. Some of them head up companies that make machines, some that use machines, some both. One of them has caused more of a stir in the industry, and in a shorter time, than the others put together. Do they all deserve recognition? Is one of them set to become the face of an entire industry? The idea for this cover came about as we were deliberating the way TCT Show + Personalize 2013 would look. We wanted to hear from the decision makers and influencers that were driving the industry. We soon figured out that these are, on the whole, the people steering the biggest companies or blazing the most audacious trails. As such, we have developed a spread of speakers that covers the leaders of biggest companies down to users in the most niche areas. It was at this point that we started discussing who the most prominent person was, who we most readily associated with the industry/industries that we cover. That, of course, depends on the circles one moves in, which makes it that much harder! Of the six people we have on the cover, Defence Distributed’s Cody Wilson has had the most airtime in the last couple of months across the board — web, print, broadcast and social — thanks to the release of The Liberator 3D printed pistol. Cody was guaranteed to be a contentious individual on both sides of the pond and with people inside and outside the 3D printing industry. The reaction to his ‘mission’ has been mixed, including everything from head-in-thesand, to handwringing, to vitriol-filled counter argument. Wherever you fall on the spectrum it’s time to think about whether the industry needs a debate and if it does, how that’s achieved. Bre Pettis has the front cover of WIRED in his personal marketing arsenal, making him a hit with the techies, nerds and geeks (of whose ranks I count myself a member). The quiff, thick rimmed glasses and ability to capture the imaginations of

journalists around the world has made him the perfect poster boy for an industry. Or, as some would tell you, a small part of an industry. Behind Bre lies the MakerBot Industries machine, the slick branding efforts of which undoubtedly helps his profile. David Burns’ ExOne has recently gone public with a huge initial public offering that established him with the analysts and Wall Street pundits. The company has some big plans for the future that will only cement this position — and you’re already likely to have come into contact with more ExOne parts than you realise. Dave’s business savvy, dulcet tones and dry sense of humour make him an engaging and inspiring speaker — something I realised during several hours spent with him at ExOne’s HQ. You can read about the company and its ambitious plans on pages 28 through 35 of this issue. Peter Weijmarshausen gets about a bit too. From global speaking engagements, to the Shapeways blog (which is the heart of the huge community), to the finance pages and VC columns. Talking to Peter, it’s obvious that he is on a mission today to change the way the world looks tomorrow, and Shapeways is his platform for that change. We took a look at the company’s HQ on Manhattan and production facility over at Long Island City — read about them both on pages 14 through 19. You may not know the next face, Josh Harker, but you certainly know his artwork. His ‘Crania Anatomica Filigre: Me to You’ is the most funded sculpture project on the crowd-funding phenomenon that is Kickstarter and has been featured in more articles than nearly any other single 3D printed item in the last 12 months (there are 139 instances on his website). Josh will be speaking at TCT Show + Personalize in Spetember, where you can find out more about his art and how 3D printing has truly revolutionised his business model. The sixth face on the list is that of Avi Reichental — a man that spends more time on Bloomberg than some of the anchors, and as such

49 would surely be the face chosen by the investment community. Since he has been at the helm of 3D Systems the company has made countless acquisitions and grown to become the world’s largest 3D printing company. At the time of writing DDD had a market cap of just over $4.5 billion. We caught up with Avi at the Inside 3D Printing Expo in NYC, which he keynoted on day one. Over 16 or so pages of this issue you can find out about more about these ‘faces of 3D printing’, the organisations they lead and their thoughts on the way the industry is shaping up. Most of these insights follow an 11-day mission that Duncan Wood and I undertook over in the US spanning the East coast from Florida up to New York and inland as far as Pittsburgh. Starting at the AMUG Conference (which you can read a little more about in this issue and online) we moved up to Pittsburgh to spend the day with ExOne, then NYC to see both of Shapeways’ New York facilities, followed by MakerBot’s Manhattan Store, Solidoodle’s busy workshops and finally the Inside 3D Printing Conference and Expo. It was the least relaxing trip I have done to date, but nothing beats actually getting to see these places in the flesh (and taking some photos to prove it!). Hopefully I have relayed the details in the articles sufficiently that you feel you’ve been there too. Just without the sleep deprivation and blisters. We kick off the coverage on pages 10, 11 and 13 — after which we get into some real detail with Shapeways, MakerBot and ExOne. Read on! Jim Woodcock Group Editor | james@rapidnews.com

Design today... ...build tomorrow Unlock the potential for Additive Manufacturing Renishaw’s laser melting system is a pioneering process capable of producing fully dense metal parts direct from 3D CAD. Find out more at www.renishaw.com/additive

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www.tctmagazine.com

TCT VOLUME 21 | 3

contents

on the cover: Leaders of the New School

Interview with Peter Weijmarshausen and tour of Shapeways’ HQ and NYC production centre

For more detail, please the Editor’s Letter

05 10

27 Cody Wilson Q&A Avi Reichental Q&A Josh Harker Profile

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Leaders of the New School: Solidoodle A look behind the scenes at Brooklyn’s ‘other’ 3D printer maker

Leaders of the New School: ExOne We caught up with COO and President Dave Burns for a history lesson, tour and look to the future

Leaders of the New School: MakerBot Interview with Peter Weijmarshausen and tour of the MakerBot Store, NYC

editorial insight

Leaders of the New School pt.1

Leaders of the New School: Shapeways

20 L.O.T.N.S: MakerBot

Leading you straight to a post-merger update from Stratasys Ltd — see pages 8&9 for details.

L.O.T.N.S, pt.1

Belly Band

L.O.T.N.S: Shapeways

Peels Column

05 Editor’s Letter

Leaders of the New School

Stratasys Belly Band

L.O.T.N.S: ExOne

Peels column Cowboys, Inidans and Closed Loop Control Joris takes exception to the proliferation of 3D printing vapourware that is making the headlines of late

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additive manufacturing and professional 3D printing

Proto Labs With a growth rate that would make any investor squeal, we take a look at what has led to Proto Labs phenomenal success

feature:

RAPID preview News from a selection of this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s exhibitors at the SME RAPID Expo in Pittsburgh

US show reviews A roundup of the AMUG and Inside 3D Printing Expo, which took place in Florida and New York respectively throughout April

Dash CAE

feature:

MiniMagicsPRO Materialise look to fill another AM niche with the most recent release in the Magics software family

feature: Additive vs Traditional Tech How long until AM can hope to conquer the strongholds of traditional manufacturing technology?

59 RAPID Preview

3D Printing and CNC Machining Delft Splineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Lex Lennings takes a look at how CNC Machining is taking on 3D printing in unexpected areas

Evolved Thinking Todd changes his mind about revolution vs evolution in the AM industry

feature:

57 MiniMagicsPRO

Grimm column

55 USA Show Reviews

Proto Labs

AM vs Traditional Tech

Grimm Column

Digital Manufacturing: 3DP and CNC Machining

feature: Dash CAE A look inside the RP and composites laboratory at Dash CAE

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1 + 1 = 3

or how a merger really adds value

It has been just over five months since Stratasys and Objet completed their merger (3rd of December 2012 in case you’re wondering) and the new Stratasys Ltd brand has started to become increasingly visible of late. Having covered the merge r at the time, TCT decided to check in with Andy Middleton, Gener al Manager EMEA at Stratasys Ltd, to see how the merge was progressing and what it meant for the company and its community in the coming months and years. WORDS | JIM WOODCOCK

ast your minds back six months and Stratasys Inc., based in Minnesota, USA and Objet Geometries Ltd, based in Rehovot, Israel were well established independent companies supplying FDM and PolyJet 3D printing technologies respectively. Both companies were of a similar size, with Stratasys (est. 1989) older and slightly larger than Objet (est. 1999). Upon completion of the merger of these two organisations, the resulting company, Stratasys Ltd, had a market capitalisation of around $3 billion — putting it in the same league as 3D Systems, whose market cap at the time was around $2.5 billion. I asked Andy what the thinking that lead to the merger was: “Before the merger we had two successful, profitable companies that were selling related but different technologies. Sometimes both companies sold to the same customer for different applications, but mostly each company sold different customer bases. There was very little overlap in terms of targeting the same application within the same organisation.” FDM has, for the most part, developed at the production end of the product lifecycle whereas the PolyJet technology has become a firm favourite with the prototyping crowd. FDM does play a smaller role in prototyping, and likewise there are certain production applications that suit the PolyJet process — specifically in the dental sector, which has grown from zero to 10% of Stratasys Ltd’s sales in just 18 months. In some cases the split between technologies was very regional. For example in Germany there is hardly a single major automotive OEM without multiple installation of PolyJet, but the same companies may have little or no FDM capacity. In Italy large automotive companies tend to have lots of FDM and a strong 3D Systems presence with little-to-no PolyJet. Andy attributes this to the ‘DNA’ of the individual resellers in that area. “By examining the two companies side-by-side it became

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Stratasys Ltd www.stratasys.com

obvious that the overlap was so small that a merge would create a company that was greater than the sum of its parts. We could add one to one and end up with three by using combined resources, combined research and combined sales channels to give both companies better reach. We have been able to merge the companies without laying off any staff, so we have retained all the expertise and knowledge from both sides.” Prior to the merge there was a small Stratasys presence in Europe — 10-12 staff in Frankfurt — with most sales and support, even in Europe, being driven from the US. The European arm of Stratasys merged with the larger European operations of Objet (technically it is called an acquisition but in effect it is a merger) forming one EMEA core centre. The organisation went from a pre-merge total of 24 sales partners to a combined company of 75 sales partners throughout EMEA. “The big challenge is not really with the back-end operations – logistics, inventory etc — we have already completed that,” Andy explained. “We have one ordering system, one inventory and one logistics process. Once that was completed we embarked on cross-training (i.e., training Objet resellers about Stratsys’ portfolio and vice versa) our resellers. We cross-trained our sales partners on the technology that was new to them in Q1, which was a huge effort. We trained around 150 salespeople on the new technology in the first three months of the year. Now we have a situation where selected sales partners are selling the whole portfolio in each of the territories, with other partners that have access to either a selection or the whole of the portfolio.” For current and potential customers this means that the same

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[Objet+Stratasys] reseller that used to supply their FDM for example can now offer PolyJet technologies from a single supplier. This works for customers who already used FDM and PolyJet, as they now have a reduced number of suppliers to deal with. “The merge has been received very well by the customers of both Stratasys Inc and Objet Ltd,” explained Andy. “People always like to consolidate their number of suppliers or points of contact.” One of the most challenging aspects of merging two companies — especially across international borders — is combining the two cultures and ensuring that all employees and customers can identify with the new brand. While back-end systems are generally interchangeable, culture is far less malleable. I asked Andy how the cultural fit between the two companies (which had quite different public personas before the merge) was working. “At the end of the day business comes down to people and people are all different. In the past Objet and Stratasys operated in quite different ways. Objet was more engaged with partners and the customers whereas Stratasys was more at arms length with the customers and allowed resellers and sales partners to do their thing. That means we need a cultural integration and we’re not quite there yet, there is still some work to do. We need to be perceived as one company with one message and one branding, but to an extent there are still two companies operating out there at the moment. That’s not a bad thing as both cultures have proven themselves to be successful in the past, but to manage a business we need everyone singing from the same song sheet.” From an outsiders point of view the way that Stratasys Ltd presents itself to the world is certainly more in keeping with the way that Objet used to present itself. When I pointed this out to Andy, he reiterated that it’s about taking best practice from both sides and implementing them across the board: “That’s part of the culture shift we’re still going through. Each part of the business is putting forward their case for how we do things and it’s a learning curve for both ex-Objet Ltd and exStratasys Inc employees and managers.” Now there are two big companies on the scene — 3D Systems and Stratasys — both of which have very different modes of operation. One differentiator is in the handling of customers that are service providers. 3D Systems’ acquisition spree has been in part fuelled by growing its own parts business, Quickparts, through the acquisition of other service providers and, more often than not, existing 3D Systems customers. Stratasys Inc provided a parts service through Red Eye on Demand, where Objet had many customers that were service providers. I asked Andy how this was likely to pan out as the merge continued. “Stratasys sees service providers as important customers and won’t be seeking to buy up service providers in the way that 3D Systems has. For Stratasys Inc there was less of an issue in providing its own parts service via RedEye than there would have been for Objet. For example, in Europe there are at least 80

PolyJet users that provide a parts service with their machines. FDM users that provide a parts service is maybe 10% of that figure. There is a strategic decision to be made on RedEye but it’s not something that we’re rushing into. RedEye is a good business as it allows us to learn and gives us a good reach into the market in terms of what end users need from materials and pricing and so on. For the moment we are certainly continuing with RedEye but we are not building it out and we will protect our existing PolyJet users that offer a service. We won’t be offering PolyJet parts into Europe and competing with our own service bureaux customers.” Currently the R&D efforts of what was Objet and Stratasys are still separate but there are plans to merge them next year. Andy explained: “We’re interested to see if there is going to be a dominant technology within the company, whether FDM or PolyJet takes a significantly larger share than the other but at the moment it’s too early to tell. When the R&D functions are merged I believe we will see some value added to the company. This could be in the form of breakthrough products facilitated by the combined expertise — for example Stratasys Inc. brought fantastic manufacturing capabilities to the merger. Is there going to be a sub-$10k PolyJet product in the future? I don’t know, but with the combined knowledge of the R&D teams we’ll have the ability to make it, if it’s possible.” “Strategically we, as a company, are looking intensely at the lower end area at the moment, trying to decide what the company’s long-term position is on the consumer and hobbyist sectors — there’s a lot of activity in that area at the moment and it’s a significant part of the future 3D printing ‘business’. We’re looking at it very closely to see whether we’re going to play and, if so, what with. However we are focussing closely on the medium- to high-end, we see good growth there, we’re coming out with one or two new products quite soon, so this is certainly where we are pushing most of our efforts.” Part of the company’s business model is to generate revenue from the selling of consumables and invest that revenue into R&D. Just before we went to print Stratasys released its Q1 financial results — the first set of results for the combined company. The GAAP revenue for the first quarter was $97.2 million, with $10.8 million invested in R&D — nearly 11% of its revenues. All of the evidence points to this being a merger that allows growth, rather than reduces costs. The company claims not to have laid off any staff as a result of the merger. As Andy concluded: “The merger has given us more dollars to spend on one goal rather than less to spend on two goals. We believe a major positive outcome will be our ability to drastically accelerate the rate of adoption of 3D printing, certainly much faster than we could as two companies. We need to do this to give the growth that we are looking for, which is much larger this year than last year. The next six months will see a lot happening from both Stratasys and the industry as a whole.” 9

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[Leaders of the New School]

Cody Wilson Q&A QUESTIONS | JIM WOODCOCK

We caught up with Defense Distributed’s Cody Wilson at the Inside 3D Printing Conference in NYC. One of the things about a massive amount of press coverage is that people get to know your face, so having spotted him in the lobby, we asked Cody about 3D printing and the Defense Distributed project.

The parts for the pistol were made on a second-hand professional-grade FDM printer, but Cody believes anyone with an FDM-based machine could produce one

JW: When did you first become aware of 3D printing, and how long after did you realise its potential with regards the Defence Distributed (DD) project? CW: I became aware of 3D Printing only vaguely a few years ago. I revisited the technologies when we imagined the printed pistol in March 2012, and from then on I absorbed as much of the history and science of the tech as possible. JW: 3D printing is fundamental to the DD project — how would it look if 3D printing weren't available? CW: If 3DP wasn't available, I doubt we'd have launched DD. 3DP is essentially the platform for this technical, ideological demonstration. The tech was and is so hyped, and it invites so much prognostication and imagination. This project was really about inserting our own story about the future into the broader one this tech engenders. JW: DD makes use of the internet for the distribution of files and 3D printers to remove barriers to manufacturing the contents of those files — what other technologies are on your radar at the moment with regards to pursuing DD or your own personal goals? CW: DD could not have happened without Bitcoin (bitcoing.org). This distributed currency now makes up the vast majority of our assets — great for us because BTC cannot be seized or frozen. Some people are also more comfortable donating to a controversial cause through these distributed and ‘anonymised’ channels. 10

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JW: The DD manifesto directs to the transcription of John Milton’s Areopagitica: Do you see the CAD files as the ‘unpublished manuscript’ of the modern era? Do you make any distinction about ‘censoring’ before and after manufacture? Milton makes allowances for ‘treasonous, blasphemous and slanderous’ works so that they may be censored before being printed: Does the DD project have room for such allowances, and if so what might they be in this modern context? CW: Milton does not actually make the allowance for treasonous, blasphemous, and slanderous works to be prevented from being printed. He believed any possible system of license couldn’t prevent the ills it would be set up to correct, and would invariably work against the “ingenuity of Truth.” He might have believed in destroying blasphemous and slanderous materials, but only after they were printed. DD makes no allowances. Files both cannot and should not be censored. JW: Stratasys famously/infamously refused to allow you to keep one of its machines when it found out what your plans were. You then bought another Stratasys machine from eBay — a potent demonstration of how the internet can remove control from those seeking to exert it. To what extent is DD about control of information as opposed to firearms? CW: DD is a teaching project about the libertarian consequences of distributed technologies and the freedom of information. At every turn, firms and hierarchical political systems have attempted to expropriate and penalise our project, but the market remained. How do you stop an idea?

Without the abilities of 3D printing, Cody doubts that the DD project would exist

JW: Firearms are an obvious choice for highlighting the conflict between personal empowerment and external control, but where else do you see 3D printers having a significant impact on our future lives and liberties beyond firearms? CW: 3DP can unpack these ideas again and again with medical devices vs. FDA, or in conflicts with “rights holders” over pirated patented objects. The MPAA has already started the first round of fighting. What’s in a name? ‘Replicator’ is political by implication. This is a future of dynamic and unlimited copying. JW: It has taken 30 years for 3D printing to reach its current abilities and spread; what are your hopes and/or fears for the next 30 years of 3D printing? CW: I fear physical DRM, software authorisation, materials/processes licensing, background checks and licensing for operators, and ‘always live’ requirements. Each of these ‘solutions’ and more will be suggested every year to protect the technology and allow it to ‘do good’. There are so many interest groups and politicians who pay lip service to the future of 3DP who remained determined to sterilise and banalise the tech. If you can’t print anything regulated, controversial, or claimed by another as intellectual property, then these machines may be doomed to decades of bauble production. I fear this tech will not be subversive.

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[Leaders of the New School]

Avi Reichental Q&A

Avi Reichental opened the first Inside 3D Printing Conference and Expo in New York, and will also take part in the Executive Keynote Sessions at this year’s TCT Show + Personalize. Why? Simply put he is helping to steer the biggest company in the 3D printing industry, his decisions have impacts that are felt across the industry. We caught up with Avi in NYC to find out what was new.

QUESTIONS | JIM WOODCOCK

JW: As you've just got this event underway could you give us an overview of the message you delivered this morning? AR: Delivering the opening keynote for Inside 3D Printing was an awesome opportunity to describe the power and potential of 3D printing and introduce our complete 3D content-toprint strategy. As interest grows in what is perceived by most consumers as a ‘new’ technology, it is incumbent on leading companies like 3D Systems to help manage the hype, share the facts about today’s successful use cases: from full-colour concept and medical models to end-use parts for the new F35 Strike Force weapons systems and all of the amazing applications in between. We are also very interested in making certain that people realise the need for compelling, more readily available 3D content, which is why we have chosen to showcase our Geomagic Solutions right along side our Cubify Apps. JW: Your two most high-profile recent acquisitions have been Geomagic and RPDG. Can you give us some insight into the thought processes when deciding to make these companies part of the 3D Systems ecosystem? AR: Yes, and both are pretty straightforward. For almost four years the launch and expansion of our parts business has been one of our strategic growth platforms, so the addition of RPDG continues that commitment to our Quickparts Solutions offerings in terms of geographical coverage and customer offerings. The acquisition of Geomagic builds on our ‘3D Authoring Tools’ growth strategy allowing us to complete what we now call Geomagic Solutions through the integration of Rapidform, Alibre and Geomagic. This combination is extremely powerful when you consider our current dependence on complex CAD tools used by highly trained professionals. We intend to reinvent the Engineer’s Desktop and provide compelling, productive content creation tools, that are interoperable and complementary to CAD. These tools can also be used by the consumer with initial products like Cubify Sculpt and many others to follow.

JW: The big push from 3D Systems seems to have been into the consumer space of late, with a few high-profile updates for the industrial user base. Is this a reflection of the company’s development plans going forward? AR: 3D Systems remains committed to our professional users and boasts the broadest product and solutions menu in the industry. We recently announced a completely new full-colour product family with the launch of the ProJet x60 series, we started shipping the new ProJet 3510 series in the first quarter of the year and we recently placed our SLA and SLS production systems equipment into the US government’s Ohio NAMII centre for manufacturing innovation. We continue to expand our Quickparts Solutions as noted in your earlier question and the recent introduction of Geomagic Solutions extends our reach and commitment to professional content creation tools. Yes, we are enjoying tremendous success with our consumer initiative and it is generating a great deal of publicity, but we are in no way lessening our focus on the professional markets and users we serve. JW: What are the barriers to adoption that still exist for 3D Systems vision? AR: We continue to believe that democratisation is key. This means not only price points of printers but the ease of use and overall printing experience. And democratisation also depends on content that is fun, compelling, easy to create and share, which brings me back to our focus on 3D content creation. This need for content is why we launched not just Cube and CubeX but Cubify.com. We invite consumers and professionals to become part of Cubify to help deliver the content essential to mass adoption of 3D printing. JW: There were a large number of investors and analysts at the show today. How do you think their involvement will impact the industry? AR: Each of these groups will create additional interest in 3D printing in their own right. Increasing the knowledge through broader industry coverage is always helpful and investment will enable more emerging 3D printing companies to flourish and bring investors to established companies like ours.

JW: The hype surrounding consumer 3D printing seems to be starting to change direction, with more dissenting voices popping up in the mainstream media. What can 3D Systems and the wider industry do to help reduce this? AR: Our position is that consumers are asking for access to 3D printing and it is our job to provide the tools and the content. We continue to see strong demand and growing application so I can probably borrow from history here and paraphrase from three now infamous quotes . . in the 19th century the leaders in the telegraph industry said "...the telephone is too difficult to use and will never replace what we offer," in the 1930s the head of IBM forecast that “...the world market for computers is probably five systems," and about 40 years ago the head of Digital Equipment said, “...no one needs a PC for home use.” So we intend to reserve judgment and let the consumer decide about 3D printing. JW: 3D Systems is taking a major role in the TCT Bright Minds initiative at this year’s TCT Show + Personalize - what drove you to get involved and what other educational initiatives are you interested in? AR: We are absolutely delighted to take a lead position this year in your Bright Minds programme. We believe that the most fundamental change that needs to happen to ensure that our children develop tomorrow’s skills today is to embed 3D printing into their curriculum. We are currently working on a number of unique education programmes as well, we actually launched a new category within the 90-year-old Scholastic Art and Writing programme called ‘Future New’ that leverages 3D technology, and we are incubating an education team in one of our creative centres of excellence to help them develop course work for elementary school students. JW: How are the plans for the chocolate printer coming along!? AR: This is my personal passion — I love chocolate — and this printer is a ‘skunk works’ project for me. So therefore we have not announced anything formal relative to availability as of this time. However, if you enjoy the fruit of the cocoa bean like I do... stay tuned!

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[Leaders of the New School]

Josh Harker Profile WORDS | ROSE BROOKE

osh Harker is one of the world’s best-known artists working in the 3D printing field and he is one of the TCT Show’s most hotlyanticipated speakers when the event hits the Birmingham NEC for its 19th edition on the 25th and 26th of September 2013. We caught up with Harker to ask him about his work, what we can expect from him at the show this autumn, and what his presentation title The Empowered and the Liberated in the Future of the Revolution is all about.

Josh Harker’s work has become some of the most recognisable 3D printed parts globally, thanks to a successful Kickstarter campaign and the beguilling nature of the pieces themselves. We have invited Josh to speak at this year’s TCT Show + Personalize, but here’s a little taster of what to expect and the personality behind the art.

passionate about 3D printing and the myriad ways the technology can be used. “Events like the TCT Show bring together a wonderful group of people with a specific interest in what’s going on, so I’m excited about being part of that,” he stated. He added that it is events such as these that bring 3D printing artists together. This, he noted, is a growing community as new developments draw in more and more practitioners. This is the theme of his presentation The Empowered and the Liberated in Lateral thinker the Future of the Revolution. A native of the Mississippi “I will be using my experiences River region, the artist had an to illustrate the changing paradigm alternative upbringing — of how artists and designers create foundations that may well and connect with an audience. have given him his talent for Also, how a new world of options thinking outside of the box. is opening up for the general His childhood was centred consumer. around post-’60s off-grid “We are no longer bound by communal living, where he economy of scale, manufacturing was raised with “complete geometry limitations, and elite The Anatomica di Revolutis artistic immersion” plus the marketing and distribution piece was Joshʼs 2012 Kickstarter Project occasional evening of being channels. Consumers are afforded babysat by the Hell’s Angels. more product possibilities as well He eventually left that world to as options regarding who and study at Kansas City Art Institute and St where their products come from.” Ambrose University in Iowa, later pursuing Exploring the medium anatomy and forensic arts, and working as a commercial sculptor and in product Harker believes that the accepted model of development. bringing a product to market and then selling it He first got involved in 3D printing in the gives the consumer fewer choices, all of which early ‘90s after struggling to translate his art come with a hefty price tag. But now, the from two dimensions to three dimensions. playing field is leveling and 3D printing is However, the state of the technology at the time helping to benefit both makers and consumers. was not up to the standards it is now and Harker The practitioner knows about running an admitted that it took him a further decade for enterprise and how 3D printing can transform 3D printers to build his designs to the standard the economics of a business. He founded a he was looking to achieve. The artist, however profitable boutique design and development has never looked back and said: “Simply having studio in 1998, where he served as CEO for a a medium that allows me to create my art as I decade before selling his partnership. envision it is excitement enough.” “[The] point is that it was a functional and He told us that one of the reasons why he is successful business within the current industry. excited about speaking at the show this It was — and still is — a small company of September is because he relishes the chance to about 12 people, [with] approximately $70,000 communicate with those who, like himself, are (£45,083) per month overhead regardless of

workload. I now run at nearly $0 overhead and make the same income,” he stated. Harker will be going into his first-hand experiences of how this burgeoning set of resources, networks and technologies enable these new business models in more detail at the TCT Show, but what is next for the professional’s artistic ventures? Creation and collaboration Fans of his Tangled series will be pleased to hear that he is adding new pieces to this body of work, including a piece that is being adapted for fashion, which will be unveiled in Paris in November. Moreover, he has plans for public art works with an architectural bent emerging from the well-known oeuvre. In the meantime, he is expanding some of his current series as well as working on other themes he believes will be well suited to 3D printing. Additionally, he is working on a collaborative public art project with D-Shape, the 3D printing company that builds large-scale sandstone structures independent of human intervention. The organisation is best-known for its work on utilising moon dust as a 3D printing material, opening up the possibility of taking the technology into outer space. Outside of the art world, Harker is involved in developing 3D printing technology. He wants to make something akin to RepRap that is simple to build and delivers high-resolution, multicolour and even multi-material prints. “I have a keen interest to put the power of the technology in the hands of more people and loosen the grip the bigger players have on the industry. [The] problem with non-profit, altruistic projects is funding. Maybe there’s a middle ground, maybe another Kickstarter project ... we’ll see,” he remarked. Whatever Harker has in store for us, the artist is going places, as his talents have been recognised by the likes of Nike’s CEO and the co-Founder of Etsy, while there are some well-known actors and musicians on his growing list of clients.

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[Leaders of the New School: Shapeways]

Shapeways: Why conquer the small green island when you have the whole blue ocean to go for? WORDS | JIM WOODCOCK

Shapeways www.shapeways.com

Exiting the elevator we entered a strip-lit corridor with a series of plain white doors facing us. Nothing here signified that this was the hub of a company that ships hundreds of thousands of 3D printed parts every year — nor that this was a company that was, unbeknownst to us, finalising another $30 million round of investment from venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. We tentatively entered one of the doors only to find that we had inadvertently interrupted a game of table tennis... But no, this was not the wrong door. Welcome to Shapeways...

Some of the EOS machines at the Long Island City production facility — thereʼs room for plenty more to join them.

tct [21:3]

aving flown up from Florida the day before, our first outing in New York was to see Peter Weijmarshausen, CEO of Shapeways, at the company’s Manhattan HQ. Things got off to a brilliant start as, like a pair of schoolboy amateurs, Duncan Wood and I used Apple Maps to guide us to the building. It turns out that 419 Park Ave and 419 Park Ave South are two very different, and very distant, points on the same stretch of road. Who knew? Not Apple Maps. After a short dash (during which it became apparent that jogging 20 blocks was not in our shared vocabulary) and a quick taxi ride we arrived at the correct ‘419’ and made our way up to the 9th floor and into the middle of the aforementioned game of table tennis. While many companies have some form of break out area for staff these days (especially those that want to attract and retain good people) they’re not often quite so ‘front and centre’ as they are at Shapeways. But then, Shapeways isn’t like other companies in this space. Example two of this phenomenon was found in the main ‘office’ area, where the brightest minds in design, coding, 3D printing, user experience and, presumably, Ping-Pong stood at their iMacs and MacBook Airs surrounded by gaming paraphernalia, streamers and music. Every smooth surface including internal and external windows was covered in the scrawl of the creative minds that buzzed within. And there was beer in the fridge: this was startup country. We moved through to a smaller meeting room adorned with 3D printed parts of every shape, size and material and equally covered in window-scribbles. Sitting down with Peter, I started by asking him how we came to be meeting in New York, not back in Eindhoven where Shapeways started out. “As you know, we started out in Eindhoven as that is where I happened to be living when I first heard of 3D printing,” Peter began. “At the start, when people asked where we were located — and Eindhoven was a tough answer — I said ‘on the internet’. And really we still are but at the same time we also realised that we need to meet as many of our community members as possible so that they can see what is possible and touch and feel it.

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[Leaders of the New School: Shapeways] “Having launched in Europe we could see that the US was a big market for us — it is a big country with a lot of people and we were excited about what some of them were doing — so we knew we needed an office in the US, the next question was ‘where?’ “When you think about it most startups open up either in Silicone Valley or New York, with a smaller number in the likes of Boston and Austin. Of these New York has the most focus on design, creativity and entrepreneurship, which made the decision for us. Then came the really interesting bit — do we open an office in New York or open the main office here? Since we were looking to attract the best and brightest we decided to have our main office in New York but keep the Eindhoven office.” Shapeways’ New York contingent is now 34 strong, spread across the headquarters (although that terminology seems out of place here) and the Long Island City production facility, more of which later. It is true that startup companies tend to congregate in certain cities around the world, with NYC being a prime candidate for the creative industries. I asked Peter what the differences between Eindhoven and NYC were for a startup. “Since there is an environment here where people are used to startups, finding people that understand the concept of a startup is much easier. Risk taking is more prevalent and people understand that a business doesn’t always succeed. If you start a company in New York, or go to work for a newly formed company and it fails, there is always another startup around the corner with someone else trying out some new ideas. Both employees and founders tend to consider themselves richer for the experience, not poorer because they lost their job. In the Netherlands startups are a lot less common so people immediately ask about the risk — of losing money or of not having a job in ten years time.” The process of hiring is also made easier because, by and large, people move to these startup hubs to find the best job with the most exciting companies — and few are more exciting and fast moving than Shapeways at the moment. So, despite being in New York for business operations reasons, Shapeways really exists on the Internet. Their community is global and connected, and with overnight shipping, the production systems are too. With MakerBot having opened the MakerBot Retail Store just down the road in 2012, I wondered if Peter saw any prospect of a physical Shapeways store? “There is as I mentioned an element of ‘seeing is believing’ when it comes to educating people about 3D printing and about Shapeways,” Peter explained. “But there is a fundamental difference when it comes to physical retail and what Shapeways aims to do. In traditional retail you have stock and inventory, people expect to be able to walk in and walk out with a product

No mistaking where you are when you get to Long Island City!

that someone else has designed and made.” “We have been involved in a few pop-up shops that featured designs from our community and shop owners, but fundamentally Shapeways is about just-in-time manufacturing — our customers order from us, we make it as quickly as possible and ship it to them. Also, traditional retail models are generally more focussed on getting a design that someone has be come up with whereas Shapeways is much more about empowering the individual. We like to ensure that the buyer has some design input into their products — whether that is simply a minor customisation or designing a whole piece from scratch.” In many ways the Shapeways model, like so many online retail models, is upsetting traditional models of retail in such a way that they become obsolete. Or at least virtually obsolete. Mixing the online and physical retail spaces might not be workable at the moment but Peter conceded that there was room for a middle ground. “If you think about what I said about the move to NYC, I stated that feeling is believing when it comes to the education process. This is why Shapeways takes part in events like tradeshows where there might be a lot of people who could, by physical interation, be switched on to 3D printing and to Shapeways. Trying to demonstrate the advantages of a customised 3D printed iPhone case on the web is tough, but when you can get the physical object in someone’s hands it begins to make sense for them.” It is obvious therefore that part of the Shapeways model is reaching out to consumers and allowing them to use the same powerful techniques that have been available to professional users for many years. A quick look at the sheer number of 3D printed materials available to the Shapeways community is attest to that: from alumide and nylon to silver, bronze and ceramics. Certainly more choice than you could hope for from the 3D printer in your bedroom. Given the price point, materials range and speed,

Some of the Shapeways communityʼs most popular designs can be found on almost every surface around the HQ Continued on p17

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TCT 21-3 QUARK82_Layout 1 24/05/2013 12:37 Page 17

[Leaders of the New School: Shapeways] Continued from p15

I asked Peter whether the system had seen much uptake from professionals. “We do have big brands using us for prototyping, though for obvious reasons I can’t tell you who. We have smaller brands that use us for manufacturing and also sell things through the Shapeways shops. Small businesses use the Shapeways retail platform alongside their existing channels. The focus is on allowing anyone — regardless of their motivation — to be able to make anything they want.” It is interesting to note that Shapeways, MakerBot, Solidoodle and ExOne all shared those same sentiments to one degree or another — to allow anyone to make anything. Given the range of materials available and the size of community that can be tapped for inspiration I wondered if Peter felt that the machine makers had something of a monopoly when it came to mainstream media coverage? This was after all my third trip to the US where a 3D printer was for sale or reviewed in the inflight magazine... “It’s true that there is a heavy technology slant to a lot of the mainstream reporting but it’s easy to see why; when you first see these technologies in action they are mesmerising and make a great story. Of course in the end the user really wants to know what they can do with this technology — that is of utmost importance. “In my opinion home 3D printers are machines that need a lot of love and care to use and using a service like Shapeways is a little bit easier, especially for your average user. Many users of home printers find that they want to produce something in silver or bronze, or use a time slice on one of our high-end industrial machines to make high-quality plastics models, in which case they have Shapeways.” Even given the size of the company and the number of parts they ship everyday, as well as the fact that they are now six years old, not only did Peter refer to Shapeways as a startup regularly, but the whole ethos of being a startup seemed to be critical to the way the company operated. When, Duncan asked, did a startup stop being a startup and become a mature company? “I found a definition that resonates well with me,” explained Peter. “‘A startup business is any company rigged for hypergrowth’, and Shapeways is rigged for hypergrowth. We’re not aiming for 10–20 per cent growth per year; we’re looking for hundreds of per cent growth per year. You cannot do that by earning money and reinvesting it into the business. Typically you take on debt from investors in anyway you can and use that to equip the company to realise that growth and to prepare for it. “In Shapeways’ case we needed to establish the manufacturing and customer support systems before the customers arrived, otherwise we’d have had some serious problems in delivering on our promises. For as long as we are growing as fast as we are, we will be a startup. Eventually, when we have started to reach the limits of our markets potential we will start to concentrate on optimising processes and become a mature company.” Whether the same rigging for hypergrowth can be said of others in the industry is doubtful, Peter was confident that Shapeways are one of only a few: “Most of the companies in this space hope for hypergrowth, but they do not plan for it. If we started growing at 10 per cent per year I would expect some of our staff to leave; they’re here for the thrill of going fast!” One tried-and-tested way to grow a business in the 3D printing space is to become a rollup, acquiring smaller players in the industry and trying to streamline and standardise them, generating a larger leaner company in the process. Or at least that’s the usual plan. For companies like 3D Systems it has been and would appear to continue to be one of the strategies that is fuelling significant growth. I asked Peter whether this strategy was on the cards for Shapeways? “Well, in the first instance if it does ever happen you will find out at the time, not before! Our model has always been to ensure that our users are as happy as possible with our services

Parts, scribbles and rea

l coffee

and as happy as possible with their products. If they are happy they help to spread the word and that fuels our growth. There is a lot of education that can happen to grow the industry before acquisitions start to make sense. Peter continued: “At the moment the whole 3D printing market is so small compared to the potential that acquisitions for me fundamentally don’t make sense. You are in effect increasing the size of your slice of a very small pie. I want the pie that doesn’t exist yet! “The first step to achieving the bigger market is awareness, then relevance, then desire, then action. When I started Shapeways back in 2007 awareness was nowhere — every conversation I had was explaining the fundamentals of 3D printing and it always took an hour. But from there the awareness starts to come. Today President Obama mentions 3D printing in his State of the Union Address and says that it is a ‘fundamental technology’ that we should be looking at — that helps with awareness quite a bit,” Peter explained with a wry smile. “Everyone who reads a newspaper or watches morning TV has now at least heard about 3D printing and knows a little about it. The next step is demonstrating relevance to those individuals’ lives. It’s following the pattern that the Internet did years before, people had heard of it but couldn’t imagine why they would want to use it, why it was relevant to them. Now we are in the realm of compelling product stories that help to trigger the desire and ultimately the action. When this is achieved in a meaningful way the industry will expand massively.” As our time with Peter grew to a close we talked about how after six years at the helm of a startup he has gone from being the person that knew all about every emerging technology and trend to someone who is told about them. He was adamant that whatever he was involved in would have to be changing the world — if not 3D printing then maybe energy production, space travel or both. During this Peter made a point that really resonated: “Humans are too ready to stick to the status quo. We consistently underestimate our ability to change. Like Goethe already said: ‘if you can dream it, you can do it’.” I closed by asking Peter if there was one thing about the wider industry that he would change if he could? “Within the 3D printing industry I think it would be the focus on making money today at the expense of tomorrow. I would love to see machines and materials come down in price as fast as possible because that would drive so much more adoption with current and future users. As a result many, many more people would start using it and we go from a market worth millions of dollars to a market worth billions of dollars. At this point the machine makers can amortise their R&D costs across tens or hundreds of thousands of machines, not hundreds of machines. The real potential of the industry is selling hundreds of thousands of machines, not a hundreds or thousands. Continued on p19

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TCT 21-3 QUARK82_Layout 1 24/05/2013 12:37 Page 19

Continued from p17

[Leaders of the New School: Shapeways]

Carine Carmy

LIC Production Facility

Interview — Carine Carmy DW: The one thing that is very obvious from the outside is that you’re quite a prominent member of the team engaging in speaking, community relations and evangelising for Shapeways. Was this something that you set out to achieve or did the role evolve like that? CC: I think we are seeing a major shift in the way marketing teams are thinking in the startups I am aware of. Of course we deal in data and curation and all the tools you would associate with ecommerce in a ‘normal’ marketing sense, but I also think that every company is a content company and as we are trying to define an industry but also educate a lot about what the industry is and how it’s relevant the whole team is really out in the open to achieve that. Our goal is to help put more products in more people’s hands so they realise the capabilities of the Shapeways service. DW: So it’s more like a consultancy role where you’re helping creatives who have no marketing experience to market their products and shop on Shapeways? CC: Yes in a lot of ways but even for bigger brands we’re seeing the individual as the brand really take off and we’re lucky that we have thousands of faces through our community and our core values are ‘enabling, inspiring, personal and fun’ and really for enabling and inspiring it’s almost us taking a step back and letting the users tell their own story. So that’s why we have a really big focus on content — our blog has been around since the beginning and that’s really helped us to drive the conversation. Fundamentally putting one message out there has never been effective for us so I can’t tell you how many times we have tried to come up with a message that relays exactly what we do — we’re a manufacturer and a retailer but we’re also disrupting ecommerce and supply chain so having one message doesn’t really work, so it’s about reaching the right people with the right message, like ‘3D printing is about more than just plastics!’.

Having finished up with Peter and Carine we headed — using Google Maps for direction — to Shapeways’ Long Island City production facility, across town and out under the East River. Here we met Duann Scott, an industrial designer and communications expert with the title of ‘Designer Evangelist’ at Shapeways. This title, though a little cumbersome looking at first, is a perfect embodiment of the relationship between Shapeways and its community, to the level that where ‘community’ ends and ‘company’ begins is difficult to say. The LIC facility is still a work in progress and there is a huge amount of space still to be filled. As a marker of the company’s ambitions however it ties in perfectly with Peter’s assessment of a startup being rigged for hypergrowth. If you filled the available space with 3D printers and the associated peripherals you’d have some serious — if not world leading — capacity. Especially as ExOne kindly keeps the enormous metals machines in Pittsburgh (for more information see the ExOne article in this issue). Duann explained the thinking behind having not only the HQ but also a main manufacturing presence in NYC: “From here we can easily service the US and Canada, and the timezone works really well for us. Being on the West coast would be difficult when your colleagues are in Europe, and the UK is our second largest market after the US, so again the East coast makes a lot of sense for us. As we made our way into the facility we were greeted by some bass-heavy hiphop and a generally relaxed but productive atmosphere. And a lot of parts being checked and packaged up for shipping. Duann explained: “We have one digital check of the parts and a total of three human checks. We also have finishing that must be done by hand in some instances, and dying which is still a manual process. It’s quite labour intensive in here but having said that the amount of parts we ship with this amount of staff is enormous.” Huge numbers of parts need huge amounts of tracking, and every bag of parts, box for packaging and station for checking was adorned with barcodes and scanners. It would be easy for the occasional piece to go missing with these volumes but the LIC team is proud of its shipping rates. Looking through the parts that were going out that day it was obvious that jewellery pieces had the edge and some of the designs had become very familiar, but there were all sorts of weird and wonderful parts — many designs were of the ‘from scratch’ variety. I asked Duann — given his experience as an industrial designer and his passion for education — what could be done to get more people to start designing? “No one does apps properly yet and I think the next breakthrough will be the rise of the apps. Couple that with our superstar designers and their ability to inspire the community and you have a recipe for more novel and one-off designs coming through services like this.” Duann takes this responsibility seriously and is involved not only in teaching design but also running specific classes in the local community that teach designers how to best make their parts ‘3D-printable’. Another example, if one were needed, of the blurring lines between job and hobby and between community and company.

Always. Be. Shipping.

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[Leaders of the New School: MakerBot]

MakerBot:

You don’t fake it in brooklyn WORDS | JIM WOODCOCK

Ever since MakerBot CEO Bre Pettis was featured on the front cover of the US version of WIRED magazine last year, he has been an easy point of reference for anyone looking into 3D Printing. His company was among the first to successfully commercialise the processes developed by the RepRap community and spearheaded the drive of 3D printing technologies into the non-professional community. With an estimated 25% of the total install base of 3D printers worldwide, MakerBot really is a force to be reckoned with. i

Makerbot www.makerbot.com

Duncan Wood and Bre Pettis in front of the wall of materials

o you know who uses MakerBots? NASA. That’s who. They use a lot of them, actually. You know who else? Barbers. As in the scissors and razors kind. Other people include product designers, engineers, children, tinkerers, artists, architects and the list goes on. In fact, nearly anyone can use a MakerBot; either as a tool that allows frequent, rapid iteration of heat shield tile design, or to make custom afro picks for your top clients, while they’re being trimmed. And herein lies the power and beauty of putting manufacturing technologies into the hands of anyone with $2200 (or any group that can raise $2200 and time share). You never know what will be taken off the build plate next.

Education, entertainment and retail meet in perfect harmony

tct [21:3]

This is certainly not lost on MakerBot’s ‘poster child’ CEO, Bre Pettis. Bre comes across as a man who is growing into his role as quickly as the company itself is growing. Since the 2012 WIRED cover (September 17th, 2012) he admits he’s had to deal with some of that ‘Tom Cruise stuff ’, mainly being approached by people who seem to know him, but of whom he has no recollection. We met up with Bre at the MakerBot Store in central Manhattan — nestled on Houston Street which divides the highly desirable NoHo (North of Houston) and the arty SoHo (South of Houston) districts. The store is quite missable at first — a predominantly grey façade and subtle signage give few clues as to the experience

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[Leaders of the New School: MakerBot]

inside. The one, low set window does however display a giant 3D printed rocketship. Less subtle and sure to grab the eye. Duncan kicked off by asking Bre why MakerBot had a store at all: “The basic idea of the Store was to give people somewhere to have access to the machines. For a lot of people this technology still appears to be science fiction but when they can see the material being fed in, then coming out and forming the part, and then they remove and hold the part, they can see that yes, this wasn’t there and now it is there and it’s not fiction. Usually when we ask them how much they think it is they answer ‘$20,000 or $30,000 dollars’. They’re amazed when we say $2,200... You can see the light bulbs go off above their head, which is something that’s difficult to replicate without them being physically involved with the process. “For example we had a couple that came in from a barber’s shop in Brooklyn who saw it and decided that they just had to have one to make things in their shop for their customers. When people see it, touch it and smell it for the first time they start to realise how they can apply it to their own lives.” No doubt the location of the store helps to drive visitors through the doors, but it is the experience that the company has devised inside that means visitors on average hang around for 40 minutes — something virtually unheard of in modern retail. And there are on average ‘hundreds’ of visitors in a day, as Bre explained: “Sometimes we have tour buses or school buses turn up, unannounced, and everyone floods in, it’s crazy.” Among the visitors that MakerBot has welcomed included a couple of Congressmen who had heard about 3D Printing and wanted to find out what it was all about. I asked Bre whether he thought about government involvement in general: “I would welcome government money and involvement, but I am not going to wait for it. The future needs to happen today, not once the government has caught up. The congressmen that we have hosted here just wanted to come and see the process and start to understand it because a lot of people were talking about it, and that

education process is something that has been really big for us. “Beyond education one of the biggest things we have to do is shine the spotlight on our users because they’re our heroes — we’re making the machines and blazing our trail that way — but the users are actually using the machines, blazing their trails and doing some really amazing stuff around the world. The users’ stories show that anyone who gets a MakerBot and is willing to start the journey putting one foot in front of the other can really do amazing stuff and become a leader in their field doing it.” Across all models (the CupCake CNC, Thing-O-Matic, Replicator and Replicator 2) there are over 20,000 MakerBots with users across the world — which the company estimates as 25% or 30% of the entire install base of all 3D printers. Bre explained: “When we started with MakerBot we thought we were going to change manufacturing in America. We now ship maybe 40% overseas so we changed our plan. ‘OK, we’ll have to change manufacturing across the world!’”

Thingiverse Lest we give the impression that MakerBot is a 3D printer company, talk soon turned to Thingiverse — something that Bre has an obvious passion for: “Thingiverse is my favourite thing. I get up and check what’s been added overnight every morning. Right now lithopanes are going crazy.” Thingiverse came first and it has been instrumental in making MakerBot into the company it is today. Bre explained: “In 2007 I made my first 3D printer (‘it didn’t work but it looked good’) and in 2008 we started piling up all these digital designs on our hard drives so it started taking longer and longer to search for the the files we needed — digital design management was becoming really frustrating. At the same time we realised we had all these digital files for things… at the time you could download files that were movies, or books or songs, so we thought why not ‘things’ — why is there no place to download things? “We looked at the existing solutions out there and thought they were not up to snuff so we thought ‘let’s do this right from the start’. We got the Creative Commons attribution set up with good implementation so you can get share confidently — attribution is super important when you’re sharing. We also decided to make sure we could see nice pictures of the parts so

you know what you’re downloading and making. Originally we had a computer in the office that would download anything that was uploaded to Thingiverse, process it, take a screen grab, and send it up to the server — it was very ‘string and duct tape’ when we started but we put one foot in front of the other and built up the infrastructure — and we’re still going. We now have 80,000 designs on the site but six months ago there were fewer than 30,000 so we are really seeing that hockey-stick curve at the moment. “One of the things that has been huge is the MakerBot Cutsomizer — we’re creating tools for people to become a designer, which helps people make that jump from not being a designer to psychologically being a designer, that’s a massive hurdle for people and it allows them to get something in their hands.” Lithopanes are created by using the MakerBot Customizer app — a simple online tool that allow users to have creative but wellcontrolled input into their designs. Lithopanes are created by taking a photo, uploading it to the Customizer, then downloading your file and printing it out. When the print is removed it looks like solid piece of plastic until you hold it up to the window and see your image within the print. These customisation apps are an ideal for someone with little or no experience of design or CAD — especially as that everyone now has a camera in their pocket and a virtually constant connection to the web. More than 3D printing The MakerBot Store has plenty of 3D printers and 3D printed models (a given) but also some more interesting features such as the ‘gumball’ machines and 3D Photo Booth. The flow seemed cohesive and everything made sense, so did the team plan the store exactly as it now appears? Bre: “Sure, we weren’t quite ready with the Photo Booth when we opened but it was all part of the plan to show people how easy and fun it is to get involved with these technologies. Once we finished it was opened in November after a delay because of Hurricane Sandy.” Both Duncan and I had a go at the 3D Photo Booth and, barring our own horrendous spatial awareness, the process is easy enough to complete. Just five minutes after the images are taken an email from Thingiverse arrived containing our own 3D printable heads. Next to the 3D Photo Booth is a wall of materials in a surprising range of colours. The Replicator 2 prints in polylactic acid (PLA) only, and doesn’t support the heated build bed needed to process ABS. Given the materials’ prominent position in the store, we asked Bre if it was a popular purchase: “We sell a lot of material through the Store — any MakerBot user that’s visiting New York drops into the Store to stock up. In January we started manufacturing our own material in Brooklyn. In fact, that’s one of the things that I think about: ‘Why MakerBot, because Brooklyn!’. We can go down the block Continued on p23

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[Leaders of the New School: MakerBot] and get stuff done without having to wait for someone half way across the world to wake up. When things go wrong we know about it right away, not after 5000 machines have been shipped. We just hit 200 employees in Brooklyn last week and we’re still hiring.” When it comes the the overall purpose of the shop the retail + education philosophy really stands out. Education remains one of MakerBot’s core missions, as Bre explained: “I grew up with LEGO and fixing bikes and if I had a MakerBot when I was young the world would be a different — even if just I had one because I would have been activated much earlier so we need to activate all of those 10year-olds now so that we can have the future. They’ll probably moan about having to do their MakerBot homework... “We have a small educational discount to help schools get over the hump and used to making things in the classroom again — we have lost that in the US, we used to have wood shop, metal shop and now it’s gone. We find that schools will buy one and then come back for 10 or 20 more. Adding a MakerBot to your computer lab gives you an immediate manufacturing facility. “The thing is a MakerBot is a manufacturing education in a box because they can get it out and discover how to get an idea and turn it into a design and work that design into something that works — and if it doesn’t work first, second or third time round — no problem — the cost is so low you just do it again. Even the teachers don’t stress out about the cost of the material. We get told that people with MakerBot’s make things all the time because it’s so cheap to do.” The low cost barrier, coupled with the fact that this generation of MakerBot and the previous one have been preassembled and ready (mostly) to use out of the box, has some interesting knock-on effects beyond the obvious maker and education sectors. “Our biggest user is NASA,” explained Bre. “They have more than 30 machines and they keep ordering them. They made a prototype of a heat shield part that cost them $5000 from a service bureau, but when they had to make a second one they just bought a MakerBot. Now when they need another prototype they buy another one as the cost is below the level of bureaucracy that would cause them problems.”

3D Photo Booth

Gumball machines

(or you) to make parts. Bre explained the concept: “This is really our first professional machine – this is the fourth generation and this is really the one that’s accessible and friendly. The first three generations we were starting from scratch and learning as we went but now we really have a lot of things right. It’s at the point where it looks good on people’s desks and friends and colleagues see it and want to know why they don’t have one. “And the skill of it in the professional sense is that it sits there on the engineer’s desk, not in a room that needs a swipe key or behind a process that needs things to be budgeted against a certain project. It’s there and the engineer can just make things and iterate and iterate — when you have to send things to bureau or the RP department and get grief when it’s not right first time it sucks all the momentum out of the creative process, but when you can just make things without having to think about it and discard it if it’s not right you maintain that momentum and energy. “We could have made the plastic much more expensive or added a thousand dollars to the price of the machine but we wanted to break those barriers, make it affordable and let people get creative without stressing about how much they were spending or whether the project budget could take another iteration. “Our message to everyone is the same — we’re empowering our users to lead the next industrial revolution, whoever they are. Yes, NASA will do insanely cool stuff —given, done — but so can the person that has an idea and just needs to get something made, the value for both of them is the same. The guy with the idea becomes the same as NASA with the same ability to realize his ideas. a “Because there is a playful aspect to using Individual, professionals and big organisations all have the same MakerBot — which is liberated by the low s needs.” cost — people end up doing all sorts of thing “We empower people to that they never expected to be doing with way innovate through iteration,” their 3D printers, which is another great explained Bre, “It’s an innovation of encouraging creativity.” Bre Pettis machine.” It’s obvious that Bre really believes what he’s saying, and when we broach The way that people use machines is the the subject of hype in the coverage of 3D only dictator of whether a machine is a printing he is quick to respond: “One of the hobbyists plaything or a professional’s tool. With things that MakerBot is known for is the Replicator 2 MakerBot has used the authenticity — we say it as we see it. It comes ‘prosumer’ title to try and convey the fact that it back to the Brooklyn thing: you don’t fake it in can be used by NASA or your local barbershop

Brooklyn, that’s just not cool. For example, with the material, people had no idea how much a kilogram was in terms of what they could build, so we illustrate it and say you can build 392 of these chess pieces with a kilogram of material, which is this cost — that makes it real for them and gives clarity. “When we started it was a real educational drive, if I was sat on the subway with a MakerBot and someone asked what it was I could have said it was a teleporter and got the same reaction. Now it’s not only education about what 3D printing is but things like ‘what does layer resolution really mean?’, ‘what’s the trade off between time and resolution?’, ‘what are the benefits of PLA?’ The mention of PLA brought Bre back to the materials with a bump, and again the obvious enthusiasm was there are he explaines: “By the way, we love PLA! Once we had our machines dialed in to work with it we had a virtually guilt free material with amazing properties to play with,” before returning to the case in point: “But terms like PLA, bioplastic, degradable are new to many people so we have to educate them about it and the only way is to be upfront and honest or it will come back to bite us on the butt. “We try and keep people’s expectations based in reality — for example at the show we will be showing parts that customers are making, so that’s proof for anyone new.” The Digitizer Although not yet visible (in the store at least), MakerBot announced the launch of its first 3D scanner, the Digitizer, at the SXSW event earlier this year. Although by no means the first such device (take a look on Kickstarter, there are usually a couple on there seeking funds) the Digitizer seems to pique the presses’ interest and a whole new raft of hyperbole began. But Bre believes MakerBot’s reality checks will prevent any ‘faking it’ in this area too: “People took us for a 3D printer company — but when we launched the Digitizer at SXSW people suddenly saw that we’re a creative experience company, a company that truly empowers people to do this. For example I can’t wait to make stuff with my daughter in playdough and stick it on the Digitizer and then print out the file for all her friends. That’s a kid’s first manufacturing experience at age two, where

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[Leaders of the New School: MakerBot] do they go from there? Only up! “Again we have to be realistic about the process. A scan means X many triangles at Y resolution and within tolerances A and B — but once people are educated like that, like they are becoming with 3D printing — they’ll be able to work within those parameters and be creative. “What’s also interesting is that so many things are made from parts and that’s one of the challenges to do with education in both scanning and 3D printing. There’s an assembly process that needs to take place — that’s all part of teaching digital design literacy — at the moment we’re getting to grips with the alphabet and starting with one-syllable words. Once they’re learned the next layer of education goes down much more quickly.” Open, closed or both? When MakerBot launched the Replicator 2 there were elements within its community — and many more outside it — that were vocal about disagreeing with the perceived open- to closed-source move. We asked Bre where he thinks the company is up to with the community perception. “We made a break from being absolute purists to doing the best we could while maintaining a viable business,” he explained. “There were some people that really thought you should put your ideals above your ability to have a sustainable business, but we have 200 people now who all have mouths to feed and that’s a real responsibility. When we started seeing the original Replicator being made really poorly overseas, with our name on it, and people were calling us for service on these machines we realised we couldn’t do it the same way. For example we had a guy on Kickstarter who took the Replicator and said ‘this is the best 3D printer, I am going to take it to China and get it made more cheaply and you should support me doing this’. “That was legally appropriate for that machine it was totally open but without some protection there’s no way we could then move forward and make the next improvements or invest in new technologies. “What was really frustrating is that this machine [Replicator 2] is mostly open, but because some parts are closed people see the whole system as closed. Overall the community was able to see that in order to maintain development there would need to be some closure and protection but the ethos is still there. “For example we have community users that have improved on parts of the design and shared them on Thingiverse — we’ve created an upgrade kit where we provide the nuts, bolts, spring and bearing and the users print out the rest of the part themselves. We’ll then get that design injection moulded in a harder material for durability and we’ll incorporate that into the design so our community still helps us innovate and that part is up there for anyone to download. “Sharing is a core value at MakerBot over an above open source we share what we do and encourage and facilitate others to share too.”

Q&A Jenny Lawton — Chief Strategy Officer JW: What does the role of CSO entail at a company like MakerBot? JL: The things that report directly to me are legal, busine ss development and anything new that needs to get off the ground, and HR. I came in as someone to handle people as we grow, so my job is really to make sure we have the systems in place as we grow and that we don’t fall back on our weight — while staying true to our vision. Some of it is really tactical like makin g strategic plans and that there’s a roadmap everyone can follow as we move forwa rd. We spend a lot of time on hiring so that we have people that have the value set that we’re looking for — people that love to learn, that can grow quickly, who want to want to be part of something big and are willin g to work as part of a team to make sure that happens. We spend a lot of time making sure that they’re a good cultural fit over and above a high level of profic iency; I’d rather have someone that can grow and learn rather than someo ne with awesome skills that’s a bad cultural fit. DW: What attracted you to, and led you to,

MakerBot? JL: I had my own company that I started with two others and built up to a 60person, $6 million revenue company. I sold that compa ny to a rollup — my company roughly doubled the rollup to roughly 150 people. The combined company went on to roll up another 25 companies — at its height it employed about 2500 people in the ASP space… and then we brought it back down to bankruptcy… which was interesting. After that I worke d in venture capital for a while. Then I left and had my own independent books tore and café… but this is the stuff I love: I love taking Chaos and putting order in it. I love putting the spine in the jellyfish. “MakerBot reminds me a lot of my early days — my company was a high tech company and started right before the Internet became the Internet. That was a crazy time. I spent all of my time hiring smart employees with the right value system and retraining all of my engineers to think like problem solvers and work together — they were disincentivised from ownin g a problem alone. It’s the same sort of heady feeling of the early Intern et days where people are really excited with the potential and you know you’re at the forefront of something that is going somewhere. The main differe nce is that the Internet — although it had existed in different forms behind closed doors for a while — was new. 3D printing has been around for a long time and has been open to the public, had they cared to look, for a long time. “If you look back at what made it click from the profes sional, industrial space and into the consumer space it was availability of the technology. The RepRap project really took the process out of the hands of the industrial giants and into the hands of hackers that could do something with it, then MakerBot came in and commercialised that while making sure that it was really something that people could use and were supported. That is very disruptive. If the Replicator 2 wasn’t a $2000 machine but was anoth er $10000 machine, or something that you needed to get 5000 pieces from the hardware store to put it together, you wouldn’t see that same sort of disruption and people wouldn’t be so excited about it. At the same time people wanted somet hing new to do and we saw the rise of the home maker movement more, which was definitely a factor in the rapid growth.” JW: “Talking about consumers and industrial users — do you see one group as more important now and in the future?” JL: “I think they’re very different groups still and it’s impossible to say that one is more important than the other. The machines will evolve so that there is a clear use for a consumer and a clear use for the profes sional user — I don’t think evolution is complete yet. For example consumers are still asking what they can do with this technology and not all of the answers are out there for them yet; they still can’t go to the Home Depot website and print out the things they need for their homes, they still have to buy mass manufactur ed parts. Also, none of the printers are yet at the stage where a consumer just pulls it out of the box and does what they want with it. The professionals are theref ore really important at the moment, kids are really important right now — those two things fold in on each other and there’s a big middle that gets churned up by that.” MakerBot is not just about the 3D printer, it’s about the whole ecosystem — we have our fourth generation machine, Thingiverse, the Digitizer, the MakerBot Store and a huge community of incredible users.

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[Leaders of the New School: Solidoodle]

Solidoodle WORDS | JIM WOODCOCK

or those that are unaware, Solidoodle is a 3D printer manufacturer based in Brooklyn, NY. Its founder, Sam Cervantes, is former COO at MakerBot Industries, serving in the position through 2010. As part of our tour we popped over to Hicks Street to see what this little startup was all about. The first thing that is immediately obvious when entering the Solidoodle combined HQ and production facility is that the company ships. And ships in quantity. We arrived shortly before the courier arrived for the daily pick up and there must have been 30 or more Solidoodle printers boxed and ready to go. The small workshop area is somewhat smaller and less glamorous than those of their competition, but it was absolutely buzzing with activity. We met with Solidoodle’s Yahea Abdulla for a quick tour of the facilities and to find out what was happening within the company. The noise of 30+ members of staff putting the 3D printers together (and the fact that we were very obviously in the way!) was enough to force us to the back of the workshop floor — where we were greeted by a wall of Solidoodles, all printing away. Yahea explained: “This wall of printers is an integral part of the production process for Solidoodle. Nearly all of the printers’ internal plastic parts are made in-house on our own machines, which not only serves as an excellent platform for monitoring the machines’ long-term performance but also helps us keep the cost of the final printer down.” Cost is one of the fundamental drivers for Solidoodle. The company’s 3D printers are steel-framed, extrusion-based printers that start at just $499 (which gets users a 15 cm x 15 cm x 15cm build volume) rising to $799 for the Solidoodle 3 with a 20 cm x 20 cm x 20 cm build volume. Unlike others in this space, they are dedicated to shipping printers and not much else. A very small amount of filament is provided with the printer but users will have to obtain more from their preferred source. “We aim for affordability,” explained Yahea, “and that means we are shipping around 30 printers per day now — with between 2000 and 3000 shipped in 2012. To achieve this we have a staff of 60 local people involved in the manufacturing and assembly process. Before 3D printing people weren’t creating manufacturing jobs in Brooklyn, so we’re proud to be part of that change.” CEO Sam Cervantes was out of town when we visited, but thanks to Solidoodle’s involvement in the iMakr store in London we caught up with him in the UK capital… and as Yahea had promised in Brooklyn, he stood on the printer! For one, it’s a nice stunt and certainly gets the audience’s attention, but it also demonstrates that at least some of these little printers are made of sterner stuff. The Solidoodle certainly grabbed the attention of the opening night visitors, and Sam did an admirable job of educating the 3D printing virgins about not only his machine, but the industry in general. For anyone looking to dabble in some 3D printing for the first time the Solidoodle appears a robust and affordable option.

The wall of Solidoodles making parts for more Solidoodles

Solidoodle www.solidoodle.com

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[Leaders of the New School: ExOne]

ExOne:

Arriving at the intersecti

as the lights turn to green

WORDS | JIM WOODCOCK

So much of what captures the imagination with 3D printing is the ability to eradicate old models of working and of business, to render useless old strategies and old ideals. With all of that going on it’s easy to forget that there are companies that are seeking to truly revolutionise manufacturing not by reinventing the old paradigms, but by improving them. One such company is ExOne, which believes that the old shop floors, and not bedrooms, are the right places for making parts — they’re just filled with the wrong machines.

s part of the US odyssey, Duncan Wood and I took an 0600 flight from New York to Pittsburgh to visit the headquarters of industrial 3D printing specialists ExOne. Having risen at 0400 the subsequent taxi rides and flights were passed in silence barring the occasional single syllable exchange. Arriving only marginally more awake than when we met in the lobby, we shuffled through the doors and into a modest but well appointed reception area. It could have gone either way from here — a cranky receptionist, a lack of coffee or a protracted wait… disaster. Thankfully (for us and everyone else we spoke to that day) our luck was in — enter Debbie, receptionist extraordinaire with an infectious enthusiasm, love of the business and perhaps the most comprehensive collection of 3D printed objects I’ve ever seen. Couple unscripted genuine passion and a good cup of coffee and you have the perfect wake up call. Having left just enough time for us to finish our coffees and regain some humanity we were met by Nicole McEwen, Marketing Director, and David Burns, COO and President and were straight into the grand tour. The ExOne Company (to give the organisation its full name) has been around since 2005 in the form we would recognise today, but the roots go back much further as David explained: “Around 40 years ago Larry Rhoades, who was born 20 miles from the current ExOne HQ, was graduating from Brown University. Rhoades’ father was an inventor and holder of many patents who ran a precision tool business in Pittsburgh, and the young Larry decided that the pair should go into business using one of these patents as a base. They acquired a company called Extrude Hone and built a business specialising in innovative deburring and finishing equipment. Many successful years passed as Rhoades built and maintained a strong business, eventually

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The ExOne Company www.exone.com

selling Extrude Hone to Kennametal in 2005 for a reported $137 million before immediately shifting his focus to the newly formed ‘The ExOne Company’. As part of Extrude Hone’s expansion the company acquired the site that now houses both the ExOne headquarters one of Kennametal’s many offices across Pennsylvania. The building that ExOne now proudly calls home has been subject to a backand-to of occupation over the years, with Extrude Hone originally taking the building on before building a new facility further up the sloped plot. When Extrude Hone was sold to Kennametal they also took the newer of Extrude Hones’ buildings. The old — by then virtually derelict — offices were subject to a $2 million refit making it (almost) ready to house the new company. ExOne moved into the new premises in January 2007, just three months before Rhoades sadly passed away while on holiday in Hawaii. As David explained: “Since the initial refurbishment we have grown substantially and have recently completed an extension and further first-floor refit to make the space fit-for-purpose.” Judging by the rate of growth I’d suggest the ExOne team will have to put up with more building works in the future. The HQ now houses 70 people, with a further 105 spread across the US, Germany and Japan — with 25 new staff added in the last 5 months alone. The company currently has seven design engineers at its HQ dedicated to development of the machine platform as well as research and development technicians on the shop floor and a further team of design engineers for the service section of the business. The newly expanded engineering department already has just one cubicle left to fill and the offices that the team vacated downstairs have already been virtually filled.

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[Leaders of the New School: ExOne] Education and training Part of the refurbished and expanded first floor houses the company’s Technical Education Centre, or ExTec. On the Friday before our visit the ExTec centre was home to 35 Masters Degree engineering students from three universities, all either mechanical or biomechanical engineers. During the sessions the ExTec programme helped the future engineers discover how 3D printing can be implemented across their varied projects. ExTec is being run by three internal staff and headed up by a General Manager Bob Wood, former General Manager of ExOne’s metals business. David explained: “We established ExTec as a way of creating university affiliations and to control research connections with those universities, as well as being a means to control our core education activities —everything from bringing students in to educating existing customers. Eventually the company will develop this programme into ExTec University (or ExTecU in modern parlance) to start offering courses specific to AM across design and engineering disciplines. David continued: “This isn’t a money-making exercise for us, it is our way of evangelising and spreading the word through a hub of educational interaction.” Systems There is plenty to want to educate the next generation of designers and engineers about too. The company currently offers four machine platforms of varying size; Lab, Flex, Print and Max. Each can be prefaced by an S (standing for sand printing for the casting business) or M (nominally for metals but including everything else non-sand). The smallest in the range is the Lab machine, which was initially developed to cater for the increasingly important dental market where the machine was used for the production of gold dental copings. At one point 11 dental labs were running two machines each. A number of limiting factors began to detract from the appeal of the Lab platform in this area — the cost of gold skyrocketed, causing dentists to increasingly select cheaper ceramics, and the thermal cycling necessary with any binder/powder metal system meant that unacceptable dimensional variation was an issue. At the industrial scale, the variations caused by thermal cycling can, to some extent, be designed out but also are generally so small as to be insignificant. When dealing with a small dental implant 10 µm is more than enough to cause issues — all of which means that the Lab is now used as an R&D platform for materials development and training. Within the ExOne HQ several M-Lab machines are

Duncan Wood and Dave Burns survey the phalanxes of ExOne printers making parts for a diverse customer base

deployed in various R&D pursuits. Next in line is the recently launched Flex platform currently available as a with the ‘M’ prefix and a build volume of 400 mm x 250 mm x 250 mm; followed by the Print in either ‘S’ or ‘M’ guises and a build box of 780 mm x 400 mm x 400 mm; and finally the Max platform currently set up to work with sand, complete with a build box of 1800 mm x 1000 mm x 700 mm. The install base currently stands at around 35 S-15 machines (predecessor to the Max platform) and 27 Max machines, coming in at around $1 million each; of the ~ $750k Print platform a total of 12 machines have been sold, with between four and eight Flex systems (around $400k) expected to ship in 2013. The thermal capacity needed when dealing with the larger parts is significant but the company does not sell the prerequisite furnaces directly, meaning users have the choice of supplier. Continued on p31

This enormous mould shows the truly industrial scale of ExOneʼs platforms

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[Leaders of the New School: [ExOne] ExOne] Continued from p29

Research and Development Just off from the main shop floor lies the R&D machines, with the aforementioned Lab systems in operation alongside a couple of the larger machines with corresponding furnaces. This was (perhaps understandably for a listed company) the only part of the building that we were unable to see directly. The company recently set up another R&D lab, the ExMal Materials Applications Lab, in Ohio. Here the company undertakes R&D work on all non-metals materials, with the metals development remaining at HQ. Materials development is a major part of the ongoing plan for the post-floatation ExOne Company. As David explained: “People often say to us ‘but you’re so far behind company X in terms of your materials’, but the fact of the matter is that was a conscious decision for the company and is strictly a resource allocation decision made by the board. We believed that the major leverageble advantage for us was on the machine side — specifically box size and speed of printing — which is something we invested in for years before the IPO. As of 2012 we added a new Chief Technology Officer, Rick Lucas, who is tasked with accelerating our materials developments efforts starting with the new facility in Ohio. In addition we have hired three programme managers that each have a suite of materials that they are working on with end users and universities. We have openly expressed a desire to work in titanium, aluminium, magnesium, a range of iron materials and a range of steel materials.” The company is so confident of their materials research efforts (which David ascribes to Rick Lucas’ ability to ‘break magic down into a step-by-step plan and therefore turn it into science’) that they are expecting to release a new material every six months or sooner. “We hope to release a couple of new materials every year, maybe more, and with each new material we will open us new spaces for us to enter,” explained David. Nicole gave some insight into how the company decided which materials to develop next: “It’s important to note that we are only pursuing materials that we have been told our users want. It’s not a case of looking at other machine vendors and striving to match their output; we regularly seek feedback and are told ‘we would like material X in order to achieve outcome Y’, so we look at developing material X. In other words we’re not doing this for vanity, we know that each new material we produce will sell.” ExOne’s other machine One surprise that lurks on the production floor of the Pittsburgh base is a machine that is… subtractive!? The Orion laser drilling system is the company’s other line of manufacturing machine and couldn’t be more different to the big, additive systems that ExOne is most well known for. The Orion system is used for micromachining, in other words small and subtractive. David pointed something out that rang true with us (we are also publisher of Commercial Micro Manufacturing magazine): “There are not many people that need a micro machining laser system like the Orion, but those that do really, really need it.” The further into the building one ventures the more the two distinct parts of the AM business come into focus. ExOne has stated time and again that its game plan is to be a seller and user of its own machines with a comprehensive service aspect to the business. In fact, David went on to state that he believed the service side of ExOne will lead the machine sales side for some time to come before ultimately achieving parity in terms of the revenue they generate for the company: “We currently have five production service centres (PSCs); one for metals based at HQ and four for sand casting in Detroit, Houston, Bavaria and

Complex objects such as this cutaway demonstrate the benefits of the ExOne process

Tokyo. We expect to go from five to 15 PSCs in the next couple of years with the final composition being three metals shops and 12 sand shops.” When we asked how this ratio was generated David explained: “It comes down to shipping. Metals parts at the sizes we normally see are fairly easy to ship over long distances quickly, meaning we don’t need to have a shop in every location to make it viable. For the sand moulds however they’re often simply too large to ship quickly so the PSC has to be within a reasonable distance of the clients to make sense.” One of the biggest customers of the metals PSC is none other than Shapeways, which uses ExOne for all its metal parts. And Shapeways generates a lot of metal parts — ExOne shipped thousands and thousands of parts in 2012 with, as David mentioned with appreciable pride, better than 99% on-time delivery. This revelation immediately begs the question of Continued on p32

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[Leaders of the New School: ExOne] A complex mould known as the ‘snake pit’

Continued from p29

whether ExOne is a consumer or an industrial company — a question David was quick to nip in the bud: “The distinction between consumer and industrial is not helpful in any way. In anyone of these build boxes there may be two parts for an industrial customer, four parts for Shapeways and an art part; is that not exactly what the promise of AM is? “ExOne makes parts for people that need parts making — they could be fan blades or they could be necklaces — a part is a part is a part, and we’re interested in, and good at, making them. Our passion is in receiving and processing them into production and shipping them. In the wider industry positioning into specific markets as broad as ‘consumer’ and ‘professional’ is fairly unimportant; it’s not process-specific but depends on the channels your reaching out to. And ultimately if a user wants to use machine X as a professional tool it doesn’t matter how often you tell them it’s a consumer device.” Investment From the refurbishment of its HQ to the ambitious materials development plans it’s obvious that there is a lot of investment going on within all aspects of the company. In the early days this came from self-funding but back in January ExOne floated on the NASDAQ market (trading under the XONE ticker) with an initial public offering raising more than $95 million, which is now being put to work for the company. As talk turned towards the financials David prefaced the move into public ownership with an excellent quote, from which this article is titled: “Some IPOs are chosen by the market, either

by good timing or by someone being at the right place at the right time. We were at the other end of the spectrum. We worked for five years to get to a point where we were fully confident in the machine technologies we had developed. We were willing to self-fund that, which ran to many millions of dollars, to get us to the point where we could be confident our machines could be placed on a shop floor in a full 6-Sigma environment with 98 per cent uptime, service organisations in place, spare parts handled — everything we needed to say to a plant manager ‘you can depend on us’. “We weren’t going to try to rapidly expand the company until we were 100 per cent sure that the robustness of the technology we were putting out was capable of displacing shop floor technologies. We also needed to ensure that we have the structure for materials development in place so we could regularly deploy new materials and open up new markets,” he explained. David continued: “The fact that we came to market at what is apparently exactly the right time — while gratifying — had little to do with being opportunistic and everything to do with arriving at the intersection as the lights turned green.” Moving from a private to public company opens a lot of doors in terms of investment but equally adds a lot more to the in-trays of the officers tasked with running it. From more stringent audit requirements and reporting responsibilities, to the constant monitoring of all output (including this piece) by investors and analsysts to the need for near-constant legal advice — it’s enough to put some people off. But ExOne has three cards up its sleeve in the form of Kent Rockwell (Chairman and CEO), David Burns (President and COO) and John Irvine (CFO) who between them have 185 years of life experience, some 40 of which has been dedicated to running public companies. As David explained with good humour: “Here you have three ‘old’ guys running a company that deals with this amazing ‘new’ technology — and that’s at odds with most of the most high-profile 3D printing companies people are used to seeing, but I think maybe investors and analysts took some comfort from that fact. There is nothing about being a public company that will shock, scare or surprise us.” This business realism is something that is in many ways overlooked by most of the coverage of 3D printing that we see. Just like the tough decisions that Makerbot had to take about protecting its business vs staying true to its beliefs, and just like Peter Weijmarshausen suggesting companies should shun profit today to generate much larger returns tomorrow, the ExOne approach is a subtle balance of pragmatism and evangelism. The belief in the transformative power of 3D printing is easy to see, but so is the belief in good business. And good businesses stick around longer than bad ones — regardless of how buoyant the market may appear. “When we are talking about our strategy, metrics and execution we are saying the same things over, and over, and over again. If people are looking for dramatic strategic shifts on an ongoing basis, look elsewhere,” David summed up. Continued on p34

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[Leaders of the New School: ExOne] Continued from p32

SIDEBAR: The Power of 3D Printing, as Told by

One of my favourite quotes (thanks in part to 99u.com) is attributed in a number of forms to Thomas Edison — I may have used it before in this magazine — and listening to Burns brought it right back to me: “Genius is one per cent inspiration, ninety-nine per cent perspiration.” With the one per cent firmly settled upon, the real work is well underway at ExOne. It’s not as glamorous as many a contemporary might be used to, but for what ExOne want to achieve you don’t need glamour, you need great machines: “The displacement of traditional shop floor technologies by 3D printing will not happen in $1 million increments. When the time comes and everything is in place the shift from one to the other will be quick and it will be widespread. If we’re not displacing those traditional tools, we won’t have done our jobs.”

David

“One of our PSCs had made 10 mould sets for a custom er of ours — a full cope and drag mould package. We made the 10 and shipped them. At 1700 on the Thursday night the PSC General Manager gets a call from his client, who is rushing out of the door at the end of the day. The client tells the GM how a fork-lift driver has dropped and cracked one of the mould sets, making it unusable — he wanted to schedule a call with the GM the next morning to see how that could get the 10th mould set replaced. The client was due to pour on the Mond ay morning and agreed to pour nine and wait for the situation to be resolved. The client rushes out of the door and agrees to call the GM at 0800 the next morning. After finishing the call the GM goes to the printer, loads the files and hits print. The mould set is ready for removal at 0600 the next morning at which point it’s processed and shipped to the client, arriving at the clients’ loading dock for 0800. Duly the client calls the GM at just after 0800 to discuss how they can get a 10th mould set so he can pour the following week — the GM’s response is simply ‘go look on your loading dock.’”

Want to hear more from ExOne? Be sure to catch David Burns’ inspiring Keynote address at TCT Show + Personalize this September at the NEC, UK. Registration is now open at www.tctshow.com

A partially 3D printed prosthetic device tha t makes use of ExOneʼs metal 3D printing capabilities, as displa yed proudly in the companyʼs reception lobby

spiratio “Genius is one per cent in

99 per cent perspiration.” Thomas Edison 35

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TCT 21-3 QUARK82_Layout 1 24/05/2013 12:39 Page 37

[Joris]

Cowboys, Indians and closed loop control WORDS | JORIS PEELS

hat do you call a person who uses artifice and cunning to make unfounded promises of untold riches if only you would give them the money to s later implement their crazy idea? What if they return month for it? show to g with the millions gone up in smoke and nothin y mone the with again, and What if they do this trick again a person this call bly proba You’d time? vapourising every call them a fraudster. Unless you are in Silicon Valley, then you’d serial entrepreneur. on of those Social context is a beautiful thing. We are a functi Formed otes. anecd our of total sum a are We us. nd who surrou ual contin by ed by those that we interact with and mould sism of minor experience. A shared culture created with the narcis we take in ation inform which ine determ filters difference. Our ngly seemi while certain facts become lenses. A fact once by their every established in any certain group, which reinforced the world. see they which gh throu lens a es interaction, becom through cles Not a mere point of information but rather, specta to leads s succes Our ation. which we determine further inform us, within then streng biases n matio more success while confir sizes of our bending the light. We are not cognisant of the spot ng, buildi and ing lasers and distortion in our lenses. Scann l. contro loop closed no bed, er ploughing through the powd build? failed a has it realise ne machi AM the does y When exactl of the nest? When does it notice that the chicks have fallen out in its happy us Sisyph like hill, Never. It rolls the rock up the next. the from hable inguis indist pass each r, repetitive labou A line There is a line between fraud and entrepreneurship. as the fat as or Jet ol Aeros an that can be as thin as the layers on se of becau ess thickn in varies line This ials. margins on AM mater lt thing to difficu a is intent afar, from ng standi And, . intent optimistic or ascertain. Is someone simply out of their depth, too see this you know I iour? behav ical wilfully engaging in uneth are There men. ence confid and ters hucks ing too, the emerg dollars of ands thous of people who on Kickstarter raise hundreds e peopl Other work. ted, for projects that cannot, as presen they will be making claims that are unfounded and promises that up to step and unable to fulfil. Where does one draw the line ourselves gst amon ring mutte speak up? When exactly do we stop the what les’ ‘mugg the tell and unity comm in our magical little deal is? you’re What if we look at another example. Guns. I know have you as Bereft them. about more longing to talk and read gues, collea with rsation conve ng printi 3D ased been of gun-b person you’ve aunts at parties, your family, cab drivers and every ever your What work. your about red met recently who has enqui where point a there was l, contro gun or m thoughts on freedo Where more did? they than earlier up n spoke have should e peopl stand a of you should have said something? I can fully under control gun US bitter the from lf yourse reticence to distance a debate at all really not is that issue e divisiv ely suprem a , debate but a continual reiteration of immutable talking points people have sometimes stated at louder volume. But, couldn’t n’t we have Could nd? unsou was eering engin the that pointed out was thing this that at least, en masse, made it clear to the media

inherently dangerous to the operator? Or could people have made it clear through giving “off the record” and background information to the media that the path of the “3D printing guns” news story was not matching the reality on the ground? Could d those people approached for interviews have pointe onal omoti self-pr a was this that clear was it that out gh stunt by an individual who had not thought throu intent seem not did and effects his actions or their on accomplishing the things he said he was but rather solely was interested in increasing his own notoriety? Couldn’t you have ‘off the record’ noted that this guy is clearly a couple of cans short of a sixpack, not playing with a full deck, a few triangles short of an STL? If we were just making crackers or crankshafts we’d have a moral obligation to our customers and general concerns for the health and safety of our products. But, we work in an industry where our machines and services can be used to make many things. We have in our hands a technology that potentially can be used by anyone to make anything they want. Given enough eyeballs, all things are shallow. And we know that it will not in any way be possible to regulate the things made with AM machines. Anything that can be invented will be invented eventually and could be made by anyone. If this is the logical terminus of the path we are all on, shouldn’t we come up with a collective response to irresponsible usage of our machines and services now? Pro Tip: If I make a pen and someone writes a hate speech with it, no one will criticise me or sue me for manufacturing pens. This is a question of personal responsibility and not the creative potential of the device itself. This sounds a lot better than, “3D printers don’t kill people, people do.”

Continued on p39

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[Joris]

Continued from p37

victory. A leader with no closed loop control. was a In 1951 An Wang founded Wang Laboratories and uter comp the at central figure that took most of the decisions a was will Wang we es. later or r revenu in Soone maker that once had $3 billion after correct have to grapple with this. visionary that made it big taking correct decision prevalence of Will it blow over every decision. In the 1980s Wang bet on the continued a bet on in as well head as the PCs Will of time? dedicated word processors instead any filed comp The rds. standa the sand policy work if than rather proprietary software your technology is in 1992. in tion protec uptcy for bankr period some way used for a crime? Apple had a similar near death experience in the same and and bank a ‘comm rob to very used was is who Glock If a because of a visionary leader re no journalist will think to use control’ and relied on his vision and proprietary softwa one of a dwindling ad revenue to call combined with hardware. The Apple story today is ts and is one Austria. But, you can bet your dominant cash-rich company that rules many marke . world machine capacity that the first the in of the wealthiest a disaster. time any 3D printing Apple is considered an unmitigated success, Wang s and failure the for forget to used is us technology The curse of survivorship bias leads tight his laud and ary vision this at nefarious purposes your look lionise the winners. We many the ting forget while re softwa phone will be ringing off and are hardw of integration y is a the hook. What will your response be who failed doing similar things. We think that histor whist we events single great a and create to men — ry great collection of the stories of then? Isn’t it time for us — as an indust nces differe rs? tiny printe that 3D fact e with simpl things the ry idiotic memo doing our let slip from unified response to idiots random at occur nsible and indefe have a disproportionate effect on outcomes Isn’t it time we came up with criteria for, needless and of tens the are ment there supple Bolt, ently moments in time. For every Usain practices in 3D printing that do not suffici sion but are thousands of wayward currents in the clouds. technology or provide for sufficient freedom of expres a in ‘fire!’ ng shouti of lent equiva ing Our culture, friends, colleagues, fellow travellers, the factur rather the manu that we the for ation information that we choose to process, the information crowded theatre? Isn’t it time now to have an explan our filters , l world ethica the it see Is we late? too which is h it throug before build upon, the lenses muggles of the dangers of magic, The . en reality brethr of our view with our ns shape opinio r biases n simila matio share all to confir and our and intelligent of us ine how we of you rather chummy TCT gatherings and Euromold drinks determ but stay mum to the outside world? Or would some and nced influe point? ively some collect at is CNN world on see things. Our take on the relish having a stab at doing this live which of the many , be will people of ball this group catch small or a e, but are fumbl we to created. And The people who get a single moon business are know each others’ names. We are a collective wave, leaders in our industry. Many in the industrial AM or not, the it tiny like rked we If netwo tide. rip tightly a to guide us, intersecting with part of a microculture. A globe-spanning of our the hype the share and largely tools and our other using are each tans fools and charla group of people who all know it or not, we know a we If and t elves. contex thems social for share name a as well make as to tial goals poten same individual perceive the rly prope to e the are unabl s are formed by those around us and collective history. At the centre of these group hard of the type when ular down partic a duck for and r and insula shorth world as it is. We are ‘patententrepreneurs’. My long . In my cower we lored ad unexp overhe an et in ng ricoch s worki bullet cher as fly, resear to sity start questions person: a driven univer ng in worki people who as es know opinion, we have three central responsibiliti field who discovers a way to make something. You this ve impro and now. lf guide yourse else all for above names this industry today. We must these people are. Brainstorm a few first and things better From make ology. to ind techn a mank s into enable ment it that experi so an technology He develops this from the misuse of ch funding, make things better. We must do so while mitigating proof of concept into a business. He obtains resear are a CO2 we sful that succes a realise must finally we our technology for evil. And more funding, investment, employees and cy. No accura own its n HR, discer nting, to e accou unabl about and blind learns laser, bright but business. Along the way he t dream closed loop control. management, marketing while year after year the distan skills and is a he saw in that lab creeps closer. He masters many have Renaissance businessman proven time and again to miles from things red maste and tly correc flip predicted the coin lauded a to er dream lone a being from goes He his field. a tree. He industrialist. A seed sowed turns into a sapling, then nfidence overco of line this g walkin ope was perhaps once tightr of and paid have h thoug vision and work Hard . tainty and uncer There are known knowns; top on now are you the future is exactly as you said it was. And there are things we know that to ly direct ng speaki we know. I'm ary, vision a of the world. If you are such There are known unknowns; tha it make to h, thoug out t all is to say, you g singlin from refrain you now. I'll there are things that we now kno eight or more w we don't know. less confrontational (but the rest of us have found But there are also unknown unk t, nowns – of you). You too are hemmed in by your social contex the re are things we do not know we don e, Furthermor ’t know. determined like the other examples of this article. crowding are ents plishm accom Don your of ald ods Rum redwo ing sfeld. tower the growing out the light. Confirmation bias, redoubled by every

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[Grimm Column]

Evolved Thinking WORDS | TODD GRIMM, PRESIDENT, T. A. GRIMM ASSOCIATES

t last year’s TCT Show, and on many occasions since, I have boldly proclaimed that there will be no additive manufacturing revolution. My position has been that we will continue to see an evolution. The evolution would produce impressive growth, rewarding gains and interesting developments. However, I forecasted no across-the-board disruptions of industries or current practices. Well, I was wrong. Not completely, but I was a bit off. Where I erred was in making a broad, generalised statement. The reality that I have come to appreciate, while talking with dyed-in-the-wool manufacturers at a US event named Eastec, is that AM will foster both evolutions and revolutions. For the former, AM will grow, becoming a popular alternative to conventional practices, not a substitute. For the latter, it will be a disruptive force that displaces the status quo. What triggers a revolution rather than an evolution is the intensity of the need and the ability of AM to deliver where the status quo cannot. This pairing of needs and advantages will be within specific segments of industries and applications or for new segments created through innovations. Industries At Eastec, I was reminded that AM was revolutionary in the jewellery industry. Where there were once cadres of master crafters, now there are 3D printers. Yet, even though it has ushered in sweeping change, AM isn’t the sole solution; benchtop mills are also popular. The intense need in the jewellery industry was twofold. First, the pool of masters was small and shrinking. Jewellery crafting was becoming a lost art. Second, jewellery manufacturing was rushing to low labour cost regions of the world. With AM, the artisan role was diminished so the labourforce issue was removed and the associated labour cost diminished the value of off-shoring. Applications In my Eastec presentation, I cited in-the-ear hearing aids as a highly successful production application for AM. As I recounted the history of hearing aids, I realised I was telling a tale of a disruptive revolution. Although the hearing aid companies were seeking decreases in production time and cost, those were not the motivators for the wide-spread process change. The intense need, and unexpected benefit, was improved fits. Prior to AM, return rates were high due poor sound quality and wearer discomfort. Creating hearing aid shells direct from digital models of patients’ ear canals yielded perfect fits that eliminated these issues. Return rates plummeted while profits grew. Markets I remain in the camp that does not believe that we will find 3D printers in the majority of homes churning our objects for personal use and enjoyment. Service organisations will be the better option for the sporadic demand for 3D printed objects by

the masses. However, 3D printing is revolutionary for the individual. The intense need for a small, but significant, slice of the consumer market is an outlet for the original and creative visions that beg to take physical form. Without 3D printing, craftsmanship and skill sets were mandatory to make physical objects using machining, moulding, forming and fabricating tools. So the consumer would have to develop the skills or pay significant sums of money to a model maker or tool and die shop. Even with access to the skills and tools, complex designs were often impractical. 3D printing changes that for individuals who wish to make items for personal consumption. Whether buying a 3D printer or buying from a consumer-focused service bureau, the technology simplifies the process of converting thoughts to physical forms. Innovations The last example is the most exciting to me. It is where 3D printing unleashes innovation to create new markets, new applications and new methodologies. For this example, I refer to the custom ceramics company Figulo. This company loads a formerly-known-as-Z Corp 3D printer with ceramic powders, and as one of the service providers previously mention, it gives individuals a fast and affordable production method for their ceramic creations. But that is not why I have included Figulo in this story. The innovation fueling this company’s revolution that caught my interest is how 3D printing has enabled Figulo to make its own wares for retail sales. At Eastec, Andrew Jeffery, Figulo’s founder, told me how his 3D printers have made it possible for him to enter the retail market. His machines eliminate the expense of making moulds for each design and the physical space for storing those moulds. But more importantly, his 3D printers have enabled him to launch 700 ceramic items for sale online or off the shelf. According to Andrew, his approach is to design something, make a few and see if they sell. If they do, he has a winner. If not, he moves on. With minimal upfront investment, Figulo has the freedom to try anything without first having to gain the confidence that people will buy. Figulo has not created a revolution in the ceramics-making industry, and I do not believe that it will do so in the future. Yet, on an individual basis, this company has benefited from an AM revolution that will positively impact many companies in many industries with varied applications. Through the examples by industry, application and innovation, we have evidence that AM has spurred a revolution. However, the key point is that it is not the kind of revolution that produces sweeping change across broad swaths. And even for those that have an intense need that is poorly addressed by the status quo, the application of AM will most likely be on a part-by-part basis. For them, it will be an evolution. The technology will be a powerful alternative when the stable of subtractive and formative processes fall short of addressing the needs, wants, challenges and opportunities. 41

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[AM vs Traditional]

Sponsored by

ADDITIVE vs

TRADITIONAL TECHNOLOGY:

a level playing field? WORDS | JIM WOODCOCK

ometimes you need to get out of the office and go and see something different in order to get some perspective on your own work. For me, that means getting away from AM and 3D Printing (in all the myriad applications areas those technologies are successfully applied) and taking a look at something ‘traditional’. For that I took a short drive down to Telford to see Proto Labs (more of whom on the following pages) and had my eyes opened to the differences in scale of deployment of the two technology groups. As mentioned in the articles that follow, the number of ‘traditional’ machine tools that a manufacturer may have installed in a single location often outnumbers the entire global install base of most AM system manufacturers. Given that, it would seem that AM has an insurmountable challenge ahead of it. But, there are companies that are confident that we will start to see these traditional machine tools replaced by AM systems, and in the not too distant future. Take Dave Burns’ assertions that ExOne’s game plan is to disrupt manufacturing on a large scale by replacing traditional shop floor technologies. That’s something that we hear quite a bit, but to quote Shapeways’ Peter Weijmarshausen, ‘most companies hope for hypergrowth but they are not rigged for it’. Meaning that most companies say that they want to displace a significant amount of traditional technology, but simply couldn’t make enough machines and/or materials to make any sort of impact on the likes of HAAS, Matsuura, Mori Seiki, Engel, Arburg, and so on. And then there is the cost. AM manufacturers are still, on the whole, keen to be seen talking about ‘breaking down barriers to adoption’ while keeping their prices high on both the machines and the materials. And when comparing a large open materials market for traditional methods with a small, relatively closed market for AM, the additive process would need to have significant advantages that are applicable across the board. And at the moment — beyond the well-known and well-established applications — it simply doesn’t. The success of MakerBot, Shapeways et al should be proof enough that making the price accessible will increase the size of the market.

How can AM make amends? Companies should be realistic about what they want to achieve and how they’re going to achieve it — mixed messages (‘we think 3D printing will be the next manufacturing revolution!’… ‘we can build six whole machines a year!’) are offputting for anyone. For someone running a traditional machine shop the benefits that any new technology offers (more so one that aims to displace what’s already there) must be over and above the existing solutions. If you’re selling a system that is more expensive, tied up in service contracts, runs a smaller number of more expensive materials and can only be supplied in small number... well, that’s going to be a tough sell. Another thing that makes market penetration difficult is the persistence of proprietary names for processes. We fall foul every now and again and receive a legal letter from one or other company requesting that we use a generic name for a process, as they use a particular acronym or name (for the same process) and they have that trademarked. Drilling is drilling, milling is milling, casting is casting — melting metal with a laser is one of a dozen names. Do what you know The other way AM can make a real difference is by doing what it does best. I am certain that over the coming couple of years we will see a slew of new ‘vertical’ machines developed for, and tailored to, a specific industry. Many of the top companies have (both on and off the record) discussed plans for new machines for the dental sector, for the automotive sector and for niche medical applications. If you’re active in one of these sectors this should certainly help when researching these systems. Just as injection moulding machines come in a range of tonnages and can accommodate everything from micro-moulding of expensive polymers right through to shot weights of well over 100 kg, so AM machines are developing away from a one-size fits all and towards something that might be easier to assess and justify ‘up the chain’. 43

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[AM vs Traditional: Proto Labs]

Proto Labs

AM vs Traditional

WORDS | JIM WOODCOCK

rototyping and short-run manufacture are increasingly important and increasingly competitive parts of the product lifecycle. The ongoing battle between ‘traditional’ processes (milling, moulding, casting, pressing etc) and additive processes (the myriad of disparate techniques that are clubbed together and called AM and/or 3D printing) has been running for as long as additive technologies have existed. Which is to say around 20 years in any meaningful sense. No one can deny the rate development in AM technologies, in as much as it is slow but steady. The oft-cited but infrequently confronted issues of materials supply and cost, initial investment cost, build success rate and — maybe ironically — speed are all holding AM back to such an extent that traditional technologies, with what should now be a slower rate of progress, are not only keeping up but in many ways forging (no pun intended) ahead. One of the companies that is both facilitating and capitalising on this trend is Proto Labs, the US-based, stock exchange listed purveyor of parts. And like all good businesses in this sector they have kept their remit small — making parts — and easy to dominate. If you’re a follower of the stock markets, or the recent surge in interest in 3D printing companies across the investment community has piqued your interest, you will have no doubt noticed that one of the ticker symbols frequently cited is ‘PRLB’. Right there alongside ‘DDD’ (for 3D Systems), ‘SSYS’ (for Stratasys) ‘XONE’ (for ExOne) sits ‘PRLB’. For Proto Labs. Resolutely nothing to do with 3D printing but everything to do with the quick and efficient realisation of digital designs. It would perhaps be unfair to blame the investors for such an oversight. It is after all difficult to keep track of every technology in every hot sector all of the time. But equally, sticking the Proto Labs share price in a pot with the DDD et al is a little shortsighted, and lazy investors might not be buying into what they think they are. And they might be all the better for it, after all PRLB has posted 20 per cent growth in Q1 this year, with 2012 (which the company’s UK MD John Tumelty admitted was challenging with the Eurozone economic woes) being 17 per cent up on 2011. Most investors would take 17% growth in a tough year! In the eight years since they began the company has grown to over 160 staff and the European division has firmly established itself as a major exporter, winning its second Queen’s Award for Enterprise: International Trade, in April. While the hype surrounding 3D printing continues to grow to deafening levels, the fact of the matter remains that the promise of additive technologies — parts made quickly, in the materials you want, for a cost that doesn’t inhibit iteration — is already available. But it’s based on centuries old techniques and not the ‘shiny new’ that attracts investors like moths to the flame.

As success stories in the product development and manufacturing industry go, Proto Labs are proving hard to beat. The company’s Protomold and Firstcut services offer some of the fastest parts turnaround in the industry — as little as one business day from design to part — and, for anyone comparing them to additive solutions, an enviable list of materials from which to make those parts.

Continued on p47

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[AM vs Traditional: Proto Labs] Continued from p45

I caught up with Proto Labs’ UK MD, John Tumelty, for a tour of the factory and to get his thoughts on the situation. “I really like 3D printing,” John began. “From a personal viewpoint as an engineer and someone who likes to make things, it offers some very interesting possibilities. The desktop printers are a great way at achieving certain things — I’ve seen enough of them at tradeshows and read enough about them in the papers to know that they’re big business at the moment.” On the professional front John is, perhaps rightly given the staggering growth of the company he helms, less enthusiastic: “The trouble with 3D printing for professional use — either in prototyping or production — is that it is under attack from two sides; software and traditional techniques. Design and engineering software is tremendously powerful today compared to the time that 3D printing first emerged. It would have been inconceivable to early users of an SLA that many of the things they needed a physical model for could be achieved quickly and cheaply using computing.” On the traditional technologies front, this rapid growth of computing and communication power is also having a profound effect. The software-driven improvements to a process like CNC milling is one of the reasons that companies like Proto Labs can achieve the speed of processing in the range of materials now available. John explained: “With Firstcut for example, when a file is uploaded for quoting our software does 90 per cent of the work there and then. We can only give accurate quotes by using all the data including generating tool paths, calculating tool changes and any manual intervention needed. As soon as the quote is automatically generated everything is in place for us to start the job, which means when you confirm an order the wheels are already in motion on the shop floor.” Without broadband Internet connections and powerful automated software none of this would be possible and a company like Proto Labs could not exist — at least not with the

Proto Labs www.protolabs.co.uk

promise of one-day turnaround on parts. Taking a trip downstairs to the shop floor was in itself an enlightening experience. The company’s Telford HQ is huge — I joked that the Transit van just visible at the back of the hall was only parked there for perspective — and it’s packed with machines. The company has over 60 HAAS CNC machining centres for a start, which are tasked with making parts via Firstcut and creating the moulds for Protomold. Split into polymers and metals (which is further divided by soft and hard metals) the scene is unlike anything you will see at an AM installation. For a start even in this one location Proto Labs has more machines than most AM providers have ever shipped. The next bank of equipment is the injection moulding machines, most of which are making parts as we pass. The company holds 1000s of materials and variations for injection moulding in stock, but can source specialist materials (with the necessary increase in lead time) to suite specific applications — if it can be injection moulded or machined the chances are that it’s already been done by Proto Labs.

Unless instructed to do so, the company retains all the aluminium moulds they produce for clients, meaning that a short run of parts can be produced as needed at any time. This leads us to the back of the hangar-like building and the racks that hold thousands of mould tools ready to be redeployed. For anyone looking for short production runs on an irregular or sporadic basis would be hard pressed to find another solution that offers the same turnaround and material choice. So, where does this leave the additive technologies? In all honestly, still playing catch up to a set of technologies that are themselves constantly improving. While applications in which no other technology can compete remain, these are still too limited to predict the death of traditional technologies just yet. So is John worried about additive technologies catching up and superceding the ‘old school’ technologies on his shop floor?: “Worried; no, intrigued; yes. Additive technologies are a very long way from entering the main stream of production and therefore remain limited for use as a true functional prototyping method. I don’t doubt that there will be more twists and turns to the additive story and the engineer in me is still fascinated as to what happens next.” 47

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our Quickly Quickly transform transform y your cc ate 3D 3D designs designs into into a accurate working working models models nable d esigners a nd e ngineers S tratasys 3 DP rinters e Stratasys 3D Printers enable designers and engineers heir 3 Dd esigns iinto nto u niquely tto oq uickly ttransform ransform ttheir quickly 3D designs uniquely odels, p arts a nd p rototypes. rrealistic ealistic p hysical 3 Dm physical 3D models, parts and prototypes. You can touch and feel designs allowing you to easily revise them and achieve design per fection, resulting in a fast time-to-market. For e expert xpert advice and an support, call T Tri-Tech ri-Te ech 3D â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the leading distributor or of Stratasys 3D printers.

T E L E P H O N E : 0 1 7 8 2 8 1 4 5 5 1 | V I S I T: T : W W W. W. T R I T E C H 3 D. D. C O O.. U K

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[AM vs Traditional: Delft Spline]

Digital Manufacturing: 3D printing and CNC machining WORDS | LEX LENNINGS, DELFT SPLINE SYSTEMS, NL Any reader of this magazine will have noticed that the mainstream media has (at last) discovered 3D printing. Every talkshow seems to have shown a 3D printer with an enthusiastic evangelist user; major newspapers have published full-page stories, even some retail stores are now offering 3D printers to the general public. For us specialists this is of course good news, after many years of first having to explain what 3D printing is about. In addition all this press coverage will help to make engineering more interesting and ‘cool’ to people who didn’t already know that: any engineer would surely welcome that?

n recent years we have seen that the number of 3D printer manufacturers is growing rapidly: almost every month a new supplier enters the market. At the same time prices for these low-cost systems are falling, because of both the larger series and the steeper competition. Altogether there are many factors behind the intense media coverage just mentioned. Adding Material or Removing Material Because of all the attention for 3D printing, it may seem that adding material is the only available method for ‘Digital Manufacturing’, transforming a virtual model to a real model or product. And that is of course not true: removing material (i.e., CNC machining) is a good alternative and for many applications can be far more efficient. This paper will show some of these applications. The abbreviation CNC stands for Computer Numerical Control, as a contrast to conventional milling machines where the cutter’s movements can be controlled by turning a handwheel. The complexity of the process depends on the software that is used: for CNC machining as well as for 3D printing. Where traditional CAM software (the software to calculate the CNC toolpaths) was meant to be used by skilled CNC specialists, nowadays a new type of CAM software is available and meant to be used by users without CNC knowhow and experience. This software makes operating a CNC milling machine just as simple as operating a 3D printer. All that is needed to prepare a new job is following a ‘wizard’, the rest of the process is taken care of by the software. In order to be complete, a third method of shaping material needs to be mentioned as well: deforming. Deformation is applied in manufacturing technologies like casting (including injection moulding), forging and bending (for instance bending sheet metal). For mass production these technologies offer unrivaled low prices, however for a one-time conversion from CAD model to tangible model they cannot be easily applied. Of course some exceptions can be found where deforming is most efficient also for small numbers (like a programmable CNC bending machine), generally however for small numbers the choice is between adding and removing material. The old name Rapid Prototyping (RP) made it easy to distinguish between these two methods: Additive RP and Subtractive RP. These names are no longer correct, as ‘Digital Manufacturing’ is applied for much more than just prototyping.

Delft Spline www.deskproto.com

Panoramic Predictions Future visions surrounding 3D printing predict big changes: “Personal fabrication is the next revolution that will impact our lives,” says Neil Gershenfeld of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the ‘father’ of all FabLabs. In this vision, digital manufacturing will cause a transition from current mass production (one design for all clients) to custom production (each client gets a unique design). Production can then be done on a small scale: by small and medium-size companies or even in-house by the end-user. This transition will absolutely follow for some products and will offer important advantages. However, for most products such transition will not come, as the low prices offered by mass production just cannot be beaten. The 3D printing of single products makes these so much more expensive than injection moulding in large numbers that custom manufacturing will be used only when needed. A useful analogy can be found in 2D printing on paper: ‘printing on demand’ is perfectly suited for small batches and for personalised prints. However, for the large series that are needed for books, magazines and newspapers, offset printing remains cheapest by far. My reservations about the idea of having a personal 3D printer in every house are even greater. Here the analogy is the home bread-baking machines that are available: perfect for having fresh bread every morning. However, it is much more efficient to have a specialist bake the bread and just buy it at the local bakery. So these baking machines, despite the advantages they offer, are not commonly used. Custom manufacturing by selecting from a number of available options is something different, as that can be achieved at normal prices. Key factor here is a tight control of the processes for assembly and logistics; the actual production of the parts is standard mass production.

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ÂŽ

Product Design

Jewelry

Arts

Hobby

Food and sweets

Moldmaking

Education

Woodworking

Medical, dental

Lithophanes

www.deskproto.com

Digital Manufacturing using a CNC milling machine

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[Delft Spline]

Selection of the optimum process Being a designer or engineer today you have a 3D CAD model and you need to make (or have made) a model, product or mould. The question is when it is best to 3D print and when it is best to use a CNC machine. Key factors for this selection are of course the advantages and disadvantages of either method. An advantage for the one method most times also being a disadvantage for the other. In this section for each method a list will be presented of its main advantages. The actual choice however is more than just comparing the scores on advantages: in many cases one of the factors will tip the balance. Some examples will make it clear why for very similar cases the best choice still may be different. Advantages of 3D printing: n Easy to use: few required preparations. n Price independent of part complexity n No limit on part complexity n Price per part independent of batch size n Easy to switch to a next part (flexibility). Some of these advantages need to be elaborated on. The preparations that are needed to start a job: 3D printing does require some (so it’s more than simply pushing the button ‘3D print’), like finding the optimal orientation of the part and adding a support structure where needed. And after printing, this support structure again needs to be removed. This is an advantage for 3D printing, as for CNC machining yet more preparations are needed: decide which side(s) need to be machined, which cutter to use, prepare a block of material in the correct dimensions and decide how to fix this block on the machine’s working table. The advantages of few preparations and high flexibility are closely connected, though with an important exception: when all parts to be manufactured are similar, the same preparations can be used for all parts. Then the flexibility advantage no longer applies. Examples of such similar parts are: rings (jewellery), insoles (orthotics), crowns (dental). Each part is different, however from a manufacturing point of view they are all equal. As such the process can use standard material blocks, a standard fixture and standard settings for CAM. Allowing any level of complexity is a clear advantage of 3D printing. Well-known examples are manufactured by the likes Freedom of Creation, Nervous System and other companies that exploit this advantage of 3D printing to create products that otherwise would have been impossible. The part price for 3D printing will not rise with the part’s complexity. This is a clear contrast with CNC machining, where more details do cause a higher price, as more toolpaths will be needed. And the smaller these details, the smaller the cutter that is needed, and thus the higher the machining time. Price and batch size being independent (making 10 identical products will cost 10 times as much as making one product) is an advantage for small series, however when large series are needed this becomes a disadvantage.

Advantages of CNC machining: n Free choice of material n Free choice of resolution n High surface quality n High accuracy n Lower cost of ownership (both for machine and supplies) Where for 3D printers the choice of materials is limited to a few materials only (or even one per system in some cases), CNC milling machines can handle a wide range of materials. The most important factor for the resolution of the part is the layer thickness (for 3D printers) or the toolpath distance (for CNC machines). The layer thickness can be set for the whole part, usually within a few pre-set increments. The toolpath distance can be freely chosen so that the same machine can produce both ‘quick and dirty’ parts and ‘slow but perfect’ parts. The surface quality (smoothness) for CNC machining is generally much better than for 3D printing. Even when the CNC toolpath distance is much larger than the layer thickness of the printer: the cutter is much wider than this distance and will smooth over the transition between the toolpaths. For CNC machining the production time is related to the surface area to be machined (and to the volume to be removed, though that can be done quickly in a roughing operation). For 3D printers the production time is related to the volume that needs to be solidified. Though current building software applies smart algorithms to replace a solid volume by a shell with a 3D raster inside, still for large models machining will be much quicker than 3D printing. CNC machining as said can be done in almost any material. This does not only apply to the type of material, it does to the supplier as well, which makes it impossible for the system manufacturer to offer the machine at an artificially low price and have all revenues from the very expensive patented material cartridges. Special selection cases In many cases the selection can indeed be done based on the advantages and disadvantages mentioned above. An example from the field of model making: a model is needed of an electric hand drill. When making a styling block model (to show the outside appearance and for ergonomic tests) it will be best to CNC machine a solid model in tooling board: quick, low cost, and a perfect surface quality. When making a functional prototype (one that is capable to actually drill a hole) a model of the thin-walled casing will be needed, including all inside ribs, screw holes and other details. For such a part 3D printing is best (small volume to be printed, high volume to be machined, needing thin cutters). In many other cases one of these advantages will be the deciding factor, making other factors irrelevant. This will be illustrated by the examples mentioned overpage: Continues on p47

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[AM vs Traditional: Delft Spline]

1/ The functional prototype just mentioned (electric hand drill), needs to be in exactly the same material as the final product for accurate testing. 2/ The products by Freedom of Creation and the like, already mentioned above, that just cannot be manufactured by CNC machining. 3/ A series of unique facade panels in stainless steel (1 m x 1 m) for the computing centre of the Dutch tax administration in Apeldoorn: savage-looking masks designed by Dutch artist Rob Birza. Here the size of the part was decisive, making CNC milling by far the most cost effective. Material was irrelevant, as the part was only used to cast a concrete mold. Production technology for the panels was hydroforming. CNC machining can be the best process in case of special requirements for the material: dental crowns and bridges will be machined from zirconium, as after sintering (and finishing) that material can be used in the clientâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mouth. Jewellers make a personal decision about which process to use: the deciding factor will not be the same for every jeweller. The required parts are jewellery wax models, to be converted to gold via investment casting. Some jewelers prefer CNC machining for its superb surface quality, or because of the lower investment for an in-house system, others use 3D printing for the complexity that can be achieved. Some jewellers subcontract to an outside service bureau for the ease of use, others do not want to go outside for reasons of confidentiality and/or speed. Finally it will be clear that in many cases the deciding factor simply is the fact that a certain system is available in-house and the alternatives are not. Example projects A perfect example of custom manufacturing is the production of insoles, to solve problems with feet and/or posture. A podiatrist or pedorthist can solve such problems by designing a custom insole for the client. This is a sole to be used inside a normal shoe, with different locations with extra support and pressure relief for each client.

Such insoles are made of a flexible foam, in many cases using a different density for the front and the back. Specialised software is used to quickly design the insole, and the product is created using CNC machining. 3D printing cannot produce these flexible foams, and apart from that it would be more expensive. The milling process can be completely automated. Calculating toolpaths is done by pushing one button (using the default settings). The machinist needs to place two foam blocks in the machine, push the button to start the vacuum pump for fixturing these blocks, and then start the machine. Production time is 10-to-20 minutes per pair. Production can be done either small scale (a lowcost machine for each podiatrist) or at a central location by a service provider using a fast machine. Another example is an electric driver for the Dutch brand Ferm (www.ferm.com), by Brandes en Meurs industrial design in Bunnik, NL (www.brandesenmeurs.nl). The driver belonged to a complete series of power tools that the company has designed for Ferm. Brandes en Meurs used Creo Elements (Pro/E) for design, presentation renderings and computer simulations. Tangible models (Rapid Prototyping) were used at several stages of the design process: quick and dirty foam models at the start, ergonomic models later, and finally perfect presentation models of the resulting designs. These models will help the designers, and will also facilitate communications with the client and with the manufacturer in China. Brandes en Meurs have a light CNC milling machine in their in-house modelshop, which makes it easy for them to machine a model when needed. On another scale entirely is the city model of the Dutch town Maastricht, created by Made by Mistake in Delft (www.madebymistake.nl) and Komplot Mechanics (www.komplotmechanics.com) in Capelle a/d IJssel, both in NL. The model shows a plan (â&#x20AC;&#x153;De Groene Loperâ&#x20AC;?) to replace the A2 motorway in this town by a tunnel below the town. The plan has indeed been selected, and the tunnel is currently being built, see www.avenue2.nl. Dimensions of the model are 3.5 m x 1.7 m. Such a model can be achieved using 3D printing, however machining was chosen as the model was easier to finish and thus cheaper. The model was not only large in size, the file-size for the CAD data (both terrain and buildings) was huge as well. To keep calculation time acceptable, a subdivision into 14 sections was made for the calculations. Details have later been applied manually: colours, roads, water, trees, etc. In education the creation of tangible models results in an important lesson: the student will realise that his/her design in real life looks rather different from what he/she thought based on computer-generated renderings. This makes the use of models important, made either by 3D printing or by CNC machining. A special advantage of CNC machining for education is that it forces the student to think about manufacturing issues. Designs with undercuts cannot be easily machined, and not easily produced either. As said before: most products will require a mass production technology like injection molding, where undercuts come with higher cost. In addition most schools will be happy with the low cost of ownership for CNC machining (materials to be machined).

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[AMUG & Inside 3D Printing Summary]

Lunch on the balcony overlooking the river is just one of the enjoyable aspects of the annual AMUG conference

AMUG WORDS | JIM WOODCOCK

Additive Manufacturing Users Group www.am-ug.com

his was TCT’s third outing to the annual AMUG Conference which was back on the East coast in Jacksonville, Florida, for its 25th anniversary. The group has seen significant growth since it opened up to include users of all AM/3DP technologies, with 338 attendees this year. Perhaps the more impressive figure is the 161 attendees that came along for the first time — a demonstration that the industry is reaching further and wider than ever before. The event kicked off on the Sunday night with the Exhibitor Expo, which is a relatively small affair (especially for those used to TCT Show in the UK) but an important part of the week nonetheless. The small table top stands (except for DoubleDiamond sponsors Stratasys who went big) gave ample opportunity for samples, literature and somewhere to rest your beer (there are food stations and bars in the room) while you talk shop. Although the room was bigger than past years the concurrent increase in attendees meant there was still a good buzz on both the Sunday and Monday nights. The conference sessions make up the bulk of the week and run from 0800-1700, with evening events planned out until 2200 (though in reality much later!). With hands-on sessions across the week, as well as updates and workshops on software,

hardware, materials and post-processing, there is something for everyone. While the agenda was noticeably influenced by Double Diamond sponsor Stratasys, especially on the first morning, there was an excellent spread of topics and speakers as the week progressed. Next year sees the conference head to... well, that’s still to be announced, but wherever the Board chooses it’s likely to be another fantastic opportunity to learn, network and shoot the breeze. And if you’ve never been before, fear not — if this year was anything to go by there may be more first-timers than repeat offenders in 2014! For more information, and to keep an eye on the next location, visit www.am-ug.com.

Inside 3D Printing Conference and Expo

s the 3D printing industry expands it is inevitable (and quite correct) that we will see more magazines, websites and exhibitions dedicated to all facets of it. Some of them will be after a quick buck by jumping on the latest bandwagon, others will provide real value to the community by offering something different, or somewhere different. The Inside 3D Printing Conference and Expo premiered in New York to a good reception from exhibitors, speakers and attendees (of which there were some 3000 over the two days). The company behind the event, WebMediaBrands, has an ambitious schedule of similar events across the US, Asia and Europe for the rest of the year. A relatively small but very busy exhibition sector buzzed with all the enthusiasm of the uninitiated — which given the increased penetration of 3D printing into the mainstream consciousness can only be expected and welcomed. The large contingency of market analysts and investors was also a welcome sign. With companies such as 3D Systems, Stratasys, MakerBot, Formlabs and Mcor in attendance there was plenty for the newbies to get involved, as well as enough interesting conference content to keep the veterans engaged.

Inside 3D Printing www.mediabistro.com/inside3Dprinting

It will be interesting to see how the hectic show schedule pans out for the event — knowing how much works goes into the (admittedly much larger) TCT Show each year the team behind the Inside 3D Printing brand have their work cut out. The team has support from Hod Lipson, Professor of Engineering at Cornell University and co-author of “Frabricated: The New World of 3D Printing”, which will likely help them in their quest, especially in the US. The days kicked off with Keynotes from Avi Reichental on day one and Terry Wohlers on day two, after which a broad range of presentations covering everything from aerospace to cuisine were addressed. Keynotes for the upcoming Chicago edition (10–11 July) include Jonathan Butcher from Cornell and Stratasys founder, Scott Crump. 55

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[Materialise]

PRO

MiniMagics WORDS | JIM WOODCOCK

Checking STL files, validating and measuring parts and creating reports is something that needs to be done several times throughout the production cycle; by the designer, their team, the service bureau, or department that may be producing the part. Each of these stages requires a different level of functionality. Tim Van den Bogaert, Product Manager at Materialise, explained: “MiniMagicsPRO is a tool in which STL files can be inspected (like in the free MiniMagics) with the additional option that reports (MS Word, MS Excel) can be generated. This is useful for making a first analysis of the part, making a quote for a customer or making an inspection report. Also, if people are using a floating license of our CAD-import system, all of these imports will be available in the MiniMagicsPRO tool, meaning that they do not have to pass through Magics or their customers to convert their files.” MiniMagicsPRO also allows users to make measurements on screen (and includes an extended portfolio of measurements), but also to enter (manually or through an electronic caliper) the real measured dimensions after the part has been built. The measured dimensions are then compared with the dimensions on the STL and tolerances are given to show the user whether or not this part falls within specification or not, and whether a remake needs to be made. Also from this data, a report can be generated. “We believe there are different needs when looking at a service bureau environment,” explained Tim. “You have the customers of the service bureau who need a tool to view STL files and to communicate with their service provider. Hence Materialise provides free MiniMagics. The download

Materialise www.materialise.com rate of this product has already proven the need for this software. Then the data enters the shop floor and some form of a quote or part analysis needs to be generated. With Streamics, Materialise offers advanced solutions for this, but we believe there is also a place for something cheaper and simpler. A tool in which you can inspect a file and make a report with its basic parameters. When the file has been printed a simple and cheap software should enable the measurement department to check whether the printed part is within tolerances and generate a report of this. We aimed to cover both of these needs with the MiniMagicsPRO software. Service bureaux that are currently using Materialise’s Magics and or Streamics suites will now get additional options to completely equip their company with tools tailored to the need of that particular part of the business. Magics or Streamics are suitable for the quoting or the measurement department, but for many of them a Magics price is not justified for the limited functionality needed at the quoting and/or measurement side. The reduced cost of MiniMagicsPRO solution, whilst keeping and improving some of the key features needed for this area, should make it a complementary solution for power users and bureaux alike. MiniMagicsPRO goes some way to completing Materialise’s offering for users of AM and 3D Printing: MiniMagics free for the customer; MiniMagicsPRO to inspect files, create reports and validate dimensions of the printed part; Magics for the data preparation; and finally Streamics for automation, data management and traceabilty.

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Advanced Tooling PProduction r o d u c t i o n ooff ccost-effective o s t - e f f e c t i v e sseries e r i e s ttooling ooling inserts directly from electronic data

Think the impossible. You can get it. Thi YYou ou are facing multiple challenges: the need for optimized ized cooling/heating performances of your mould, for cycle cooling/heating time reduction in injection moulding and die casting, for quality improvement of your complex end product. You can can manufacture manufacture highly highly complex complex tooling tooling inserts inserts aand You nd t h ei r sophisticated s o p hi s t ic a t e d cooling c o olin g systems s y s t e m s in in one o ne building buil d ing job, their j o b, with unique freedoms of design. This is e-ManufacturingTM: t h e fast, f a s t , flexible f le xible and a n d cost-effective c o s t - e f f e c t iv e production p r o d ucti o n directly directly the f r om electronic ele c t r o nic data. data. from With EOSINT EOSINT M technology technology pprovided With rovided bbyy EEOS OS yyou ou ccan an create unimaginable unimaginable ggeometries create e om e t r ie s iin nm metal. e ta l. EEOS, OS, tthe he wo r ldwid e leading leading m worldwide manufacturer a n u f a c t u r e r ooff llaser-sintering aser-sintering www.eos.info/tooling systems. www.eos.info/tooling

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[RAPID Preview] See TCT on Booth #525

EXHIBITOR’S PREVIEW June 10–13, 2013. David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Pittsburgh Expo: 11th @ 0800–1900 | 12th @ 0800–1500 Conference: 10th @ 1430–1530 | 11th @ 1000–1700 | 12th @ 1000–1530

DSM Somos NeXt LV Grey Stereolithography Materials that Mimic Thermoplastics DSM has introduced the second material in its Somos NeXt family of thermoplastic-like products — Somos NeXt LV Grey, which will be on show on the company’s RAPID exhibition booth. Somos NeXt LV Grey produces durable, grey parts with high-resolution detail. The ABS-like parts have a high modulus while maintaining a low viscosity for easier cleaning and reduced part processing times. This third-generation, high-impact Somos material is designed for creating tough, high-quality, complex parts that are more resistant to fracture and cracking than standard SL resins. Somos NeXt LV Grey also offers superior water resistance and thermal properties. It is ideal for use in functional testing and low-volume manufacturing applications, as well as functional end-use performance parts; especially snap-fit designs, impellers, connectors, and sporting goods. DSM www.dsm.com

Advantages of Selective Contour Photocuring (SCP) Technology for AM Selective Contour Photocuring (SCP) is a new technology that enables high-speed curing without sacrificing accuracy, yielding higher productivity as well as better control over material shrinkage during the build process. In a build area of 279 mm x 198 mm x 203 mm, SCP technology enables a build speed up to 10 mm per hour for the full build envelope at 50 µm, Z resolution inversely proportional to the X dimension, and 20 mm per hour for half of the X/Y build envelope. Curing speed is 3.8 mm per second in the X dimension, while up to 2000 partial images are cured per second in the Y dimension during X motion, enabling X/Y feature resolution down to 19 µm. Resolution in the Z dimension is 25–100 µm, depending on material, and may be adjusted by the user. In addition, viscosity of the material is no longer a constraint with SCP, allowing suspended materials. Viscosities up to 3000 may be accommodated (e.g., EC500 wax-based material). In competing technologies, use of the X and Y galvanometer mirrors creates distortion in two dimensions during the curing process. This distortion of the beam as it is reflected off galvanometer mirrors must be corrected in both the X and Y dimensions. With SCP, optical correction is only required in the Y dimension, yielding a more streamlined build process as well as simpler long-term machine maintenance. The non-projection light source is reliable, requires no calibration over long periods of time, and allows for better control of the curing path. Higher uptime, lower maintenance costs, greater affordability, and enhanced Quality/Reliability/Durability (QRD) are the result. EnvisionTEC www.envisiontec.com

New ATOS Triple Scan 12M The ATOS Triple Scan 12M is the newest addition to the ATOS series of innovative 3D scanners utilising non-contact structured Blue LED Technology. It is engineered with high quality optics, advanced hardware, and intelligent software for high resolution 3D scanning, accurate measurements, and fast comprehensive inspection analysis with virtual 3D colour maps. The ATOS Triple Scan 12M takes a single volumetric scan containing 12 million data points in seconds, and can measure small to extra large objects with intricate feature detail. The Triple Scan Blue Light functionality drastically improves the line of sight, minimises the number of scans it takes to measure an entire object, and advances the scanning of shiny and/or dark coloured surfaces. The ATOS Triple Scan 12M redefines the true meaning of high definition for 3D scanning and inspection applications. Capture 3D www.capture3d.com

DM3D Metals AM to be Demonstrated at RAPID DM3D Technology, LLC’s additive metal manufacturing system utilises patented, laser-based direct metal deposition technology to form functional metal parts or add metal to existing parts directly from 3D CAD data. DM3D’s expertise and innovation, which is protected by its patents and proprietary trade secrets, reportedly give the company its competitive edge in the marketplace. The company provides product development services, production parts and builds customised production-ready equipments. DM3D will be demonstrating its DMD technology and following service capabilities during the RAPID 2013 show. • DMD Technology with its 5+1 axis motion capability is enabled by theproprietary DMDCAM 3D software. • Newly developed ID cladding capability • Example parts from automotive, aerospace, oil & gas and other industries highlighting DM3D’s expertise in providing (a) hardfacing services, (b) repair and remanufacturing services, (c) fabricating multi-material components and (d) free-form fabrication. DM3D Technology www.pomgroup.com

ShapeGrabber Launches SG156 3D Scanhead ShapeGrabber will display its new SG156 scanhead at the RAPID 2013 exhibition. The newest addition to the ShapeGrabber 3D scanhead family, this sixth-generation technology is ShapeGrabber’s fastest scanhead to date, with an improved laser, lens, imager, and mounting mechanism. The scanhead delivers a scanning speed gain of two to 10 times when compared to previous ShapeGrabber models, as well as a larger sensing range and greater stability in temperature variations. The SG156 scanhead offers: • Up to 10 times faster scanning speed than its predecessor • Variable field of view in addition to depth of field • Greater accuracy and tolerance to temperature changes • Larger dynamic sensing range to scan a wider range of part types • A new mounting design allows the SG156 scanhead to be easily installed and removed; and, provides greater precision. ShapeGrabber industrial 3D laser scanners are in use by quality professionals and designers in automotive, aerospace, medical device, dental and other industrial sectors. They are ideal for rapid measurement and inspection of complex-shaped parts such as injection moulded plastics, metal castings and stampings, and other parts that have compound curves and multiple features. ShapeGrabber www.shapegrabber.com 59

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[Locator Map] Sponsored by

ou may have noticed that something inside the bag with your copy of TCT this issue. This isn’t junk, it’s the UK locator map for service providers across product development, engineering and manufacturing. The A2-size map should be pinned up on the wall of your office or workshop (wherever the most people can see and use it) and referred to throughout the year when you’re specifying your projects. It’s often preferable to use someone local for a number of reasons: maybe your parts are fragile and you don’t want them thrown about by an overnight courier; maybe you are working on top secret projects and want to see the whites of your service provider’s eyes before you release the files; maybe you need the parts in your hands today and can’t afford to wait any longer than absolutely necessary. The location and contact details are available at a glance, and the map is plenty big enough to be annotated with notes applicable to your needs. With service providers covering the length and breadth of the British Isles there’s certainly someone close by — but many of the companies listed here also have specific skill sets, equipment and experience that should be of use worldwide.

Armstrong Mold Tel 001 (315) 437-1517 Web www.armstrongmold.com

With industries such as Formula 1, aerospace and filmmaking found in concentrated clusters in the UK, the expertise generated by service providers to these industries is amongst the best in Europe. Competition between service providers is fierce in terms of expertise, cost and lead-time so it’s always worth picking up the phone and making a few calls to the companies on this map when you need a helping hand with your projects. The US version of this map can be found in issue 21/2 of TCT.

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[Dash CAE]

DASH Cae — Perfecting the Development Formula WORDS | JIM WOODCOCK

Tim Robathan founded Dash CAE in Oxford back in 2006 to take on design overspill from the Formula 1 teams that are dotted around the local countryside like high-tech farms. Named after the character ‘Dash’ from the film The Incredibles, Dash CAE’s promise was ‘Incredible resource at value’. See what they did there? Tim Robathan had years of experience in the Formula 1 design and development processes before starting Dash CAE and knew the sorts of jobs that the in-house teams didn’t like attempting themselves. Having worked for Lotus, Arrows, Ligier, British American Racing and Jordan and McLaren (amongst others) in a variety of senior design roles he was ideally placed to tap into the industry. Tim explained: “We see this as a design service with a rapid prototyping and composites laboratory, rather than a traditional service bureau. We have both the expertise and equipment to act as a partner to our clients, and not just a facility that makes parts for them.” Inside the company’s Oxford HQ is everything they need to help in the constant development cycle that is a Formula 1 team’s raison d’etre. For a start Tim has a wealth of experience in composites, specifically the carbon fibre much beloved of the autosport world. Tim understood there was a solutions out there that could marry RP to Composites in an even more effective way. In order to harness the power of rapid Soft Tooled parts the company designed and specified its own small autoclave that is precise enough to process carbon fibre components produced with moulds or washout cores made with its in-house FDM 3D printers. The company plans to become a reseller for its small “Dwell” autoclaves to allow others to benefit from running a precisely controlled machine. “I had seen a lot of rapid prototyping equipment at the F1 teams and decided to invest in FDM Technology to take advantage of the inherent materials stability, necessary for practical parts including soft tooling, washout cores and even parts for windtunnel testing,” explained Tim.

Dash CAE www.dash-cae.co.uk

“We have a pair of Stratasys Fortus machines (400mc and 250mc) installed downstairs on which we can make a huge variety of functional parts.” At this point Tim handed over some models that has been made on the FDM machines for wind tunnel testing. He explained: “Most people think that wind tunnel work can only be carried out with specialist resins run through an stereolithography system, but we regularly supply FDM parts for the same purposes. Many designers and engineers are put off by the obvious stepping and surface finishing that is inherent to FDM models but built correctly and with the right finishing applied the surfaces can be made totally smooth, and most importantly the part remains stable when subjected to the realities of the environment (humidity and varying temperature).” Beyond the composites and RP experience, the company also uses CATIA for design work and 3D scanning for QA checking of RP and composite pieces, as well as for reverse engineering. Last year the company drew on all its streamlined and rapid experience to design and develop a project from aero surfaces to homolagated F1 chassis in three and a half months (a feat that normally takes more than a year). In another instance the company was tasked with modifying a Williams F1 headrest from the mid-‘90s for a customer who had bought the car ‘second hand’. Probably not on Autotrader. As F1 cars are essentially built around the drivers (and the drivers are generally not too tall and very slim) anyone wishing to drive the car afterwards will need some modification. In this instance the new driver’s height was the issue as the brace around the shoulders was too low. Dash CAE was able to reverseengineer, re-design and remodel the cockpit to fit the new driver, print new patterns and manufacture new carbon/Kevlar parts to fit comfortably and safely around the new owner. 63

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[Directory] To advertise here call Carol Hardy on 01244 680222 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

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more than a magazine For the latest news, reviews and industry technologies

www.tctmagazine.com 64

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[Directory] To advertise here call Carol Hardy on 01244 680222 or email carol@rapidnews.com

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Design today...

at: See us g 2013 acturin f u n a ced M M41 Advan stand A Hall 5,

...build tomorrow

Unlock the potential for Additive Manufacturing Renishaw’s laser melting system is a pioneering process capable of producing fully dense metal parts direct from 3D CAD, which has the power to unlock the potential for additive manufacturing. From tooling inserts featuring conformal cooling, to lightweight structures for aerospace and high technology applications, laser melting gives designers more freedom, resulting in structures and shapes that would otherwise be constrained by conventional processes or the tooling requirements of volume production. It is also complementary to conventional machining technologies, and directly contributes to reduced lead times, tooling costs and material waste. • Shorten development timescales - be ﬁrst to market • Reduce waste product and cost - build only what you need • Enjoy increased design freedom - create complex structures and hidden features

Find out more at www.renishaw.com/additive

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