TCT Europe 22.2 by TCT Magazine

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MAR 14

3D PRINTING | ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING | PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

RENISHAW AND EMPIRE CYCLES

RIDING HIGH WITH THE MX6-R AM MOUNTAIN BIKE

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3D PRINTING, ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING AND PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

ISSN 1751-0333

GROUP EDITOR James Woodcock e: james@rapidnews.com

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

NEWSDESK +44 (0) 1244 680222

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

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

DESIGN Sam Hamlyn Tracey Roberts

C.O.O. / PUBLISHER Duncan Wood

C.E.O. Mark Blezard

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Mar 2014

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CONTENTS tct + personalize | March2014

01 COVER STAR Occassionally a partnership just clicks — and that’s what has happened with UK-based companies Empire Cycles and Renishaw. Find out what the ‘3D printed’ bike really means.

REGULARS 07 FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK 15 TODD GRIMM COLUMN 19 JORIS PEELS COLUMN 66 CTRL-ALT-DEL

FEATURES 08

USA MAP

FORMLABS

REVERSE ENGINEERING

MARKFORGED

STRATASYS ARTICLE

RIDING HIGH Is it ‘all about the bike’? Renishaw’s Robin Weston explains both answers.

BRIGHTWAKE 3D printing is becoming well accepted for prototyping medical products — but what’s the future?

NEWS ROUNDUP A roundup of some of the most important news from the last couple of months, including a medical focus.

TOYOTA If you had access to a Formula 1 team, what would you build?

Mar 2014

Measure what is measurable, and make measurable what is not so — advice that’s still true today.

The age of composites 3D printing is here — Jim Woodcock digs deeper.

MACH PREVIEW

SPACECLAIM

AMUG ONSITE What’s hot — other than the weather — at this year’s Tucson-based AMUG conference.

Dan O’Connor gets hands on with the Form 1, and talks to the founder and lead designer.

Rose Brooke enjoys a weekend in Baden Baden, with a look at Stratasys thrown in!

HSS SHEFFIELD Could High Speed Sintering pave the way for mainstream AM manufacturing?

US Bureaux — find your local (or best suited) partner.

TCT partners with the MTA to bring AM to the MACH audience for 2014.

Meshes can be tricky to work with, something that SpaceClaim is looking to address.

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Color and material combinations that make you say “Wow!”

[COLOR + RUBBER +TRANSPARENT + RIGID] Introducing the Objet500 Connex3 from Stratasys, the world’s only full-color and multi-material 3D printer. Select from incomparably brilliant and consistent colors, plus a full palette of transparent colors — the only 3D printer to offer such a wide array. And it’s the only 3D printer that prints flexible materials in a broad range of shore values. All with ultra-fine detail creating the most true-to-life modeling possible. Stratasys is the proven leader in multi-material 3D printing. For whatever your mi nd ca n i ma g i n e, vi si t st ra t a sys . co m/O bj et5 0 0 Co n n ex3 o r co n t a ct u s a t e mea @st ra t a sys . co m o r ca l l +49 722 9 777 2- 0.

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THE EDITOR A maturing industry? Welcome to the second issue of the year, taking us through to — would you believe — June. We’ve tweaked the design of the magazine this issue, with a cleaner more direct style that should help you navigate the excellent content on offer. Your comments are as ever welcome on this and any other aspect of the magazine, website or show. One of the things that sets the TCT portfolio apart from the competition is the time we spend on the road, visiting exhibitions, conferences, open days and companies headquarters. The fruits of our travels are easy to see, either directly in the form of Rose Brooke’s look inside Stratasys’ new HQ to an in-depth interview with MarkForged’s Greg Mark, whom I met at SolidWorks World in January. In the coming months TCT + Personalize will be represented at MACH (UK), Inside 3D Printing (New York), AMUG Conference (Tucson), Develop3D Live (UK), RAPID (Detroit), Additive Manufacturing and 3D Printing International Conference (UK) and more. This challenging travel schedule pays dividends in the longterm — not least because we get to meet you, gentle reader. So, should you happen to be in the vicinity of the events listed here, don’t hesitate to come and say hello. There is a sense of calm across the industry at the moment. A sense that, as a whole, we’re more comfortable with the spotlight, encouraged by the direction of the technology, and excited about the future again. There will always be upsets, and I expect a great many of them in the coming years, but the ability for the industry to re-settle after the waves is testament to the growing maturity.

focussing in on the important issues lurking around the corner. At first glance his assessment might appear to be a warning to the industry itself — but users should pay heed too. Where will your next 3D printer of AM machine come from? Which company will you be dealing with? Will they invest in R&D and make machines that really help your business, or rattle off ‘me too’ clones in search of short term profit? I’d encourage you to have your say, here in the magazine, by dropping me an email with your thoughts. Whether it’s a plea for tech improvements, concerns for the future or general musings — don’t bottle it up, share it. Finally we are once again launching the TCT Most Influential Poll, our formally sporadic and now annual survey of the perceived leaders of the industry. For full details and to vote simply visit mytct.co/most-influential and make your mark. To get in touch with TCT + Personalize, drop an email to james@rapidnews.com, visit our Facebook, LinkedIn or Google+ pages, tweet us @TheTCTMagazine or even — heaven forbid — call on 0044 1244 680222. Keep on creating,

Joris Peels lays one of the potential upsets out in this month’s column. His inimitable editorial style once again

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

www.renishaw.com Mar 2014

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LEAD NEWS

RIDING

The first metal 3D-printed bicycle frame manufactured by Renishaw for Empire Cycles is a showstopper with a fantastic story behind it - and rightly it has sped onto the front page of TCT Magazine. But now we’ve all seen the Empire Cycles bike frame, what’s next and why does it matter? Marketing Manager at Renishaw Rob Weston explains the significance of the project that has got so many people talking and the difference between evolution and revolution.

ikes are everywhere and mean different things to different people, but to engineers they are ‘projects’ we can enjoy away from the workplace. For Renishaw the Empire Cycles 3D-printed titanium mountain bike frame and seat post offers an opportunity for us to show what can be achieved when we collaborate with companies to develop their designs in order to take advantage of the engineering and performance advantages that are achievable when AM is applied well. We are doing this with a growing number of our users and potential customers on a vast range of projects.

All about the bike It’s been said in the cycling world that ‘it’s all about the bike’ and that it’s ‘not all about the bike.’ With the former I’m talking about Robert Penn’s fascinating book about his journey to build the perfect bike, where he takes a mini world tour to explore and understand the art, craft and culture of bicycles. In the process of doing so, and with the help of artisan craftsmen, he does just this. Penn builds a custom road bike starting with a frame from Stoke-on-Trent bike maker Brian Rourke, wheel hubs from precision engineers Royce, a head set from Chris King, drive-train from Campagnolo, bars from Cinelli, wheels hand-built by Gravy in California, tyres from Continental and a hand-crafted saddle from Brooks in Birmingham.

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Mar 2014

Renishaw has used the Empire Cycles MX6-R to showcase additive manufacturing as part of their ongoing support for education initiatives, including the long-running ‘3D:printing the future’ at the Science Museum, London.

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RENISHAW

HIGH

WORDS | Robin Weston, Renishaw Additive Manufacturing Products Division Running parallel to Penn’s adventure is a virtual journey through the history of the bicycle, from initial invention, its role in women’s emancipation, transport for the masses and its slow transition and renaissance as a leisure activity. So what’s next for our bike and why does this matter? You only have to read a few of the comments on the Empire Cycles 3D-printed bike frame on a handful of cycling forums to realise that widespread understanding of AM and 3D printing is still a long way off. As industry professionals we are increasingly challenged to satisfactorily answer the many questions thrown up by the use and applications of AM, and it’s not all plain sailing – or riding! However, we are confident that — for metals at least — it is less of a ‘third industrial revolution’ and more like an exciting evolution.

i| www.renishaw.com

Winners and losers People ask who will be the winners and losers from 3D printing and AM? The losers will be those who fail to at least explore the possibilities of the technology. The winners will be those who most successfully integrate AM with current and conventional processes by choosing the right components and applying thorough engineering principles in partnership with their chosen supplier. The huge response to our small contribution to the history of cycling has come as something of a surprise to us - but in retrospect, maybe it shouldn’t have been such a surprise given the evolutionary leap? We still have some work to do on the 3D-printed bike frame in partnership with Empire Cycles and the great thing is that thanks to the openness of the project much of this work will be published over the coming months providing an insight into the challenges that AM must overcome and the evolutionary process.

Mar 2014

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BRIGHTWAKE

Stratasys 3D printed Saline Probe, produced from ABS Plus material, used to pierce a saline bottle and prime the HemoSep bag prior to use.

3D printing in medicine —

K-based Brightwake designs, develops and manufactures Class, I, II and III medical devices for sale all over the world. One of the company’s recent introductions used 3D printing extensively in the development phase, but the applications for 3D printing in the medical sphere go much further. “The HemoSep system was developed at the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Strathclyde,” explained Cotton. “In very basic terms the system concentrates the blood recovered from a patient during major surgery. Whole blood is taken from the body during an operation and the packed cell volume (PCV) is increased. This means taking the plasma out, concentrating the platelets, red- and white-blood cells and giving them back to patient as concentrated blood.” This process would normally be achieved centrifugation, spinning out the blood until the cells and plasma have separated. However this leads high mechanical stresses in the cells and increases the risk of damage — it also removes the platelets too. The HemoSep system was developed to be much ‘kinder’ to the blood, helping to ensure cells remain intact and that all cell species are retained, not just the red and white cells. “The device has a footprint equivalent to the size of A4 paper,” said Cotton. “The outer made of PVC with a membrane inside. On the other side of membrane is a super absorbent sponge that pulls the plasma trough the membrane, similar to the way a disposable nappy wicks water away. Because of the sizes of the holes in the membrane it leaves the cells on the other side without exposing them to high stresses. “The bag of cells is then agitated to create a vortex that flushes and washes the membrane;

Stratasys Dimension 1200es

this is just the beginning… Brightwake is a creative development, engineering, production and research company based in Nottingham in the United Kingdom. The company is deploying 3D printing in the development of novel medical applications. Jim Woodcock spoke to Stephen Cotton, the firms Development Director.

Cotton. “Once we have the trialing right we commissioned the tooling for the injection moulding.”

Final Hemosep Shaker because of their shape platelets tend to get stuck in the membrane and need physically removing. It is in this agitator that we used 3D printing most extensively for development.” The company currently has a Stratasys system that Cotton admits is running all day everyday. “We used to send prototyping work out of the company to be completed. It could sometimes take as long as 2–3 weeks for the models to be back in the hands of the designers, which is much quicker than pre-3D printing, but not quick enough in a competitive marketplace. “By bringing the printer in house we can draw up a design in the morning, print overnight, hold the part the next morning and then iterate again and again until it’s properly sorted.” For the time being then, Brightwake used their in-house 3D printer to prototype every plastic component of the machine, making 12 functional prototypes to take into theatre to trial. “ We usually use the 3D printing before moving into injection moulding,” explained Mar 2014

I asked Stephen if he saw opportunity for 3D printing to leap from the prototyping stage to real production: “Yes, we are working on developing ways to use 3D printed parts in the final product. For example, we’re trialing components that can only be made by 3D printing because of their complex geometries. Stratasys already have a line of biocompatible polymers for printing will allow us to make 3D printed parts out of materials with the same properties and certifications that we can currently mould in. At the moment it seems that every six months there is a revolutionary advance like biocompatible polymers that is making us reconsider the way we approach 3D printing in the future.” Beyond the world of polymers, metal 3D printed components — that would otherwise be made by expensive and time-consuming lost-wax process — start to become viable. Another future opportunity is for 3D printing with living cells, and ‘infusing’ them with DNA so that they can be implanted into humans as donor organs. “The technology is nearly there but the ethics and acceptance will take some time to come around to the ideas,” said Cotton. These ideas aren’t fiction anymore; certainly within the next 10 years we could see printing organs as a real, viable solution. i| www.brightwake.co.uk i| www.stratasys.com

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FEB/MARCH NEWS ROUNDUP: Medical Focus

NEWS

Looking back on some of the biggest stories in the 3D printing industry of the last few weeks, it seems astounding how many medical advancements are being made using additive manufacturing. From facial reconstruction following an horrific bike accident, to giving a tiny animal the chance to walk, 3D printing is showing the world that it can achieve what might have been impossible before. All stories are available in full at tctmagazine.com or via prsnlz.me. 3D PRINTING HELPS REBUILD BIKER’S FACE Stephen Power’s face was disfigured following a motorcycle crash in 2012, but surgeons in Swansea have succeeded in restoring the 29year-old’s facial symmetry using 3D printing technology, printing titanium plates and cutting guides to rebuild his skull. The procedure was set in motion by the Centre for Applied Reconstructive Technologies in Surgery, which is a partnership between Swansea’s Morriston Hospital’s Maxillofacial Unit and the National Centre for Product Design and Development Research at Cardiff Metropolitan University, and following his eight-hour operation, Power has described the results as “life changing”.

TCT SHOW + PERSONALIZE 2014 PROUDLY PRESENTS ‘BROOKLYN RISING - THE STORY, PHILOSOPHY & FUTURE OF MAKERBOT’

HOW 3D PRINTING HELPED A PARALYSED WOMAN WALK AGAIN After being paralysed following a serious downhill skiing accident in 1992, Bridging Bionics’ Amanda Boxtel can now walk tall in a 3D-printed exoskeleton created especially for her body. 3D Systems’ 3D printing and 3D scanning technologies were used to create the Ekso-Suit. 3DS digitised the contours of Boxtel’s legs and spine and complex mechanical actuators and controls manufactured by Ekso Bionics were later integrated to make the first suit of its kind.

BUTTERCUP’S NOW GOT A FULLY 3D PRINTED FOOT Happy news, as 3D printing technology has given a duck a new foot. Resident of the Feathered Angels Waterfowl Sanctuary, Buttercup needed to have one of his webbed extremities amputated when he was a duckling. His carers’ fundraising campaign to purchase a 3D printer came to fruition and several iterations of Buttercup’s new foot were made before the final appendage was printed. Now Buttercup can enjoy a normal life in the pond thanks to 3D printing and a little help from the public. |

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Complicated heat surgery on a toddler is risky, even in the most experienced doctors’ hands, but 3D printing technology helped to take some of the guesswork out of 18-month-old Roland Lian Ciung Bawi’s operation. Surgeon Erie Austin of the Kosair Children’s Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky, used a MakerBot 3D printer to create an enlarged model of Roland’s heart allowing surgeons to see the problems they would be dealing with during the operation, enabling them to prepare and to use the time Roland was under as wisely as possible.

3D PRINTING INNOVATOR CHUCK HULL INDUCTED INTO INVENTORS’ HALL OF FAME Three decades after inventing stereolithography, Chuck Hull is being honoured by being inducted into the National Inventors’ Hall of Fame in Alexandria, near Washington, VA. The 3D Systems Founder will be joining the likes of Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison and says he is “deeply honoured” to be joining the ranks of such “high-calibre innovators”. Chuck Hull’s invention spawned an entire industry, including seven different 3D printing technologies, more than 100 materials and 1,700 patents.

TCT Show + Personalize is proud to present ‘Brooklyn Rising’ - the MakerBot story - at this year’s 3D printing event. CEO and founder Bre Pettis, together with President Jenny Lawton will take to the stage in this unusual keynote presentation format to discuss the history of the world-famous desktop 3D printing brand and how the start-up mentality still applies to this multi-million dollar company. Pettis and Lawton will take over the auditorium on the second day of TCT Show (October 1st) for this neverbefore-seen session.

3D PRINTING TECHNOLOGY AIDS CHILD’S SUCCESSFUL HEART OPERATION

Mar 2014

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TODD GRIMM

MAKING SENSE OUT OF CHAOS:

A Good Problem to Have WORDS | Todd Grimm @ T.A. Grimm Associates

dditive manufacturing has an advantage that no other technology can claim: immense diversity. It is unrivaled and unmatched in the range of applications, disciplines and industries served by an equally broad offering of technologies and materials. That diversity is the fuel for grand visions of unlimited possibilities, which in turn has fueled the interest of many. Prompted by an overarching theme that additive manufacturing can do anything for anyone, corporate executives are mandating additive manufacturing initiatives and individuals are coveting the technology. This bodes well for innovation and growth in the years to come. But at the moment, the diversity advantage has a downside: chaos. The world of additive manufacturing has become confusing and overwhelming. This “good problem to have” is exacerbated by omission of limitations, considerations and challenges. Overwhelmed and over-promised, many will simply take no action, and those that do are subject to dissatisfaction. It’s good to paint a picture of the future, but companies need to know what is realistic today and which tools are best at making that happen. So it is time to start getting on point —to be clear about what is really possible and at what cost. It is also time to be clear about a technology’s capabilities. Overwhelming complexity I was motivated to write about this observation after spending three days immersed in the aerospace and defense industries. I spent hours conversing with design, engineering and manufacturing professionals about additive manufacturing. The interest and motivation where there, but they were counterbalanced by uncertainty and confusion. From all but a few of the conversations, I was left with the realisation that additive manufacturing has become a bit overwhelming, over simplified and nebulous. Those charged with making additive manufacturing a reality were trying to make sense of it all to arrive at practical, yet innovative, solutions. It may come as a surprise, but these discussions took place amongst industries that are the epitome of additive manufacturing prowess, especially when it comes to production work. Maybe more surprising, the questions and concerns sometimes came from within the very companies lauded for their successes.

Implied and sometimes explicitly stated, the outcome of so many options and so many possibilities is often less than positive. Some questioned where they would find the time to dive in and do the research. Others seemed to be taking a ‘wait and see’ approach to avoid the confusion. Those charged by management to make it happen often had a try-my-best to deliver attitude, hoping for success. Others rejected the technology outright when they were shocked by the price tag of the machine they would need; a machine that may not deliver the output qualities of the technologies they have used for years.

Additive manufacturing is unique, having little in common with these traditional processes. Its strengths and limitations are polar opposites of established technologies. Traditional strengths, new weaknesses? I certainly have empathy for them. My day job is to stay on top of all additive manufacturing developments. Yet, I get overwhelmed. I struggle to determine the real differences between systems and to uncover the real capabilities of each. I see the challenges of delivering to the promises made as I envision the short- and longterm futures. And I struggle with the disconnect between what moulding, matching and casting deliver when compared to additive manufacturing. Additive manufacturing is unique, having little in common with these traditional processes. Its strengths and limitations are polar opposites of established technologies. It is challenging to make sense of it when coming from a baseline of established best practices, procedures and approaches. The chaos makes it worse. The outcomes throttle industry growth: paralysis from having too many options and too few details; rejection when discovering the reality of cost and performance; and backlash when performance falls short of expectations.

Mar 2014

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TODD GRIMM

We’ve painted a picture of the boundless opportunities and vast array of solutions. Now it is time to get specific and realistic. It is time to take a realistic approach that helps individuals understand when, why and how to use the technology. It is time to be clear about which technologies address which applications best. The needs of the few In Crossing the Chasm and Inside the Tornado, Geoffrey A. Moore states that the path to success is to have laser-like focus on a market niche and conquer. After conquering, pick another niche and repeat. At the root of his premise is devising product offerings that satisfy one group rather than the whole population. This is certainly not the model for additive manufacturing. In this age of “me too” and general-purpose propositions, a focused product and message would be welcomed by all of those that are overwhelmed and possibly confused. Let’s help candidates quickly access their options instead of delivering messages that claim (or imply) that a technology can do it all.

Additive manufacturing is an amazing technology with unrivaled capabilities. There is no need to provide anything less than the unvarnished truth.

Couple that message with openness about costs, capabilities and qualities. Give candidates information that helps them decipher the chaos with realistic expectations about purchase price, operating expenses and labour demands. Instead of disappointing someone who has assumed or been lead to believe that solutions exist for less than $50k (£30k, €36k) when the real price is $500k (£300k, €360k) let’s be upfront. And rather than implying that challenges and limitations are negligible, set the record straight from the get-go.

Don’t believe the hype? Additive manufacturing is an amazing technology with unrivaled capabilities. There is no need to provide anything less than the unvarnished truth. When additive manufacturing’s advantages are wanted and needed, the facts will not dissuade potential users. Yes, it may lead to specific technologies being eliminated from consideration, but that is for the best for everyone involved. Clarity expedites selection and sets reasonable expectations, which will help the industry to grow. Obviously, this is a call to action for equipment and materials manufacturers. But they are not the only contributors to the confusion and chaos. Everyone that participates in the additive manufacturing conversation has influence on how overwhelming and paralyzing the topic appears. Diversity is wonderful when one can make sense of it all.

About the Author Todd Grimm is a stalwart of the additive manufacturing industry, having held positions across sales and marketing in some of the industry’s biggest names. Todd is currently the AM Industry Advisor with the AMUG. You can contact him on tgrimm@tagrimm.com

Mar 2014

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JORIS PEELS

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” - Leonardo da Vinci.

Renaissance Nightmares E

verything was going so swell. A clubby group of frenemies merrily ruled the roost. Stock prices soared like Predator drones. The Israelis and Minnesotans had kissed and made up, adopting a wayward young upstart in the process. The Peace of Krailling brought a much needed respite to patent attorneys on both sides of the Atlantic. DMLS & SLM word games had ceased. A rapid stream of TV camera crews gawked and marveled at our amazing new technology. A Greek chorus singing a happy song for a change. Materials, processes and technologies almost all neatly locked away behind patents. Crack cocaine margins on materials. Gobble, gobble, gobble, went the insatiable mouth of the Rock Hill Python. The industry a goat, being swallowed whole. The band played on and all was well with the world.

WORDS | Joris Peels @ Voxelfab So the da Vinci 2.0 made by XZY printing is an interesting machine. If it is reliable it could really put a lot of printers on a lot of desktops. The most interesting thing about it, however, is that it is not made by a couple of guys in a garage. Actually, I’m not even sure if there are garages big enough to hold all of them. It is made by New Kinpo Group, a Taiwanese electronics manufacturing service (EMS) firm doing contract manufacturing for Samsung, HP and others. They make inkjet printers, laser printers, LED panels, eBooks, set top boxes, HVAC boards, LED lights, power supplies, SAN and NAS storage, hard drives... the list goes on.

Then, along came da Vinci. Specifically XYZ Printing’s da Vinci 2.0 EMS companies are in an extremely competitive business with 3D printer. Sounds like a few guys in a garage with dollar signs operating margins hovering from around 0.5 to 3 percent and fluttering before their eyes as their hands fumblingly assemble yet gross margins around 5–15 per cent. Scale, innovation, efficiency, another RepRap with a new name. The Desktop 3D printing low costs and operational excellence are required to survive. industry, a Witness Protection Program for RepRaps. Now, the ‘2.0’, Mastery of these is need to let precious few thrive. does this imply that this is an iteration improving upon the 3DS and Stratasys have had operating margins around renaissance man himself? Can you just call 15 per cent and gross profit margins between 50 per something a da Vinci? Is it allowed? Can you Scale, innovation, cent and 60 per cent. Both have shown strong revenue just do this and not one Italian will complain? OK, good to know. Note to self: write business efficiency, low costs growth over the past years and Stratasys now has a market cap of $5 billion on revenues of $484 million plan for Botticelli washing up liquid. “Give and operational while 3D Systems is at $6.95 billion on $513 million. your dishes the Birth of Venus treatment...” excellence are The guys at New Kinpo must be gleefully anticipating Back to the printer. A 20 cm x 20 cm x required to survive. entering a market with gross margins of 50 per cent, 20 cm build volume. 0.1 mm layer thickness. Mastery of these is all 25,000 of them. New Kinpo has 1400 R&D staff Both par for the course nowadays. ABS and revenues of over $10 billion. It has 18 factories cartridges for printing, that’s a bit square. needed to let a worldwide and eight R&D centres. 12 colours of filament. $25 (£15, €18) for precious few thrive. Why the name New Kinpo Group? either 300 g or 600 g of material. (I have Well it is a subsidiary of Kinpo Group and new. The contradictory accounts of how much material parent company makes computers, calculators and does lots of stuff is in the cartridge). Steep price. I think it will be appropriate here to with its 80,000 employees. This is a big company, the biggest quote King C. Gillette, the inventor of the safety razor and the razor company you’ve never heard of. No English Wikipedia article on and blades business model: “The greatest feature of the business is them but they do have over $40 billion in annual revenue. $40 the almost endless chain of blade consumption, each razor paying billion is a lot. Kinpo has higher revenue than DuPont, Sainburys tribute to the company as long as the user lives.” A nice thought to or Lufthansa. Its more than Facebook, eBay and Yahoo rake in, accompany you during your next shave or the next time you lug combined. If McDonalds and Starbucks merged they would have around some of the world’s most expensive plastic to fill your around the same revenue as Kinpo. printer. Print results look nice, the system seems accurate. So far so good. But, a $499 (£300, €360) price tag for the da Vinci 1.0 and $649 (£390, €460) for the 2.0, now that’s interesting. Six da Vincis or one Replicator? Hmmmm.

It could be that its entry into the 3D printing market is for show. A fun thing for the marketing folks. But, I don’t think so, I think these guys are serious about this market being their future. Kinpo makes

Mar 2014

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EOS e-Manufacturing Solutions

Optimized automotive tool insert for injection molding. Source: Innomia/EOS

EOS Additive Manufacturing: Productive and Flexible Tooling Solutions EOS Additive Manufacturing enables highly productive, flexible, individualized tooling solutions. It allows complex forms and functional integration: conformal cooling channels result in reduced cycle time, lower scrap rates and attractive costs per part.

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Mar 2014

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JORIS PEELS

It could be that its entry into the 3D printing market is for show. A fun thing for the marketing folks. But, I don’t think so, I think these guys are serious about this market being their future.

over 10 million mobile phones and printers as well as 48 million laptops and hard drives per year. But, it has to be a worried company. Hard drives are under threat from the cloud. Laptops are under threat from tablets. Tablets and phones may also actually usher in the paperless office or at least an office with less paper in it. Margins and volumes in the EMS industry have both seen better times. Kinpo’s expansion into the telecoms market was not a success and it will soon complete the sale of its Vibo unit, booking a loss of $162 million. It makes great economic sense for Kinpo to find a new product niche where it can leverage its manufacturing expertise to similar devices. It also makes sense to rather than contract manufacture, own the customer and build a brand. It risks losing customers if it does this with one of its existing products. But, since none of them currently make 3D printers, 3D printers are one of few options it has to do this in. If this device category also comes with 50 per cent gross margins and seems very high growth it would be a logical avenue to pursue. If you then have a lean organisation used to low margins, deep experience in manufacturing and have more R&D guys than the competition has employees, chances are you may actually be successful. A major proof point for me is that the CEO of New Kinpo Simon Shen, is also the Chairman of XYZ Printing. This is no mere marketing exercise in my mind, no these guys are coming. Eventually they will make a capable credible reliable cheap 3D printer and it will be sold at WalMart. You are a fat happy salmon swishing around pleasantly in a barrel while thousands of miles away a few hundred Taiwanese engineers are loading shells into shotguns. Whereas Kinpo is large there are two other EMS companies larger than it, Quanta and Foxconn, both also Taiwanese. Quanta was founded by an ex Kinpo co-founder, Barry Lam. It grew quickly by adding more engineering services to its product offering and because Lam’s key insight was that laptops would become a significant product. Meanwhile Kinpo continued making calculators. Foxconn experienced a lot of growth by basically

making everything Apple sells — contracts that Kinpo must have been asked to bid on. Foxconn President Terry Gou has said, “3D printing is a gimmick. If it really is that good, then I’ll write my surname ‘Gou’ backwards.” I don’t know Kinpo founder Rock Hsu. I’ve never met him. But, I’ve got to assume that someone who founds a $40 billion revenue company with over 80,000 people working for it has got to be ambitious and determined. I’ve also got to assume that building something this huge has to be gratifying but watching others, one an ex colleague, build bigger companies in the same business has got to make one hunger for more. What if this time it is Rock who spots the next big thing? What if this time, Barry and Terry get it wrong? What if, Terry ‘Uog’? Rock Hsu has said of 3D printing, “This is an another form of dream factory.” For manufacturers in our industry his dream may become their nightmare.

About the Author Joris Peels is a business development, strategy, product development and marketing consultant to the 3D printing industry you can read his blog at http://voxelfab.com/blog/, follow him on Twitter @voxelfab or email him joris@voxelfab.com

Mar 2014

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CASE STUDY

When it comes to the world of motor sport, few mainstream carmakers have the breadth and depth of success that Japanese car giant Toyota has managed in the last four decades. Getting hold of this competitive edge â&#x20AC;&#x201D; whatever you are making â&#x20AC;&#x201D; is now a reality.

Competitive advantage for all

WORDS | Jim Woodcock

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TOYOTA MOTORSPORT GmbH

The entrance to TMG’s impressive facility.

etting to Cologne from the North West of England is not as easy as it once was. In the early 2000s one could fly directly from Manchester on a half-cargo, half-passenger service operated by Hapag-Lloyd. Nowadays it’s a flight into Düsseldorf before the 40-minute drive south. Perhaps it’s because there are fewer Brits heading to Cologne these days — certainly one of the draws has disappeared: the Toyota Formula 1 team. Toyota F1 was based in a cavernous 30,000 sq. m series of buildings situated on one side of ‘Toyota Allee’, now the home to the company’s FIA World Endurance Championship team. The site has been home to Toyota’s motor sport, tuning and accessories divisions since 1979, growing to incorporate new race series’ along the way. The site previously housed the wildly successful World Rally Championship (WRC) team — makers of some of the most posterfriendly rally cars of the last 20 years.

But, thanks to a partnership with UK-based 3D-Parts Ltd, if you’re willing to refrain from taking photos everything that lies inside is open to you, regardless of what you are looking to get made. Behind the darkened windows… So what exactly is on offer at TMG? In effect, everything you need to make a rally car, and endurance racer or a F1 car, all under one roof. The complexity of modern race cars necessitates a lot of processes, materials and experienced engineers to come together in harmony, and those resources – forged in the white heat of racing – can be applied to just about any prototype or final product you can imagine.

The group added to the WRC team with the endurance racers in 1998 when the GT-One entered the Le Mans 24 Hours. The GTWorking in tandem with 3D Parts Ltd, TMG are opening up this One was an instant success, recording both the fastest lap and the cornucopia of manufacturing excellence to the wider world. 3D highest top speed of any car at the event. The same was true in the Parts’ Andy Allshorn explained how the project came together: 1999 outing. That year also saw the demise of the WRC team, finishing on a high note with a manufacturers championship title, and the announcement that “I have had the pleasure of working with TMG for Toyota would join the ranks of motorsport’s elite in the Formula 1 series. more than 10 years, since being involved in the Root and branch After two years of development, the company entered F1 in 2002 and were one of only two teams to build the entire car – including the engine – under one roof. The team’s first drive in anger was at the 2002 Australian Grand Prix; it was an auspicious start, with Mika Salo scoring a point in the very first race. All the while, the company’s TTE tuning division (named after Toyota Team Europe, the initial name for the TMG group) was serving up hot versions of Toyota’s road going line up.

original setup of the SLA room and training Toyota F1’s internal staff. They soon excelled with this technology and implemented their own lean production processes, which made the facility even more efficient. Last year I was approached by TMG and asked how we could work together to offer these facilities to UK companies! The resulting outcome is an even stronger business relationship and the formation of 3D-Parts Ltd”

As you may expect, the company has accrued a wealth of experience in the art and science of quickly making things that go fast — and when thousandths of a second separate glory from failure, bringing that experience to bear day after day is imperative. Alongside experience sits the 30,000 sq. m of kit – and now it’s all up for grabs as the doors to the Cologne facility are thrown open.

OK, ‘thrown open’ might be a bit of an exaggeration. When I arrived at the hut guarding the entrance all cameras (including iPhone, iPad and MacBook) were diligently stickered over by the security guards before I has crossed the expanse of tarmac to the entrance proper.

For a start, the SLA room houses 10 customised, upgraded sterolithography machines. That’s impressive in itself, but what is even more striking are the peripherals and workflows developed to cater for the demanding internal clients. While the F1 team was active, all 10 SLA machines were operating 24/7 producing thousands of parts a week. The turnaround times were often exceptionally short, and quality requirements extremely high.

Mar 2014

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TOYOTA MOTORSPORT GmbH Gerard Winstanley, TMG’s Manager Composite, Fabrication and Rapid Manufacturing, added:

“Motorsport is a very demanding discipline in terms of lead times, quality, reliability and efficiency so our production processes are being constantly refined to meet the needs of our customers, whether internal or external. We never stand still and always seek improvement. This is one of the strongest points for TMG when dealing with external clients and it is helping to establish us as a go-to partner for ultra-fast service and high quality parts.” To keep up with the demand TMG instituted a regular maintenance plan for their AM equipment, executed by AT 3D-SQUARED, that helped ensure that race-losing downtime was never an issue. One of the current 10 machines is serviced each week on a rolling cycle, meaning that any given system is only ever 10 weeks away from its next service. This is above and beyond the original manufacturers requirements and is indicative of how the manufacturing arm of TMG approaches its work. The maintenance schedule remains unchanged now, meaning that the capacity TMG has is always available for internal and external clients. There are plenty of other intelligent tweaks to the processes and workflows that maximise productivity, as Allshorn explained: “Swapping between resins on an SLA machine can be a slow process as the new vat of resin must get up to operating temperature before the build can begin. Usually this heating takes place in the machine, meaning that while the resin comes up to temperature the system is standing effectively idle. At TMG we installed a system that allows the resin vats to be heated independently before being installed in the machine. This speeds up the swap over of resins by hours, and ensures that the machines can be building for a higher percentage of the time.”

TMG’s SLA room houses 10 modified machines.

An SLA part made in DSM’s NanoTool

The SLA machines are set up to run resins from DSM Somos, including NanoTool, NeXt and WaterShed. Perhaps uniquely however, the team are not wed to their materials, as Winstanley explained: “If someone comes to us with a need to run another material, we would happily set that up for them if they have a good business model. We are happy to entertain any request if the need is there.” Once the resin vats are installed, the relentless quest for speed continues with a laser upgrade to a more powerful laser system, allowing a shorter dwell time and subsequently quicker builds. All SLA systems are also equipped with an internal camera to monitor the build process. Should something go wrong with a build, the relevant engineer will be alerted and can see the system live from a remote location. Said engineer can then decide whether to get out of bed at 3am, or not. In the next room two EOS selective laser sintering (SLS) machines are available, running Alumide, CarbonMide, and PA 3200 at 0.15 mm layer thicknesses. The maximum build size available is 700 × 380 × 580 mm in alumide only, or 340 × 340 × 620 mm in any of the materials. Again, the years of experience as a supplier to some of the most demanding internal clients has left TMG with lean, optimised processes that would be hard to replicate elsewhere as an in-house service, but is unsurpassed as an open service. Continued on page 27

Mar 2014

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Professional Desktop Sintering….

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Mar 2014

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TOYOTA MOTORSPORT GmbH

Subtractive skills Away from the additive machines, TMG has continued to invest in high-quality manufacturing solutions that are as applicable to medical, aerospace, automotive, consumer / industrial products and architecture as they are to motor sport. The CNC and Fabrication departments boast 15 five-axis CNC machines in a vast array of sizes from 1 sq. m work areas with an accuracy of 4 µm, to 10 sq. m+ machines with an accuracy throughout the volume of 20 µm and a repeatability of 10 µm.

SLS Alumide Le Mans Racer model

Quality the top of the priorities list for the department, a second nature reaction to years of unrelenting perfectionist clients. Inhouse CMM machines measure machined parts down to 1 µm accuracy to compare to the original data. At the time of TCT’s visit a behemoth water-jet cutter was being installed, capable of cutting through 150 mm of aluminium billet without the production of heat-affected zone associated with laser cutters. TMG is proud to offer a system of this specification as a service. Winstanley explained: “When our old laser cutting system was coming to the end of its life, we started to explore possible systems to replace it. The water jet cutting system was not the cheapest solution but has significant benefits over a laser system that allows us to provide a better service. In that regard the decision was simple.” The Sixth Element Carbon is synonymous with racing, in its polymer composite form better known as carbon fibre (CF). It is no surprise then that composites are one of the core competencies for TMG with the ability to produce small parts right up to, predictably, car-sized parts. CF, glass fibre, hybrid fibres and Kevlar are all available, with a selection of processing options ranging from wet carbon fibre lay up (where the resin is manually applied to the CF and often cured at room temperature) through to advanced pre-preg techniques for ultimate strength-to-weight ratios. Experience creating safety critical composite parts as well as complex prototype and production geometries allows TMG to offer composites services to any sector with complete confidence. The icing on the cake is the finishing options available, including pattern, tooling and machining for final parts.

Large vacuum cast part

Safe Hands As any top-flight manufacturer will tell you, the protection of intellectual property surrounding parts is on par with the need for unparalleled quality in the real world. TMG is uniquely positioned as an independent supplier to multiple hyper-competitive Formula 1 teams, often simultaneously. The fact that these fierce rivals are comfortable trusting a former rival with sensitive information, the sort of information that could be the difference between a winning season and languishing in the middle of the pack, is testament to the seriousness with the entire company takes confidentiality — I refer you back to my experiences at the security hut! i| www.toyota-motorsport.com info@3dpartsltd.co.uk

Mar 2014

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Mar 2014

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HSS SHEFFIELD

A selection of functional parts manufactured using the HSS

FACTUM:

A “profound first” for additive manufacturing WORDS | Rose Brooke

A technology strategy board funded project investigating high-speed polymer sintering could launch additive manufacturing into the arena of high-volume, fast-moving consumer products.

magine picking up your groceries in the supermarket and loading your car with packaging that was once injection-moulded and is now additive-manufactured. Imperceptible as this may be for the average consumer, for additive manufacturing it would signal the maturing of a technology that was once the reserve of prototyping. Additive manufacturing through advanced polymer sintering at high speeds is being explored by University of Sheffield spin-out FaraPack Polymers, as it investigates laser sintering for low-volume applications and high-speed sintering (HSS) for low and high volumes. The team is working alongside industry partners and with Loughborough University - which owns the patents for HSS - to exploit this manufacturing process with the aim to deliver a validated supply chain and a range of example products that show the time-saving, part properties and cost benefits of choosing this technique for high-volume orders. Christened FACTUM, the project has been awarded £1.5 million in funding from the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) and industry partners. Leading the research is The University of Sheffield’s Professor Neil Hopkinson, of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, who was on the team that Christened FACTUM, the invented HSS at project has been awarded Loughborough University, where the £1.5 million in funding from intellectual property the Technology Strategy stayed when Hopkinson moved to Sheffield Board (TSB) and industry University. partners. “The HSS machine we’ve been using in this project to make parts is owned by Loughborough and loaned to Sheffield, as the research helps Loughborough to licence the technology, while Sheffield secures funds to develop new technology,” he explained.

Mar 2014

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Mar 2014

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HSS SHEFFIELD

“Strong partners” “We have a really strong partner in the fast-moving consumer goods field with Unilever,” Hopkinson stated. “We believe this is the first time such a company has engaged in a publically-funded project in which they have invested substantial resources of their own, with a target of using additive manufacturing for end-use products. Fast-moving consumer goods are produced in high volume and thus far that’s not worked with additive manufacturing economically. The viability of additive manufacturing at high volume is one of the key unique features for this project. “That’s one end of the production spectrum. BAE Systems and Cobham Antenna Systems represent the other side, with lowvolume, high-added-value products more usually associated with Uses for the HSS technology range from industrial additive manufacturing. BAE is an aerospace giant, while Cobham products to the FMCG market. Antenna Systems works in the field of space telecommunications equipment. We are looking at working with them and exploring the design freedoms and material possibilities and working with the moulding and CNC machining but to achieve this, HSS must have technology in terms of improved product performance.” a similarly open supply chain. FACTUM has also signed up Sebastian Conran Associates to master “So the supply of materials, the powders and the inks we use - even the design opportunities afforded by the technology. His team suppliers of machines themselves decided upon the name of the project, we’ve intentionally kept them as nonchoosing the Latin for ‘to make’ to Fast-moving consumer goods core partners. We’ve developed a allow the significance the technology will have on manufacturing to speak are produced in high volume and hinterland of supporting companies who are feeding into FACTUM. In this for itself. thus far that’s not worked with respect, it’s very helpful to have Xaar “It’s a bit of a coup for us,” Hopkinson on board to help us find suppliers and additive manufacturing admitted. “We think Sebastian very helpful to have Unilever and BAE economically. The viability of Conran Associates is the first example because they are so influential when it of a long-established design brand additive manufacturing at high comes to getting material suppliers to that’s really embracing additive volume is one of the key unique commit their resources. manufacturing technology.” “A very profound first” features for this project. “Maximum freedom of In order to compete with a technology choice” as ubiquitous as injection moulding FACTUM’s other industrial partner is the FACTUM team has been looking into using HSS for a wide inkjet technology leader Xaar, which is responsible for producing range of products with diverse geometries, establishing how much the inkjet heads that are “right at the core” of the HSS process. it will cost to make each unit. David Chapman, who is responsible for developing Xaar’s inkjet “Something interesting we found,” Hopkinson said, “we’re beginning technology as an advanced manufacturing process, said FACTUM to find some geometries where we expect it to be cheaper to use HSS has the potential to “radically change the way we think about than to injection mould for any production volume. To date, it’s manufacturing, introducing new designs and business models that been the case that it’s only cheaper to additive manufacture a we cannot even imagine today”. product up to a certain production volume, thereafter it’s cheaper to injection mould. But we’ve found for some geometries this is no “The fact that it has attracted the interest of the likes of Unilever longer the case. With HSS, we predict for a substantial range of and BAE Systems underscores this potential,” said Chapman. “Inkjet products it will always be cheaper than injection moulding, which is at the heart of this technology and by working with our supply won’t be able to compete on cost in these cases. We think this is a chain partners, Xaar is committed to bring this technology to very profound first for additive manufacturing.” market. The great thing is that it’s British technology and British manufacturing that is leading the way on this.” The team is also investigating materials. The envelope of materials for HSS appears to be greater than for laser sintering, but not as Hopkinson added: “Xaar is really important because they are both wide yet as injection moulding. FACTUM has discovered integrating their systems into our machines and helping us with the materials that are difficult or impossible to laser sinter, but can supply chains for inks. We are trying to make the project more endreliably high-speed sintered. user focused, keeping supply chain companies outside of the core membership. This way we can create example products in these “Even though the process is capable of making finger-sized parts at different sectors with maximum freedom of choice for materials. less than one second per part,” Hopkinson said, “there’s the paradox that the time the heat is applied to melt the powder is longer than “We have no material suppliers as core partners to this project, so when employing lasers. The sweeping lamp employed in HSS there’s no opportunity for monopoly or control over the supply chain by any particular company.” Continued on page 33

The long-term vision for HSS is for it to compete with injection Mar 2014

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HSS SHEFFIELD

typically applies heat to adjacent particles for a period 10,000 times longer than a laser, so HSS gently heats materials that can minimise damage and improve sintering quality. “We believe this elongated heating period is the reason why we get double the properties than laser sintering for some materials.”

The internals of the HSS system

“The part doesn’t have to be metal” Hopkinson noted the system will open up more polymers to clients who perhaps overlooked plastics in favour of other materials such as aluminium, because they had to be manufactured using CNC machining.

“Hats off to the Technology Strategy Board” Hopkinson claimed FACTUM is unusual for a TSB-funded project. “We can imagine lots of applications where products are currently Due to restrictions surrounding funding allocation, FaraPack made in CNC machining out of aluminium because the part is made Polymers is leading the venture, but this means industrial partners in small quantities and moulding it is cost prohibitive, so the choice have to invest more than they would usually be expected to in is to machine it and this dictates that the material should be metal. normal TSB-funded projects to cover the full cost. If you are going to use HSS and you don’t have to consider the cost of tooling, you “The input from industry partners is greater than you don’t have to consider machining - “These challenges we would normally see in a TSB project. This is relevant therefore the part doesn’t have to be are being set are very it conveys how seriously these companies are taking this metal. So we see a lot of opportunities technology,” he remarked. real and there’s such particularly in low production up to a few thousand where we think these a buzz in our lab now “Overall, it’s fair to say the TSB funding has been an technologies will displace the CNC enabler to help us pull together this really impressive because the team machining market.” consortium that has global appeal. I think it is going to working on this can be a critical factor in Loughborough University being HSS can also open up functionality open to licencing the technology. We can already speak horizons for parts, Hopkinson explained: really see the fruits of to licensees and make parts and that’s all well and good, “When we’re working with fast-moving their labour thanks to but now we have committed partners who are putting consumer goods, appearance and tactile in more financial commitment than would usually be this end-user drive.” qualities are important. We’re working on needed and this really increases the level of interest.” ways of using the process to intrinsically improve the visual and the tactile aesthetic parts and the possibility Hopkinson had nothing but praise for the support of the TSB, of adding extra functionality into parts. without which, he does not believe FACTUM could have achieved so much. “We are working with our end-user project partners who send us geometries to make. We find this quite inspiring because they have “I think we’ll look back in two or three years’ time and take our hats really heavy demands. The demands for aerospace are obvious and off to the TSB on this one,” he acknowledged. “We will recognise challenging, but we find the challenges for products to be of a high that TSB funding was critical in bringing HSS technology to the enough quality to go on a supermarket shelf is equally demanding. market. That’s what it’s there to do and I’m certain in this case it’s These challenges we are being set are very real and there’s such a going to deliver industry-changing results.” buzz in our lab now because the team working on this can really see the fruits of their labour thanks to this end-user drive.”

Mar 2014

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.automotive

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Mar 2014

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AMUG 2014

SPONSORED BY

Tucson, Arizona,USA April 6–10

The 2014 AMUG Conference will be perhaps the most intensive five days of AM & 3D Printing information available this year — information will come from the stage, from the expo and from user-to-user interaction.

AMUG

Additive Manufacturing Users Group 2014 T

his years’ event sees some 113 presentations across four days (the opening Sunday is reserved for the expo) and seven hands-on training sessions (including a full art-to-part run-through of a metals AM process). Monday, Tuesday and Thursday will kick off with Keynote presentations from Todd Grimm; Jason Lopes; and Dr. Mike North, TV personality and practical visionary. Also on stage will be John Hornick, who will discuss “3D Printing and the Future (or Demise) of Intellectual Property .” Meals, drinks, entertainment, conference sessions and hands-on workshops are included in the $795 (USD) registration fee — so there’s no concern you will bored or thirsty in this years’ semiremote desert setting at the Hilton El Conquistador in Tucson, Arizona.

For more information check www.additivemanufacturingusersgroup.com

Keynote Presenter Dr Mike North

Angelic designs Out with the new… When it comes to rapid prototyping or additive manufacturing the hype today seems to be directed solely to manufacturing in metals. Before you make the decision on the best method to obtain your prototype part, give strong consideration to investment casting (IC).

Materials matter In the ever changing world of design, AIN Plastics maintains a steady focus on the things that always matter most to its customers: high quality and consistency. As a full line distributor, AIN Plastics offers competitive pricing and a large in-stock selection of Industrial and Engineering Plastics from the world’s leading manufacturers including: Quadrant EPP, DuPont, Bayer Material Sciences, Evonik Industries, RAMPF Group, Saint Gobain and many others. Material offerings include: Tooling Board, Castable Urethanes, Polycarbonate, and a vast selection of Engineering materials in sheet, rod, and tube. The company is also the authorised DuPont Vespel Distributor with a large inventory of authentic Vespel shapes. AIN Plastics operates over twelve warehouse locations and 13 sales offices in the United States, and combines their 40+ years of plastics experience with value added processing services, customised inventory solutions, and experienced customer support and value added solutions like cut to size on every order. As part of the ThyssenKrupp Materials NA nationwide logistics AIN Plastics is able to offer fast delivery throughout the United States.

i| www.ainplastics.com

The advancements in pattern printing equipment have vastly improved the quality of the parts attainable by the IC process. Not only has the surface quality differential been eliminated by use of soluble support systems, advancements made in ceramic shell technology have strengthened the ability to cast intricate Internal passages. The other two factors that must enter into this equation are cost and speed. Studies have shown the cost comparison between the laser melting and the IC process, in the majority of cases IC is more economical. Now on the subject of speed: IC using the G2 Fast Shell method can in many cases provide a prototype casting in as little as 8-24 hours after the pattern has been created. Exciting things are happening in the rapid prototyping/additive manufacturing daily but don’t forget the old standby process of investment casting. You’ll be surprised what it can do today!

Dinsmore and Associates, Inc. is a single-source provider of product design and development, rapid prototyping, rapid manufacturing, 3D printing, and rapid tooling services. With more than a decade of experience in rapid prototyping, the company offers a wide array of 3D printing services for a variety of applications — including its exclusive fineresolution stereolithography (FRSLA) technique — to create some of the most detailed prototypes in the industry. The company’s expertise in crafting high-precision models has been used to create intricate medical devices, innovative consumer products, and even eye-catching art installations. When lifestyle apparel brand Oakley, Inc. wanted a unique focal point for their London retail store, they trusted Dinsmore and Associates, Inc. to bring their vision to life. Since it debuted in April 2011, visitors to the Covent Garden O Store have been greeted by the Oakley angel — an impressive metal-and-carbonfibre sculpture that features a 25-foot (7.6 m) wingspan, stands 12 feet tall (3.6 m), and weighs 1,500 pounds (680 kg). Working in tandem with their team of artists, Dinsmore meticulously replicated their design piece-by-piece so that it could be shipped and assembled on-site in London.

i| www.dinsmoreinc.com

i| www.aristo-cast.com Mar 2014

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ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING SERVICES BACKED BY ENGINEERING EXPERTISE 9 Õ ii` `iÃ } y iÝ L ÌÞ° 9 Õ ii` ÃÌÀ }] vÕ VÌ > «>ÀÌÃ° 9 Õ ii` > «>ÀÌ iÀ Þ Õ V> V Õ Ì ° That’s RedEye.

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AMUG 2014 the inspection process, and satisfied with the results. Some key types of analysis are: porosity, void, Volkswagen P-201/VW 50097 cross sectional analysis, P201/VW 50097 porosity analysis, part to CAD comparisons, part to part comparisons, reverse engineering, wall thickness, GD&T, fibre analysis, and assembly analysis. 2D X-Ray, cross sectional xrays, and real time x-ray are also available.

i| www.jgarantmc.com

Laser focus DPSS Lasers, Inc. will present the Samurai UV Laser Marking System with additional spot sizes and work areas at this year’s AMUG conference.

Simulate to accumulate Phoenix Analysis and Design Technologies, Inc. (PADT) is an engineering service company that focuses on helping customers who develop physical products by providing Numerical Simulation, Product

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recently released a final ruling requiring that most medical devices distributed in the United States carry a unique device identifier, or UDI. DPSS Lasers are able to offer a solution for these new regulations with the ability to mark unique numeric or alphanumeric codes on virtually any material with a permanent, high-resolution mark.

i| www.DPSS-Lasers.com

Non-destructive measurement JG&A Metrology Center is a global leader for Industrial Computed Tomography Scanning Services. By using non-destructive Industrial CT Scanning Services, its clients are able to drastically reduce preproduction inspection costs and analyze internal failures quickly and accurately in 3D. The NDT process allows for improved quality control without modifying the part or applying external measurement forces during inspection. For both large and small projects, each part is inspected to the highest quality standards. As the process is new to most clients the company’s expert analysis always ensure each customer is educated, comfortable with

i| www.redeyeondemand.com

Optimise for AM What if you could start your design process with the ideal part and then use the freedom of additive manufacturing to make that part a reality?

DPSS Lasers Inc. specialises in manufacturing DPSS, 355 nm, UV laser and UV laser markers. The Samurai uses the same UV laser technology as used in stereolithography systems. DPSS Lasers offers low-cost UV lasers with high-peak powers and repetition rates that are ideal for marking and engraving materials, such as HDPE, ceramic, plastics, and metals. By utilising the 355 nm wavelength, the Samurai provides a small spot size and large depth of focus. UV lasers take advantage of a “cold” marking process that does not require high average-power levels. Applications using the Samurai UV “cold laser” marker are product coding, micromachining, marking, sapphire scribing, ITO removal, semiconductor, and medical packaging. Unlike IR lasers, UV can utilise photo-ablation or photochemical response rather than thermal-ablation, which can damage many materials.

consider can use RedEye to complement size requirements, materials or machine capacity limit your part production.

solidThinking Inspire enables design engineers and product designers to create and investigate structurally efficient concepts quickly and easily. Inspire enhances the product development process by generating a new material layout within a package space using the loads as an input. Inspire is easy to learn and works with existing CAD tools to help design parts right the first time. Development, and Rapid Prototyping products and services. PADT’s worldwide reputation for technical excellence and an experienced staff is based on its proven record of building long-term win-win partnerships with vendors and customers. Since its establishment in 1994, companies have relied on PADT because “We Make Innovation Work.”

i| www.PADTING.com

RedEye, by Stratasys Additive manufacturing is much more than producing parts. Making your product or process better is RedEye’s passion. As a business unit of Stratasys and a global provider additive manufacturing services, it helps customers solve challenges through 3D printing. Need lighter weight parts, or faster time to market? The team is committed to your success.

The ideal concept generated by solidThinking Inspire is often an extremely organic shape. Manufacturing these shapes using traditional techniques often requires additional interpretation. Additive manufacturing gives designers the freedom needed to manufacture these parts with minimal limitations. Visitors to solidThinking’s booth at the AMUG Conference can interact with solidThinking Inspire’s user-friendly interface to sketch a design, assign materials and loads, and run a real-time optimisation on the new part. This will result in the generation of the ideal part design. Visitors will see firsthand how the shapes generated by solidThinking Inspire are perfectly suited for additive manufacturing. In fact, Inspire was recently used to help design the world’s first 3D printed bicycle — see this month’s cover story.

i| www.solidthinking.com

RedEye builds high-performance, plastic parts with Stratasys Fused Deposition Modeling and PolyJet technologies for applications throughout the product development process, from concept modeling to end use. Tapping into the true power of additive manufacturing requires a new approach to design – something the company’s team of project engineers has spent hours perfecting. Companies can minimise assembly, make complex parts structurally stable, increase efficiency and improve the bottom line. Users of in-house additive manufacturing machines,

Mar 2014

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Mar 2014

TEL 001 (918) 266-1004 WEB www.approto.com

TEL 001 (888) 311-1017 WEB www.solidconcepts.com

TEL 001 (763) 576-8100 WEB www.intechrp.com

TEL 001 (888) 311-1017 WEB www.solidconcepts.com

TEL 001 (866) 882-6934 WEB www.redeyeondemand.com

TEL 001 (317) 915-0295 WEB www.realizeinc.com

TEL 001 (847) 615-8900 WEB www.gpiprototype.com TEL 001 (810) 798-2900 WEB www.aristo-cast.com

TEL 001 (855) 592-4846 WEB www.citim-am.com

TEL 001 (888) 311-1017 WEB www.solidconcepts.com

TEL 001 (770) 901-3200 WEB www.3dsystems.com/quickparts

TEL 001 (847) 639-1000 WEB www.buildparts.com

TEL 001 (937) 890-9292 WEB www.bastech.com

TEL 001 (607) 280-8320 WEB www.incodema3d.com

TEL 001 (315) 437-1517 WEB www.armstrongmold.com

TEL 001 (519) 749-6622 WEB www.hyphenservices.com

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US BUREAU LOCATOR

Mar 2014

Contact: James Hockey Location: 407 Cliff Street, Ithaca, NY 14805 Tel: 001 (607) 280 8320 Email: sales@incodema3d.com Web: www.incodema3d.com RPD Equipment (In House): SLA, FDM, Polyjet, DMLS, SLM Typical Turnaround Time: 2-3 days plastics, 5-6 days metals Average Shipping Time: Overnight available

Contact: Dylan Tierney Location: 7180 Sunwood Drive NW, Ramsey, Minnesota 55303 Tel: 001 (763) 576 8100 Email: dylan.tierney@intech-ind.com Web: www.intechrp.com. RPD Equipment (In House): SLA, Polyjet, FDM, SLS, DMLS Typical Turnaround Time: 24-48 hours Average Shipping Time: Next day

Contact: Jim Bartel Location: 8081 Wallace Road, Eden Prairie, MN 55344 Tel: 001 (866) 882 6934 Email: godigital@redeyeondemand.com Web: www.redeyeondemand.com RPD Equipment (In House): FDM, PolyJet Typical Turnaround Time: 1-5 days Average Shipping Time: Priority overnight

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Typical Turnaround Time: from 2 days Average Shipping Time: Customer Defined

3D printing, Stereolithography® (SLA) models and patterns, Z-Corp® 3D Color Prints, Selective Laser Sintering® (SLS), Direct Metal Laser Sintering® (DMLS), Fused Deposition Modeling® (FDM), ID-Light™ lightweight parts, CNC models and patterns, QuantumCast™ advanced cast urethanes, and Composites.

Contact: Scott McGowan Location: 28309 Avenue Crocker Valencia, CA 91355 Tel: 001 (888) 311-1017 Email: marketing@solidconcepts.com Web: www.solidconcepts.com RPD Equipment (In House): PolyJet™ high precision

Typical Turnaround Time: 5-7 days

(1 – M280 and 2 – M270), and produce parts using the following materials: Direct Metal Laser Sintering, Stainless Steel (15-5 & 17-4), Aluminum, Cobalt Chrome, Maraging Steel (Tool Steel), Inconel 718, Titanium. We also provide assistance with RTV-Urethane Castings, EDM, SLA, SLS, CNC, and reverse engineering services.

Contact: Alan Conlu Location: 15515 Endeavor Drive, Noblesville, IN 46060 Tel: 001 (317) 915 0295 Email: yourpartners@realizeinc.com Web: www.realizeinc.com RPD Equipment (In House): SLA Systems - iPro 9000, iPro 8000, Projet HD7000, 7 - Viper SLA, 2 - SLA-5000, Projet 3500HDMax Typical Turnaround Time: 1-5 business days Average Shipping Time: Priority overnight

Typical Turnaround Time: 1-5 days Average Shipping Time: 24-48 hours

Sintering (SLS), Sterolithography (SLA), Polyjet, Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), 3,4 & 5-axis CNC. Environmental Testing Services: Vibration, Thermal, Tension & Compression, Sound, Shock & Drop, Electromagnetic compatibility (EMC).

Contact: Scott Young Location: 9233 N. Dixie Dr., Dayton, OH, USA Tel: 001 (937) 890 9292 Email: sales@bastech.com Web: www.bastech.com RPD Equipment (In House): SLA, MultiJet plastics & waxes, Color Jet, Creaform Scanning & Capture, CNC, Rapid Tooling, Urethane Casting, Model Making, Injection Molding, Engineering Design, SRP. Typical Turnaround Time: Next day +, varies with process Average Shipping Time: Customer Defined

Contact: Adam Galloway Location: 940 North Shore Drive, Lake Bluff, Il 60044 Tel: 001 (847) 615 8900 Email: adamg@gpiprototype.com Web: www.gpiprototype.com RPD Equipment (In House): We use EOS machines,

Contact: Jason Dickman Location: 19503 E 6th St, Tulsa, OK 74108 Tel: 001 (918) 266 1004 Email: jdickman@approto.com Web: www.approto.com RPD Equipment (In House): : Stereolithography, Selective Laser Sintering, Fused Definition Modeling, Cast Urethane / Silicone Molding, CNC Machining, Rapid Metal Castings Typical Turnaround Time: Additive manufacturing 3-5 days, Metals 10-12 days Average Shipping Time: Standard overnight

Contact: Mark Barfoot Location: 809 Wellington Street North, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada N2G 4Y7 Tel: 001 (519) 749 6622 Email: sales@hyphenservices.com Web: www.hyphenservices.com RPD Equipment (In House): Prototyping: Selective Laser

Typical Turnaround Time: 1-4 weeks Average Shipping Time: 1-3 days Comment: Functional Metal and Plastic Prototypes

(RPM), Graphite Die Casting, Precision Airset Sand Casting, One-Shot Casting, Reaction Injection Molding (RIM), Rapid Injection Molding via Cast Tooling, CNC Machining and Hogouts

Contact: Bob Summa Location: East Syracuse NY Tel: 001 (315) 437-1517 Email: sales@armstrongmold.com Web: www.armstrongmold.com RPD Equipment (In House): Rubber Plaster Molding

Contact: Christopher J. McKenna Location: 1590 North Roberts, Suite 113, Kennesaw, GA 30144 Tel: 001 (855) 592 4846 Email: info@citim-am.com Web: www.citim-am.com RPD Equipment (In House): Metal additive manufacturing (laser melting), CNC machining, Quality assurance.

Contact: Jack Ziemba Location: 7400 Research Drive, Almont, MI 48003 Tel: 001 (810) 798 2900 Email: asap@aristo-cast.com Web: www.aristo-cast.com RPD Equipment (In House): Blue Light 3D Scanner, Voxeljet VX500, Wire EDM, Thermojet Wax Printers, Dimension SST ABS Printer, Haas Machining Centres, Projet CP3500, 3Z Max Wax printer Typical Turnaround Time: 2-7 days Average Shipping Time: 2-7 days

Contact: Mike Littrel Location: 125 Erick Street Unit A115, Crystal Lake, IL 60014 Tel: 001 (847) 639 1000 Email: info@buildparts.com Web: www.buildparts.com RPD Equipment (In House): SLA, FDM, SLS, PolyJet Typical Turnaround Time: 1-2 days, same day available. Average Shipping Time: 1-2 days. Same day service is available.

Contact: Brian Ford Location: 333 Three D Systems Circle, Rock Hill, SC 29730 USA Tel: 001 (770) 901-3200 Email: quote@quickparts.com Web: www.3dsystems.com/quickparts RPD Equipment (In House): SLA, SLS, 3D Printing, Cast Urethane, CNC Machining, Injection Moulding, Metal Casting Typical Turnaround Time: 1-5 business days Average Shipping Time: Priority overnight

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US BUREAU INFORMATION

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SPOTLIGHT

Cast your minds back to before September 2012, desktop 3D printing was for hobbyists printing in thermoplastics and stereolithography was just an esoteric term used for explaining the origins of this additive manufacturing technology. Then Formlabs happened...

Studying the Form I

n 2012, this orange cube atop an aluminium box appeared on Kickstarter and 3D printing world went bananas. This beautiful looking machine was old school factory floor meets minimalist Apple-esque design and it promised to be “An affordable, professional 3D printer”. Its name was Form 1 and it came from a company formed out of the MIT Media Lab, Formlabs. Though desktop stereolithography was new on the market, Formlabs co-founder Maxim Lobovsky’s history with the technology goes way back. “My father worked at AlliedSignal, which became Honeywell - a conglomerate in industrial engineering - they had some of the earliest stereolithography machines. The earliest part I saw was in 1996 when I was just 9,” explained Max, who launched the company at just 23. “One particular project they were working on was underwater turbines. They were making these really interesting parts and I remember him explaining to me why this process was important; you could make parts with internal structures that you couldn’t manufacture in any other way, I didn’t completely understand but some of it went in.” Max has been involved in desktop 3D printing from day dot; before he went on to do his Masters at MIT he was working on Cornell and Hod Lipson’s Fab@Home project. “I was thinking at that time about how to start a company around this new wave but I really had no idea how to do that. I’m glad I didn’t because the timing would not have been right. During my Masters I was working closely on the Fab Lab project with my professor Neil Gershenfeld, that kept me thinking and kept me

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Mar 2014

The unmistakable look of the Form 1 is form and function in harmony, explained designer Yoav Reches

WORDS | Dan O’Connor passionate about the idea of bringing fabrication capabilities to a much wider range of people.” While Max was working his way through one of the most notoriously difficult MS courses on the planet, desktop 3D printing was growing at a rate of knots; Ultimaker, MakerBot and 3D Systems had all released their first consumer machines within months of Max finishing up at the Media Lab. “I’d been closely following all the different desktop 3D printer companies and it was pretty frustrating to watch them. To know a lot about the different high-end machines that existed and to know what they could do if they really thought about what to do and applied some serious engineering chops. I knew that there were approximately seven or eight different 3D printing processes and only one was available on the desktop. So, I sat down and really researched which other technology could make sense [to work on the desktop]. I came to the conclusion that you could make a really compelling stereolithography machine.” Substance over style With the idea of creating the ultimate desktop 3D printer, Max got together with fellow MIT Media Lab students David Cranor and Natan Linder to build a prototype device. Natan was also working on another suitably futuristic project called LuminAR - a robotic mixed reality interface, which looks like something straight from Tony Stark’s office. On this project Linder was collaborating with an Industrial Designer and M.A. graduate of the Royal College of Art, Yoav Reches. At the time Reches was a visiting researcher at the MIT

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FORMLABS Fluid Interfaces Group but usually Yoav is based in London — TCT paid him a visit last month.

Early Form 1 sketch

Set in a Victorian railway viaduct near Bethnal Green, amongst the lingering smell of grease and rubber coming the stereotypical railway arches businesses of automotive inclination, is a small studio of designers and artists – home to Yoav, the lead industrial designer at Formlabs. “Natan asked me to do some sketches for this machine he was working on with Max and David. I didn’t hear for a while and presumed they’d gone with something else,” explained Reches. “Then a couple of months down the line I saw a presentation they’d done for some funding and it only contained my sketches, from there on in everything happened very quickly.” Max, Natan and David had realised from an early stage that the design of the product was going to be key, other devices on the market often looked homemade and not something a designer would have on his/her desk.

Form 1 mock up

“Product designers are often invited at the end of the process but with Formlabs I was highly involved from the start. I was involved in the mechanical systems, the design of everything a user touches. Everything visible “...nothing went through me.” As striking and recognisable as the machine is Yoav insists that the machine is “not about styling; nothing on the machine is there for style. Design and function must fit together”.

Not only are we able to offer 25 micron layer thickness to users but we can offer them a chamber that represents their creativity.”

on the machine is there for style. Design and function must fit together”.

With great design, all made for manufacturing reasons, inevitably there comes imitation. The orange acrylic hood, there to make sure the resin doesn’t cure in ambient light, has now sprung up on several other desktop 3D printers — including one that doesn’t even use resin. Though the Form 1 looks like the kind of machine you’d expect from Apple, a lot of that came about through sheer necessity. “With other consumer electronics on the market there’s a lot of injection moulding and therefore draft angles but, since we did not anticipate the demand on Kickstarter, we had to work with manufacturing methods that were not aimed at big numbers. Choosing to go with lower-end manufacturing processes - the machine is a lot of sheet bending and gluing - allowed us to keep very flat faces and therefore a very unique, clean design.” “We were surprised when the first prototypes came to the office, although we rendered it many times we never realised that this marriage (between the aluminium base and orange hood) was going to have such a strong impact. The design means printers are starting to be relocated from dirty industrial environments to people’s homes.

Internal structures are visible with clear resin

Co-founder Max counts Yoav’s input as some of the most important in the process: “Both the industrial design, our approach to the product; the price point, our targets etc., they came from a lot of deliberate thinking earlier on; where should the market be? What are the right products? You can see in the rest of the desktop market there’s all kinds of things happening, people make huge machines, tiny machines, from $500 to $5000 — all kinds of chaos. We took a little bit more of a deliberate approach; If we fast-forward to a world where there is a 3D printer on every designer or engineer’s desktop, what will it look like? What will it do? What parts will it be printing off? We have been fairly straight towards that goal since the beginning.” Kickstarting a business Once the design was nailed and a first round of seed funding had been achieved the decision was made by Formlabs to launch their printer on Kickstarter. RepRap designs and the Printrbot had successful Kickstarter campaigns before Formlabs but as this machine was going to cost a minimum of $2,300 USD (£1,380, €1,675) and the company were asking for four times the funding of Printrbot, this was a huge risk. The risk paid off as backers came in their droves to own the first desktop stereolithography 3D printer. Formlabs wanted $100,000 USD and 30 days later they were $55,000 USD shy of $3 million dollars. The success was not without its drawbacks when you receive nearly 3,000 per cent of anticipated orders the task of manufacturing goes from manageable to mammoth. Though there were some delays all 2,068 backers have now had their pledges fulfilled. There was another drawback to such success; it drew attention from competition and beady-eyed lawyers. Just weeks after Kickstarter funding period had finished 3D Systems filed a patent suit against Formlabs and Kickstarter. “It (the success) certainly drew the attention of some of our competitors, we had to ramp up the manufacturing process and the team much quicker, which is always challenging. There are a couple of other products similar to ours coming to market; they have not been as successful as us and I don’t see them being threatened with any sort of legal action.” Explained a defiant Lobovsky. “The case is still on-going, I can’t tell you anything that isn’t public but there are some public filings that you can look into. We are continuing to ship our product and grow our business.”

Mar 2014

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Digital Mechanics provides 3D-printed parts with the latest technology. Expertise combined with wide range of materials ensure that your prototype will measure up to your expectations. Enjoy the benefits of flexibility.

www.digitalmechanics.se

Prototypes Rapid prototyping with 3D-printing in Plastic, Metal and Wax

Series Rapid tool-less production in Plastic

Metal Rapid lost wax casting for metal parts

Tools Rapid tooling with silicone tool and parts in PUR materials

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Mar 2014

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FORMLABS

At the back end of 2013 Formlabs grew further through a more traditional route than Kickstarter. Venture capital firms DJF Growth and Pitango, whose client list includes Twitter and SpaceX, were duly impressed with the business and obviously unperturbed by any lawsuit to invest $19 million into the business. From silver screen to orange box Formlabs pride themselves on an ever increasing number of users from varying spectrums; from medical to architectural; but there’s been one huge unexpected area of the business that has further enhanced not only their finances but image too, Hollywood. Thanks in no small part to one man in particular, the Form 1 has become THE machine for digital artists working on movies and video games. That man is Robert Vignone, lead animator on the upcoming Dreamworks’ surefire hit How to Train Your Dragon 2. “It must be every digital artist’s dream to create something on the computer and have it become tangible almost instantly,” Vignone told TCT. “It was 2009 when I had my first model 3D printed by a third party company on a very high-end machine. Once I held the model, I couldn’t wait for the day that I get to create that in my own home.” “Fast forward to the end of 2012, I came across the Formlabs Kickstarter Project and their campaign sold me. One of the key selling points at the time for me was that the Form1 had so few moving parts. It has a non-intrusive design that is highly functional in addition to a decent build volume.” Vignone’s prints made it onto the excellent Formlabs community support forums and from there onto just about every tradeshow stand Formlabs have had in the past 12 months.

Robert Vignone’s first model to be printed “The computer graphics, movies and video games market has been a really big success, our product fits their needs perfectly,” said Lobovsky. “The high resolution of detail and because 3D printers commercially available product on the haven’t traditionally been part of their market at the moment, the competition is process they need something that they “It must be every digital coming. What we’ve done so far is just the can get started with really easily. “ tip of the iceberg, that gives us the fire to artist’s dream to create Staying ahead of the pack ‘we’ll always have the most compelling something on the computer say While several companies battle it out for product on the market and we’ll stay a supremacy in the FDM market, and have it become tangible product and engineering company.” Formlabs were, until recently, relatively almost instantly.” At this moment in time there are three out on their own as the only desktop resins available to print with on the Form stereolithography machine. 1, but it is the development in this area that could unlock other At CES 2014 there huge customer bases. Formlabs are rumoured to be developing a was a slew of new SL wax resin, this, coupled with the high resolution could see the machines massive jewellery market come to the Form 1, not just for attempting to carve prototyping, but for a short run bespoke manufacturing service. out a slice of Max remained purposefully vague when asked about this: Formlabs’ “We’re working on everything; we’re working on machines, considerable pie. materials and software, our goal is to have the most innovative Yet, it is testament to product on the market. Materials are a great part of the business Formlabs’ deliberate because every new material opens up a new application or new use thinking that the case for both existing and new customers. We’re in a great place; machine they put customers want us to develop more and more to sell them.” out there in 2012 is only just being Though the Form 1 remains relatively high-end; aimed at designers caught up to now. and engineers; there is scope in the future for Max and his While Lightforge, ambitious team to grab onto an emerging consumer market. FSL3D and Old Formlabs’ clear resin “My personal interest harks back to experiences at Fab@Home and World Labs just start the Fab Lab, I want everybody to have access to this technology,’ learning about the enthused Lobovsky. “I don’t have any answers for you about what market, Formlabs are creating an ever-expanding user base and the killer app is but the more people that are using this powerful re-investing the money into R&D. tool - that can be used in so many powerful ways - the better. We “The most important thing about seeing all these competitor do want to achieve that dream of a 3D printer in every home but startups is it has really renewed motivation and vigour, that lets us right now we’re just taking one huge step at a time.” stay at the forefront. We started this and though we’re the only i| www.formlabs.com Mar 2014

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Mar 2014

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FORM 1 REVIEW

HANDS ON with the

FORM 1

“We’ve had some FDM-based machines in the office for some time, 3D printing with them on a fairly regular basis but the Form 1 is a different beast altogether,” explains Dan O’Connor

n the past you’d have needed a technician to print with a resin curing 3D printer with a highest resolution of 0.025 mm. But as Max said earlier, this machine wants to be on desktops across the globe; the time had come to try it out. Starting with the downloading and using the Formlabs software, PreForm, you know you’re in for a 3D printing treat. In the first week of this year, during International CES 2014 mayhem, Formlabs moved PreForm out of BETA and into 1.0 stage. Since then there’s been two updates and we’re now on version 1.2.1, showing how seriously Formlabs take their software. Their dedication to making sure the user’s experience is as painless as possible shows the moment you import a file into their software. If your file has faults PreForm will ask you if you’d like to repair or ignore those faults and does the repair automatically. If your model is too large for the build platform the software will automatically scale it down to the biggest size the machine can print. Once you have a model in the software, you can choose to automatically orient your model for optimum printing — an algorithm Formlabs strived to put into place — and automatically generate supports. Automatically doesn’t cut it for you? Want to edit the density or size of supports? Want to orient the model in your own format? The software lets you do that too. All of this takes seconds to complete, Max was entirely correct when he said that you could be printing with 15 minutes of unboxing. One of the first models we chose to print was the Eiffel Tower. Now, we’re aware that you’ll have seen the model countless times but the intricate latticing and unsupported structure meant it would be an ideal test for the Form 1.

A selection of Robert Vignone’s prints After scaling down the four-part model by 35 per cent to fit inside the 125 x 125 x 165 mm build area, printing in Clear Resin on the lowest/fastest resolution setting (0.1 mm) the 20 cm-high model printed perfectly in just shy of five hours. The Form 1 is comparatively silent to the FDM machines in the office making only an occasional clicking sound when the resin tray levels the resin out. The post-printing process is most labour intensive part of any resin-based 3D printing experience; Formlabs has attempted to make this as painless as possible with the help of their cleaning kit and foolproof instructions. Models must be cleaned in 90 per cent proof Isopropyl alcohol for, on average, 24 minutes; two minute shake, followed by ten minutes sitting in alcohol, then there is the removal of the supports, sand down any marks left by supports and placed in alcohol for a further 12 minutes. Though Formlabs’ first machine may be aimed at the prosumer; the designer, the engineer, the digital artist; it is perhaps the most consumeresque experience you’re likely to have with a current desktop 3D printer. Post-processing aside, everything is as automatic as you want/need. Even at the lowest resolution point the Eiffel Tower print now takes pride of place in the reception of TCT Towers. Mar 2014

ROBERT VIGNONE’S TOP FORM 1 TIPS I could probably talk forever about tips and tricks using the Form1 printer. A lot of these tips and tricks are available for free at our Mold3D YouTube channel. A few important tips would be:

Make sure your mesh is really tidy. We all know to make it water tight, but one thing to look out for are complex overhangs. Those things can really cause issues if they are not properly supported. Sometimes, even automatic supports won’t catch them and they may collapse while printing.

Orient your models in a way that the shorter supports are facing the peeling side of the tray. This helps a lot with those bigger items!

Don’t be afraid to oversupport your model. The more secure your model is to the base, the less it will move during the peeling process and thus the fewer layer lines you should have.

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REVERSE ENGINEERING

As part of our medical focus, TCT takes a look at how reverse engineering is working hand-in-hand with additive manufacturing for patient-specific implants.

3D Laser Scanning

Advances Tool Creation L

ocated in a high-technology industrial centre in Nogent, France, Applications Additives Avancées (3A) was formed in January 2011 as a subcontract manufacturer of titanium alloy and cobalt chrome parts using electron beam melting (EBM) technology. The firm mainly services the medical sector, which presently accounts for 75 per cent of turnover, producing standard and patient-specific implants and prostheses as well as medical instruments. However, contracts are also carried out for the aerospace and motorsport sectors, as EBM finds use producing turbine blades, for example, and lightweight, multi-piece assemblies as single components. To provide quality assurance support for these activities, specifically to ISO 13485 for medical devices, 3A has purchased a Nikon Metrology bridge-type co-ordinate measuring machine (CMM) with an 800 x 700 x 600 mm inspection volume. It was supplied with a Nikon Metrology LC15Dx laser scanning head capable of measuring regular and freeform 3D shapes to an accuracy of under ten microns, an order of magnitude less than the required accuracies of the parts being produced. Pascale Marié, Sales and Marketing Manager at 3A, said: “We are very happy with the scanner, which we believe is the most accurate on the market. It is the latest version from Nikon Metrology and the first to be installed in France.

“We are very happy with the scanner, which we believe is the most accurate on the market. It is the latest version from Nikon Metrology and the first to be installed in France.”

Programming the system

“Before buying the equipment, we were aware that touch probing was unable to provide effective control of the highly complex geometries, such as lattice structures, that we build in our Arcam EBM system. That is why we chose the LC15Dx.

“For simpler 3D printed components, however, our engineers program the CMM to inspect the parts by touch probing, as it is faster and less costly in terms of operator time.” Laser scanning helps reduce the cost of producing forgings Marié went on to explain that once the 3D scanning head was operational, it attracted a lot of work that had not been envisaged at the outset. For example, one customer that manufactures medical implants needed its entire legacy forging dies reverse-engineered to produce CAD files. Still in use today, the old die sets were originally

Autonomous scanning

Mar 2014

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HIGH PERFORMANCE SCANNING The new FARO® Edge ScanArm ES gives enhanced performance on the full spectrum of parts including shiny and dark surfaces. The new HDR (High Dynamic Range) Mode lets its users save time by simultaneously scanning materials with high contrasting colours. Call us at 00 800 3276 7253 for a free demo or visit us at MACH 7th – 11th April 2014, Birmingham, Stand 5910, Hall 5.

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Mar 2014

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REVERSE ENGINEERING

Point cloud data represents thousands of individual points Generating the STL file either electro-eroded using copper electrodes or produced on a pantograph milling machine, so digital data did not exist. Now, the customer sends to 3A either the two halves of a forging die or the pair of electrodes that produced them. The data for reverse engineering is acquired on the Nikon Metrology CMM using its LC15Dx laser head and Focus Scan software. Turnaround time for the complete reverse engineering process is rapid at two to three days. Scanning a part takes from around 30 minutes up to 2.5 hours for a highly complex resin die, thanks to the speed of data acquisition with laser scanning, which measures 70,000 points per second at intervals of 22 microns. There are hundreds of dies that need to be digitised so that CAD files are available as tools wear out, ensuring continuity of implant production.

The digital CAD models enable the customer to prepare metal cutting cycles so that the forging dies can be machined on modern, high-speed cutting equipment in a process route that costs 35 per cent less and is considerably faster than when dies were spark eroded using expensive electrodes.

The digital CAD models enable the customer to prepare metal cutting cycles so that the forging dies can be machined on modern, highspeed cutting equipment in a process route that costs 35 per cent less and is considerably faster than when dies were spark eroded using expensive electrodes. The resulting financial advantage is significant, as the costs associated with forging die production are the single most important variable affecting the cost of forged products. A second scanning application is the repair of existing tools. Once CAD models are available for a die set, it is possible to scan a used forging tool in order to accurately rebuild the two halves by repairing the metal in the places where they are worn. Those areas are machined and polished, after which further laser scanning allows the new profile to be referenced against the digital model. Any areas of concern can be highlighted using interactive or automatic deviation analysis with colour mapping and reporting within the Nikon Metrology Focus Inspection software package Low scan data noise results in smooth, high quality surfaces Irrespective of whether the scanner is employed for reverse engineering, or is used to inspect parts against design intent in CAD models to control the dimensional conformity of EBM manufactured components or help optimise die refurbishment, the capture of accurate point cloud data is essential. This is where the LC15Dx scores, as the accuracy of measured results is comparable with those of tactile inspection.

Electrode - 3D meshing

Marié continued: “The point clouds resulting from scanning the freeform profile of a component are filtered and meshed into NURBS (non-uniform rational basis spline) surfaces that are grouped to create the CAD model. “The smoothness and accuracy of the surfaces generated by the Nikon Metrology CMM, scanner and software is so good that the 0.1 mm tolerance required for subsequent forging die manufacture is easily maintained by our customer. Quality control over our own 3D additive manufactured components is similarly reliable.” Reflective surfaces are prevalent throughout 3A’s operations in Nogent, as forging dies are hand polished to achieve high accuracy, while some implant surfaces, notably for knees and hips, are honed mainly to optimise the friction coefficient. Laser scanning is usually susceptible to errors when inspecting such reflective surfaces, but the LC15Dx reportedly handles the conditions well thanks to its high quality Nikon lens. Unwanted reflections are neutralised by an advanced software filter while changes in ambient light are absorbed by an optical daylight filter. Only when it comes to parts with a mirror finish is manual intervention necessary for spraying the part with a matt coating prior to scanning. The relationship between Nikon Metrology and 3A has progressed to such an extent that the additive manufacturing service bureau has agreed to act as a showroom and demonstration centre in Eastern France for the supplier’s inspection solutions. i| www.nikonmetrology.com

Mar 2014

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CASE STUDY

MarkForged The list of viable 3D printable materials grew a little larger in January as MarkForged used Solidworks World in San Diego to launch the Mark One – the world’s first composites 3D printer.

WORDS | Jim Woodcock

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The unveiling The annual Solidworks World event is an opportunity for Dassault Systèmes to show off the latest developments in its suite of design and development software. The gathering of more than 5,000 mechanical engineers is also the perfect platform for vendors of associated technologies to tout their wares — and that increasingly means 3D printer manufacturers. Before the event had begun in earnest Stratasys jumped the queue and launched the first colour multi-material 3D printer, the Objet500 Connex3 (more of which in this issue). An announcement of this magnitude would always have been certain to create a buzz with the event attendees and visiting media, and it did. However, the importance of that development notwithstanding, it was quickly eclipsed (or at least joined) by another 3D printed materials paradigm shift as startup MarkForged unveiled its Mark One to the expectant crowds. Like the Stratasys machine, the Mark One is a multi-material 3D printer. Unlike the Stratasys machine, the parts it produces are aimed squarely at function, not aesthetics. The eyes of the assembled mechanical engineers lit up. Composite capability Perhaps rightly, the printer has gained most column inches (PopMech, TechCrunch, GigaOM) because of its ability to print parts with carbon fibre elements. Carbon fibre retains something of a semi-mystical quality for many potential users; it is considered expensive, difficult to process, lacking in repeatability. For those already using composites the same may be true, but if you get to know the material beyond its limitations it becomes obvious that for the right applications it is unbeatable.

Mar 2014

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MARKFORGED

To make the wing connector piece in carbon fibre without the Mark One, the team would have to mould the top and bottom sections (including tooling production) lay up the carbon fibre by hand, cut it, trim it (for both sides) glue in honeycomb material, trim again and clear coat the whole part. With a 3D print workflow the part can be built as one, with printed nylon replacing the moulded sections, carbon fibre laid without need for trimming etc, and the honeycomb structure incorporated exactly where needed.

‘Mass produced’ strut and bespoke, printed foot

Founder Mark continued: “If you’ve never used composites before buy a Mark One simply because it’s a kick ass PLA/Nylon 3D printer and the composites capability becomes a free bonus. We give some carbon and come fibreglass [and Kevlar if you buy the developer kit] so you can play with it and find out incredible ways composites could impact on your design, development and even production processes.” Continued on page 53

The Mark One’s raison d’être is to broaden the scope of what constitutes the ‘right’ application for carbon fibre and other fibre composites by eliminating some of the fundamental challenges users encounter. Shaving grams off the weight of an aeroplane or race car has massive implications for fuel efficiency or lap times, so using carbon fibre, despite the challenges associated with processing it, is justified. For borderline applications the decision comes down to willingness to leave the comfort zone, obtaining the expertise needed, and weighing up the cost-to-benefit ratio. MarkForged’s Founder and CEO Greg Mark — an MIT graduate with a Masters degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics — gained first-hand experience of dealing with composites through another of his companies, Aeromotions, which creates computer-controlled aerodynamic aids for race cars.

“We designed a printer that we wished someone had designed for us,”

Kinematic coupling aids bed return

“We designed a printer that we wished someone had designed for us,” explained Mark. “In effect, development processes using the Mark One follow the same trajectory they would with any other desktop 3D printer in terms of printing in nylon or PLA for some basic form and fit testing. Then, when you want form fit and function, you add in the composite elements. That’s the unique offering, and something we saw the need for at Aeromotions.” Compressing the design cycle To demonstrate the machine to the mechanical engineers (a group that Mark describes as the most sceptical in the world) the team ran the system at Solidworks World, producing a wing connector — a widget that connects a carbon fibre wing to the boot lid (or trunk lid) of a race car. As Creative Director Jeff Klein explained on the show floor: “Aeromotions make a range of standard computer controlled wings for race cars. The basic design is applicable to a number of cars so the struts that run from the wing to the boot lid are milled aluminium — a standardised design that we can have made in batches. Each boot lid has a different curvature from vehicle to vehicle, so a bespoke part is needed to attach the strut to the boot lid. By 3D printing in composites the strength, weight and customised geometry can all be accommodated in a single, costeffective process.”

Composites printing via properitary print head Mar 2014

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Mar 2014

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MARKFORGED

These boots were made for… me I asked Mark what the applications were beyond the established composite users such as aerospace and automotive. It is here that the real shift in thinking will occur. “When people talk about mass customisation and 3D printing now they tend to talk in terms of 3D printed iPhone cases,” said Mark. “While it is nice to have some input into the design of your smartphone case, all iPhones are in effect identical – the case you make will fit any iPhone and if it doesn’t, someone is losing their job. Where the real use comes in — and this is something we are really excited about — is when there’s a human in the loop. “For example, I do a lot of skiing and have expensive ski boots and expensive custom orthotics to make them right for me. Now I am waiting for the 3D printed, customised, multi-composite ski boot. Othotics are great for the bottom of the foot, but what about the rest? I want my whole foot scanned and ski boots that fit me — just me — absolutely perfectly. If it costs $1,500 that’s OK, that’s already the cost of good boots and the custom orthotics. “A purely carbon fibre boot could be printed for the ultimate in lightweight, and maybe you use some fibreglass in other areas because it’s a good heat insulator. When we have developed the machine further we will be able to allow you to print different fibres in different areas of the same part, so your lightweight, insulating, conductive, abrasion-resistant, impact-resistant areas are there within a single print. “At the same time as exploiting the strength benefits of 3D printed composites, there are secondary features that the Mark One enables. For example, the boot could be designed with a carbon– honeycomb–carbon sandwich panel construction. In addition to the high-strength and light weight, the honeycomb structure that traps air and insulates the whole boot. Now you have a sandwich panel of super-strong, super-lightweight, heat-insulating material made in one step, in exactly the right geometry for the skiers needs. That’s going to be incredible.” A little goes a long way Cost is often touted as a barrier to increased use of composites, especially for carbon fibre and Kevlar. MarkForged will sell their carbon fibre filament for $550/lb (£150/kg; €180/kg), which from a filament point of view looks pricey, and from a composites point of view looks like good value. It’s also important to keep in mind that this is the end use cost of the part. There’s no trimming, no waste, no labour and no tooling. “Take the race car part for example,” explained Mark. “That is 5 per cent carbon fibre by weight, but is eight times stiffer than a plastic only part. A little bit goes a long way because of the intelligent way the material can be deposited. Also, there is none of the trimming and waste associated with a traditional carbon fibre layup process, so whatever material you buy you can use.”

It is interesting to consider that carbon fibre has always been something of an additive process. Sheets of carbon fibre are placed where they are required, building up layer-by-layer. Blocks of carbon fibre would be useless, as they confer none of the benefits of the material but all of the cost. Currently the ‘best’ carbon fibre is twice as good as what comes off the Mark One. Mark explained: “Will aerospace companies be making a fan blade with 3D printed carbon fibre now? No. In 10 years? Maybe. In five years? Maybe. Are there other applications in aerospace that are suitable for 3D printed composites right now? Sure, there are loads of them. The performance of 3D printed composites is only going to get better and a lot of the guys that know about composites already, know that. Beyond carbon The Mark One’s carbon fibre ability is the headline, but the inclusion of other fibre-composites could be just as revolutionary. “Fibreglass has the highest strength to cost ratio — and we use S glass, which is great,” explained Mark. “It’s as strong as carbon but it just weighs twice as much and is half as stiff. In the fibreglass paradigm instead of being 20 times as stiff [ABS or nylon plastic] it will be 10 times as stiff — and still 5 times as strong (but twice as heavy as an equivalent sized carbon part) it is not quite as good from a weight standpoint but it’s as strong. For a lot of applications, such as tooling, these properties will be more than good enough and the price point is 60 per cent lower.” It’s important to note that any comparison to an existing material such as nylon and ABS plastic relates to the billet (stock) form, not the 3D printed form. Currently even the most advanced 3D printing systems struggle to get parts that are close to the properties of the billet form. Make it easy The printer becomes more powerful when you learn a few tricks that printing composites enables. Mark gave an example: “Neri Oxman at MIT’s Media Lab is well known for her work with 3D printers for clothing, biomimicry and so on. In a current project she is linking many overlapping parts like the scales on a fish. She wanted to know how the Mark One would handle producing mechanical linkages between each piece. In this instance, the new paradigm renders the old way of thinking obsolete — the parts can now be linked by running continuous Kelvar strands from one piece to the next, removing the need for a mechanical interlocking system. The flexibility of the connection is determined by the number of strands that pass between each section. If you place two threads in the middle, it’s flexible in bending, and torsion. If you place one thread on the outside of each scale, it’s flexbile in bending, but now stiffer in torsion. . . and the more threads, the stiffer it gets.”

Mar 2014

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Life’s a lot more colourful with the new Connex3 Introducing the Objet500 Connex3 from Stratasys, the world’s only multi-colour multi-material 3D printer. ( VIVID COLOUR + FLEXIBLE + TRANSPARENT + RIGID )

To ﬁnd out more call Tri-Tech 3D – the leading distributor of Stratasys 3D printers.

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MARKFORGED “With the classic download-andinstall set up you have to worry about what sort of graphics card you’re running on a given computer, and we’re quite a graphics intensive program because of some cool visualisation features. “The software comes free with the machine but we are working with major CAD providers (including Solidworks and Autodesk) to make it a plugin to mainstream CAD programs. I believe that if you want to make people happy let them print straight from the CAD program. We don’t make CAD, we make 3D printers, so working with CAD companies integrate directly is a huge benefit to our users.” MarkForged has something of an ace up its sleeve when it comes to both software and 3D printing — Jon Hirschtick. An MIT graduate, founder of Solidworks and former board member at Z Corporation (I hope you’re counting the MIT links here – Ed), Hirschtick knows about software and understands how to position a product. “When we first developed a system that could print carbon fibre, the next question was — do we make a $100k “Mechanical engineers like new machines that prints machine tools because we get them carbon fibre or a $5k To make this leap the new tools machine that prints immediately, but we don’t like new need to be easy to use. So easy, that carbon fibre? A lot of gadgets with ever-changing operating it becomes enjoyable, as Mark people wanted us to make systems. Make the electronics easy-toexplained: “By making it easy to the $100k machine and design new parts we hope to make we could have done that. use and we’ll love you for it.” adoption quicker. CAD moves Greg Mark. We still would have sold quickly because they make it easy one to Boeing, to GE and to use. iPhones sold so quickly to Nike. In fact it could have been a $400k machine and still sold,” because they were designed to be very easy to use. When you explained Mark. consider all of the features of a smartphone and how they shifted “Because Jon was on the board of Z Corp, and we offer a revolution the paradigm from what came before it would appear daunting. But in part strength, his first thought was a $100k machine. Then when by ensuring users could easily access email, social networks, maps we showed the machine and said we want to make the first version and a thousand other new things, the barriers were broken down. small and sell it for $5k. He immediately understood. It’s the price Now everyone has a smartphone and thinks nothing of using it to of a seat of SolidWorks— you can imagine selling a couple of seats order groceries, keep in touch with relatives or augment their of Solidworks and a 3D printer. Now all these engineers who haven’t physical world with digital information.” tried 3D printing get to experiment with it at a low price point. We Other ease-of-use highlights include the kinematic coupling for the know users will be screaming for a bigger machine, more materials, build bed. Like most beds it will require levelling and calibrating more combinations… and that $5k desktop machine will help them upon first use but once the bed is levelled the build plate can go back understand the real value of 3D printing in their design cycle.” into the machine with an accuracy of 10µm each time it is removed Future developments and replaced, so you don’t have to re-level every time. The It’s only the start for MarkForged and for composites 3D printing mechanics of the coupling locate the bed at exactly six points, so as a whole, but the team are already looking to the future. Multithere is no uncertainty in where it will end up when it’s removed. composite extrusion and a larger build volume are likely to be on The software shift the wish list of the early adopters, as the company acknowledges. Key to ease-of-use for any 3D printer is the software setup you’re “The next iteration of the machine will address some of the feedback running. Anyone that has grappled with open source software for we knew we would get when we launched the Mark One in this desktop machines will appreciate that while potentially powerful, form,” Mark explained. “Bigger? Yes. More materials? Yes. We are it’s hardly easy. With this in mind MarkForged have recruited some working on the next generation of machine already and we know more talent from the MIT pool and set about starting a software when it will likely be released. But we’re not saying just yet! revolution. “We will be happy in 10 years from now when everyone thinks this “We’ve not made a big deal of our software yet, but it’s fast, and it’s is obvious. We know what Boeing will do with this or Lockheed but amazing. Laying carbon out in the right way is complicated and the the question is, what will Nike do with this? How will this impact algorithms that run that process have to be sophisticated. To ensure prosthetics? These are applications where this technology is useful everyone can use it, all the software runs on the cloud. You can — not just in automotive or aerospace applications as everyone download it and it will run on any computer that runs Google expects — but for consumer good that are fully customised and Chrome, but it’s best when it’s in the cloud. potentially life-changing.” i| www.markforged.com Mar 2014

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INSIDE STRATASYS

High-tech new premises and the ‘holy grail’ of 3D printing; Rose Brooke met Stratasys’ Andy Middleton to discuss the company’s new facility and the launch of the Objet500

STRATASYS

‘sets the bar’

fter making what would be the biggest story of 2013 by acquiring MakerBot, Stratasys chose to kick off the New Year with the unveiling of the Objet500 Connex3, the world’s first colour multi-material 3D printer.

“Our flagship” “I’ll tell you a bit about the new building. Why are we doing it? We’ve built our business up across the EMEA region and we’ve decided to make a statement to our customers that Stratasys is here to stay. We have almost 8,000 installations now across the region and what we are seeing here is a need to supply the resellers and customers with more infrastructure for demonstration and benchmarking,” Middleton stated.

Stratasys is a top company in an industry currently experiencing the sort of growth last seen in the Internet boom. Its ventures continue to make headlines both in the 3D printing sphere and wider technology and investment media. TCT was invited to Baden Baden, Stratasys’ EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) headquarters, to see first-hand what this company has planned for the rest of the year and to learn more about the launch of the new 3D printing system.

The finished office will be some 3,000 sq. m in size and will include a benchmarking facility that will feature up to 30 machines to test products. All of the application team will be located there for presale applications, support for resellers and customers, a walk-in demonstration facility, a training facility, a sales and marketing department, the helpdesk hotline, the finance department and management. Construction commenced in October 2013, with the team proudly displaying the shovel that broke the earth in the lobby.

Senior Vice-President and General Manager for the EMEA region Andy Middleton spoke candidly with us about the organisation and its current trajectory. The business is investing in a new facility what Middleton calls his “baby” - just across the street from its current quarters. The new offices will be comfortable, high-tech and environmentally friendly. In the bathrooms, for example, signs by the sinks will explain that the money for heating the water is actually going to a local children’s charity. Needless to say, the new building has heart and will house Stratasys Europe’s 120 workers.

“We are looking to complete the building by January next year. The weather’s been good to us, so we didn’t have to stop for winter,” Middleton said. “It’s a significant investment. It’s going to be a beautiful high-tech building fitting with the company’s culture. Our flagship. All the employees are really excited about it and so am I.”

WORDS | Rose Brooke

Such investment is an affirmative nod to Stratasys’ growth trajectory, which will continue to gallop onwards on the back of the announcement of the new Objet500 Connex3. The machine has been in the pipeline for years and the timing of the announcement was critical.

Mar 2014

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STRATASYS

One of the complex 3D printed creations at Stratasys HQ

“We needed to decide when the market would be ready,” Middleton explained. “There wouldn’t have been good rationale in introducing colour four years ago. You can launch something too early.”

marketing would see the prototype and “there’d always be a look of disappointment”. So the prototype would have to be sprayed or painted to satisfy marketing departments.

He revealed that keeping quiet at Euromold - where Stratasys showcased its innovative dual-level fortress-style booth - was a conscious decision, as so many other companies would be launching there. This, however, did not stop the competition from badgering the Stratasys team on-site as to when the anticipated big colour announcement would be made. Stratasys, nevertheless, had its most successful Euromold “by far”, logging up to three times as many orders than the norm for the famous Frankfurt trade event.

“The Objet500 Connex3 introduces another channel. If the customer wishes to have a consistent material but with differing shades of colours, they can. It’s interesting for consumer electronics, art and design, and fashion. People make decisions visually in these industries. Another example for engineering is if we want to feature ABS properties we can produce a part with our Digital ABS material, but maybe add a rubber-like material to create an overmoulded part with soft touch areas in a single print without post assembly manual work.

“The holy grail” Since the Objet500 Connex3 was unveiled at the end of January at SolidWorks World in San Diego, Middleton revealed that, judging by the enquiries Stratasys has received, there will be a significant number of orders for the new machine by the end of March 2014. “Everybody’s very proud of it,” said Middleton. “In the last four years, most of the R&D within the company has been around materials rather than machines. We’ve got a stable core technology - inkjet-based, PolyJet technology - and the millions we’ve been investing have been mainly concerning the ability to jet materials via the Objet Connex machines with the objective of having digital materials mixed on the fly, whether it’s flexible, soft, opaque or clear material, thus creating combinations of more than 100 different materials of various properties.”

“More than I expected. I’ve been passionate about pushing colour for a long time because, whether you’re a designer or an engineer, our eyes give us those first impressions. From a competitive standpoint, it puts us ahead of the pack, so if you have a prototype then of course it’s going to be colour now. The competition has a bit of work to do.” Andy Middleton Senior Vice-President and General Manager for the EMEA region

“I see the Objet500 Connex3 being used largely by service providers who will be the first to gain new customers from the art, design and fashion world and I think there will be consumer electronics customers. I also think R&D facilities at universities will be interested. But ask me again in a year’s time if this is the case!” Above all else, Middleton’s passion for colour comes through when he talks about the new machine and he is not the only one who has allowed himself to feel motivated by the introduction of this groundbreaking 3D printer.

This, he explained, opens doors for Stratasys as it means product designers looking for form and functionality can achieve the “holy grail” of realistic final parts. Middleton admitted that when he joined Stratasys with CEO David Reis, coming from a 2D printing background where colour was king, his initial reaction to monotone plastic prints was not one of excitement. “Oh, blue... nice,” he joked.

“There is a sense of excitement about it,” he said. “More than I expected. I’ve been passionate about pushing colour for a long time because, whether you’re a designer or an engineer, our eyes give us those first impressions. From a competitive standpoint, it puts us ahead of the pack, so if you have a prototype then of course it’s going to be colour now. The competition has a bit of work to do.

“All the while I’ve been thinking ‘we’ve gotta go colour’ and this will, in my personal opinion, set the bar for everybody else,” he stated. For engineers, Middleton explained that monotone was fine because their concern is with size, fit and functionality, but product

“For all intents and purposes, this product allows people to make good designs. We’re bringing aesthetics and reality into prototyping, which gives it inherently more value.” i| www.stratasys.com Mar 2014

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MACH PREVIEW

MACH

Additive Manufacturing at MACH 2014

CT Magazine + Personalize will be partnering with the UK’s MACH exhibition this year (one of four global events you may be reading this issue at) with a short-but-sweet conference session that continues our mission to inspire people to design and make — with a little help from metalbased 3D printing and additive manufacturing. The event will see presentations from three very different users in the form of: Empire Cycles’ Chris Williams (see front cover and lead news for more); Louise Geekie from Croft Filters / Croft Additive Manufacturing; and Bruno Le Razer from AM production experts Innovate 2 Make. In addition, an overview of the metal materials set up will be delivered by LPW Technology’s Dr Phil Carroll (see TCT issue 22:01 for more).

PROTO LABS TO DEMONSTRATE ONLINE QUOTING Proto Labs Ltd will be attending MACH 2014, where for the first time at the show, visitors to the company’s booth will be to view live, and try out, online demonstration of the ProtoQuote and FirstQuote online quoting system. Proto Labs’ online quoting systems, ProtoQuote (for injection moulded parts) and FirstQuote (for CNC machined parts) are cost and manufacturability analysis quotation systems, accessed via the company’s websites. After loading a 3D CAD part, customers receive a clear, simple and non-technical quote, incorporating costs, material choices and, where appropriate, suggestions for changes to parts in order to improve manufacturability and/or tooling, part cost.

In addition to the conference, visitors to this year’s MACH will be able to visit the 3D Printing Zone, where they can see the technology first hand and learn how metals and polymers AM can be deployed in production workflows. Below is a taster of the companies, products and services on show. The TCT team looks forward to seeing you there! CREAT3D CREAT3D are specialists in desktop 3D printing with a wide range of 3D printers and filament, CAD software and 3D scanners and will be at the MACH Show 2014. In action at the MACH Show will be the Ultimaker 2, CubeX and Leapfrog Creatr desktop 3D printers, showcasing example prints, alongside the printer software. New to the line-up is the Leapfrog Creatr, a dual-head, multi-material desktop 3D printer that is capable of printing in PLA and ABS but also Laybrick and Nylon, and uses dissolvable PVA support. Stand 4761 i| www.creat3dprinters.com INNOVATION FOR FILTRATION As developments in additive manufacturing gather pace, many industries are increasingly looking to explore the potential of the technology. At MACH 2014, Louise Geekie, project manager at Croft Filters and Croft Additive Manufacturing (CAM), will examine design innovation within metal AM and the opportunities it offers to develop increasingly efficient and bespoke components. At MACH 2014, we will discuss our use of AM technology to manufacture bespoke, never-beforepossible filtration components. In addition, we will examine the product design innovation that AM provides, which has led us to develop new items that offer businesses improved cost and operational efficiencies. This advanced technology opens up design possibilities that could not be explored using traditional techniques, such as creating multicomponent parts in one step. Stand 4667 i| www.additive-manufacture.co.uk LARGE METAL AM PARTS IN HIGH VOLUMES An additive manufacturing system has been introduced by EOS with a build volume of 400 x 400 x 400 mm that transforms the process from a prototyping and small-volume production tool into a manufacturing centre for high-volume production of

high-quality, industrial metal components, directly from CAD data. The company will use MACH as a platform to launch the system in the UK, following its world premiere at EuroMold 2013 in Frankfurt at the end of last year. The machine, called EOS M 400, produces parts from metal powder, layer by layer. It is the first of a new generation, building on established metal AM machines in the company’s range.

“ProtoQuote and FirstQuote are unique, time- and cost-saving systems that benefit Proto Labs customers,” says managing director, John Tumelty. “However, we wanted to allow everyone who comes to our booth at MACH 2014 to experience the speed and simplicity of the process themselves, even those who have absolutely no prior experience of ordering injection moulded parts or custom CNC machined parts.”

The modular, extendable platform is aimed at industrial production applications, as the increased volume of the build chamber (400 x 400 x 400 mm) allows the manufacture of larger components or multiple smaller parts within a nested volume. In addition, the level of automation has been raised, commensurate with serial production.

“Whilst our European manufacturing operation is based solely in the UK,” says Mr. Tumelty, “we have sales offices in the UK, Germany, France and Italy, which have helped us build successful working relationships with some of the biggest, most prestigious manufacturing companies across Europe, within the automotive, aerospace, medical and domestic appliances sectors, amongst others.”

EOS M 400 delivers improved quality assurance and is easier to use, answering key requirements of customers. The basic model will start to become available in the Spring of 2014, with global distribution planned from the summer. Stand 4660 i| www.eos.info X4 I-ROBOT INSPECTION CONCEPT TO LAUNCH AT MACH On show for the first time in the UK at MACH 2014 will be the all-new X4 i-Robot automated inspection system from Measurement Solutions. Traditional measurement for manufacturing inspection normally involves a fixed, co-ordinate measuring machine. Efforts to “industrialise” inspection have failed, as the ability of a robot to position itself to the accuracy required for measurement does not meet up to the tolerance expectations. Metrolog X4 3D inspection software has for years had the ability to drive and control a traditional CMM, or to work with portable measuring devices such as laser trackers and portable CMM’s. However, in every case, the accuracy of the measurement is embedded within the gauge itself. Metrolog X4 i-Robot takes the same proven measurement software, and applies the same concept to robots as has been to a CMM. In essence, the software tells the robot to move to a position in space so that a measurement is taken. Stand 5701 i| www.measurement-solutions.co.uk

Mar 2014

Stand 4528 i| www.protolabs.co.uk Live 3D printing demonstrations SYS Systems will be wowing visitors with live demonstrations of the latest Fortus additive manufacturing technology and Objet 3D printing capabilities from Stratasys. Seen as the gateway to in-house digital additive manufacturing, the Stratasys Fortus 250 builds parts so durable and accurate that most customers find its use expands way beyond functional testing and into tooling, jigs, fixtures and more besides. Designed purposely as an affordable production series machine, the Fortus 250 combines compact size and ease of use with sophisticated Insight software. And best of all, its ABSplus parts are accurate, stable, durable and repeatable. Three layer resolutions are available to let customers print in fine detail or at maximum speed. A free support removal system will be offered with any Fortus or Connex order placed at the exhibition. Stand 4320 i| www.sys-uk.com

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SPACECLAIM

FIX AND MODIFY

MESHES

in SpaceClaim

Before: boring heads

After: Angry

Refresh SpaceClaim was founded by some of the same people that brought the world tools such as ProEngineer and SolidWorks — it is rightly proud of its heritage. The people that were integral to the development of parametric history-based modelling started a company that is addressing some of the drawback with this undoubtedly powerful but complex system. Parametric CAD is great at certain operations, for example setting up a carefully planned part, making a small change to it and regenerating that change. What it is not particularly good at is being easy to use, and allowing sharing of models (rather than complex feature trees and histories).

SpaceClaim has been around for almost nine years now, quietly changing the way people think about and interact with their 3D models. The latest add-on for SpaceClaim Engineer addresses the needs of AM and 3D printing specifically.

SpaceClaim is billed as ‘the easiest to use direct modeller for editing geometry from any source’. Users can open any file format (from SolidWorks, Inventor, STEP, IGES, STL files, etc) then directly edit the model by simply selecting faces and edges, adding holes or sketching new geometries. “Using SpaceClaim is more like using Microsoft Word to create a document than using a programming language to create a new document,” explained Justin Hendrickson, Director of Product Development at SpaceClaim. “It is especially appealing at the beginning and end of the design process. At the beginning the ease of creating new geometries helps to increase the number of ideas that can be realised. At the end of the process it is useful for the preparation of models for manufacturing and simulation.” Making the most of meshes The STL Prep for 3D printing module, as the company calls the addon, is actually not accurately monikered as the software deals with all faceted file formats (OBJ, JT, 3DPDF, etc.) not just STL files. The module addresses a number of the typical issues that arise when dealing with meshes, and adds in some unique capabilities carried over from SpaceClaim proper. “Quite often, the models people receive for 3D printing are not the final file that they will actually send to their machine,” explained Hendrickson. “The basics will need checking, including water tightness and resolution of self-intersecting triangles. Secondly, a user might receive an assembly of parts that need merging together to print, or a model that has thin walls that need thickening for the process. Often parts need to be scaled up or down before they can be printed; split into two pieces; have fixtures added and so on.

Clean/fix meshes

Merge solids and STL

“People already use SpaceClaim for some of this prep work,” continued Hendrickson. “There are no constraints or rebuild errors in spaceclaim and it is fast — users regularly report that it is 10–20 times faster for editing and creating new models. Also, regardless of how the model arrives it can be exported in the file format that the printer needs. STL OBJ, VRML and even AMF are all readable and writable by SpaceClaim.” To date, users could only edit and prepare the models if the data arrived in the form of a CAD model, meshes were subject to a very limited number of tasks.

Meshes as models “This update adds tools for direct manipulation of faceted models for the first time. Clean up and repair tools are present, including checking mesh for errors, visualising self-intersecting regions, automatic fixing to auto close holes and gaps, and separating a mesh into all the shells that belong to it. Uniquely however STL Prep also gives users the power of modification, merging subtracting and intersecting meshes and the ability to use any solid model to do a subtract or a merge on the mesh… you can use all of SpaceClaim’s modelling with meshes, which is very powerful.”

Shell separate meshes

Split and junction

NB: TCT + Personalize will be trialling the new software module for 3D printing — look out for future updates! Mar 2014

i| www.spaceclaim.com

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