WORDS: LAURA GRIFFITHS
I
’m sure you’re familiar with those early iterations of Google Glass; Matrix-style smart glasses we were all supposed to be wearing, talking to and receiving instant messages on in 2013? Perhaps a little before their time, in a recent conversation with TCT, Avi Cohen, Executive VP at Nanofabrica remembers those original prototypes as “bulky and clumsy.” And yet, while Glass eventually found itself a niche audience amongst industrial users for hands-free labour, had a technology like micro 3D printing been around, Cohen reckons it could have been a different story. The ability to 3D print miniature parts like connectors and lens holders in the case of Glass, are just some of the examples Cohen offered during a conversation about why the Tel Aviv company’s Micro Adaptive Projection technology might be more relevant than ever. “The world is getting smaller,” Cohen told TCT. “It’s surprising, so many people
SHOWN: AVI COHEN, EXECUTIVE VP AT NANOFABRICA WITH THE TERA 250 PLATFORM
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approach us from so many different industries, so many small parts sometimes you think you’ve seen it all and then you see something smaller and smaller.” For Cohen, who has spent more than two decades in the AM industry, 16 of which were at Stratasys, followed by five years at XJet focusing on the healthcare market, micro 3D printing represents a stark contrast to the trend to print bigger parts he had been witnessing since the ‘90s. Now, as laptops get thinner, mobile phones get smaller, and smart devices are compact enough to be worn around your wrist, the demand for micro parts is palpable. “Back then, and during the years, people were looking to always print bigger,” Cohen said of AM’s early days. “Nobody stopped for a second and said, ‘What happens if you try to go smaller and smaller?’ At Nanofabrica, this is what we are doing. We are printing such tiny parts
SHOWN: MICRO 3D PRINTED MODEL OF HOGWARTS SCHOOL
SHOWN: PART PRINTED USING MICRO ADAPTIVE PROJECTION TECHNOLOGY
