A 3D printer isn’t just forChristmas

My dad sent me a photo the other day of a 3D printer looking very sad and unloved in the window of a trade-in store on our local high street. I won’t mention the brand just that it was a basic, polymer extrusion-based desktop system, hardly used, with a bright yellow discount sticker stamped on the build plate.

I guess we could take it as a compliment. Has the general public become so nonchalant about 3D printing that it's now just seen as another piece of tech, like a tablet or a smart watch you swore you'd get more use out of? Who knows what the original owner had intended to do with that machine before ultimately retiring it to a dusty fate next to an overpriced set of speakers and a weathered guitar from some brand you’ve never heard of – and who knows where it will end up next. But given this is our business case issue, it got me thinking about all those AM machines purchased with the best intentions that now stand redundant in workshop corners, classrooms, and garages. Which 3D printing dream did they buy? What considerations need to be made when thinking about making that hardware investment and adopting 3D printing into a business? On page 35 we ask a range of experts, people that have spent their careers building machines and using them, exactly that.

In our healthcare focus, an industry in which the case for additive is a no brainer (improving people’s lives) but the business side a challenge (lack of funding, complex infrastructures and slow regulatory progresses), Sam Davies finds out how an EPSRC grant for Nottingham University could help get 3D printing technology into UK hospitals much faster. We also have a case study from MedScan on developing an aortic root CTO model using 3D printing, and an interview with Cambre Kelly, co-founder and Chief Technology Officer at restor3d, who you can hear more from on an upcoming episode of our Additive Insight podcast.

When it comes to making an AM business case, emerging markets are hugely attractive. They’re new, they’re exciting, and they allow AM to flex its capabilities as an enabling technology for previously unimaginable applications. On page 26, Oli Johnson speaks to Jesus Zozaya, Co-founder of Voltera about the potential of 3D printed flexible electronics, and I have a great chat with Richard Hague at Nottingham’s Centre for Additive Manufacturing (CfAM) about reearching multi-material, multifunctional AM, and the challenges around commercializing such projects into meaningful applications.

As this issue goes to print, we’re just weeks away from the 2023 AMUG Conference – if you’ve picked up your copy of the mag on-site, nice to have you here. I haven’t been to the conference since 2019 so I’m excited to be making the trip to Chicago, to mingle with real end-users and, I can’t lie, make the most of that free-flowing coffee. Looking at how busy those five days are shaping up to be, I’m going to need it. Check out my quick AMUG survival guide on page 31 and see you there?

DyeMansion & HP introduce vibrant color options for HP Multi Jet Fusion white parts.

New possibilities and huge potential.’

The excitement was palpable. Of Henrik Lundell, Senior Business Development at Prototal Industries, and many other HP Multi Jet Fusion (MJF) users too. Prototal is Northern Europe’s biggest supplier in 3D printing, vacuum casting, aluminum tools, and injection molding, and was among the first recipients of the HP Jet Fusion 5420W system launched at Formnext.

This new HP solution, when paired with the HP 3D HR PA 12 W material, can yield components printed in white. The platform promises the high-quality production of parts, providing much the same benefits as HP’s other robust, manufacturing-ready MJF platforms. But it’s the company’s partnership with DyeMansion – which complements MJF's industrial-grade reliability, low cost per part and enhanced manufacturing predictability –where, according to Lundell, the possibilities and potential become new and huge.

Back in April 2020, DyeMansion introduced its first vibrant color dyeing options for grey components manufactured on HP’s Multi Jet Fusion platforms, and an extension of their collaboration has seen them do the same for white parts made on the HP 5420W.

“Specific to the new HP Jet Fusion 5420W, HP is working closely with DyeMansion to demonstrate advanced post processing options for customers using the new HP Jet Fusion 5400 to produce white parts,” said HP Global Head of 3D Polymers François Minec.

This collaboration aligns with the ecosystem ethos that Minec emphasized when speaking to TCT in November. Then, he spoke of creating a seamless workflow to integrate, for example, post-processing elements, while also noting the results that can be achieved when pairing the 5420W with DyeMansion’s well-regarded finishing and dyeing technologies.

In 2020, 17 vibrant color options were made available by DyeMansion for users of MJF and its DM60 coloring station, four years after the launch of HP's 4200 series.

This time, as HP unveiled its 5420W machine, DyeMansion immediately made available an initial ten vibrant color options.

Proffering its Print-to-Product workflow, DyeMansion is supplementing the additive manufacture of white parts with its range of post-processing options. Users can clean parts with the Powershot C, finish them with the Powershot S or Powerfuse S, but by offering the DM60 coloring station, they can also breathe life into their products. The DM60 platform is backed up by 170 RAL and standardized colors, while also facilitating color matching and custom color development to cater for corporate colors, seasonal trends, and individual skin tones.

Of the ten standard ISO certified colors already available to users of the HP 5420W, shades such as Peony Pink and Eivissa Blue can be incorporated into products, with more in development. DyeMansion and HP expect to showcase these additional color options at RAPID + TCT in May.

Among the many industries HP is targeting by enabling the printing of white parts, it anticipates a greater play in the healthcare market, with white being the industry’s standard color. But by working with DyeMansion to provide coloring capabilities, the company can also facilitate more embellished solutions in the consumer medical sub-sector.

“The introduction of the HP Jet Fusion 5420W has already shown great interest and traction in the polymer/powder bed market and we look forward to seeing what new ideas and applications can be realized when combined with our post-processing technology,” shared Markus Josten, Director Global Business Development & New Markets at DyeMansion.

While Prototal harnesses HP and DyeMansion technology to serve an array of industries, the 5420W and DM60 combination has already been leveraged by OEMs in healthcare and consumer goods. ED Lighting has used the technologies to develop its Icon collection of desk lamps with increased productivity, while Castomade has developed patientspcecific upper limb casts for twist fractures that benefit from an increased ‘color freedom’, which is considered ideal for skin tone matching. With regards these applications, HP describes the printing of white parts as a ‘blank canvas for new ideas and creations’

– both products are available in white or in the color options provided by DyeMansion.

Invent Medical is another to take advantage of the Jet Fusion 5420W and DM60 offerings. This company is using the technologies in the development of its cranial remolding orthotics, which are made up of two assembled printed components. These parts, which serve to improve the shape of a baby’s skull as they grow in their early months, are finished using DyeMansion’s Powerfuse S both before and after color is added with the DM60 station.

“The possibility of printing white parts with the new HP Solution unlocks even better and more personalized offerings from companies such as Invent Medical to their patients,” Minec said.

Consumer medical has been identified as a key field for the blend of HP’s white parts offering and DyeMansion’s coloring options. In the case of Invent Medical’s cranial remolding orthotic, HP’s printing technology facilitates a custom-made, light, breathable helmet, while DyeMansion’s DM60 color station enhances it with personality and character. Invent Medical has also reported faster and costeffective scalability by harnessing an additive manufacturing workflow.

“Color and aesthetics are key, so we are excited that with white MJF parts, we can enhance our offering for pediatric patients further,” offered Jan Rosicky, co-founder of Invent Medical Group.

“I am happy that we were able to collaborate closely together with HP in the run up to the launch of their HP Jet Fusion 5420W printer and showcase the bold and vivid colors that can be achieved with these parts,” added Felix Ewald, CEO and Co-Founder of DyeMansion. “The combination of our technologies has the potential to set a new benchmark in the industry.”

DyeMansion (Booth #54, Salon D) and HP (Booth #53, Salon D) will both be exhibiting parts printed with the HP Jet Fusion 5420W and dyed with the DM60 station at the AMUG Conference between March 19-23. Both companies (DyeMansion – booth #3518; HP – booth #4618) will also showcase additional vibrant color options at RAPID + TCT between May 2-4.