TCT Europe 21.6 by TCT Magazine

ISSUE

NOV 13

21|6

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Cover Star: In 1988 Scott Crump invented FDM, in 2013 he talks of a new wave of manufacturing... Also in this issue: 10-Page Jewellery Special EOS: Risk, Reward and Serial Entrepreneurship Review: The biggest ever TCT Show + Personalize Previews: Euromold and The International CES 3D Printing | Additive Manufacturing | Product Development

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tct

3D printing, additive manufacturing and product development

ISSN 1751-0333

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

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

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

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

DESIGN Sam Hamlyn e: sam@rapidnews.com Tracey Roberts e: tracey.mol@btinternet.com

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

C.E.O. Mark Blezard e: mark@rapidnews.com t: + 44 (0) 1244 680222 Published Prices Print Subscriptions - Qualifying Criteria UK - Free Europe - Free US/Canada - £79 ROW - £99 Print Subscriptions - Non Qualifying Criteria UK - £79 Europe - £89 US/Canada - £99 ROW - £119 Digital subscriptions to TCT Magazine + Personalize are free on iOS and Android devices. Search TCT + Personalize on the relevant app store for more information and to download the app.

The TCT Magazine is published bi-monthly by Rapid News Publications Ltd Carlton House, Sandpiper Way, Chester Business Park, Chester CH4 9QE, UK. t: + 44 (0) 1244 680222 f: + 44 (0) 1244 671074 © 2013 Rapid News Publications Ltd While every attempt has been made to ensure that the information contained within this publication is accurate, the publisher accepts no liability for information published in error, or for views expressed. All rights for The TCT Magazine are reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without prior written permission from the publisher is strictly prohibited.

BPA Worldwide Membership

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Performance Sintering Materials What we offer to you In addition to being a leading supplier of commercial and custom laser sintering materials, Advanced Laser Materials offer the latest industry solutions to your most complex Additive Manufacturing challenges.

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Joe Tucker at jtucker@alm-llc.com

www.alm-llc.com T: 254.773.3080 | F: 254.773.3084

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THE EDITOR TCT Show + Personalize Review — pages 56 and 57.

Production ready tech? Unbelievably this is the final issue of TCT for 2013 and brings the year to a close (for our in-print activities at least) with a bang. The hugely successful TCT Show + Personalize event in September combined with a slew of anticipated innovations at Euromold has created the most anticipation in the professional and industrial sectors for a good long while. Never far from the spotlight the consumer-facing industry is gearing up for International CES in Las Vegas, where TCT will be sponsoring the 3D Printing TechZone and running a 3D printing-focussed conference session on site. The push towards true series production with additive manufacturing has been happening behind the scenes for as many years as the technologies have existed, but I get the feeling that we’re maybe approaching the end of the beginning in this respect. Within this issue there are multiple examples from leading companies of where 3D printing and AM are being used to create end-use parts directly and indirectly. The trend for machine and software development also now tends towards meeting and surpassing the expectations generated from years of shop floor machine tool use. While visiting EOS over in Munich for the article in this issue (pages 45–51) it became apparent that, as explained by EOS’s CMO Dr Adrian Keppler, manufacturers of AM machines must provide their clients with everything they expect from the technologies that they’re currently using — be it milling, moulding or stamping — and

then add the final special ingredients specific to AM. In other words, if the technology is not as good as the existing solutions in terms of part characteristics and cost, no manner of incredible geometries will sway users. For the consumers these barriers don’t exist. At least not directly. These technologies are still so new to this space that few consumers have a reference point to use as comparison within 3D printing or scanning, but they have plenty from the wider consumer products world. Whether that is the ease of customising their own trainers online, or the ubiquity and simplicity of the digital camera, the average consumer is more technology conscious than ever before. Consumers are used to a slick end-to-end experience and in terms of 3D printing that means everything from acquiring a file, processing it, printing it and finishing it. How long until someone cracks the Apple-esque ecosystem?

Jim Woodcock Group Editor james@rapidnews.com

Joris Peels tells us a fairytale with a sinister undertone — pages 13 and 15.

Designer Daniel Hilldrup on how 3D printing unleashes his creativity — pages 25 and 27.

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www.tctmagazine.com

TCT VOLUME 21 | 6

contents

editorial insight

grimm column The devil’s in the details, explains one of the industry’s leading analysts. Todd Grimm

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column:

17 jewellery focus

For more detail, please see pages 8 and 9.

peels column

Scott Crump: Stratasys’ Chairman and CIO discusses how the technologies he has helped to develop over the last 25 years are moving from prototyping to production.

grimm column

on the cover:

euromold preview

feature: Empire Cycles & Renishaw We often like to say that AM can not only create unique geometries but also compress development timescales — in this follow up to the article in the previous issue of TCT, Renishaw and Empire Cycles do both at the same time.

jewellery focus Rose Brooke travelled the length and breadth of the Birmingham Jewellery Quarter to expose the fascinating world of 3D technologies in jewellery development and making. 17-19: The School of Jewellery and Jewellery Industry Innovation Centre 21–23: Hockley Mint and Rapid Models 25–27: Daniel Hilldrup 29–31: Cooksongold 33: Delcam 35: 3T RPD

Euromold remains one of the key dates on our calendar — take a look at some exclusive previews from the industry’s top companies.

A fairytale to give you goosebumps from our resident columnist. joris peels

empire cycles & renishaw

08 lead news

editorial insight

cover star

euromold preview

eos — risk and reward TCT took a trip to Munich to visit one of the pioneers of the AM industry and discovered far more to the history than just laser sintering.

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3D Printing | Additive Manufacturing | Product Development

Software is the hardest It’s not all about the hardware when it comes to taking AM to production, as Jim Woodcock discovered in conversation with Materialise CEO Fried van Craen.

feature: Arburg’s Freeformer — first look Duncan Wood reports from the K Show in conversation with the most recent entrant into the world of AM, Arburg.

tct show + personalize Jim Woodcock looks back at the biggest and (in his humble opinion) best TCT Show + Personalize to date — with more than 6,000 visitors and 150+ exhibitors there was more than ever to keep track of.

feature:

66 ctrl-alt-del

61 ces preview

59 envisiontec’s next moves

tct show + personalize

55 arburg freeformer

eos — risk and reward

materialise — software is the hardest

TCT + Personalize has partnered with The CEA to sponsor the 3D Printing TechZone and run a 3D printingfocussed conference at the 2014 International CES — find out what’s in store next January.

feature: EnvisionTEC’s next moves Jim Woodcock talks to EnvisionTEC VP, Martin Forth, following the company’s 10th consecutive year as a TCT Show exhibitor.

ces preview

ctrl-alt-del: Dan O’Connor reflects on the development of the consumer-facing aspects of TCT Show + Personalize, and questions whether industry will ever take the back seat?

3D Printing:

From Prototyping to

Factory of the Future

End-use parts - 3D printed air vent for Mini

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Scott Crump, part of the 3D printing industry for over 25 years, first as an engineer and inventor, then co-founder, CEO and now Stratasys’ Chairman and Chief Innovation Officer, was part of the industry’s development. He sees growing potential for new manufacturing applications using the technologies he helped to develop. WORDS | SCOTT CRUMP, CHAIRMAN and CHIEF INNOVATION OFFICER of STRATASYS LTD., and CO-FOUNDER of STRATASYS, INC.

t was not long ago that “3D printing” was a little-known term. Today, it is a household name and an accepted technology entering its next major development phase. Right now, we can see 3D printing (additive manufacturing solutions) for production taking off and we believe will fundamentally change manufacturing. The media has given additive manufacturing a fair amount of attention and the industry now has great expectations placed on it. We feel comfortable that most of those expectations will be met, though possibly in unexpected ways. Will it happen overnight? No. Will it cause the total disruption of manufacturing industry? No. Will the change be as predicted? Probably not.

Those who are skeptical about the impact of 3D printing for manufacturing focus on its limitations, rather than its advantages and compare it to a traditional manufacturing model. 3D printing’s success doesn’t lie in replacing traditional manufacturing, its success lies in performing manufacturing differently and leveraging its unique capabilities. For manufacturing applications, 3D printing is where prototyping was 15 years ago and over time, we expect it will become widely used, complementing traditional moulding, machining, casting and fabricating. We expect that growth will rise sharply in the next five-to-ten years and in this phase we will see new practices become embedded in the manufacturing culture. Defining new manufacturing sectors Perhaps the greatest asset of 3D printing is that it is an enabler – for both corporations and individuals. In fact, additive manufacturing is being used in three types of manufacturing and processes: personal manufacturing, augmented manufacturing and alternative manufacturing.

Augmented manufacturing 3D printed jigs and fixture

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Personal manufacturing For individuals, 3D printing enables them to make something they previously could not. It lets them release their creative or technical talents and bring ideas to life. It doesn’t matter if the piece is ornamental or functional, organic or geometric, raw or painted, it is by the very definition end-use part production. Manufacturing has already reached the home and 3D printing is playing a part in modifying consumer behavior through the new ecosystem that it has enabled. Creative individuals have access to hundreds of thousands of consumers. Online resources like Thingiverse, a MakerBot digital content sharing site, or Shapeways, for example, mean that creators no longer have to battle for valuable shelf space or seek seed capital to start manufacturing.

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[Stratasys] Industrial strength: augmented and alternative manufacturing While the consumer market will be big, we believe that the industrial manufacturing market will be even bigger. For manufacturing applications, there are two segments: augmented manufacturing and alternative manufacturing. Augmented manufacturing is where 3D printing makes the tools, like jigs and fixtures, that are used to manufacture. Alternative manufacturing is where 3D printing makes the enduse item or part. Media coverage of 3D printing has been focused on enduse items and left the most common manufacturing application in the shadows. Augmented manufacturing can decrease time and cost while improving quality and capabilities. Although they have not enjoyed the attention received by other manufacturing applications, production aids like jigs, fixtures, organisers, shields, guides and templates are low-cost, high-reward items that can be produced by 3D printing, today. Some companies are just starting to produce these low-risk, potentially high-reward items, while others have been doing it for a decade. They aren’t simply replacing machining, they are redesigning their product lines to make the work more efficient, accurate, fast, simple and profitable. Resulting time and cost savings are estimated to be 40 - 90% in lead time reduction and 70 - 95% in cost reduction. In addition, as inventory becomes a “Digital” inventory, customers benefit from: • Reduced storage space requirements • Quick tool replacement or revision • And simple tool duplication The saving of a few seconds per unit through the availability of quickly produced production aids can rapidly be seen on the bottom line. In our view, the main barrier to growth of this application is getting the word out. Alternative manufacturing The best opportunities are when needs match what 3D printing delivers, or when traditional manufacturing can’t deliver. 3D printing’s growth will come from applications where it offers a more efficient process. This is somewhat dependent on technology advancement, but also depends on discovering the applications where its value overshadows any perceived limitations. For example, skeptics believe that investment casting should have vanished long ago. Yet, something as basic as cell/mobile phone covers provide a perfect example of what 3D printing can do, and of its value overshadowing limitations. In a single operation, 3D printing can make this cover with moving gears. Is there any doubt that eliminating seven moulds; seven injection moulding operations, an assembly step and all associated costs, trumps any technology limitations?

Not just plastics 3D printing for production is not just about plastic parts: direct metals and printed electronics are two very interesting applications poised for phenomenal growth. Skeptics also fail to recognise that many companies do not use traditional, mass-production processes. Here, 3D printing is not competing with injection moulding, for example. Take the case of an aircraft instrumentation manufacturer with low production volumes and product changes too frequent to justify injection moulding. For making instrumentation housing, the preferred method was urethane casting in rubber moulds. By switching to fused deposition modelling – one of the main technologies on which 3D printing is based - it accelerated production by 27 days, reduced part cost by five per cent and improved part quality. If a redesign is needed, there will be no cost or time penalties to get the new design into production. Jeff Immelt, GE chairman and CEO, when discussing 3D End-use guage pod for Mini printing for production of a fuel nozzle on a LEAP jet engine at an Atlantic conference earlier this year commented, “...that is worth my time and a lot of investment.” Mark Little, GE’s Chief Technology Officer, went on to say, “It’s really fundamentally changing the way we think about the company.” Most 3D production stories lack the wow factor of a GE jet engine or a NASA mission, but they are examples that 3D printing for production is real. The need for education Education will increasingly be a growth driver of 3D printing. It was always recognised that 3D printing had to be placed in education to nurture students on the technology. In the late 1990s, systems started at $60,000 (£37,500; €44,800), but with the decline in entry-level system prices, today it is commonplace to find 3D printers in primary and secondary schools. As a result, students exposed to 3D printing will enter the workforce with the expectation that it is available and understand when and how to use it. Secondly, it inspires children to consider coursework and careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), and, consequently, manufacturing. 3D printing can put manufacturing in an engaging light, making it an attractive career choice. At a recent First Robotics competition, children rushed to make parts for their robots – eagerly discovering what 3D printing can do without realiing that they were engaging in manufacturing. When they enter the workforce, students will see 3D printing as a catalyst for growth and adoption. We are in exciting times and 3D printing will enable significant changes in the way we buy and make the products we desire. For skeptics, visionaries, and everyone that falls in between, 3D printing will be part of your future, limited only by your imagination. Stratasys i www.stratasys.com

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[Grimm Column]

What you don’t know... WORDS | TODD GRIMM, PRESIDENT, T. A. GRIMM ASSOCIATES

hose pesky details — if you don’t know them, they can hurt, haunt or dissuade you. The oversimplification of the 3D printing story in the media and in conversations does the job of grabbing attention and drawing focus to the highlights of the technology’s capabilities. That ‘big picture’ has attracted more interest in 3D printing than ever before. Yet, the details are missing. Without them, you can make poor decisions. Without them, you may conclude that 3D printing isn’t quite right for you. So yes, the devil is in the details, and as the idiom indicates, getting to them may be a challenge. I witnessed this while staffing SME’s Additive Manufacturing Knowledge Center at SOUTH-TEC and WESTEC. Knowledge Center These events are trade shows for those in the manufacturing realm. Both have aisle after aisle of CNC machines, cutters, gauges, deburring stations and inspection systems. With the increased interest in 3D printing for manufacturing, SME hosted a large booth solely for the purpose of sharing 3D printing insights. Over the course of two days, I staffed that booth and answered many questions. I also did two presentations a day to paint a picture of the 3D printing landscape and offer guidance on what to do next. Generally, there was a curiosity, not a fear, regarding the predicted revolution that 3D printing will foster. And while most were there to assess the potential of 3D printing for their companies, there were several that had budding plans to capitalise on what has been labeled ‘the next big thing’. I was really pleased with that level of interest as well as the level of knowledge. Sure, there were some very basic conversations, but most visitors had a decent grasp on 3D printing and were seeking more information. They were taking steps to uncover the pesky details. Generally, individuals were surprised by some of the details but fully expected them. They knew that there was more to the story. They presumed that 3D printing was not a plugand-play solution that manufactured perfect parts right out of the machine with no additional effort. Yet, there were a lot of “Oh, I hadn’t thought of that” moments. Linear Thinking The fun part of my two-day stint was prompting people to think differently, challenging the linear approach of investigating something new.

The most frustrating was listening to someone drone on about all they knew about 3D printing, never bothering to ask a question or not hearing the insights being offered. Linear thinking is to look at something from one point of view. I guess it is human nature to build from a baseline of what we know and what we hold as true. When it comes to 3D printing, linear thinking falls short because the technology is unique. What may be true for all other methods of part fabrication may be false for 3D printing. At the trade shows, the baseline for linear thinking was traditional manufacturing processes. This mindset yields direct comparisons in areas such as accuracy, materials, material cost and throughput. Important, yes, comprehensive, no. Without some tangential or obtuse thinking (non-linear), the 3D printing’s unique challenges, benefits and opportunities aren’t addressed. Linear thinking also leads to a mentality of seeking a direct replacement for something that is already being done. As you’ve read in one of my earlier TCT articles, that is not a good idea because 3D printing is a poor substitute but a great alternative. Non-linear thinking provides the ‘aha’ moments and the breakthrough ideas to do things differently, not just marginally better. Helping attendees shift to new lines of thought was my personal mission. Many embraced it. Those people will go forward and discover the details they need. Those that didn’t may succeed, but the odds are stacked against them. Roadmap of Inquiry My suggestions to the trade show attendees, and to all others, is to amass information through a thorough investigation. The depths and thoroughness will be dependent on the size of the investment and degree of risk. When purchasing a high-end manufacturing solution, there should be far more investigation than that for a low-cost 3D printer for model making. The key to the investigation, no matter how large or small, is to discover what questions to ask. Linear thinking and operating on assumptions or perceptions will cloak the details needed for a good decision. As witnessed at the trade shows, the obvious questions regarding accuracy, material properties and build times are asked, but they are not comprehensive. And assumptions that pressing ‘print’ yields a readyto-use part overlook so many factors in the 3D printing workflow. Ask your questions and really listen. Take the answer while reading between the lines to formulate a new question. Repeat this enough times with many people and you will discover the truths you need.

The second most important action is to question everything. Treat nothing as fact until you find several people offering the same information. You don’t want to make decisions on isolated opinions; you need consensus. The third action is to expand your search horizon. The 3D printing industry offers many options, but often, individuals are too focused on the technologies receiving the most attention. Unaware that there are dozens of core technologies and hundreds of systems, investigators may overlook the best solution for the intended application. Investor Investigations I guess that I didn’t really need a SOUTHTEC or WESTEC reminder of the need for investigation. By the end of this week I will be wrapping up my 55th discussion this year with members of the financial community. Those meetings have been my weekly reminder of the need for more information. In their efforts to dig in, researchers, fund managers and investors are seeking the pesky details when mapping out a buy, hold, sell or short strategy. They want to know what motivates 3D printer buyers and what dissuades them. While the financial community does not want to know the technical details that an enduser must have, its representatives are seeking the higher-level ramifications of products, materials, operations, expenses and customer services. Knowing that there is always more to the story than what is reported in a quarterly financial statement, industry analysis or magazine article, they are never shocked that there are details waiting to be discovered. But they are often surprised at what those details reveal: nuggets of information that can contribute to financial performance. Many of these financial discussions end with one last inquiry: “What questions haven’t I asked that I should?” That is the best question and often the most revealing. So the moral of these musings is to be surprised by the details before mapping out your 3D printing strategy, not after buying a machine. What you don’t know can hurt you. How? Research and reach out. Connect and ask. Dig deep to uncover the pesky details and mine the hidden gems. And never stop asking — industry veterans have ‘aha’ moments all the time. Being an expert on one technology doesn’t mean that you will know everything, or even know the questions to ask, about other solutions in the diverse 3D printing landscape. 11

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[Joris]

Birds, Bees and Storks WORDS | JORIS PEELS

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

think you’re old enough, son. I think it’s about time we have, the talk. We’re going to talk about the birds and the bees, son. Birds, bees and storks. Storks dad? Yes, once upon a time there was a great big stork, named...Bubonic. And Bubonic had magical powers. He could make powder. Powder dad? Yes, sweet soft powder white as the driven snow, for a time. Smooth, silky and divine, its touch is like the purest silk. This powder had magical properties. It was no ordinary powder. You could use this enchanted powder to make anything you wanted. Anything dad? Yes, son anything. Provided you didn’t need wall thicknesses less than 0.7mm and it was smaller than carry on luggage they let on board a Ryanair flight. Anything at all. And how does this powder work Dad? Besides the powder you’ll need a magical box. A magical locked box, son. Made by the finest elves the world has seen. Once these elves populated the earth, settling down in all corners of the world. Now their numbers are quickly dwindling. It is rumored that soon only three elves will posses the skill and power to make these magical boxes. These two elves are Aurora, bringer of Teutonic light and Occasus, the father of many shareholders. A mystical third elf, a gigantic judo elf, may awake from its slumber. It is rumored that other elves are in hiding, sheltering in the mountains in far away Japan and China, biding their time. They may be hiding from special spells cast by Aurora called patents. But, as far as anyone really knows for sure there are only two elves. These elves make these magical boxes and then Bubonic flies in and delivers the powder. Wait a minute dad, what’s a patent? A patent is a special incantation that if you have the power to say it loud enough means that only you can make magical boxes. Aurora, as well as being the bringer of Teutonic light is also the collector of all the patents, from as far a way as Texas and Finland she has spent her time collecting nearly all. There is one more ingredient to be added to the potion. And this ingredient is Magics. Don’t you mean magic dad? No son, Magics is much more magical than magic, that’s why its plural. Wow, and it won’t work without Magics? There’s a wizard, living in the dark forests of Germany, he wears purple robes and builds things with sticks, and there are tales that he has spells to rival Magics Wow, he must be a powerful wizard! And can I buy this special too powder dad? How much is it? Well in the short run it costs $95 a kilo, in the long run it will cost us our future. —THE END

he time of magical fairy-tales has ended. A chummy cottage industry we are no more. The eyes of the world are upon us and all sorts of MBA-types and investors are having a look-see, bringing us under scrutiny. Many people believe that 3D printing is the future. Meanwhile the industry grows, moving increasingly towards end use parts and actual manufacturing. Players in the industry talk of direct digital manufacturing and e-manufacturing and tout cases of people making actual products. Of course this has been going on for years but there has been considerable growth and interest in patient specific medicine, aerospace, automotive and low volume production. FDA approval for several implants as well as research by large automotive, aerospace and manufacturing companies puts us on the cusp of a real breakthrough in industry. These are all very interesting developments and each market has multibillion a year opportunities. Broad success in any one of these areas could multiply the industry several-fold. But, can we really expect to become a true cost effective manufacturing solution if we continue to sell resins at twice the price per kilo as titanium powder? Can we expect automotive companies to take us seriously when we offer them plastic powders at baffling prices? These people buy a lot of plastic, they know what this stuff costs. Is it realistic of us to talk about 3D printing being a manufacturing solution while printing in plastic filament is 3 times more expensive than printing in Argentine steak? Are we really going to convince large multinationals to buy farms of AM machines or use services at scale to make rather than prototype? Is that going to happen once they find out that it would be five times cheaper to fill up their machine with Moët & Chandon champagne than resin? In a prototyping industry where machines sit idle waiting for important orders and staff add an incredibly high degree of artisanship to a finished part high margins can be expected across the board. The customer wants it to be perfect and trust is paramount. But, moving to manufacturing (3D printing 2.0 anyone?) means that throughput and part costs will become crucial factors in the adoption of the technology. Higher automation will be needed in depowdering and post processing. Continued on p15

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[Joris] Continued from p13

I’m actually quite amazed that there is no completely automated depowdering and post procession solution available to our industry. Industrial automation solutions will be needed across the board to lower the high costs of labor in AM. 3D scanning systems will need to be devised that automatically check finished parts for dimensional accuracy and surface quality. Process steps and machine operation will have to be evaluated and optimised. Two hours of warm up time replaced by a warm up of the build outside the machine for example or by devising methods of continuous processing such as the Voxeljet VXC 800 does. Surely an industrial robot can be programmed to at least take out builds so that machines can work through the day and night? Existing AM technologies will have to be “retooled” for production by increasing their yields and part density per build. Machines will need to be faster, bigger and turnaround times shorter. New technologies will have to be invented, perhaps by doing away with support altogether by using jets of air for example. The software toolchain will have to be more complete and suited to manufacturers needs with significant improvements in automation and automated nesting. These are necessary investments that will need to be done either by the AM industry itself or “Arburg-like” players that are used to things being more efficient in their own industry. Because, if we want to do actual production a guy with a PC, waterjet or piece of sandpaper isn’t going to cut it. One would think that the high margins on materials should let us develop these tools ourselves but alas, so far this is not happening. The fact that “3D printing 2.0” will need to be built is one thing. But, high materials prices and margins are keeping it from being built at all. If industrials, designers and companies look at the costings of our industry they are often not immediately able to grasp all of the factors that enter into play. But, they can easily determine the retail and service costs of parts. And if these are too expensive it looks like a cut and dry case of the technology being to expensive for them to use at scale. What they often don’t know, but this is increasingly being mentioned in the media, is that one main component of cost is the high prices of materials. I can completely understand your ambition to be HP or Gillette. “The greatest feature of the business is the almost endless chain of blade consumption, each razor paying tribute to the company as long as the user lives.” King C. Gillette A beautiful business model, people coming back again and again and paying through the nose for white powder. But, as well as the service bureau being addicted to the powder, the manufacturers are addicted to the profits it brings. Just like drug addicts they think only of the short term not the long term consequences of their actions. “Should labour necessary to operate the machine of industry be a slave, be held as in a vice, and forced to work from year’s end to year’s end, always within striking distance of the driver’s whip, simply to pile up wealth for a few?” A surprisingly socialist sounding, King C. Gillette These margins are hurting us. They make many projects, parts,

jobs, designs, production runs and business cases impossible. They time and time again lead customers to conclude that AM is not viable for their business. The raise the costs to the end customer and are dragging down the growth of our industry. You see, an HP cartridge might contain some of the most expensive liquids known to man but paper is cheap. Even though the consumer might feel pain with each cartridge purchase, because of the low cost of paper and obscurity about exact consumables use per print, the individual cost of each print is not known to her. She does not, from a cost standpoint, reduce her printing or weigh the need or value of each print every time she presses Print. The 3D printing material is both the ink and the paper (Except for Mcor! –Ed), so the total cost of the build is expensive not just one, volumetrically small, component. With 3D printing you can as a customer know the cost up front before you decide to press Print. You can balk at it and turn to another technology, or not do it at all. Every 2D printer manufacturer has incredibly high margins on all of their cartridges. But, in the case of 3D printing competing technologies have no such mark ups. High margins are hurting our competitiveness vis-a-vis other technologies and are inhibiting companies and individuals from taking up the technology. There is an opportunity here to slide the entire cost curve inward and make the technology much more accessible. In the long run much lower costs should also increase demands for AM machines significantly and drive growth in the market. By making all parts cheaper we increase the number of use cases while giving the technology much lower TCO and making it more competitive versus alternatives. The longer manufacturers wait with reducing their consumables prices the more they will retard their own long term growth. The fatter and happier the companies are on these margins, the more exposed they will be to leaner competition. Furthermore the more people that find out about these high margins the greater the chance that competing products, including AM machines, will be developed. Even in a fairytale, you can’t have your powder cake and eat it too.

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[JIIC SOJ]

Harnessing the

Power of CAD

Birmingham School of Jewellery.

and protoyping in jewellery design and manufacturing The Jewellery Industry Innovation Centre and Birmingham School of Jewellery understand the importance of harnessing the power of 3D technologies for the benefit of the industry in general - and training the next generation of jewellery designers.

WORDS | ROSE BROOKE

ntering Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter (BJQ) is like stepping into a bygone era where the streets are lined with old shop facades and the people within them are using techniques that have not changed in hundreds of years - aside from the 3D printing technology, of course. It is the distinctive, timeless aesthetic of the BJQ that TCT Magazine’s guide Frank Cooper, Senior Lecturer and Technical Manager at the Jewellery Industry Innovation Centre (JIIC), says brings so many film and television location scouts to the square mile, not to mention tourists and consumers. “It’s been pretty much like this since the 1800s and there are between 3,000 and 4,000 people working here. The estimates are that 40-50 per cent of the jewellery sold in the UK comes from the BJQ. It fills up with shoppers on a Saturday and Sunday and the closer it gets to Christmas. We have a saying in the jewellery business that two-thirds of your business appears in the last quarter of the year,” Cooper explained. If the Jewellery Quarter was a soap opera, Frank Cooper would be one of those characters who has been there forever and everybody knows. Cooper started working in the Jewellery Quarter at a bullion dealer and from there to a large jewellery manufacturer where he began learning his CAD skills and the potential for prototyping technologies. When that company moved its manufacturing to Thailand, he started working at the JIIC. “Quite unique” “The way jewellery manufacturing works in this country is there are hardly any companies that can complete every process from beginning to end. You can be very successful as a designer or retailer but without owning hardly any kit, essentially. Everything can be outsourced as a standard industry practice. It’s quite unique in that sense,” Cooper mused. “Prototyping is absolutely standard,” he continued. “We have been using this as a mature industrial process for at least 10 years supported by compatible softwares. Popular programs include JewelCAD, ArtCAM, Rhino and SolidWorks.” The JIIC works closely with the Birmingham School of Jewellery (SoJ), which is part of the Birmingham Institute of Art and Design - an arm of Birmingham City University (BCU). The SoJ is a hive of industry-led teaching, manned by experienced jewellery sector professionals, some of whom are based at the JIIC, which acts as a resource of knowledge and expertise in itself, advising companies how best to accomplish

their needs, what softwares to consider investing in and what machines might suit their particular needs best. “We signpost people in the right direction of the local service bureaus and if somebody has an issue with CAD,” Cooper said. “The JIIC team, who teach CAD and do the rapid prototyping and additive manufacturing work, can offer impartial advice and assistance. I am teaching students at the SoJ a module about additive manufacturing in precious metals. We’re working closely with Cooksongold, EOS and Concept Laser to realise improved standards and understanding in designing for additive manufacturing.” “Best tool for the job” Cooper took TCT Magazine on a tour around the JIIC offices. The CAD studio seats a class of up to 10, instructing students on how to use SolidWorks, JewelCAD, ArtCAM and Rhino. He picked up a number of metal 3D-printed objects to demonstrate some of the innovative designs the students have created, including titanium rings featuring intricate patterns and indentations that cannot be made by any other process. Cooper’s colleagues Keith Adcock and Mark Watkins agreed that JewelCAD is one of the most commonly used 3D CAD programs in the jewellery industry but they like to offer a spread of softwares to their students. “We use a number of softwares in here and we choose the best one for the job,” Watkins - who was one of the CAD designers tasked with recreating pieces from the Staffordshire Hoard - stated. “SolidWorks would be good for making a miniature replica tank or for the Staffordshire Hoard project, for example, but more organic shapes tend to work better on JewelCAD.”

Continued on p19

JIIC AM titanium rings

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[JIIC SOJ 4]

Continued from p17

Adcock added: “We both use JewelCAD and we use ArtCAM from Delcam a lot. We’ve worked out how best to transfer files between them all. Rhino will do virtually all jobs, but as Mark says, it’s about using the best tool for the job. JewelCAD is better for tinkering with a design because it’s meant for people who aren’t really very good with computers. I progressed from that to Rhino and I use both together, and I am getting to grips with the Delcam Designer software.” When asked if it was frustrating moving constantly between programs, the CAD professionals did not seem to think so. “We don’t want another new 3D software, really,” Adcock stated. “We can usually find ways around things. There’s no software that can solve all the problems we face and if there was it would probably take too long to learn how to use it.” He added: “We sometimes use open-source software and are using NetFab because it’s free for the students and will tell you if a build is good or bad. My biggest bugbear is files that look great on screen but can’t be built. File fixing is quite therapeutic for me though for some reason, maybe it’s because I’m dyslexic.” Watkins showed us some pictures of the Staffordshire Hoard project and explained the work was tricky because he had to use artists’ impressions, recreating the cross in a CAD file from scratch using JewelCAD, Rhino and SolidWorks to then be 3D printed. The cross Watkins had to restore to its former glory from the crumpled, discoloured relic in the collection was to be a present for the Pope. Cooper’s report A Gift Fit For A Pope, 1500 Years After Its First Creation covers the story of the restored cross in full and is available online at www.bcu.ac.uk/_media/docs/Frank-Cooper-report.pdf. JIIC’s workshops offer an impressive scope of 3D printing technology, with SolidScapes, EnvisionTEC machines, an Objet EDEN 3SOV MultiJet and a Z Corp to name just some of the big ticket items being put to use by this busy little centre. “We use the SolidScape thermoplastic prints for jewellery items that can be cast directly into casting trees. The Z Corp we use mainly for architectural models and show and tell stuff,” Cooper said, walking through the room, where tools for traditional finishing and other techniques were also present. “Access to advanced technologies” Cooper’s tour continued into the SoJ, which is just on the other side of the road from the JIIC. The school opened in 1880 and has the capacity for 200-plus students who leave the college with appropriate jewellery design and making skills and knowhow from their experienced tutors. “It’s the only school of its kind and size in the UK and Europe,” Cooper said. “The SoJ is about teaching key skills and giving students access to the advanced technology and techniques the industry is using.” Jewellery Lecturer of the Jewellery and Silversmithing Design for Industry course - a top-up degree option for higher national diploma

JIIC student designs.

for jewellery and silversmithing students - Clare Price is keen to equip students for the changing jewellery manufacturing industry. “Most of the students have had two years of learning how to make jewellery. This course is about accessing the technology that the industry is using, teaching them how to use it and the software and processes for manufacturing,” she explained. “At the moment, they are doing a CAD module, then a laserbased module, then a business module and a final module that’s the development of their own product range and uses additive manufacturing technologies. Most of our students want to work as CAD designers and some want to run their own businesses. Many go on and work for somebody else because they are at a stage in their lives where they want to work for somebody and carry on learning,” Price added. However, as Cooper explained, there are not many first jobs in that sphere available each year, so many go into technical CAD roles rather than pure design roles. “There’s a happy employment ratio,” Price said. “And some of our graduates have gone on to work for companies like De Beers and Stephen Webster.” Without doubt, CAD and additive manufacturing are now as much a part of jewellery-making as hallmarking or polishing. It seems everybody from the students to the experts running the courses are constantly learning about the software as it develops and improves, enabling jewellery-makers to produce items that would otherwise have taken countless hours of labour or would be simply impossible. Whether that’s bringing an Anglo-Saxon artefact back to life or producing innovative items for an everchanging new luxury marketplace, the JIIC and SoJ are ensuring the next wave of jewellery designers and makers is equipped.

Jewellery Industry Innovation Centre www.schoolofjewellery.co.uk/about/jiic Birmingham School of Jewellery www.schoolofjewellery.co.uk

3 1. JIIC CAD School. 2. JIIC polishing machine. 3. JIIC student work.

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[Hockley + Rapid Models]

3D printing as a complementary technique in

jewellery-making WORDS | ROSE BROOKE

D printing and 3D CAD are well ingrained in the jewellery-making industry as complementary technologies to enhance traditional techniques, but how are they being put to use? Rose Brooke travelled to Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter to find out. When considering additive manufacturing or 3D printing technology applications it is easy to instantly think about the precise industrial structures built by the aerospace sector, or perhaps the colourful tinkering of the makers. But one marketplace considers 3D technology to be more ingrained in its industry than any other - jewellery-making. Thanks to our tour guide Frank Cooper, Senior Lecturer and Technical Manager at the Jewellery Industry Innovation Centre, TCT Magazine’s time in the Birmingham Jewellery Quarter was an eye-opener to the fact the jewellery industry is leagues ahead when it comes to getting the best out of 3D software and additive manufacturing, and using this technology as a complementary tool - enhancing traditional techniques, not replacing them. At the very top of our agenda was a visit to Hockley Mint. Founded nearly two decades ago, the company is an example of one of the larger businesses in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter. Managing Director Gary Wroe took us around the business talking us through how the company has struck the perfect balance of adopting new technologies to best complement the traditional, highly skilful techniques the industry has been using for centuries.

Design cad wax render

Total solution The first stop we made on our circuitous tour around the rabbit warren-like building was to a computer lab where designers were utilising JewelCAD and Matrix CAD software to create designs to be sent for rapid prototyping. The company has been using CAD/CAM technology for a decade and has never looked back. Before this kind of technology was perfected, the image in the designer’s sketchbook would have taken two months to render and now it happens in seconds. Rapid prototyping processes play a crucial role in the jewellery-making process at Hockley Mint and indeed the jewellery industry in general. While other industries use rapid prototyping technologies to produce design prototypes, jewellery-makers are using the same technology as a total solution in some instances or as a means of creating a finished product for a customer. Rapid prototyping machines, for instance, are employed by Hockley Mint to cut the places in the metal for diamond settings in silver or gold. “There are a lot of people who consider jewellery manufacturing to be an old fashioned technique but there’s plenty new and modern manufacturing technologies being put to use,” Wroe said, while talking us through the process of making a ring, starting with the metal tubes and finishing with the wax casts that go off to become a master copy or a one-off. Large companies like Hockley Mint that are lucky enough to do their own hallmarking in house can now work incredibly fast. “We could receive an order today, print it, cast it and get it out tomorrow,” Wroe explained. “We can prototype 100 pieces a week in silver, gold, platinum and palladium. We also stock plain wedding bands and we have them finished off and customised using rapid prototyping here.” Continued on p23

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[Hockley + Rapid Models] Continued from p21

“It doesn’t put a jeweller out of his job” Hockley Mint has up to three apprentices learning the trade at the business at any given time, with new recruits learning both the traditional workbench skills as well as the new 3D technology techniques. “We see [3D technology] as a complementary tool, it doesn’t put a traditional jeweller out of his job,” Cooper stated as we were taken past a row of jewellers’ benches, with each jeweller working quietly away on one trinket or another, using their traditional jeweller’s pegs to perfect the items that reached their skills hands after being designed using 3D CAD technology and finished on a rapid prototyping machine. In addition to CAD/CAM software and rapid prototyping, the company is investigating 3D scanning technology to give its business a further edge. Wroe explained that 3D scanning could be put to good use in creating bespoke charms for bracelets and pendants. “We have to be novel and creative,” he said. And it is not just big businesses with £15 million turnovers like Hockley Mint that are utilising 3D technology. Cooper’s next item on the agenda for our day in the Jewellery Quarter was a visit to Rapid Models, a small family-run business. But what the company lacks in terms of the number of personnel, it makes up for in diversity of work. The advent of CAD The man behind Rapid Models Mark Rollauer started training in CAD 15 years ago to “spice up” his skills, but as is the nature of the jewellery trade, work piled up and he had to put his training on hold. He returned to it four years later at what Rollauer describes as the “advent of CAD in jewellery”. “I used to practice my CAD work at home and eventually moved to get [3D printing] machines to produce the product because they were in scant supply and nobody had the confidence to run these machines back then,” he revealed. Rollauer’s first 3D printers were SolidScapes and he watched additive manufacturing technology evolve over the next couple of years, with more jewellery professionals like himself adopting the technology too. “Since I started we’ve now got bureaus and more people using it. It’s got more and more popular and there’s better delivery on the CAD side and the machines have improved. I tend to think the product has improved over the last five years and certainly in jewellery casting it’s moved on a great deal,” he said. But the last thing the Rapid Models team will do is use 3D technology for the sake of it. The company calls itself a CAD

and jewellery model-making bureau and that’s what it is. The company is sent a CAD file from a client and Rollauer then considers the best method of production. “Rapid Models considers the integrity of a customer’s ideas. In my mind the integrity of a file is paramount. I don’t have a jewellery-selling arm further than what I do,” he explained. “My job is to select the right technology for the job. I had a customer that wanted me to print a bangle on a SolidScape once, but for larger builds there’s no logic to charging somebody more for building something on the wrong machine. Some people forget there is a conventional way of doing things, though.” Rollauer revealed that his chosen software is JewelCAD although he likes to have options when it comes to 3D printing designs as models. His EnvisionTEC machine, he said, gives a good finish and is better for working in castable materials, while the build plate allows him to produce hundreds of models a week. Nothing new under the sun The CAD/CAM expert was keen to state that his work extends further than rings and pendants, revealing his knowhow has been put to use in building cars and producing a miniature of supermodel Kate Moss as an angel, as well as numerous other projects that have remained strictly off the record. Rollauer has looked over some intriguing files from big-name customers over the years but none of this has fazed him. He laughed that he has been made to sign non-disclosure agreements to protect designs, but in such instances he rarely sees anything he hasn’t seen before. “There are a few jobs, however, when we sit here and think ‘there’s a genuinely good design’. Something that’s got some style about it,” he said. Rollauer’s SolidScape 3Z Pro was in action when we paid Rapid Models a visit, with nine jobs on the plate making use of the machine’s two nozzles for building both the main and support structures. But 3D printing has not distracted the expert from more traditional production methods. “There’s nothing that gives me more pleasure than seeing the outcome from a milled surface. But in relation to 3D printing, it’s very limited and for every one thing I do in tooling, I do 300400 in 3D printing. The milling demand is just not there.”

Hockley Mint www.hockleymint.co.uk Rapid Models www.rapidmodels.co.uk

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[Hilldrup]

Designer

p u r d l l i H Daniel

m o d e e r f e h on t g n i t n i r P D of 3

Daniel Hilldrup uses 3D printing technology because of the unrivalled freedom it offers him as a designer. Rose Brooke caught up with the Fearless Forms founder in an exclusive interview to learn more.

WORDS | ROSE BROOKE

t seems many designers like to build their own constraints when they work rather than have their limits dictated to them, which is precisely why Daniel Hilldrup chooses 3D printing technology to realise his ideas. Hilldrup is a product designer and the founder and creator of Fearless Forms design studio in London. He studied product design to Masters level in the capital and has been working with 3D technologies ever since. “I’ve always utilised 3D printing,” he said. “I have always wanted to create products that have a greater narrative than industrial products and obviously that’s always been the case to a greater degree with jewellery and fashion accessories. This is something 3D printing absolutely facilitates, allowing me to create products with a greater narrative.” Hilldrup begins his work like most designers, with handdrawn sketches that are than transferred into CAD. He uses a mix of mesh, surface and solid-based modelling within his workflow. The ability to mix and match programs appeals to the needs of a designer - namely to experiment. “It’s about evolving your ideas. That’s the beautiful thing about CAD, you can explore. I try to keep things open as much as possible. The designs evolve, it’s very rare to create a sketch and for that to be a concrete idea that never fluctuates,” he said.

Daniel Hilldr up in Bugs Ey ewear

from Fearless Forms

Daniel Hilldrup http://cargocollective.com/dhilldrup

“That technology opened my eyes” Although he does not own a 3D printer himself, Hilldrup says he is lucky enough to have used a wide range of additive manufacturing machines to produce his designs. “I usually have the help of partners. I’ve worked in the past with Objet - now Stratasys - on several projects and I’m now doing something this year for Fearless Forms with their technology. I use them a lot. I am a huge fan. I started with them with my Flux candle holder using Objet technology, a Connex machine, with Tango Black Plus and VeroClear to make it look like ink suspended in a moment in time. “That always appealed to me because it used to be always one material and that’s all you could print at one time, so that technology really opened my eyes.” Hilldrup is currently working on fashion eyewear, embedding hinges into patterns within the glasses and playing with the material by pushing what Stratasys’ technology can do to achieve beautiful and intriguing results. “I’ve done some work with CRDM, which has been taken over by 3D Systems,” he added. “I did a design with them called Darwin’s Lamp. That was a stereolithography project.” Continued on p27

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[Hilldrup] Continued from p25

“Freedom to explore and actualise what you dream” Darwin’s Lamp was produced on an iPro 8000 using Accura 55 and coated with Black Technical Nickel, but quite often, Hilldrup says the “vanilla” additive manufacturing systems appeal to him. “I quite often stick to selective laser sintering. I like SLS nylon polyamides either in their natural state on their own or dyed and polished for a nice finish. So it’s quite a varied range of materials and processes I use today and I hope to use more. “In the future - specifically with jewellery pieces - I want to explore direct metal laser sintering and those kinds of fabrication methods using some of the more luxurious materials you can get nowadays.” Hilldrup revealed that when he was studying for his Masters he was keen to pick the brains of biochemists and materials experts about exploring organic materials that could be biodegradable, facilitating 3D-printed objects with a smaller carbon footprint, but since then the RepRap fused deposition modelling machines that use polylactic acid (PLA) materials have become more prominent.

Darwins Lamp [SLA Accurra 55 primed & built by CRDM/3D Systems & Metalized in Black Technical Nickel by 3DDC Ltd]

“The goal would be to have SLS machines using polylactic acid materials so we leave even less of a footprint once these products reach their end,” the designer said. “But in general I hope to use the luxury metals for the jewellery side of my work and somewhere down the line I’d like to do a limited edition using more exotic, expensive materials to add value to my products and allowing me to play with new materials.” Hilldrup is not using 3D printing for the novelty, he believes 3D technology is genuinely perfectly-suited to his work and jewellery-making in particular. “It goes back to what I was saying before about being able to truly visualise your intent when you come up with an idea,” he explained. “When you came up with an idea in the olden days, with traditional manufacturing processes like casting there were certain limitations. So being freed by the possibilities that a production process offers opens up a whole new world for designing and engineering. That’s why 3D printing is so suited. It allows you greater freedom to explore and actualise what you dreamt up in the first place.”

‘NOW’ Bangle [Fearless Forms ‘one-off’ version of design coming soon, produced by IPF - Industrial Plastics Fabrications Ltd on a Stratasys Objet Connex 500, dyed in FIEBING’s red leather dye]

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[Cooksons]

Pioneering 3D printing

precious metals WORDS | ROSE BROOKE

British jewellery industry leaders Cooksongold are partnering with EOS to develop an additive manufacturing solution designed by jewellery manufacturers for jewellery manufacturers.

ooksongold is the largest business of its kind in the UK, providing the jewellery and watch industries with everything it could need all under one roof at its headquarters right in the heart of Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter. The company is part of the Heimerle + Meule Group, Germany’s oldest gold and silver refinery and is easily one of the foremost authorities on jewellery manufacturing and the jewellery supply chain. So, it is only natural Cooksongold’s expertise has formed an invaluable part of creating an additive manufacturing solution for working with precious metals, making it ideal for the jewellery and watch industries. TCT Magazine met with Anthony Staniorski, Technical Director, and David Fletcher, Product Manager, to discuss the company’s additive manufacturing venture. “Leaders in laser sintering” Cooksongold has joined forces with additive manufacturing machine manufacturer EOS to develop an additive manufacturing solution for the jewellery industry, allowing designers to create items that could not be brought to life using any other manufacturing technique. Fletcher explained: “Over the last few years the jewellery market has been in decline as people are buying other things besides jewellery.

Bracelet manufactured by Cooksongold, designed by www.towejewels.com

So we decided two years ago to explore other areas and that’s when we went into partnership with EOS. We chose them because they are the leaders in laser sintering.” Cooksongold’s early work with additive manufacturing threw up the crucial design changes that would need to be made to ensure the final additive manufacturing machine was perfect for working in precious metals. Gathering powder, for example, is one thing when working with resins and polymers and quite another when working with gold and silver. There had to be a way for the superfluous powder to be gathered without any wastage or without any materials being difficult to remove from the machine’s casing.

Fletcher said: “We decided very quickly that this type of machine was not suitable for the industry where material management is vital.” Staniorski added: “If we lost a few grams of powder in the machine working in 18-carat gold means you lose any profit from production.” He continued: “We sent our specifications to EOS and they came up with the EOS Precious M 080. This machine has a brilliant powder management system inside and there’s no wastage. We try to account for every last gram and actually, we have come up with a machine that processes metals that minimises losses, protecting profits.” This is facilitated by the powdered metal being delivered via a cartridge, ensuring nothing is lost in setting up and completing a job. Any unused material is then recycled. Refining, Recycling, Reusing The jewellery manufacturing industry is by necessity very green owing to the fact there is only a finite amount of precious metal in the world and the raw material is expensive. Cooksongold is where much of the unwanted metal for money-for-gold scrap schemes ends up. There, it is refined and reused, with the company’s gigantic atomiser transforming the material into powder. The production of metal powder is part of Cooksongold’s additive manufacturing venture, as the EOS hardware offering is backed up by Cookson’s bureau service, powder sales and metallurgy, finance options for dealing with precious metals, maintenance and repairs, and training. Continued on p31

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[Cooksons]

Cooksongold www.cooksongold.com

Continued from p29

The EOS Precious M 080’s manufacturing times vary, with a watchcase estimated to take between six and 10 hours. But, as Staniorski says, this time is all relative because while the machine is in production the operator can be productive elsewhere. Which leads Staniorski and Fletcher to an obstacle that plagues a great many industries that use additive manufacturing the matter of surface finish This is why the EOS Precious M 080 was designed to build brittle support structures, so the material is easy to see and easy to shave off to be returned to the scrap pile for the next batch to be processed in the powder atomiser with minimal damage to the item’s surface before it goes off for polishing. Staniorski said: “Surface finish is extremely important in jewellery-making. The surface finish is paramount and the support material could affect surface finish.” It is for this reason that the pair although proud of the pioneering additive manufacturing technology - will maintain the system is just not suitable for everything. For example, a plain ring with a concave internal design would not be an ideal candidate for Direct Metal Laser Sintering because the concave internal wall would require too much support material. “It’s a technology that gives the jeweller a new set of tools, but it’s not a replacement for traditional skills. When we are talking to a designer and they want to design a conventional wedding ring, they would not need to take advantage of the things this new technology offers because in many cases, traditional techniques are better placed to do so,” Staniorski said.

The EOS Precious M 080.

Nevertheless, Staniorski believes additive manufacturing technology has a solid place in the jewellery workshop. “I’d be willing to wager that jewellery is the single biggest user of additive manufacturing technology in the world as an industry via its use of 3D printing of wax models for casting,” he said. Early Adopters Fletcher explained that now the machine is complete, the company can begin work on its alloy development. The machines will cost in the region of €190,000 (£162,138, $262,300), while the powder will be competitively priced per kilo plus the value of the metal as it changes on the markets.

“We will complete all three 18ct alloys and then the first machines will go to early adopters in the second quarter of 2014. Those customers will work closely with us and we will all benefit from mutual feedback,” he said. Cooksongold has put significant investment into the development of this technology with EOS, but now the long-term plan is bearing fruit and public awareness of the technology has been enhanced by the widespread mainstream media coverage 3D printing technologies has received. Staniorski and Fletcher laid out a series of items that could only be created using 3D printing, the most eye-catching of which was a square of gold chainmail for a cuff with a jewel-encrusted butterfly motif. All the intricate links were printed in a single build forming a mesmerising patch of cool, lightcatching metal mesh. “Two years ago people looked at the mesh bracelet and were sceptical that the technology would ever be widely used,” Staniorski remarked, “But in the last six months people are asking when will this be ready for us to use?” “This technology allows people to change designs and complex shapes,” Fletcher added. Moreover, they explained that designers can approach how they produce their work differently, as additive manufacturing means they could afford to make prototypes rather than use renders to try out ideas and designs. “We are developing a manufacturing solution,” Staniorski stated. “You push the button and it works. This is why our model is a bit different and we’re looking at the whole supply chain. Consolidating all the different elements, we have made a greener, leaner way to make jewellery.”

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[Delcam]

Delcam’s mission to

  Delcam’s ArtCAM JewelSmith CAD/CAM software was designed especially for the jewellery industry. TCT Magazine visited Delcam’s Birmingham headquarters to learn more about the importance of industry-tailored programs.

CT Magazine paid CAD/CAM and 3D technology specialist Delcam a visit to talk about the jewellery industry, the software it develops and how 3D technology has improved the way the industry works. Much of the UK’s additive manufacturing industry is nucleated in the West Midlands with Delcam right at the heart of the action - not least when it comes to the jewellery industry. Workshops and designers throughout Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter are au fait with the company’s offerings, with programs such as ArtCAM JewelSmith being adopted by everybody from students and hobbyists to professionals throughout the industry. ArtCAM JewelSmith Product Manager David Stokes was keen to unveil the work that goes on behind the scenes at Delcam to perfect this tailored-for-the-industry software and what plans the software developers have for the future. “We started working on our jewellery software in 2001. We wrote the software specifically for the industry based on our existing ArtCAM system for more general creative applications. With Delcam, no matter which version of ArtCAM you learn how to use, you can diversify into different industries. ArtCAM JewelSmith, however, is specifically designed for the jewellery industry,” he said.

Saving jewellery designers time ArtCAM Marketing Manager Rebecca Freemantle added that Delcam recognised there were things that could be done to improve a jeweller’s workflow, which is why ArtCAM JewelSmith comes with handy features such as the components library allowing items like rings and pendants to be created more easily, while there is also a range of pre-created shanks, settings and gems to choose from. “This saves designers from having to model the initial part of the design from scratch,” she said.

WORDS  The company - which has more than 800 staff and 350 overseas sales offices - puts its ArtCAM JewelSmith software in the same “artistic applications” category as sign embossing, coinage and producing chocolate moulds. TCT Magazine was shown some pleasing examples of the myriad everyday objects such as Easter eggs, commemorative coins and even lunch boxes that have been created thanks to Delcam software’s ability to take a design and bring it to life in 3D on a surface. In addition to developing the creative software allowing designers to lift their ideas off the page, Delcam offers training for its ArtCAM JewelSmith program, with 700-800 people attending its users’ group training events every year from Europe and Russia to as far afield as North America and the Far East. Stokes demonstrated the power of ArtCAM JewelSmith with a video visualising the onceimpossible shapes that can now be 3D-printed thanks to Delcam’s 3D technology. “ArtCAM is really about playing with relief artwork, as it allows us to take elements of the design and morph and shape it,” Stokes said. “A lot of designers want to play with their design and this software allows them to do that.” Among Delcam’s ArtCAM customers are Hallmark, Stephen Webster and Monnaie de Paris, while the technology is widely used in teaching jewellery design to students. One of its intricate features is the embossing tool that takes a piece of 2D artwork and converts it into a relief according to the designer’s specifications, revolutionising what was once a very timeconsuming and labour-intensive task for jewellery designers. Stokes said: “This would take forever in the old days, but now it takes minutes.” “Fantastic and diverse work” The quality of the rendered images, he added, also makes the life of a jewellery designer that bit easier. “For rendering a design in ArtCAM JewelSmith, you drag it into KeyShot and it allows you in a drag-and-drop way to change the look of your design as a render, allowing for trial and error without cost and time. It takes only minutes to finish a photo render and then it’s sent for rapid prototyping.”

CAD/CAM software is a serious investment for any designer and this is something Delcam has taken into account with its lease scheme for ArtCAM JewelSmith. Stokes explained that the ArtCAM 25 Lease option gives designers more financial flexibility. ArtCAM JewelSmith Designer, which is a design-only version of ArtCAM JewelSmith, is accessed via the cloud for £25 per week and as part of the package the user receives a free model token per rental fee from the Delcam Rapid Prototyping Bureau. “It’s a really good idea for students or for those trying out the technology,” Stokes said. Freemantle said she believes ArtCAM has the edge over other products on the market because of the features that are not available in other CAD packages, such as the freedom to work on multiple relief layers and the ability to create realistic renders with KeyShot and the ability to use the software with Delcam Designer to give jewellers “total freedom”. “We love seeing how ArtCAM JewelSmith is used and the variety of designs that are produced,” she remarked. “You only have to look on the gallery or the case-study page on the ArtCAM JewelSmith website to see some of the fantastic and diverse work that our customers are making.

“Stephen Webster has had celebrities such as Christina Aguilera, Kate Moss and Rihanna wear its jewellery, TCJ Designs won a design award from the Tanzanite foundation, Howard Bros have created medals of honour for the Kingdom of Bhutan, and money made with ArtCAM passes through peoples’ hands every day… it is incredible!” i

Delcam  33

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[3T RPD]

Jewellery Piece uses metal Additive Manufacturing in its design

The Brief: Forevermark, part of the world’s leading diamond company De Beers, approached 3T to produce pieces for a stunning necklace in stainless steel using their metal Additive Manufacturing (AM) process. The Solution: The final design was made up of 25 major parts and a further 98 smaller parts to hold each Forevermark diamond in place on the piece. On receipt of the data, 3T’s CAD specialists reviewed it. They recommended one minor revision on the hinge design in order to make the parts more conducive to the metal additive manufacturing process and added the necessary build supports. The major elements of the piece were built on a M280 EOSINT DMLS metal AM machine with minimal support structures as they were built directly on to the build plate. The neck pieces, which had a curved profile had build supports added by 3T and, following manufacture, required work from the 3T workshop team to remove the build supports. All but one part, the titanium pin to close the piece, were built in 316L Stainless Steel. The stainless steel pieces were created in three builds on three platforms taking a total of 24 hours. The titanium pin was built in Ti6Al4V on a separate platform and took one hour to build. Working to tight deadlines, the pieces were finished on time and were delivered to the polisher prior to setting. The Results: The final piece features 98 Forevermark diamonds set against the highly polished stainless steel work which has been set with pavé diamonds. It took six months to come to fruition, and has now been launched to critical acclaim in Hong Kong. It is now completing a world tour of prestigious fashion and art events. Speaking about the project, Anna Gorham, Head of PR for Forevermark said: “This project took Forevermark into new technology and new materials. 3T worked closely with us so that we could understand and get the best out of working with this revolutionary manufacturing process. We imposed very tight deadlines on them and they met them all – meaning we could keep the project on track.”

Forevermark www.forevermarkdiamond.com 3T RPD www.3trpd.co.uk

Gareth Pugh reveals his inspiration Having announced his collaboration with Forevermark, the diamond brand from the De Beers Group of Companies, Gareth Pugh shares the inspiration behind his design and the journey he embarked upon to learn about the unique promise inscribed on every Forevermark diamond. As part of the 2013 Forevermark Promise campaign, Gareth undertook designing his first piece of diamond jewellery, inspired by Forevermark’s promise of beauty, rarity and responsible sourcing. To learn more about the Forevermark promise, Gareth travelled to Southern Africa, visiting Orapa, home of one of the authorised Forevermark diamond mines, learning about the environmental and conservation projects hosted there. He also paid a visit to the Orapa mine hospital. Originally built for the 2,000 employees of the mine, it now serves over 64,000 people from local communities, from a radius of 600 km thanks to the advanced services and facilities it houses. Gareth then travelled to Gaborone, the capital of Botswana to witness the skill of the diamond sorters based at DTC Botswana, the world’s largest and most technically advanced diamond sorting centre. Here, the careful selection process for Forevermark diamonds was made apparent with less than one per cent being eligible for the Forevermark inscription. From seeing and handling rough diamonds, Gareth then witnessed their transformation into beautiful polished gems at an Authorised Forevermark Diamantaires cutting and polishing factory. Here technology meets age-old techniques and skill as master craftsmen carefully hand polish each and every stone, ensuring the finish is the most precise it can be, unleashing the full brilliance of each diamond. Pugh describes how this stage of the experience particularly contributed to his neck piece design: “The design process began earlier this year during a trip to Orapa diamond mine in Botswana, where I came to understand the incredible story behind each Forevermark diamond. One part of the operation that I found particularly compelling was the alliance between age-old craft and advanced technology and I knew immediately that I wanted that relationship to be part of the story of this piece.” Following this creative path, Gareth developed the idea of working with a unique set of contradictions: “The design was brought into existence in a most innovative way: utilising the power of technology - through digital body-mapping and 3D printing - combined with the knowledge and authority of experienced craftsmanship.” Further to this, the paradoxes continue with natural and untreated Forevermark diamonds, billions of years old set within a stainless steel base, built using completely new technology. Pugh explained: “The inspiration behind the neck piece comes from my idea of what a promise is; an unbreakable bond. Bringing it back to Forevermark, it’s about the reciprocal relationship that they have with the communities they support – it’s not about taking - its about giving something back.” 35

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Sponsored by

Continued from p37

Brand new AM technology from Arburg

and outer surfaces. Using a multi-cavity laser diode with an orthogonal mirror spinning at 20,000 rpm, the light is reflected through a spinning drum and goes through a series of optical elements thereby focusing the light onto the surface of the photopolymer across the Yaxis. The Imaging Light Source (ILS) which contains the multi cavity laser diode, its driver, and all optics, travels in the X-axis at 1–2 inches per second (material dependent) as the light is scanning in the Y direction and selectively photocuring the polymer based on the path data set. This new technology also allows for larger build sizes compared to EnvisionTEC’s DLPbased technology. www.envisiontec.com STAND: C140

printers, including new vibrant full-colour and multi-material capabilities complemented by a growing suite of functional materials. Attendees can reimagine the engineer’s desktop, powered by new Geomagic Solutions design and inspection tools and sample its comprehensive Quickparts cloud-based printing services, powered by the full breadth of 3DS’ technologies and global footprint with local fulfillment from 10 manufacturing locations. The growing range of the company’s consumer 3D printers, branded content and fun to print applications will take centre stage in Hall 11, stand B79. 3DS encourages everyone to experience the power of personal 3D printing, including made-for-you fashion, décor, toys and home office printed products, and the impact of easy-to-use 3D design and printing for the classroom of the future. www.3dsystems.com STANDS: E68 & B79

EOS to launch P 396 and M 400 The world premiere of the freeformer in October at the leading international K 2013 trade fair caused a sensation in the plastics industry. With this in-house developed machine and the Arburg Plastic Freeforming (AKF) process, the market-leading machine manufacturer and expert in plastics processing is taking a completely new approach to industrial additive manufacturing: the production of fully functional components from commercially available plastic granulates without a mould. In order to present the benefits of this innovative processing method, Arburg is making its first appearance at Euromold in Frankfurt. On exhibition stand E 121 in Hall 11, two freeformers will produce complex plastic parts from one and two components. www.arburg.com STAND: E121

EnvisionTEC to launch largeframe 3D printers with 3SP technology EnvisionTE will launch its new Xtreme 3SP and Xede 3SP large-frame 3D printers at Euromold 2013. Previously part of the company’s Perfactory family of 3D printers utilising DLP technology, the newly designed Xtreme and Xede now take advantage of EnvisionTEC’s new 3SP (Scan, Spin and Selectively Photocure) technology. EnvisionTEC’s 3SP technology allows users to quickly print in 3D highly accurate parts from STL files regardless of the geometric complexity with a surface quality showing virtually no signs of stairstepping on the inner

EOS GmbH will launch an evolution of its plastic laser sintering systems at Euromold with the unveiling of the P 396. The system promises users greater performance at lower cost with a reported 15% increase in the build rate (cm3/time) facilitated by a reduction in recoating time thanks to a high-speed, low-wear recoating system and continuous thermal management with reduced idle times. In addition improvement to the exposure time of the laser, higher laser power and lower energy consumption are expected to deliver a cost-perpart improvement of 10%. The useable build area of 340 x 340 x 620 mm can be used in processing of all EOS plastic materials except PEEK — the greatest material range of any EOS plastic system. Delivery of the first systems to customers is predicted to be April 2012, with PA 2200 and PrimePart PLUS (PA 2221) the first materials offered, with other materials coming in a cascaded roll out. More information on the M 400 system can be found on pages 45 to 51 of this issue. www.eos.info STAND: E148

3D Systems to unveil new 3D scanning and 3D printing innovations across two stands 3D Systems plans to commercialise a number of significant new products, including several breakthrough advanced manufacturing printers and professional scanners, at Euromold. At stand E68, 3DS plans to unveil a series of hands-on, interactive exhibits featuring its nextgen advanced manufacturing solutions, its expanding range of professional ProJet 3D

SLM makes further moves to true production systems At Euromold 2012 SLM Solutions showed the SLM 500 HL, a dual-laser 500 mm buildsize machine that build speeds of up to 70 cm3/h and layer thicknesses down to 20 μm. For 2013 SLM Solutions will show another automation innovation for the SLM 500 HL — the Automatic Powder Sieving Station PSA 500 and Build Volume Handling Unit. A fully automatic powder filtering unit is equipped with a special screw system for emptying the process chamber overflow containers and refilling the powder container under an inert gas atmosphere. The electrically operated build volume is carried out to a container station to empty the whole build powder into a funnel. From this device the powder is diected to the vibration sieving system. The sieved powder passes into steel container that is fixed in position inside the sieving system. The system is equipped with an additional ultrasonic device to support the sieving procedure. The sieving process is fully automated and does not influence the build process (which happens in parallel) of the system, which reduces the ancillary times. Fine mesh filters and sieves are standard and commercially available products and preassembled with a 100 μm mesh insert. Fresh powder is brought via a screw system from the main reservoir either direct to the recoater or a defined powder volume above the system. www.slm-solutions.com STAND: D86

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[Renishaw/Empire]

E C N E ID V E L A IC IR P EM ortunity to demonstrate the It’s not often that we get the opp that has been facilitated by AM speed of product development olvement and quick work of in real time, but thanks to the inv chapter of the Empire Cycles UK-based Renishaw, the next ready to be unveiled. story started in the last issue is WORDS | JAMES WOODCOCK

n the last issue of TCT we reported from an industrial estate in Bolton about a man with a plan to re-invent the bike and the companies helping him with his dream of re-shoring cycle production to the UK. Working from the premises (and with the support) of Merlin Engineering, Chris Williams’ Empire Cycles is railing against the near-monopoly of bicycle manufacture in the Far East; specifically China and Taiwan. Realising that it’s impossible to compete with the ubiquitous hydroformed tubular frames so familiar to any cyclist, Chris decided to use his experience in Moto Cross to bring the competitive advantage to UK manufacturing and to riders of Empire’s bikes. Making use of the Stratasys uPrint installed at Merlin Engineering’s production facility, Chris started to toy with 3D printing as a development tool both with scale models and latterly full-size 3D printed parts. Visitors to TCT Show + Personalize in September would have seen the fruits of these labours in the Innovation Showcase. The next logical step would be the production of additively manufactured functional parts, which is where Renishaw comes into play. Chris explained how the project got underway: “I’ve actually been using AM components in production for many years in a small way, this is the first time I’ve had the opportunity to have a go at a full working product. I rang Renishaw up and let them know who I was and what I would like to do. They went away and did some research on me and then just said yes they would love to build all the parts!” The team at Renishaw thought that some of the standard simple parts like the seat post or headstock could be the way forward to shave off a few precious grams as they were known entities and simple enough to validate and test. One only has to look at the professional road racing teams to see the hours of R&D — not to mention the significant investment — that goes into losing a gram here or there, gaining a split second in the process. Initially the aluminium cast seat post part was taken and built as a benchmark just to show the base abilities of the laser melting process. Renishaw provided advice on how the part could be lightened; they used Altair’s solidThinking Inspire 9.5 software to perform a topological optimisation.Inspire generated a new material layout within the package space using the loads and supports as input. This provided a concept that not only met the performance targets but was also minimum mass. Chris then took this model and used his own design knowhow to generate suitable geometry around this concept for ALM manufacture. A tool such as Inspire goes hand in hand with ALM by generating component designs that maximise the manufacturing freedom of ALM, leading to stronger and lighter components. Continued on p43

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[Renishaw/Empire] Continued from p40

“The intermediate part turned out difficult to build using the AM process,” explained Ian Brooks, Renishaw Applications Engineer. “I went to see Chris and worked through some of the sticking points, for example where unnecessary amounts of support were needed or where breaking supports from the main part would prove difficult. Other minor design points like drain holes for excess powder were integrated into the later designs.” The ultimate aim of the project was weight saving and the resulting parts are designed for maximum strength with minimum weight, not for aesthetics: “Eventually this thing will be chucked down a mountain with someone, probably Chris himself, on it. At that point what it looks like becomes irrelevant if the engineering behind it fails.” “We took the seat post bracket from 360 grams down to 200 grams, and the cost of the weight savings don’t have to be made up in other areas. What we haven’t bottomed out yet is the finite element analysis, which is a big job for a project like this. What we can do is get close to optimum and test the bike in the real world with a whole host of sensors on the frame and collect actual data and optimize from there,” explained Robin Weston, Renishaw Marketing Manager. Further weight was saved by integrating the clamping threads into the design, doing away with the need for a separate bracket. With the huge weight saving achieved on this single component and some reservations Chris had about the design, the scope suddenly expanded. “Where we’d thought about extruded or hydroformed aluminum tubing or even carbon fibre for the frame, bonded onto some titanium bits for at the corners of the triangles (where the tubes meet components like the seat post and headstock) we started to look at doing even more. Chris explained that the use of the standard frame materials really inhibited the design freedom. As we looked at the likes of the main aluminum frame and realised that component weighed 2,100 g on its own; we knew we could help to create something equally as strong and shave a huge amount of the weight off. From there the idea that we could do more, even all of the major frame components, came together.” It was agreed that the team would aim to build the whole frame, seat post and swing arm additively, allowing complete freedom of design. Hope Technology Ltd., a major supplier of precision CNC parts for cycles have agreed to complete the bike with the non-frame components and — fingers crossed — the whole thing will be on show at Euromold on Renishaw’s stand. The cost of the process is such that the finished bike would be expected to retail for somewhere in the region of £20,000, but as David Ewing, Renishaw Marketing Engineer, explained: “It won’t be cost-effective at the moment but that was never meant to be a part of the project. Proving out a new concept will hopefully pave the way for more cost-efficiency in the future.” The potential final cost of the frame alone lead to some further potential innovations in the construction. It would be quite easy to ‘build’ in serial numbers, riders names etc., that would prove a barrier to theft. It may even be possible, eventually, to embed RFID chips into the frame as it is being built, creating a security tag embedded in the metal of the frame and therefore making it extremely difficult if not impossible to remove. In terms of strength the initial optimised seat post bracket has already been tested to the BS standard, which includes exerting 1,200 newtons applied and released for 50,000 cycles at no more than 25 hertz. “We thought why not test to destruction and see how strong it really is – so far it has exceeded the standard six times, at 300,000 cycles and counting. This is after

stress relief only; we are planning advanced heat treatments, such as Hot Isotatic Pressing (HIP) which could improve the properties even further.” Going to press, half of the bike is still being designed, whilst the other half is going into production. The deadlines are incredibly tight, but as the pressure increases so does the excitement – after all it’s not every day you get to revolutionise the manufacturing techniques of this iconic mode of transport. As for the weight – you will have to wait and see, but the CAD data is predicting a reduction of 50 per cent…

Empire Cycles www.empire-cycles.com Renishaw www.renishaw.com solidThinking www.solidthinking.com Hope Technologies www.hopetech.com

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[EOS]

EOS — Two decades of

Risk and

Rewards

EOS GmbH, based deep in the forests of southern Germany, is one of the most recognisable names in the AM and 3D printing world. Part of this recognition stems from the breadth of applications that the company’s laser sintering technologies are used for — from toys and games through medical, tooling, automotive and aerospace components. In a bid to get the lowdown on some exciting developments we had been tipped off about, and to get the whole of the EOS story directly from founder and CEO Dr. Hans J. Langer, TCT took a trip to Munich...

WORDS | JAMES WOODCOCK Mittel of the road? he Germans have a word — Mittelstand — that epitomises many of the companies you’re likely to read about in TCT. The exact translation into English is quite vague and refers to the ‘middle estate’, a throwback from the days of feudal systems and wealthy landowners. What the term really means though is a way of thinking and a way of working that has become lauded as the source of Germany’s persistent economic superiority within Europe, even through the lean years of the financial crisis, credit crunch, recession and currency woes that have beset their continental brethren. Mittelstand companies are generally small (under 500 employees), focussed on high-tech and high-value manufacturing and engineering applications and are dotted across the German landscape, often in rural locations. Mittelstand companies account for around 70 per cent of the country’s employment and have been hailed a source of innovation and economic resilience. They usually cluster around large enterprises but — importantly — are never reliant on supplying a single customer instead spreading risk through their supply chains and customer bases. The companies tend to be conservative in their practices, shying away from undue risk and concentrating on stability rather than growth, with emphasis on passing the business on to the next generation in good order (historically Mittelstand companies are family owned) — something that a lot of the Western economy could benefit from studying. With all that said, business always involves an element of risk and the greatest businessmen are the ones that have taken risks that others would scoff at, something that EOS’s founder and CEO Dr Hans J. Langer appreciates: “Back in 1988 I was working for a company called General Scanning, a company that at the time had a quasi-monopoly on scanning systems for lasers — the mirrors and actuators that control the position of the laser beam. I had started General Scanning’s European operations and was on the strategy board that was responsible for the direction of the company on the whole. The idea at the time was for the company to move from the components business into very specific areas of system businesses. We knew the laser applications market very well as nearly everyone using lasers at the time used General Scanning systems or components. “Because of the ubiquity of the company’s products we could see new applications arising very early on in different universities and start-up companies around the world. One of the developments we saw was the use of lasers not for scanning or cutting or milling, but for layer-by-layer manufacturing; in Europe, the USA and Japan there were projects that all used parts from General Scanning. At this time I proposed to the General Scanning board that the company invest into the layer manufacturing world under the name EOS (Electro Optical Systems) as it seemed to be a logical progression in moving the company from components to systems.”

EOS Founder and CEO Dr Hans J. Langer

When a door closes, a window opens What happened next was perhaps the defining moment in Dr Langer’s professional life and for EOS as a company, as the CEO went on to explain: “The board at General Scanning declined the proposal because they were worried about potential patent issues. Of course I was disappointed but by accident I went on to meet an ex-customer of mine here in Germany who had just sold the first laser company and was looking for activities as a business angel.” With some reassurance from his ‘angel’ as well as the muchneeded investment Dr Langer left General Scanning to pursue the EOS concept on his own. “I started to look at what exactly the other groups interested in additive technologies were doing. Over in the USA Charles Hull was using laser systems to cure photopolymers layer by layer — being a physicist I wondered whether it would also be possible to use lasers to build parts on metals and ceramics also, especially as I had experience of laser welding systems — all that was missing was the Z axis.” Like all companies, but especially in the early start-up phase, cash flow is the key to success, something that Dr Langer immediately realised. In order to make the fledgling EOS a serious contender in the emerging market the company needed a customer, and for a customer it needed a first product. Attention turned to companies in the local Munich area to approach. After some enquiries Dr Langer found a sizeable interest from a local carmaker — BMW. “BMW were already interested in early rapid prototyping technologies and so seemed like the obvious choice for EOS. We approached BMW and talked to them about the ideas for both reading and writing with lasers. The company already had a 50strong team looking at rapid prototyping across all business units. BMW had a specification in mind that they were unable to get built by existing rapid prototyping machine manufacturers Continued on p47

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[EOS] Continued from p45

so we proposed something to them: for the same cost of an existing machine that did not meet their specification, we would develop and build a machine to match their exact specification. We needed 50 per cent of the total cost up front and 50 per cent upon delivery — if the project failed for any reason BMW would stand to lose that 50 per cent, so this was something of a risk for them. It is also unusual to buy a machine that doesn’t even exist as a drawing, only as a list of specifications.” Thankfully for EOS BMW finally agreed to the unorthodox arrangement and the team began working on the system. Dr Langer contacted some engineers with whom he had previously worked who were keen to get involved with such a daring project and work commenced on the first machine. Within one year the machine was being delivered to BMW, as per the specification. Materially impossible More luck was to follow for EOS as Dr Langer explained: “I knew that the specification that BMW had set would be achievable from a laser hardware point of view, but the project would be set to fail because of difficulties with materials supply.” At the time Ciba Geigy were supplying 3D Systems with materials for their stereolithography systems, but would not supply BMW with material. The challenge was therefore to find a supplier of a material that would still allow the machine to meet BMW’s specification who was willing to work with an unknown company and an unknown machine. After some research BMW pointed EOS towards Du Pont. As it turned out Du Pont had a material that was not only suitable but would in fact allow EOS to surpass the specifications of the Ciba Geigy material — and Du Pont had also developed a machine to run the material on, which had been shelved because of potential patent issues. With the materials partnership in place EOS were set for astonishing growth over the next three years, building from 0 to 10 million DM and selling some 20 systems to BMW and its supply chain. The next logical step for the fledgling machine maker — which until this point had taken its fair share of risks — was to diversify its customer base. Its experience within the automotive sector made another carmaker the obvious choice, and Mercedes was identified as a potential customer. Not to be outdone by BMW, Mercedes specified a larger stereolithography machine from EOS, the STEREOS 600 — the STEREOS 400 had been installed at archrival BMW. The manufacture and sale of stereolithography machines didn’t go unnoticed by 3D Systems in the USA, and the following years saw many patent battles between the two companies. It is telling that now, some 20 years on, Dr Langer dismisses these potentially threatening legal battles with a shrug — water under the bridge as they say. By 1994 EOS had expanded into one of the areas it is most closely associated with today — laser sintering. The P 350 machine was developed for BMW as the company had realised the potential of the photopolymer systems and wanted to move into small series production parts, initially for concept cars. When its first laser sintering machine was launched EOS became the only company selling both laser sintering and stereolithography systems worldwide. Behind the scenes the company was working closely with Swedish household and professional appliances manufacturer Electrolux, who had bought the very first stereolithography machine in Europe, a new metal technology dubbed Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS). Electrolux had developed sintering materials for mould making but were using a furnace to process the metals and were struggling to get homogenous structures. Ever the astute businessman, Dr Langer had one question: “The first thing I asked them was ‘do you have a budget?’. Luckily they did and we then worked to produce for them a machine that enabled direct metal laser sintering — which is now our largest market.”

Enter the sandman At around the same time a foundry expert, Dr Florian Wendt, was looking to make use of a sand sintering process that he had patented. The patent was of interest to EOS but without any foundry experience there would be no easy way forward. Using connections at BMW’s foundry department Dr Langer started to research whether the sand sintering process could be a viable business move for his rapidly growing company. BMW’s response: ‘If this is real, it could revolutionise the way we work.’ BMW were at the time using sand moulds for cylinder heads, requiring up to 30 pieces of sand to be set into a box before metal is poured into the mould, a time consuming and labour intensive process. EOS took one CAD file from the foundry at BMW (a very early file — at the time the process was still worked by hand!) and built the mould in sand on a modified plastic laser sintering machine. The process was complete in a few hours, so the next logical step was to melt some aluminium and create a part. Dr Langer recalled with obvious pride: “We decided to use some aluminium to cast a part from the sand pattern we had created as we didn’t have any foundry facilities and aluminium has a low enough melting point to be viable. In under 24 hours we had taken a crude CAD model and produced from it a metal part! I rang BMW and told them that their part was ready. ‘What do you mean part? We gave you a drawing for a mould…’ was the response. When I explained what we had done the engineer who was coming to collect the piece asked, ‘can I bring my boss with me?!’.” Once the part had been seen a conversation ensued that would drive the next developments of EOS’s platforms. BMW: “Hans, what can we do to protect this technology for some time for us?” Dr Langer: “What do you want to do with it?” BMW: “We want to make cylinder heads.” Cylinder heads are 600 mm and larger, but the plastic laser sintering machines only had 350 mm square build platforms. Making a 600 mm system would in effect require joining two 350 mm systems which, Dr Langer explained, could take years to perfect: “Making a 600 mm sand sintering system would not be easy but we proposed to BMW that we could produce two machines, in two years, for 2 million DM (approx. €1 million; £800,000). After some weeks BMW agreed so we had the budget and hired an engineer, Thomas Mattes, and set about making the machines. These machines would process 100 tonnes of sand per year so needed a new way of loading and unloading, which was another innovation we developed.” The holder of the original patent, Dr Wendt, went on to secure backing from Dr Langer and his business angel to start a foundry for prototype castings. That company, ACTech, are now world leaders in prototype castings. Dr Langer founded another company at around the same time he founded EOS to combat problems that EOS were having in sourcing the laser scanning heads for their growing portfolio of machines. That company, SCANLAB, went on to become the world leader in scanning systems for laser control. One final innovation was needed to bring EOS to its full range of systems, a dual-laser polymer processing machine, the P 700. Daimler had seen the P 350 at BMW and the dual-laser sand casting machine S 700 and wanted a machine that could process polymers, with the 700 mm build bed, and dual lasers. The P 700 was released in 2,000, just 12 years after Dr Langer had left the 2D world of General Scanning and set up EOS. Testament to the protracted and disruptive nature of litigation, it was not until 2004 that EOS was able to sell its first metal laser sintering machines in the United States market. One of the first Continued on p49

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[EOS] Continued from p47

customers, Morris Technologies, wanted to make tooling for local healthcare giant Proctor and Gamble. As Dr Langer pointed out: “In Cincinnati you have not only Proctor and Gamble but also General Electric (GE) who picked up on the technology and started to investigate further. In 2007 Morris and GE visited EOS in Krailling and announced that they were working on a special project together that would come to fruition publicly as the acquisition of Morris by GE Aviation in 2012.”

BELOW: Laser sintered insole showing different firmness for pressure points

A turning point to production GE’s involvement in metals additive manufacturing (AM) was a paradigm shift for all involved as for the first time a business model was created that was larger than the companies providing the machinery. This change in the landscape into a true manufacturing technology spurred on a substantial change in the way EOS has organised itself to move forward and points to the direction of the company in future. “We realised that companies like GE were really serious about series manufacturing using additive manufacturing. If they are being serious, then we also need to be serious, hence the changes to the management structure to ensure that EOS continues to be at the forefront of innovation in the manufacturing applications of AM,” explained Dr Langer. Moving from prototyping to series production Throughout the company’s history the evolution has been easy to chart — from bespoke stereolithography systems through to laser sintering systems and eventually sand and metal laser sintering. Until recently however all of these systems were taken away and used most often in prototyping, but they were being used in some of the most innovative companies in the world, and these companies saw the potential for additive manufacturing as a serious production tool. And once they had seen it, they wanted it. Where open collaboration with other companies had served EOS well in the early years, it was now time to bring the expertise in-house and make changes to the fundamental structure of the business, as Dr Adrian Keppler, CMO, went on to explain: “I started with EOS four years ago as Hans realised that the company needed to move in a different direction. Transforming from a maker of prototyping machines to a solution provider for series production is a big move and we need a different mindset, different tools and different technology. “Our technology was developed for mostly rapid prototyping but our customers could see already the value of additive techniques for series parts. Hans asked me to join to help change the direction of the company to the part production focus. I was working for 10 years at Siemens in a number of roles — one of the things I brought with me from there was that a company must sell a solution to a problem. We don’t sell a product we sell a solution that includes machine, material services as well as upfront software to design the part, simulate the process, monitor the process and then on to hipping, heat treating, finishing and surface optimisation. Based on our long-term expertise we can help our clients build up this process chain so that they get the best out of the technology.” There have been a host of other changes to the management structure, a QA manager plucked from the medical industry, a software lead from the automotive industry, a head of engineering from the laser machining industry.

ABOVE: EOS’s new facility is due to open in 2014

Dr Tobias Abeln came to EOS just over two years ago with experience that is invaluable for a company looking to break into true production, as he explained: “Before I came to EOS I worked in the machine tool industry and before that in a company that made special machines for the automotive industry. Both industries share an approach to modularity, reliability and standardisation that is needed when you are making machines that run three shifts per day for 365 days per year. If machines are used in a rapid prototyping environment it is maybe not so much of a problem that the machine doesn’t run on Friday afternoons because of maintenance, or that the process of getting the machine running a job is very labour intensive. For a production machine however this is unthinkable, especially when you are competing with other machine tools on the production floor.” The route to production acceptance is no longer about making the most of the freedom of AM, it is about taking the benchmarks set by other manufacturing technologies, meeting them and then adding the unique benefits of layer-by-layer production to them, as Dr Keppler explained: “In the past a user of an additive manufacturing system would look at the parts from their machine and say ‘this part looks nice, I can use it.’ Now they want the right material, mechanical properties and even microstructure that is available from their existing techniques with the freedom of the AM process as well. We now have to combine something known, such casting, forging, milling with the characteristics only available to AM.” The development of new solutions is driven by three points of interest: the further optimisation of the process, the increase of productivity and the reduction of cost per part combined with offering new features as well as materials. At the moment, the team believes that the main focus should be on the process in combination with the process-relevant hardware and software. Optimising the process for production includes the reliability and speed to reduce the final cost per part. After the process, materials will become the area that offers the greatest benefits as Dr Keppler explained: “Once the process is properly optimised people will start to create new alloys that can exploit the unique features of AM, but this will take until certain industries to accept AM as a true manufacturing technology.” Meeting production readiness At the upcoming EuroMold in Frankfurt EOS will unveil the first machine that truly reflects the new thinking at the company, the EOS M 400 system. A 400 mm x 400 mm x 400 mm modular metals laser sintering machine, the EOS M 400 is the first step on the road to production machines capable of high-throughput series production and the large-scale production platforms that EOS predict will be the future of AM for series production. Featuring semi-automated process to aid throughput and reduce cycle times, the modular principle will launch first with a single field 1 kW laser before being adapted for a multi-field set up with 200/400 W lasers in a second step, the EOS M 400-4. Continued on p51

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D Direct irect M Metal etal Laser Laser Sintering Sintering O Opportunities pportunities aatt C Cooksongold ooksongold Cooksongold Cooksongold is is the the UK's UK's llargest argest onestop onestop shop shop for for the the jjewellery ewellery maker maker with over 17,000 products w ith o ver 1 7,000 p roducts iincluding ncluding a huge huge stock stock of of silver, silver, ggold, old, palladium palladium and bullion and pla num ullion ccut ut to to customer customer pla num b well huge ranges ranges of of rrequirements equirements aass w ell aass huge findings, finished hain, fi ndings, lloose oose aand nd fi nished cchain, blanks, ewellery ggemstones, emstones, rring ing b lanks, jjewellery making beading m aking ttools, ools, ssilver ilver cclay, lay, b eading materials much more. m aterials aand nd m uch m ore.

DMLS Development Manager DMLS D evelopment M anager As our DMLS Development Manager you will be the key resource in the successful development of DMLS technology into the precious metal industry involving Cooksongold, industry partners and appropriate academic ins tu ons. You will have opera onal responsibility for the DMLS department, be responsible for the development and crea on of op mised parameter sets for new materials on the MO80 DMLS machine as they are required for the product offering, be the acknowledged MO80 machine opera ng expert and cascade competence to team members and support the sales efforts of the product offering by providing technical support and training as required. In order to be successful you will ideally have an engineering degree with experience in addi ve manufacturing of metals. You will be enthusias c about DMLS, a confident communicator and work well in a team.

DMLS DMLS TTechnician echnician

Wee ccurrently have W urrently h ave ttwo wo exci ng exci ng opportuni es our opportuni es to to join join o ur Direct Direct Metal Metal LLaser aser SSintering intering (DMLS) (DMLS) department. department.

A Apply pply now now apply please please send send a CV CV aand nd ccovering overing lle er e er TTo o apply to h umanresources@cooksongold.com to humanresources@cooksongold.com

tct [21:4]

As our DMLS Technician you will be a key member of the team enabling the successful development of DMLS technology. You will operate the DMLS equipment to eﬃciently produce parts to internal and external speciﬁca ons, administer and post process parts a er DMLS, including part prepara on and processing for delivery, assist in DMLS department administra on such as quote prepara on, material accountability, produc on tracking and planning, sales support and customer interac ons. The strong candidate will be an engineering graduate familiar with 3D CAD and IDE. Toolmaking or machine opera on background with strong a en on to detail and an enthusias c can do a tude would be ideal.

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[EOS] EOS System M 400. BELOW: A large (and very heavy!) part from the EOS M 400

Continued from p49

Single field and multi-field set ups will be employed to meet application-specific needs whereby large parts that will typically undergo some functional surface finishing can be produced quickly and smaller parts that require high-resolution can be produced more accurately. The production system is composed of three ‘stations’ in a modular fashion: periphery station, process station and set-up station. The periphery station contains the electrical components but also a recirculating filter system with automated filter cleaning removing the need to change filters between production cycles. The process station is what most people would recognise as the traditional ‘machine’ and the set-up station allows tailoring of the solution to specific applications. Another innovation targeted at the production environment is enhanced monitoring of the machines status including process variables, chamber conditions etc., and also a camera-based powder-bed monitoring system. By taking two pictures of the build bed for each layer (after exposure to the laser and after recoating with fresh material) anomalies in the build can be identified via an EOSTATE plugin. At the moment a feedback system to interfere with the build to recognise and correct errors automatically during the cycle is in development. The ability to review a build and identify errors in the process, however, will be invaluable for QA/QC purposes and process refinement. €2–3 million can be spent by a medical company in validating and qualifying a manufacturing process and material for an implantable part and can take up to seven years to complete. For this reason EOS is careful to ensure that new systems can be directly compared back to existing systems (for example the multi-field system EOS M 400-4 back to the EOSINT M 280 so that companies can move from one system to another without the huge cost and time implications. EOS has been working with Materialise to create so-called ‘build processors’ to set up the job file, something that would be especially important in a production environment. The build processor set up reduces the amount of machine-side time for engineers and is a move towards a centralised control system for multiple AM machines. You can read more about build processors and their applications on page 53 of this issue. Final thought In summing up the progress from leading a daring start-up to serial entrepreneurship across over a dozen companies, Dr Langer explained: “To be honest I do now look at things in terms of additive manufacturing or laser welding or casting, I am not interested. I look at a part and think ‘how can I make the value of this part higher either in its production or its use?’. There are many ways to make a part more sustainable or improve its function and I try to pass on this philosophy within my companies and to the people I talk to.”

The consumer angle: Dr Langer on consumer printing: “We talked to the technology analysis firm Gartner, publishers of the hype cycle that caught the imagination of the media over the last couple of years, and since they have split consumer 3D printing and industrial 3D printing and have put them at different points on the curve. Consumer 3D printing is still at the peak of the inflated expectations, whereas industrial 3D printing has already been through this and is now climbing the slope to ‘enlightenment’. Consumer technologies are very interesting because they introduce people early on to the thought processes behind layer manufacturing. In the early days a lot of our work with customers was changing their expectations and teaching them how to design for the layer-by-layer process. Nowadays more engineers are familiar with the benefits and the constraints and in future we hope this won’t be an issue for us!” Underappreciated Sustainability: “Sustainability comes not just in aerospace where an AM part could save two per cent of fuel over the life of the aircraft but something like hip implant where the current cast part weight over 2 kg and eventual destroys the bones around it, AM parts can make the part much closer in weight to bone, thus reducing damage and the need for replacement surgery.” “If we take a component today, for example a pick and place robot arm, and use additive manufacturing to reduce the weight of the moving parts by 50 per cent — which we know we can already do with the technology as it is today — and you consider that the energy consumption is proportional to the weight, reducing the energy consumption of all these robots by 50 per cent is one of the most sustainable solutions possible, and all achievable right now” “Conformal cooling channels in injection mould tools can reduce the cycle times of part production dramatically, which increases the output for the same input a huge amount. This is a real application using today’s technology that is one of the most important and readily achievable sustainability issues.”

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[Materialise]

Materialise

The evolution of additive manufacturing technologies from prototyping to true production manufacturing has been in progress since the very earliest days of the first technologies, but the pace of change is beginning to increase WORDS | JIM WOODCOCK dramatically now as more users demand production capabilities from their systems. TCT caught up with Materialise’s CEO, Materialise Wilfried van Craen, and General Product dditive manufacturing has long promised i www.materialise.nv the dream of series production (including Manager, Tim van den Bogaert, to see ‘manufacturing’ in the name is enough to how the Belgium-based company is ensure that) but has, in a majority of cases, been Build processors: The build processor system leading the latest phase stuck at the prototyping phase. Where real links the 3D software and the hardware, sending of the evolution.

Build Processors

production does occur, it is for highly specialised applications where the drawbacks of working with AM systems and processes are outweighed by the unique abilities of the additive process. While the technical hardware limitations are well documented, the software that drives, links and supports additive manufacturing is also to blame. Materialise — for those that don’t already know — is a Belgium-based company with three interrelated foci: engineering/biomedical engineering; AM production; and software. The AM software portion of the company (the company also has biomedical software like Mimics) is split into design, file manipulation and fixing (Magics), part validation, machine control software and production management (Streamics) and now a concept that connects software to hardware like never before — build processors. Fried van Craen explained: “If you look back to the 1980s CNC machine shops started to demand greater standardisation and interoperability of the CNC control systems. With 100s of supplier to the market came 100s of different control systems. We now see that there are only a handful of control systems allowing machine shops to run a mix of machines from different providers. The same thing needs to happen with AM if it is to achieve the production status that so many companies now demand.” Materialise’s stated goal is to help create part of an open ecosystem that will allow users to increasingly use any hardware and software system together. The ultimate aim is for professional, mid-range and home users to be able to benefit but for now production is the driving factor. “We believe we have the knowledge and capability to help users of all technologies — whether they be stereolithography, laser sintering, deposition or image based systems — to really make their machines ‘come alive’, and to have the best possible experience with their hardware,” explained Tim van den Bogaert. How can software help? There are two ways that Materialise aims to make AM easier to use and more productive — machine control software and build processors. Machine control software: Machine manufacturers can become obsessed with hardware, especially those companies looking to manufacture machines in-house rather than to sell. The control software that runs the machines can sometimes be underrated but can have a large impact on the part quality or throughput of the machine.

sliced data to the machine. The software could be Materialise’s own Magics (for enterprise) or Materialise@Home for home users, but could potentially include any software generating 3D files. The build processors grab the 3D content and translate it into something the machine understands. Importantly this is not a cure-all like an STL file, and the build processor can be made bespoke to each system depending on the process and the intended use, amongst other things. Tim van den Bogaert explained: “We envision that all machine-specific parameters will be embedded into build processors, including specifics such as support generation and nesting parameters. Importantly the build processor is also a way to retrieve information from the machine that is increasingly important for manufacturing. It allows users to check that the process worked as it was supposed to and that any anomalies are recorded in the log file for that build. Some medical applications require data to be collected and stored for 80 years or more so accurate creation, processing and storage of these files is important if AM is to be considered ready for production.” At the moment, only EOS are promoting Materialise’s Build Processors commercially, which ties in with its other productionorientated moves (as per the article in this issue), but Materialise are said to be working on up to 10 commercial build processors at the moment, including Build Processors for SLM Solutions, Arcam and Renishaw. Beside these projects, Materialise are also developing Build Processors for companies that are working on in-house machines that will give them competitive advantage, rather than to sell to the market. Currently, the biggest drive for build processors is in the professional market where not only technical features but also features such as limiting one set of users to access a particular set of build parameters while allowing another group full control will become increasingly important. In any current manufacturing facility you would expect to see many different machine makers represented, even within the same sector — many different injection moulding machines or CNC centres for example. AM systems can be set up to be much more automated then traditional manufacturing technologies and the potential ability to control different systems from a centralised point would be a huge boon to serious manufacturers. Build processors bring this a step closer.

Build processors can be retrofitted to existing machines to give a new lease of life to the hardware, especially if the control systems in place are sub-optimal for process or application. Here the benefit is for the user. For machine makers themselves, speed to market is the major plus point, as Fried explained: “We offer new entrants to the market the ability to get the most from their new systems, but importantly they can also get the system to market sooner. Developing all the software inhouse, especially to the levels of connectivity needed would be very time consuming. “STL files are looking really tired now,” explained Fried, “and even the new standards will likely be obsolete before they find mainstream acceptance. It is unlikely that open standards will ever be the best solution for hardware in such a fast-moving industry, so build processors always have to be compatible with open standards but not reliant on them. A good example of where they can work well is for highly specialised manufacturing lines with set parameters such as the hearing aid industry.” When asked how collaboration with machine manufacturers works, Tim explained: “Integration with the machine is key for the best results and the better access we have to the machine platform the better the integration and the more process specific issues can be addressed. Just sending a large STL file to a machine will always pose problems for light-weighting, texturing and internal structure applications. Some manufacturers allow us more access than others but nearly all companies making metals AM machines see the potential benefits. We hope to see the same uptake in the polymers sector too as more plastics are used in manufacturing.” It is important to remember that it has been end users of AM equipment that have been pushing for a better system of control and integration into manufacturing processes. One example is from a large aerospace manufacturing company using metals AM machines from multiple vendors looking drive centralisation and standardisation of control. In summary, build processors could help users get the most from their individual machines, groups of machines or even full-scale production lines. For machine makers the speed to market and ability to optimise the design to part flow is significant. 53

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[Arburg]

The BIGGEST AM Anouncement

of the year from... K Show?!

icture the scene in the Rapid News office. It’s K week, half of the company are either already in or on their way to Düsseldorf. The last thing you are expecting is a groundbreaking AM machine to be launched. ‘It’s all about high-throughput plastic processing this week’ we thought. Not 3D printing... How wrong can you be...? As the Arburg press conference got underway, pictures emerged that had the TCT team scrambling for more information: “It is an additive machine right? OK, what tech, what material, how much, when can we see it...” As I was in Germany for K week with my Interplas hat on, it made sense for me to see if I could get an audience with some senior people at Arburg and ask a few of those questions. A few emails exchanged and I had arranged some time in some very busy schedules. Everyone wanted to talk about the Freeformer with Arburg at K so I was lucky to get some time on their huge stand — which was bigger than some entire exhibitions I have been to. I started by asking Herbert Kraibühler, Arburg’s Managing Director for Technology and Engineering, what had pointed Arburg towards additive manufacturing and how long has the machine been in development? “We work very closely with our customers and we ARBURG Freeformer have seen in the last 10 hard-soft part. years more and more ARBURG Freeformer component carrier. demand to produce low volume, high quality parts and also for some one-off parts. These small changes in requirements were the catalyst for us and started us thinking about developing a machine using our injection moulding expertise.” Interesting choice of language to note here, and it is mirrored in the brochure — this machine is pitched as a production machine, make no mistake. It’s all about customised production, production efficiency and such. Sure it can do prototypes but this is almost a by-product. Kraibühler continued: “We started with our first ideas in 2004! Yes, it is a long time, but we needed this time to establish the process of building with small drops in different layers — and in the beginning it was not clear how the materials would behave, we worked hard on the physical characteristics and properties until the flow of material was right, this took until around 2007 at which point the development started in earnest.” Arburg has spent substantial time on this project — but Arburg is a huge name, and has a huge reputation...not something you want to damage with a lack of R&D.

Having had the project going for almost 10 years I assumed that there would be several machines in place already, even if they were on a beta basis. This was met with smiles all round. They are working with customers for sure, but they wont say who or what they are doing with them. I guess that is fair enough, it is still early days. My hunch is they have had working beta sites for several years - there is a quiet assuredness that comes from knowing they are on to a winner. That said they are keen to point out there is still work to be done, particularly in partnership with these existing sites. I asked when the machines would be ready to buy? This was one of the questions that came up on Twitter this week. Answer? Next year, probably about mid-year. I also asked about the impact Arburg feel this will have on rest of the AM and 3D printing market. Kraibühler was diplomatically coy about this - again no real surprise there. I will say however as an observation that it is interesting that so many of the 3D printing sector have been looking at the consumer and desktop markets in the last two years. Significant developments in the industrial machine arena have been few and far between, I wonder if Arburg’s freeformer might be the catalyst to reignite substantial R&D spending for this part of the market? I also asked how this new product would fit into the Arburg business model. Kraibühler responded: “Our focus initially will be on our existing customers requirements for smaller volume batch production, freeformer is a complementary technology to our injection moulding products and as such will form part of the Arburg offering, although we will have some dedicated sales and technical resource to work on freeformer.” So understanding a bit of the background, let’s get into the technology. I asked Oliver Kessling to fill in the details: “Our process is Arburg Plastic Freeforming (AKF) {the K is from the German word for plastic, Kunstoff – Ed}. It is a patented process that builds parts layer-by-layer using plastic droplets. We are using standard granulated material, as you would in an injection moulding machine so no expensive materials. So far we are using ABS, polyamide, polycarbonate and elastic materials (TPE/TPU), but you can use wider variety of materials, you just need to understand the parameters of the material but this R&D can be done either by a customer or by us.

ARBURG Freeformer machine.

“We can use two materials, so a hard material in combination with a soft material. In addition a big difference with our machine is that essentially we move the component, while the nozzle that deposits the material remains stationary. You can use either 3- or 5-axis movement but this means we have no support structures for undercuts or complex geometries.” The maximum part size at the moment is 230 mm x 130 mm x 250 mm — a variety of nozzle sizes ranging from 150 microns to 250 microns gives users a range of accuracy and speed. Layer height is in the range of 0.2–0.3 mm and accuracy to plus/minus 0.15 mm. It uses standard STL file formats and in terms of price I have heard rumours of low six figures but Arburg did not confirm this during this interview. It looks great; the outer casing is well designed. It will plug-and-play into an office environment if you want to run it in your design studio, there is no dust or emissions to worry about. However it wouldn’t look out of place in a factory either - and that’s where I expect to see it most of the time. So is it a game changer? If it delivers on its potential and promises, and I see no reason why it wouldn’t, this is Arburg after all. For the simple fact that it uses standard commercial granulate, which is a real breakthrough and additionally you also don’t have the waste or time consumption that comes from support structures, a pretty unique when dealing with complex undercuts. We’ll be keeping a close eye on what happens next. Read more about the Freeformer and Arburg’s Hall 11 booth at Euromold in the Euromold Preview in this issue. This piece was adapted from an original Blog post published by Duncan Wood from the K Show

Arburg www.arburg.com 55

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[TCT Review] It seems a long time ago already, but back in September the 18th edition of the event now known as TCT Show + Personalize opened its doors yet again. With more than 150 companies ready to demonstrate their wares, and tens of speakers ready to deliver addresses and presentations on everything from intellectual property for enterprise to filament choices for self-built machines, the stage was set (literally) for what we hoped would be the biggest and best show ever…

18th from

edition of the

show saw...

6000 visitors

countries who saw...

exhibitors2

150+

across 1950m of Hall 3A

2000+ people...

representing

20% growth

saw at least...

from over

speakers

300

on 2012

presentation

over 40 ...spread arenas

and

2days

printers 1st taste of 30 3D to get their 3D designing

2014

will be over

with as many as

+ making

days

8500 visitors

nd so it was. I am bound to say that (especially as this year I was for the first time responsible for at least some of how the event panned out) but the figures, feedback and buzz speak for themselves. The event witnessed an incredible 20 per cent year-on-year growth from 5,000 to 6,000 visitors across the two days and took up more floor space than ever before. We also had a surge in international interest with visitors from some 48 countries prowling the show floor looking for that next competitive advantage. While the sheer volume of visitors increased, it was heartening to see that most were there not to gawp at the technology and pocket the occasional printed artefact, but to research and spec their next 3D technology purchase. This was corroborated by the vast majority of the exhibitors too who reported that the ‘quality’ of the conversations was the best it has ever been — it looks like the education drive is paying off! Talking of education, one of the standout features of this year’s new layout was the Bright Minds classroom in the centre of the show floor. The glass walls and all round access meant visitors could get a great view of education provided expertly by Black Country Atelier in action, using software and hardware kindly donated to the cause by 3D Systems. There was no Bright Minds initiative last year, as we struggled to run the programme for the 30+ students — with the new setup and the help from 3D Systems and BCA we managed to introduce over 300 school children to 3D technologies in the classroom, and give them a glimpse of the bigger stuff on the show floor. The Innovation Showcase was another new addition to the floor and gave the team at TCT the opportunity to display some of the most interesting designs and applications of the last year or so. Visitors we directed first past a downhill bike from Empire Cycles that used 3D printed prototype parts for the CNC milled frame — you can read more about the evolution of this project in the last issue of TCT and in this issue where the plastic parts have been re-designed as functional metal parts.

expected With 6,000 visitors across two days the aisles were packed all day

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You never know what will be around the next corner at TCT Show + Personalize

Consumer items in the Innovation Showcase generated significant interest

The Bright Minds programme educated 300 students — a show record

Beyond that were pieces from Bathsheba Grossman, Pekka Salokannel, C21 Etruscan, pq eyewear by Ron Arad, RoboHand by MakerBot, jewellery from Dyvsign and Electrobloom and homewares from Figulo. The conference programme was more expansive an ambitious than ever before, and for the first time I was involved in the conception, planning and execution — quite a baptism of fire I can assure you! Luckily, the first pre-show nightmare was not to come to life and all of the speakers were able to make it to the stage on time! Usually at least one falls ill or ends up stuck on the M6. The idea behind this year’s conference was reinforce TCT’s commitment to an impartial and balanced line up that addressed the most pressing issues in the industry and gave an unparalleled view of inspirational company leaders whose thought processes affect every level of 3D printing, AM and product development and increasingly further afield. Over 2,000 of the 6,000+ visitors atteneded at least one presentation, further reinforcing the importance of education at the event. We kicked off each day with three speakers in a Keynote Session rather than the traditional single keynote speaker, and decided to focus here on the AM and 3D printing industry. This setup gave us the opportunity to have not two but six of the most influential C-level executives on the brand new stage — a reflection of the breadth and depth of the companies involved in AM and 3D printing today. For the first time the main conference arena was taken to away from its historic home in the middle of the show floor to the back corner of the hall. Attending as many exhibitions as we do (I reckon over 40 a year across the business) we know how irritating it is to have the conference located miles away from the show floor, especially when every minute out of the office is precious. By using acoustic floor-to-ceiling drapes we managed to create a room within a room, allowing the 350-seat capacity to exist as on the show floor without the noise and commotion of the main exhibition drowning out the speakers.

Our brief the to the various CEOs, CIOs and COOs that made up the keynote sessions was to bring their enthusiasm for this industry to the fore and share with us their passion — after all, CEOs tend to move from industry to industry without at thought, so why have these six settled here? Without exception the keynotes delivered, leaving the audience with a real sense of the things driving the people that drive the industry. Up next was the ‘Myth Busters’ session. Designed not as a platform for naysayers, but a chance for experienced users and analysts to give us a feel for what exactly 3D printing is, isn’t, will be, won’t be and may be possible with what the technologies that mass media has tarred with the ‘3D printing’ brush. From the inimitable Jeremy Pullin to TCT Show + Personalize virgin Joris Peels, the myth busters dashed some dreams but built in their place the realistic achievable expectations that will help all users get the most from their kit. In the afternoon we heard from the likes of BMW, GE Aviation and Peacocks Medical about what leading multinational companies are doing today, what they want to be doing tomorrow and, importantly, what that means for other companies and end users. What can you expect for 2014? Well, the show will be over three days rather than two as we co-located with another of Rapid News’ success stories, Interplas. With some 10,000 visitors to the last (2011) Interplas, we’re expecting even more visitors to filter through to TCT next year, especially as the plastics and AM/3DP industries become more closely linked. Thankfully we have more space too, with TCT Show + Personalize taking up the whole of hall 3A of the NEC. As usual, entrance to the exhibition, seminars and conference will be free for visitors, visitor parking will be paid for by the organisers again and free WiFi will be available. See you then! i

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[Envisiontec Q&A] EnvisionTEC took part in their tenth consectutive TCT event with their front-row stand at TCT Show + Personalize 2013. The stand saw the European debut of the company’s latest innovation, the 3SP process. Jim Woodcock spoke to the company’s VP Martin Forth about the new system and where they’re headed next.

20:20 Vision: EnvisionTEC celebrates further innovation

WORDS | JAMES WOODCOCK

started by asking Martin about how EnvisionTEC has become one of the most familiar names in industries where AM/3DP is used: “Mr. Al Siblani set up EnvisionTEC GmbH in late 2002. I joined very soon after to become VP of Sales with the goal of setting up distribution channels. We recognised the potential for the application of DLP technology to 3D printing solutions in markets that require small, highly detailed models and started selling to the jewellery and hearing aid markets with specialised biocompatible materials and wax-filled resins for casting. EnvisionTEC expanded rapidly and developed more machines and materials for other markets. The Company now has over 3,000 machines installed, 25 materials, and a range of technologies that serve the additive manufacturing market.” JW: Can you give me an overview of EnvisionTEC’s current technology suite? MF:The DLP technology uses a Texas Instruments DMD chip to project a highly detailed bit map which is a cross section of the STL file. This is focused and projected through a tray of photocurable resin and each individual voxel, or volumetric pixel, is cured in x, y and z simultaneously, building up a 3D model. The light intensity is controlled by a proprietary grey scaling process and the voxels are smoothed during the building process to give a high quality surface finish. EnvisionTEC’s 3SP (Scan, Spin, and Selectively Photocure) technology allows users to quickly print in 3D highly accurate parts from STL files regardless of the geometric complexity with a surface finish showing virtually no signs of stairstepping on the inner and outer surfaces. Using a multi-cavity laser diode with an orthogonal mirror spinning at speeds up to 20,000 rpm, the light is reflected through a spinning drum and goes through a series of optical elements thereby focusing the light onto the surface of the photopolymer across the y axis. The Imaging Light Source (ILS) which contains the multi cavity laser diode, its driver, and all

optics, travels in the X-axis at 1-2 inches per second (material dependent) as the light is scanning in the Y direction and selectively photocuring the polymer based on the path data set. This allows for larger build sizes compared to EnvisionTEC’s DLP based technology. JW: How exactly does the way the new 3SP technology works differ from your established DLP systems? MF: EnvisionTEC’s DLP based technology uses a projector with a lamp as its light source and the DMD produces a high resolution image that is projected onto photocurable resin voxel by voxel. The 3SP technology uses a multi-cavity laser diode with an orthogonal mirror, spinning drum and precision optics to scan the surface of the photopolymer. JW: What are the advantages of the 3SP technology? MF: The 3SP technology is better suited to larger build sizes as the DLP process delivers a set number of voxels and as the projector gets focused into larger build areas, the resolution is spread over a larger surface area, resulting in a loss of resolution capability on larger builds. The 3SP process maintains a high level of accuracy on large build areas. Because of the speed at which the laser head is scanning and curing the resin, we believe it makes it one of the fastest AM technologies available. JW: Which sectors/industries are you targeting with the 3SP technology? MF: The two largest markets that we currently serve with our 3SP technology are the dental and MCAD industries, where our technology can address the need for high production throughput requirements and the need for large, precisely-made parts. JW: How many (and which) materials can you process on the 3SP platform? How many do you hope to be able to develop? MF: Currently, we offer two print materials on the 3SP platform – D3, an industrial grade material which is rigid and capable of producing highly accurate parts, and E-Denstone for dental models. Other materials are under development. JW: What are the opportunities for expanding the platform size to accommodate larger parts? MF: The 3SP Technology could potentially be used for larger parts than it is currently used for; however, we are still in the early stages of evaluating the costs and benefits of expanding the build envelope further using this technology.

EnvisionTEC www.envisiontec.com 59

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[CES]

International CES

CES Halls Overview

January 7–10 2014 Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA i

International CES www.cesweb.org

he International CES is the billed as ‘the world’s gathering place for all who thrive on the business of consumer technologies’. In 2013 more than 152,000 individuals attended the event with more than 3,200 companies exhibiting across 1.92 million square feet of floor space. 3D printing is increasingly important not only in the manufacture of consumer technologies but also as an logy in its own right — so TCT techno er accessible consum to has partnered with the organisers of CES, The CEA, and to CES year’s next at one sponsor the 3D Printing TechZ and g printin 3D to ted dedica stream run a conference additive manufacturing. the TCT was represented at the 2013 edition of CES for Las to ed travell cock Wood Jim and first time as Duncan Wood the scours that pack press ding marau the of ers memb Vegas as t in Las Vegas Convention Center for the latest and greates 3D of ring smatte a saw event consumer tech. This year’s Bot and printing interest with the likes of 3D Systems, Maker cock Sculpteo in attendance. At the time, TCT’s Jim Wood nies compa g printin 3D n explained that the distance betwee time harder a also but him) (for feet meant not only sore educating the attendees for everyone else. CEA have now ted brought all of the 3D printing tech together in a dedica tors. exhibi 27 TechZone hosting some As sponsors of this TechZone the TCT + Personalize team s is flying out en masse to report on the latest development big see to expect don’t we t Whils ry. from this side of the indust and s maker ne machi the from nts nceme industrial annou how the service providers, we are interested to be able to report — if crowd new this with 3D printing TechZone goes down that event n Londo led Unvei CES manic the it’s anything like until our talking be we’ll in, part took Rose and Dan n, Dunca throats are sore… and in no way is that a bad thing! Once again 3D Systems has taken by far the largest stand Bot of the 3D printing contingent, with the combined Maker ny compa The . and Stratasys booths coming in close behind eo’s XYZPrinting Inc., has also taken a large booth, with Sculpt event year’s Last ers. provid service ted dedica the the largest of apart saw 3D Systems split across two spaces, a short bus ride the with ng speaki but ctive — not ideal from a press perspe the company at the end of the show they were pleased with the to l footfal the affect will layout new the How e. outcom individual booths remains to be seen.

CES 3D Printing TechZone exhibitors 3D Systems — Booth 31424 — 3DS launched the Cubify platform at CES in 2012 and have won best-in-show awards for last two years. Expect to see big consumer-focussed 3D printing and 3D scanning announcements from them. www.3dsystems.com

3D Printlife — Booth 31821 — An online portal supplying 3D printers, files and supplies as well as range of 2D printing products. www.3dprintlife.com

Afinia — Booth 32028 — USA-based maker of the H-Series desktop 3D printer (a re-branded PP3DP UP! machine). www.afinia.com

Beijing Tiertime Technology — Booth 31924 — BTTʼs ʻInspireʼ range of extrusion-based 3D printers are marketed at the prosumer to professional spaces. www.tiertime.com/en

CEL Technology Ltd — Booth 31522 — UK-based makers of the Robox dual extrusion consumer/prosumer 3D printer. www.cel-robox.com

DWS SRL — Booth 31620 — Well known to long-time readers of TCT, this Italy-based maker of stereolithographic 3D printing systems is well known for its work in jewellery and orthodontics. www.dwssystems.com

EnvisionTEC Inc — Booth 31921— Both DLP and 3SP technologies provide EnvisionTEC with routes into the MCAD, jewellery and dental industries, as well as numerous others with industrial and consumer applications. www.envisiontec.com

Formlabs — Booth 31520 — The only ʻlaunchedʼ desktop stereolithography machine maker recently gained a $19 million windfall in Series A funding to add to its $3 million Kickstarter backing. Bound to be one of the most anticipated companies on the show floor. www.formlabs.com

Continued on p63

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[CES]

Continued from p61

FSL3D — Booth 32027 — Another ʻcoming soonʼ teaser, with what appears to be a resin-based desktop system. www.fsl3d.com

Alongside 3D Systems Stratasys are the heavyweights of the industry with solutions from the consumers desktop to the production floors of automotive and aerospace giants. www.stratasys.com

Incodema Group — Booth 31928 —

TCT Magazine + Personalize — Booth 32025 —

US-based prototype provider that employs a number of 3D printing technologies in the pursuit of better product development. www.incodema.com

Kevvox — Booth 31826 — Singapore-based Kevvox offers the SP series of 3D printers. With DLP technology, the systems are aimed firmly at the professional user. www.kevvox.com

Leonar3do International — Booth 31828 — Leonar3Doʼs technology transforms the 2D flat dimension of desktop computers and other devices into a real 3D work environment and promises real interaction with your computer and with any 3D objects; live demonstrations always draw crowds. www.leonar3do.com

Lightforge — Booth 31920 — Another teaser, another high-resolution stereolithography system due any time now! www.lightforge3d.com

Makerbot Industries — Booth 31624 & 31824 — Now part of the Stratasys family, Brooklynʼs MakerBot is one of the most recognisable 3D printing companies to the wider public and are sure to have a busy stand for the 2014 edition of CES. www.makerbot.com

Us! www.tctshow.com

WhiteClouds — Booth 32022 — While the website is under construction, you can visit the companyʼs website to see how they made a model of Elon Muskʼs proposed HyperLoop in under 24 hours. www.whiteclouds.com

WobbleWorks Inc. — Booth 32023 — You might not know the name of the company but you will know its most famous product, the 3Doodler. The ʻ3D printing penʼ has caused some exceptional outbursts since it was launched earlier this year, something set to continue on the show floor at CES. www.wobbleworks.net

XYZprinting Inc. — Booth 31717 — The da Vinci 1.0 3D Printer is a cartridge-based, extrusion printer. If itʼs half as nice as the website, it should be a corker. www.xyzprinting.com

Conference: Don't Believe the Hype? 3D Printing Uncovered — Brought to you by TCT Magazine + Personalize January 8th, 9am–12noon

Matterform — Booth 31929— Recent startup Matterform is another crowd-funding success story offering a low-cost 3D scanning system. www.matterform.net

Mcor Technologies Ltd — Booth 31926 — Another TCT perennial offering the only paper-based 3D printing system, now with full-colour. www.mcortechnologies.com

Old World Laboratories — Booth 31820 —

TCT + Personalize is partnering with International CES to bring this unique audience a broad overview of the current capabilities of 3D printing in professional and consumer settings, as well as highlighting how consumers can access this technology for themselves. 9-930am — Intro and Keynote: Manufacturing the Future 930-11am — The Super Users: How the Experts Play 11am–12noon — 3D Printing Access for All

Weʼll have to wait and see for this one!

Pirate3DP Pte Ltd — Booth 32024 —

TCT’s 3D Printing Conference Speakers

Makers of the Buccaneer 3D printer, Pirate has had some issues on Kickstarter of late, hopefully theyʼll be resolved before the event. www.pirate3d.com

AVI REICHENTAL — CEO @ 3D Systems

Robo 3D – Booth 31420 — Launched on… Kickstarter! This San Diego-based 3D printer maker offers nicely designed machines with a couple of interesting features. www.robo3dprinter.com

TODD GRIMM — President @ T A Grimm Associates CLÉMENT MOREAU — CEO @ Sculpteo JASON LOPES — Lead Systems Engineer @ Legacy Effects

Sculpteo — Booth 31417 — CEO Clément Moreau will speak at the TCT-run 3D printing conference track at CES on January 8. In the meantime the company will be showing off how it is enabling consumers to get their hands on 3D printed wares of their own. www.sculpteo.com

More speakers will be announced in the coming weeks on www.tctmagazine.com and www.cesweb.com

SolidIdea.com — Booth 31822 — To be launched soon!

Stratasys, Ltd — Booth 31628 —

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

tct [21:6]

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

New

Cube & CubeX 3D Printers

Tel: 01420 88645 www.cubify3d.co.uk

16 Micron Printing / Real Wax / Quick Turnaround / Instant Online Quote / Prices from Â£5

www.protowax.co.uk / info@protowax.co.uk / +44 (0)161 820 4117

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[ctrl–alt–del]

From

little acorns... T

CT Live 2012 featured the Personalize Pavilion; comprising of makers and consumer 3D printing products it included the likes of MakerBot, MakieLab, Ultimaker and Sculpteo. The pavilion reflected the growing area of the maker communities and consumer products in the 3D printing industry. It is testament to the exponential growth of that sector in the following year that another pavilion would have felt paltry, thus TCT Live became TCT Show + Personalize. The Personalize section of this year’s show was approximately 40 per cent bigger compared to that of the Personalize Pavilion in 2012. You only have to glance at the keynote speakers to see how big this sector of the industry now is, with Clément Moreau of Scultpeo and Alice Taylor of MakieLab shared the stage with the likes of Avi Reichental and our cover star, Scott Crump. However, the lines are becoming increasingly blurred between machines for consumers, machines for makers and machines for professionals. Machines like the Replicator 2 and the Ultimaker2 are particularly difficult to pigeonhole into maker machines or professional machines, they sit perfectly as both rapid prototyping devices and as affordable machines for the home. One community that remains firmly and proudly in the maker corner is the RepRap community, which continues to grow at an almost astronomical rate. Taking into consideration the size and breadth of work the RepRap project contributes to the industry, it only felt right that we handed them their own dedicated space on the show floor. That space was the RepRap Hub. Amongst the many RepRappers exhibiting was one Dr Adrian Bowyer and his RepRap Pro team. Dr Bowyer was the creator of the RepRap project back in 2005 and in true Frankenstinian style his project now has a life of its own. Each RepRapper has their own iteration of how one can produce a replicating rapid prototype; you’ve got your Prusas, your Mendels, your Huxleys and your Deltas all whirring away at the ubiquitously rammed RepRap Hub.

tct [21:6]

WORDS | DAN O’CONNOR

One of the key players in the RepRap community, Richard “RichRap” Horne was not only exhibiting his 3DR printer but speaking on the main stage too. RichRap was barely able to draw breath at the show – his stand was ten deep throughout the two days – let alone stop for a quick chat, so we’ve caught with him since to find out how he felt TCT Show went. “The RepRap team had a great response during the show, from all sorts of people, I would have to say it was the most diverse range of people I have seen in the eight years I have been going to the TCT Show and that’s a really great thing,” he said. One note we have had from more traditionally industrial exhibitors is that the RepRap Hub drew the attention of the consumers who had little knowledge of the technology but Rich didn’t particularly see it like that. “We were also pleasantly surprised by how much the consumer industry has self-educated on home 3D printing, this year we had really sensible questions, very little hype from people, and generally a greater awareness of what the technology can actually really do, rather than the ridiculous hype the mainstream media churns up.” The success of the RepRap Hub means without doubt it will be back next year, bigger and better. This is great news for Rich and co who’ve had green eyes from anybody not involved cast their way. “I have been inundated with messages and e-mails, a lot of people from the community really want to take part next year, we also had so many more people attend than most of us managed to see, but they have sent messages of thanks and support. The 3 day show next year will allow more time to see, talk and experience more of the industry and hopefully more people will get to see more of the fantastic talks and presentations,” Rich explained. Rich’s presence at the event was to showcase the RepRap project but being, in Rich’s words ,”a total highlight on the 3D printing calendar” the popularity of the RepRap hub didn’t go unnoticed in the industry sector either. “I was not there in a commercial capacity but I was very pleased to receive three serious job offers,” he explained. This just goes to show how TCT Show + Personalize truly is an event that encompasses everything from Hackerspace to Aerospace. If the growth in the maker/consumer section of 3D printing continues to grow at this rate who know maybe Personalize will get top billing?...

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