3D printing industry has a bright future ahead

Posted on May 16, 2012 by admin

Right off the need for a 3D printing service may not be obvious or you may think that 3D printing  is limited to only a few applications but there are a lot of uses for 3D printing and 3D scanning technology. Believe it or not 3D printing is starting to make in-roads on traditional manufacturing techniques, mainly for lower runs, and is also creating whole new sectors selling products that wouldn’t have been practical in the past.

3D printing  can be easily used to print bespoke items, these can be based on a standard design but easily adapted in simple CAD software either completely bespoke each time or using a wide range of settings for different parts of a product. This then can be seen as a step forward from bespoke printing on to items and is of course ideal for gift items: especially for people who aren’t highly price sensitive.

With 3D printing service that also take advantage of 3D scanning technology there is even more potential for unique one off items such as giftware, how about a figurine of your child or pooch for example?

Don’t think that this is the limitation of 3D printing though, 3D systems who are the global leader in 3D printers sell a massive range of printers from ones that can produce very large pieces such as entire dashboards for vehicles to those that are smaller and designed to be fast, accurate or both. Then there are those aimed at small businesses and individuals to have there own 3D printing service at home or in the office.

3D printing has its roots in Rapid prototyping as does 3D systems who still sell a lot to those who offer rapid prototyping 3D printing service or to those who have a 3D printer in house. In house this will be an integral part of their design process for printing out highly accurate parts and models quickly that can then be used in internal testing, design and consumer testing and feedback.

Small businesses now can compete much more easily with larger company’s R & D departments using 3D printing based rapid prototyping; using a 3D scanner as well it is possible to quickly reverse engineer a product and come up with you8r own version.

For many rapid prototyping companies their days may be numbered for small model making in fact as 3D printers keep coming down in price thanks to the aggressive tactics of 3D systems. 3D systems have bought a lot of technology recently with take over’s such as that of ZCorp: a competitor who offered fast full color 3D printing.

3D systems obviously see 3D printers as a mass market product and as well as bringing prices down across the board, including for the printing materials they produce for their printers, they have focused on bringing out low cost entry level units. The Cube is 3D Systems latest offering and this is truly a desktop 3D printer and even the price is little more than that of top end desktop printers.

These small entry level printers look set to become popular with individuals and small businesses and people can potentially design their own items and manufacturer them at home. Other potential uses though include manufacturing replacement parts for everything from your full sized car to a broken model car; use in schools will be ideal for encouraging the teaching of CAD skills which themselves will be in high demand in 3D printing really takes off.

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3D systems continue acquisition spree with My Robot Nation

Posted on May 10, 2012 by admin
3D Systems

Picture credit: 3D Systems

3D Systems seem to have a insatiable appetite for taking over any one with technology they want recently and that has included ZCorp recently in order to get hold of their successful ZPrinter business and the technology the full color printers are based on as well as their customer base: mainly rapid prototyping companies and companies who have used Z Printers to bring Rapid Prototyping in house.

Now 3D systems have acquired My Robot Nation, it isn’t so much the technology they after this time though but the customer base: all big fans of personalized products.

My Robot Nation was only set up in December but is already very successful, what they have done is to put tools into the hands of customers so they can design their own robots, these tools are much simpler than other 3D CAD programs as used in rapid prototyping and it has opened up 3D printing to a whole new group of computer literate, but not necessarily CAD literate, customers. By sending off their own designs to My Robot Nation customers can have their design printed in full color and shipped to them.

My Robot Nation

Picture credit: My Robot Nation

As fans of personalized 3D printed products My Robot Nation customers are of course all potential customers for 3D Systems entry level Cube desktop 3D printer offering and their Cubify online repository of 3D CAD designs available to buy for use with 3D printers.

The move to take over such a business though shows 3D Systems dedication to making 3D printing more accessible and moving into direct manufacturing increasingly where their traditional sector has been Rapid Prototyping.

Direct Manufacturer needs slightly different types of printers, cost per print is more important as people may want to make several bespoke items to sell or for personal use and with a low enough cost using 3D printers for direct manufacture can become an alternative to traditional manufacturing

With My Robot Nation people pay to have something totally unique and this has value but for a lot of people price is still an issue so 3D Systems must keep on bringing prices down, including for full color printing which is where the Z Printer excels.

Certainly with My Robot Nation and other similar businesses offering one off printing 3D systems can leverage their access to technology and produce printers suited to particular businesses and tasks if their massive range of printers doesn’t have the right thing.

For other start up businesses though wanting to sell a small run of a product, perhaps for test marketing, rather than totally unique items then 3D systems printers have a lot of potential: if the price of printing can be bought down to a lower level than that for traditional manufacturing. In fact a whole level of manufacturing, that is currently not profitable to make with tooling and other traditional manufacturing, could develop and change the way we consume niche products.

3D Systems has come a long way in the 26 years since it pioneered 3D printing and 3D printing itself is quickly becoming a lot more than rapid prototyping techniques but at the same time it seems that for real innovation 3D Systems are having to look to start ups they can buy rather than innovating themselves.

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EMS Number One Reseller for Z Scanners and RapidFom in 2011

Posted on May 8, 2012 by admin

EMSEngineering & Manufacturing Services, Inc (EMS), has retained its title as the number one reseller of 3D Systems Z Scanner (formally Z Corporation) hand-held 3D Scanners and for 2011 the number one reseller of RapidForm reverse engineering and inspection software.

“2011 was a record year for EMS” stated Mark Kemper, President & CEO of EMS, Inc.  We grew our business at a record rate, added new engineers, moved to a larger headquarters and added other complimentary technologies”, continues Kemper. “A major aspect of our success with the Z Scanner and RapidForm is our in-depth knowledge of both products.  Customers don’t just buy hardware and software they buy a solution to a problem.  EMS is very good at helping customers solve these problems because of years of experience with 3D Scanning, 3D printing, reverse engineering and inspection in real world applications.”

EMS’s new Z Scanner and RapidForm customers participate in a wide range of industries including power generation, defense, aerospace, automotive, forensics, medical, oil & gas and more.  With more than 30 years’ experience in design, engineering and manufacturing, EMS helps customers in every imaginable industry with in-depth, on-site custom training with each new sale.

EMS is continuing its strong growth in 2012 with new 3D scanners from Steinbichler, and a whole new line of ProJet 3D printers from 3D systems as well as providing rapid prototyping, 3D Printing and 3D scanning services.

Published in PROLOG Press Release Distribution

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Personalized action figures only a glimpse of 3D printing potential

Posted on May 3, 2012 by admin
3d printing service from EMS

Picture credit: Tecca.com

If you ever thought it would be great to be a move star just so you could have your own action figure then you are in luck, no Hollywood isn’t offering you a contract to be the next James Bond but you can get a personalized action figure made using a 3D printing service.

Online store Firebox now offer a service where your head, made using 3D printing, can be stuck on to the superhero of your choice: currently Wonder Woman, Superman, The Joker and Bat Man and Bat Girl are available.

These are going to make great gifts as well as items you would love to have for yourself, get one for you and one for your partner and act out some slightly different fantasies.

UK based firebox take your photo and scan it in to add it to a 3D CAD file of a head, the detail though is great and looks a lot better than an image simply printed on to a generic head. This is because the CAD file includes contours for the features of your face and for your hair. The CAD file is then sent to a full color 3D printer; 3D printing can produce any shape and a very lifelike head is then printed ready to be put on to the super hero of your choice.

As the 3D printing creates a head with a standard fitting for almost any action figure you can of course put the head on to any action figure you can find as the head doesn’t need to be permanently affixed.

This use of 3D printers perhaps shows a glimpse of just what a future 3D printing has for bespoke products. The offering from Firebox can be shipped to the US and costs $126 but people will pay this and there are hundreds of other products that could benefit from the same technology and the same demand from people who want something different and bespoke: not least when buying people gifts.

The gift industry itself has perhaps been suffering from a lack of innovation lately and it is often those who come up with the most unique ideas that have succeeded. Personalized greetings cards have taken the market by storm and gift items such as ornaments and toys may be about to do the same.

The process of creating a 3D printout is actually quite fast for something small like a head and so you could even buy a product in a store as well as online: though there maybe something like a one hour collection time. Of course in store offerings also allow for the potential of 3D scanning to be used.

3D printing isn’t what’s expensive either it is more the initial outlay for the printer but this is quickly coming down with several entry level printers now available that are well within the realms of what a bank may be able to lend a business who want to use 3D printing.

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3D Systems open new showcase Innovation Center

Posted on May 2, 2012 by admin

It’s a lot more than just a showroom for 3D Systems’ huge range of 3D printers; 3D Systems corporation have opened a new innovation center at their headquarters to showcase 3D printing as a whole with the focus not on what any of their specific machines can do but on what 3D printing can achieve and just how disruptive this technology will be to a wide range of different applications.

The impact of 3D printers is clearly going to be far reaching and will continue to find new uses and new business models to totally up-end or even start from scratch.

As now many thousands of businesses exist only because the Internet exists soon maybe as many will exist because 3D printers and related technologies exist, with even more companies changing how they work because of 3D printing.

For this to become a reality though it is important more people understand 3D printing technology and see what 3D printers can do. This isn’t just the CAD designers and other experts who will operate 3D printers but the business decision makers who will make the decisions about whether to bring 3D printers into their own businesses.

Part of what will be done from the Rock Hill, South Carolina based innovation center is to hold ideation sessions to bring together business owners, experts and consumers to see and discuss what 3D printing can do. In many cases it will be 3D Systems’ Cube printers that will be the first taste of 3D printing that visitors get.

The Cube is designed to be a cheap entry level 3D printer that consumers with a little money to spend can even buy and have at home: this could be as a home business idea, for fun and hobby projects and also as a learning tool: both for children and adults wanting to improve design and CAD skills. The Cube, being easy to use, is what visitors will be shown to allow them to actually work with a 3D printer themselves on a visit and see how easy it can be.

Abe Reichental, president and CEO of 3D systems, was excited about the prospect at the center’s launch saying “It’s a real privilege to share our disruptive, affordable and impactful solutions with all who seek to benefit from the emergence of a personal manufacturing revolution,”

By Personal manufacturing revolution Mr Reichental means the revolution that 3D systems and others expect as 3D printers become prevalent in people’s homes but also in local 3D print shops. The result of course will be that people can print designs they have either found or bought, mainly online, and then print items at home. Important to this though will be the fact that people can design their own products at home as well and anyone can become a designer selling either designs to other 3D printer owners or selling the products they have printed.

The Rock Hill center is now of course the go to place for anyone looking to invest in 3D printers to go to to find out more. 3D Systems with their massive range of 3D printers, under several brand names, will certainly gain plenty of benefit from the innovation center but visitors will too.

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3D systems enter Heineken’s innovation challenge

Posted on April 23, 2012 by admin

3D SystemsThe Heineken Innovation challenge is a $10,000 competition to find solutions for sustainable packaging and distribution solutions, although the true prize of a really great solution which can be patented could be much more if you could create the next ‘Tetrapak’.

The Heineken Innovation challenge is suitably cutting edge and uses a lot of technology and crowd sourcing ideas and 3D systems decided to get in on the act. 3D Systems create the world’s largest range of 3D printers. These printers are used for a whole range of applications but especially for rapid prototyping.

The Heineken innovation challenge then is a great fit for 3D systems, the use of rapid prototyping in design is being transformed by 3D printers making the design process much quicker and cheaper; now models of designs can be quickly made for testing and for consumer testing to get reactions. Products such as 3D Systems Cube put rapid prototyping into people’s homes though with entry level desktop 3D printers that anyone can use.

3D systems chose to work with Heineken and Janne Kyttanen of their Freedom of Creation group became the star of the launch event for the challenge with a 48 hour design-a-thon.

Janne who has considerable experience with rapid prototyping, design and 3D System’s printers spent the 48 hours in a undisclosed location in order to work on her own ideas using a laptop with a webcam to share her process and 3D Systems’ printers: the tiny Cube, the super fast Projet 1500 and 3D Touch printer.

The process was then recorded and added in great detail to the Cubify website and via Tweets, Facebook and e-mail as well as communicating directly with those observing her going through the process.

Jann’s efforts have now been submitted to the Heineken Innovation challenge with many more designs expected to follow from other entrants. Designs will then be judged by sustainability experts and criteria will include innovation and feasibility as well as the level of sustainability. Votes for deigns will also be cast at the ideasbrewery.com website from which the competition is based and a few stand out designs will go forward so entrants can work with Heineken’s designers to perfect their ideas; after this a panel of experts and Heineken’s own management choose a winner.

Those entering are expected to be amateur and professional designers, most will have CAD skills and many will work in design agencies or in rapid prototyping. 3D systems of course hope that their involvement will get them noticed by more designers already with the skills to print for personal use or as a business and those who may have influence on whether their employers switch to 3D printing for their rapid prototyping and whether they outsource or invest in 3D printers such as those 3D Systems have on offer.

It may well be that the range of three printers used by Janne Kyttanen wasn’t accidental and was a good way to show of the range of printers likely to be of most interest to observers and others entering the competition.

 

 

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3D systems expand range of Zoom materials

Posted on April 17, 2012 by admin

3D SystemsSpeed is one of the qualities that made 3D printing for rapid prototyping services such a success to begin with. By having a 3D printer a company were able to get accurate prototypes and models in hours rather than using traditional rapid prototyping services techniques that often took days and which often gave models that were fragile and not entirely accurate, being rarely accurate in looks and even less likely to be accurate in weight and feel.

3D systems though understanding that speed in 3D printing for rapid prototyping services as well as short run and bespoke manufacturing is still important have developed a new offering to make their printers faster than ever and in so doing given themselves a massive advantage against competitors.

3D systems’ 3D printers include a number of techniques including injection and sintering. With their Projet 1500 line of 3D printers injection printing is used, Zoom is 3D systems new material offering though for use with the line, which allows far quicker printing.

The introduction of Zoom came earlier this year but initially with only 5 colors, 3D systems have now though added a transparent material to the range giving users far more flexibility with their prints. Transparent material also particularly lends itself to painting  or vinyl wrapping after printing though in order to add more detail as there is no bright color to show through as with the other options.

Projet 1500 printers using Zoom can print 50% faster than with standard material, in rapid prototyping services this is useful: it can cut development time where pieces are regularly being printed, tested, redesigned and then re printed. Waiting for parts can waste time and resources, in extreme circumstances an entire team may have to wait while a part is printed, this means that the slightly higher price for Zoom material easily pays for itself. Consider also the advantage of getting a product to market before a competitor and speeding up rapid prototyping services in any way is a massive boon.

For those with a Projet 1500 printer they are in a position to take advantage straight away but 3D systems hope those in the market for a 3D printer will be tempted by the potential speed of a Projet 1500. For many in rapid prototyping services speed is the first metric they look at when comparing printers, of course there are other considerations though.

Although 3D systems have a massive range of 3D printers large and small and able to print in different materials there are, as far as we are aware, no plans to make Zoom compatible with any other printers or to create high speed materials for other printer types. Other printer types include laser sintering that uses a powdered resin that is then hardened, already itself a competitor for the Projet with a great speed and full color printing capabilities. These laser sintering printers though are made by Z Corp, previously a major competitor and now a division of 3D systems following take over; if it was Z Corp that Zoom was developed to compete with 3D systems now find themselves competing internally with themselves

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3D printer used in research at Seattle Children’s Hospital

Posted on April 12, 2012 by admin

In medicine some of the best results in research come when research centers and practicing hospitals and health centers work together: this is the case at Seattle Children’s hospital, one of the countries top pediatric hospitals and pediatric research centers.

Both parts of the hospital though benefit from the 3D printer that the research department have and the rapid prototyping techniques they use in their work. Models in healthcare and research are important for teaching, study and learning. It is the complex shapes of parts of the body that have led the hospital to invest in a desktop 3D printer, as used in Rapid Prototyping.

The printer is a V-Flash made by 3D systems, a simple printer in many ways such as being monotone and able to produce relatively small parts only: its uses have been priceless. In rapid prototyping, designers use these 3D printers to reproduce designs they have on a computer as a 3D CAD file; a designer with a printed model can then test it and look for flaws and check functionality.

Bio-engineers and researchers can take information from a CT scan or other 3D scan of body parts and turn them into CAD files that can be sent directly to the 3D printer. One example at Seattle has been with the nasal pharynx of a prematurely born child. Using CT scans they were able to print reproductions of the nasal pharynx that were highly accurate and which they could never produce before. Testing was then possible of respiratory devices to be used with premature infants at different sizes. The result they are aiming for is a device with nasal prongs that will fit better and be more comfortable for the child as well as being more efficient at helping them breath until they gain the strength to do so for themselves.

Using 3D printers this way, and techniques very similar to a design agency, brings benefits to the entire hospital of course and the number of applications is staggering; many applications will be for children with birth defects. Using 3D printers designs can even be made for specific children. A CT scan for example of a child’s heart may allow the design of a new valve to fit their heart precisely, either models of the heart, models of the valve or both could be made and tested on a 3D printer.

The speed of a 3D printer and the fact very little work needs to be put into preparing a file for print means that when making a model researchers don’t just get one chance either. In the past with models that were expensive and difficult to make accurately if one design was wrong it would not always be possible to get another model, or it would take a lot of time and money. With a 3D printer a design can be tweaked and dozens of models made until one is just right in exactly the same way as in a designers office where they may be making the latest must-have electronic device.

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3D systems boost customer service with new Italian Facilities

Posted on April 7, 2012 by admin

3D Systems3D systems, the company behind some of the world’s most advanced 3D printers for rapid prototyping services and other 3D printing applications, has announced that its move to expanded facilities in Pinerolo Italy is complete.

The multinational company has used the opportunity to consolidate the operations over several sites in the country and upgrade their facilities and technology at the same time. A large part of the new facility is now devoted to their on demand parts operation; with this they aim to be able to provide a much better service to customers using their own 3D printers. Not only have they increased capacity so they can create parts for customers and ship them more quickly with a shorter lead time but they can also now produce much bigger items up to the size of a car’s dashboard. As such 3D systems can now produce almost any replacement car part, which is becoming an important part of their business.

Those wanting to invest in one of 3D systems top of the range may well want to see the equipment they will be buying in action first and the new Pinerolo facilities will allow for this with a showroom where the entire range of 3D printers offered by 3D systems will be on show. With a range that covers entry level home and enterprise options, printers for rapid prototyping services and for production the showroom will be quite a size.

As well as being able to use their display models for demonstration to potential buyers 3D systems plan to also use them for technical training, especially for those companies using 3D printers to replace traditional rapid prototyping services techniques it will often be one or two people who need to be trained to use 3D printers. Those at an enterprise level especially are easy to use with simple training that 3D systems are happy to provide.

3D systems consolidation of its assets worldwide remains ongoing of course, from a background in creating tools for rapid prototyping services 3D systems have been quick to move with the times and have recently moved away from their traditional positioning at the high end of the market. New products such as ‘The Cube’ and their home and enterprise product and the ZPrinter offering from ZCorp, who they recently took over, allow them to serve small businesses many looking to either produce bespoke or low production run products or use 3D printing for rapid prototyping services.

Allowing companies to instantly make prototypes and models in their own offices rather than having to outsource is empowering to SMEs and even home based designers and this is an area that 3D systems has seen as a growth sector. For those with occasional needs still it may still make sense to get their parts built by 3D systems who can use the best tool for the job every time, with a quicker production time at their new Italian facilities they are even able to produce and send out models for rapid prototyping services quicker than traditional techniques.

 

 

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Paleontologists to use 3D printer to recreate dinosaurs

Posted on March 28, 2012 by admin
3D Printing Dinosaur

Picture credit: Wikipedia

Robot or animatronic dinosaurs aren’t a new thing: they have been used in films, museums and traveling exhibitions for years but how accurate are any of them. Certainly most including even those used in films such as Jurassic Park are based on science, at least to a reasonable extent. While there are some things about the appearance we will never know, the one thing scientists know a lot about is dinosaur’s skeletal structure and how bones would fit together.

Scientists now want to build robotic dinosaurs with a skeleton matching the real thing that will allow scientists to see how dinosaurs would move. Currently this has been done on computer simulations but both for studying and for exhibiting and educating having a physical model is a big advantage, even if it is scaled.

To create accurate bones it is a matter of making copies of existing dinosaur bones, including full fossilized skeletons. To do this using traditional techniques would be a relatively simple process were it not for the fact that the bones must not be damaged which could easily be done using molds, you could also only get models on a 1 to 1 scale. Because full skeletons are so rare any potential damage to the fossils is simply not an option.

The techniques scientists are now looking at draw upon the latest rapid prototyping techniques and start by digitizing the bones; by digitizing what we mean is scanning a bone to create a digital 3D file. This technique is often used in rapid prototyping and reverse engineering, the great advantage though is that it is done with lasers meaning that the bones won’t be damaged as they don’t even need to be touched or handled. The laser maps every detail of a bone and creates a very detailed 3D file. This file can then be manipulated using CAD tools including making changes to the scale and repairing any damage that may exist.

With this file a copy can then be made using 3D printing, 3D printing is another technique that has been developed primarily within rapid prototyping but which is increasingly finding more uses.

Modern 3D printing is very accurate and also surprisingly fast and cheap, this means that a bone that comes out and needs to be reprinted, for example because damage hasn’t been repaired in the file, can be reprinted very easily.

In rapid prototyping 3D printers help companies develop products quicker and work with models during the design process rather than relying on drawings and 3D models on screen. Like with rapid prototyping many other areas such as biology including various sciences can benefit from the same techniques when understanding not the design of the product but as in this case the design of a creature.

There are no limits using 3D printing to how many copies are made either, while some 3D printers are made for rapid prototyping and are relatively slow, advanced printers can perform 3D printing at a speed and cost making it comparable with using mass production techniques for low production runs.

Paleontologist Kenneth Lacovara is the main force behind the project and has for years been trying to discover more about how dinosaurs, especially larger sauropod dinosaurs such as Diplodocus and Brontosaurus, stood, moved and reproduced.

Using CAD it is even possible to ‘fill in the gaps’ with incomplete skeletons and to use the models to put together previously unassembled skeletons. Skeletons though then have joints added and the robots are fleshed out and motors added to replace the main muscle groups.

In the future Lacovara and this team plan to take things further; building from the skeleton they hope to create models of how the respiratory and vascular systems would have been: designed using dimensions from the skeletons as a starting point they will eventually be printed using 3D printing techniques.

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