Smithsonian museums latest to use 3D printing

Posted on March 27, 2012 by admin

History is being lost all of the time, artifacts slowly turning to dust, some have already been studied, others have either never been studied due to being locked away in a museum’s vault somewhere or because they are simply too delicate to examine in detail. Opportunities to understand history better and for more people to become involved are undoubtedly being missed.

3D scan and print services though are starting to improve access to artifacts and helping to preserve history. Without 3D printing service technologies the options for those, such as museums and universities, who have delicate artifacts are limited to either studying items as little as possible and then very carefully or creating molds to make copies: the very process of creating molds can damage artifacts and accuracy is variable.

With 3D printing services it is possible to create a very accurate copy of an artifact without having to touch it. 3D scanning is done with either cameras or lasers that map the contour of an item. 3D scanning has even been used to scan an ancient Egyptian mummy inside its wrappings so that a 3D print of the body inside could be made.

Once you have the scan of a item you can use a 3D printing service to create as many copies as required as well as studying the 3D File on a computer: allowing the study of minute details that may not even be visible to the naked eye.

Once items are printed they can either be put on display where they can be interactive if needed or they can be used for study, education or sent out to other institutions.

The Smithsonian museum is the latest museum to turn to 3D printing services, they own over 137 million, meaning scanning every item may take some time. Only 2% of items are on display though: partly due to space and partly to do with many items being delicate or photosensitive.

The Smithsonian have worked with a company called Redeye to 3D scan and 3D print many pieces from their collection: these high quality replicas are already being   sought after by many museums keen to be able to either study or display them.

The very first piece to be scanned is recognizable around the United States certainly and much of the world, it is a famous statue of Thomas Jefferson and the landmark scanning and printing project created the world’s largest museum quality 3D printed replica to date. The original statue made in stone was far too valuable and delicate to move but the replica is made using a hard resin that is lighter and tougher: by treating it though it now has the look of a bronze statue. The statue is now likely to go on a tour in the United States but as the Smithsonian still have the digital files they can create more replicas on demand and send them wherever in the world they are wanted. While many may feel that seeing a replica isn’t the same as the real thing, for studying closely replicas of artifacts are priceless and are very useful in education as well from kindergarten level up to PHD level.

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3D printing: the next disruptive technology

Posted on March 21, 2012 by admin

rapid prototyping servicesDisruptive technologies that almost everyone has now heard of include e-readers including Kindles and the digital ink technology used in them that is disrupting book publishing. Digital Music as well as mp3 players have disrupted music publishing and in both cases these technologies have been helped by perhaps the most disruptive technology of all time, up there with the spinning jenny, the internet.

A new disruptive technology is again going to rely partly on the internet to make it a success and it is again going to have an effect on a form of publishing but this is going to transform the publishing of products replacing traditional manufacturing with home self publishing

3D printing has already changed the rapid prototyping services industry drastically and it is for rapid prototyping services that 3D printing was first developed. Increasingly though companies are using 3D printers to manufacture products and parts.

At the moment for mass production 3D printing can’t compete, it can however offer better accuracy and lighter parts than mass production and it is easy to manufacture bespoke parts using the equipment: this makes it ideal for use in high tech industries such as aerospace where Boeing have used 3D printing to manufacture thousands of lightweight pasts for their new Boeing 787 Dreamliner: each part is a third lighter than if they had been made using traditional techniques.

Yet it isn’t the fact that 3D printers can manufacture with such accuracy, speed and precision that is going to make them a disruptive technology.

Lets first though explain a little more about operating a 3D printer and why they first became popular for rapid prototyping services; 3D printers can be huge or they can be desktop sized: this of course effects the size of an item they can print. Also more complex printers can print in materials such as metal, glass and ceramic: small desktop machines usually just print in plastic and often mono-tone, for now.

In many businesses which use 3D printers they have used them to replace traditional rapid prototyping services, either in house or out of house. Now the skills of building prototypes and models are superfluous as the designer themselves can take their CAD design and simply click print and send it to a 3D printer that does the rest. For rapid prototyping services in house at a design company this allows for the production of models very quickly and changes can be made based on testing and feedback to the existing CAD design and it can then be printed again.

If you though are a small business who want to go further and actually start production of a product or you want to manufacture products from home you can do this and you can even make multiple parts to be assembled, or with some 3D printers print items with multiple moving parts.

With this though you still have the issue of your costs being higher than competitors, though if you have a unique design it may not matter. Here then is where the internet comes in and where this becomes a true disruptive technology: you can make a design wherever you are and then sell the CAD file online to anyone with a 3D printer or who can get access to a 3D printer nearby: you therefore are cutting out the shipping costs, the labor costs in a factory and you are offering instant delivery, just like you can have with an mp3 or ebook online.

 

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Report gives mixed messages for rapid prototyping services

Posted on March 19, 2012 by admin

3D Printing ServiceThe growth in 3D printing of 7% per year reported in Ibisworld’s December 2011 report was of course interesting but what is even more interesting now is to read Ibisworld’s new report into 3D printing and Rapid Prototyping services and seeing just how the rapid prototyping services industry is changing due to the growth of 3D printing and the rapid development of 3D printing technology.

What seems clear is that the growth of 3D printing isn’t slowing, with Aerospace and Medical sciences finding increasing numbers of ways to use 3D printing both for direct manufacturing and rapid prototyping services: demand will increase and the money is certainly there in these industries to fuel innovation.

It is also true that companies not using 3D printing either in house or out of house will have a clear disadvantage to those who do, we are past the early adopters stage and within certain industries 3D printing is main stream.

Certainly it is clear from this latest report that those rapid prototyping services companies who use 3D printers are able to provide models and prototypes in much less time with much better accuracy. The level of accuracy not only includes dimensions but also texture, color and weight.

Other innovations that are still at the early adopter stage include printers able to print in a much wider variety of materials, importantly including metals but also ceramics and glass. Though the uptake of simple resin and plastics printing 3D printers is ongoing the next stage is likely to be the uptake of these multi-material 3D printers, some will even be able to make products made of multiple materials.

At the same time that 3D printing looks to make rapid prototyping services more useful for customers and perhaps more efficient the Ibisworld report looking forward also sounds a word of warning for rapid prototyping companies. The availability of consumer and enterprise level 3D printers may make rapid prototyping services companies superfluous as more small and medium businesses bring 3D printing in house, where a designer will be able to send their own designs to a printer and get results back in hours.

The availability of consumer level 3D printers as well will affect not only how prototypes are made but also how products are designed as well. Where in the past a budding designer might work for a bigger company to get their designs made or send off designs: they can now go through the entire design process and even manufacturer and test market a product printed on a 3D printer. If they are successful this puts them in a much stronger position if they choose to go into mass production.

As the report identifies of course the actual skills to design are what may hold things back, at the same time though 3D printers are starting to make their way into schools and certainly universities for use on courses including design where CAD skills are becoming essential.

 

 

 

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3D systems 2011 figures encouraging for industry

Posted on March 14, 2012 by admin

3D SystemsAll signs from the 3D printing services industry recently have been good with 7% growth in 2011 with higher growth figures predicted for 2012. 3D systems earnings report now shows even more encouraging figures.

3D systems have diversified in 2011 with consumer and enterprise level 3D printers now in their range with multi million pound printers able to print in a variety of materials at the other end of their range.

This shows not just that 3D printing services are strong then but that they are becoming main-stream across a wider range of industries: with even small design businesses and companies such as architects firms now able to afford and benefit from 3D printing services, either in house or outsourced.

Revenue has seen the steepest growth for 3D systems in 2011 with net profit as a percentage of revenue in fact down. This maybe isn’t surprising though with 3D systems having invested $3.6 million in developing ‘The Cube’ their entry level 3D printer that has generated a lot of interest before even going on sale: the profits they will make from selling this will come in 2012 meaning another bumper year should be ahead.

Though for the 3D printing services industry who use 3D systems printers the news is generally good- though it does point to more competition for 3D printer services as well as increased demand- the news won’t be welcomed by 3D Systems’ principle competitor Stratasys who are being left in the dust of 3D systems who are growing at a much quicker rate.

3D Systems are coming to dominate the market and putting themselves in a strong position if they can turn buyers of their printers into loyal customers who will buy from them in future when technology improves and more models are released. In the fourth quarter of 2011 3D systems shipped 190% more 3D printers than in the 4th quarter of 2010.

250% as the increase for 2011 from 2010 as a whole is perhaps even more impressive; though what exactly 2012 holds can’t be predicted but things are looking good for 3D systems long term. They created the std file format that is now standard for 3D printing and they are now starting to work on making their software the industry standard. Part of this is putting their printers and software into schools and colleges where kids and young adults can begin to learn the CAD skills that look likely to become highly valuable in the future. 3D systems is perhaps aware that the 3D printing services industry could be slowed by a lack of skills but is of course also aware that there is a massive advantage of the next generation of designers growing up and honing their skills using 3D systems’ hardware and software.

With Stratasys as the main threat to 3D systems it is also important to note that 3D systems now have 330 distributors and have boosted their portfolio and reach further with acquisitions in 2011. The most important of these perhaps being Z Corp, a manufacturer of 3D printers that work on a laser sintering rather than injection basis and which are low cost while creating full color prints.

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Riva use 3D print solution for ten foot model of development

Posted on March 12, 2012 by admin

In Dubai there are many fantastic modern buildings, there is a fantastic fusion of Arabian, Oriental and European architecture often fused together: it is hard therefore to stand out as a new development. To get investment interest and advanced sales you need stakeholders to understand a concept, this is for almost anything not just buildings; with a major development other stakeholders include local residents and local councils as well.

Riva Digital were developing a major development of apartments in Dubai and had computer models used internally to pre-visualize the finished building. The architects and engineers themselves of course have little problem with visualizing a development, they are used to turning blueprints into real buildings anyway. Other stakeholders though even with flash presentations taking in computer generated views can fail to get excited and Riva therefore needed a physical model, and rather than the standard table-top model made by a standard local rapid prototyping services company they decided to go for a ten foot model of the development to let media and investors among other see the minute detail at a major presentation.

Riva could have course have gone to a traditional rapid prototyping service to have the model made, traditional techniques though are slow and often look far from professional: with larger models especially there is always the risk that materials will sag. Riva therefore choose to work with a slightly different rapid prototyping services company: Fonco Fabrication and design are experts in 3D printing and were given the project by Riva to create the 1: 160 model but first they needed to find the perfect 3D printer for the job. Working to a budget meant that Fonco had to look at almost every 3D printer on the market before finding one that came in on budget yet gave the level of accuracy that was required to print the 100s of parts that would make the model. They finally chose a printer from 3D Systems, a company offering probably the widest range of 3D printers for rapid prototyping services and manufacturing.

Fonco worked from the existing computer model dividing the building up into panels that would fit together perfectly to provide a highly accurate detailed model once it was sent through the rapid prototyping service. The build time once the model was made went from months to days and the model looked like an exact copy in miniature while being robust enough to let stakeholders get close at the presentation.

Riva are now working on another development, again in Dubai, and a 1:80 model has been ordered from Fonco this time, now setup to deal with the request with ease with the right 3D printer and skills in place. The skills of 3D printers is quickly putting traditional model makers out of business and many architecture firms who may have had a model maker inn house are replacing them with a machine which can often be operated by those that have the design skills to come up with an initial computer model.

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Healthcare case study shows another side of 3D printing

Posted on March 7, 2012 by admin
3D Systems Healthcare 3D Printing Service

Picture credit: 3D Systems

It may not be instantly obvious why a healthcare company with specialties in diabetes and hormone replacement therapy would be interested in 3D printing but this has been the case recently for just such a company: which provides an interesting case study on the use of 3D printer services that may differ from the typical uses in rapid prototyping that many even within the industry itself are used to.

Many users of 3D printers for rapid prototyping create the exterior shell of a product or other visible parts to create a basic prototype that is primarily to show what the product will look like. The healthcare company in this example though have used a 3D printer service in house for designing many very small parts not to show what a product will look like but to ensure the product will fit together and perform. The product they are currently working on, others are likely to be designed the same way in the future, is an Insulin pen for diabetes sufferers.

The pen must be small and easy to transport round and also to use discretely as many diabetes suffers find using an insulin pen in public makes them very self-aware. The pen must also be long lasting and easy to refill to maximize the value for customers be they individuals or government funded health services.

3D Systems Healthcare 3D Printing Service

Picture credit: 3D Systems

The 3D printer service was bought in house by the company working with TechCluster, a local 3D printer reseller, who provided a solution of using a Projet HD 3000 printer for the 3D printer service with Visijet EX2000 materials. This allowed the company to print parts that were very small with fantastic accuracy yet with a lot of strength compared to other methods. Color was less important and the process of adding a color layer that the printer could provide would have added to the parts a small layer that in this case would have added too much to the parts. A solvent bath was instead used to color the parts once produced.

The company produce several other products for diabetes sufferers and those taking hormones and are likely to use the 3D printer service again in future. This may well include for the monitoring devices they use to measure insulin and other chemicals in the blood. Already a market leader the company hope that their 3D printer service capability will allow them to keep this position.

3D printers are becoming more common in healthcare though and look likely to be increasingly used in hospitals and suppliers of 3D printing to hospitals; in the short term this is likely to be mainly for use by surgeons and others to plan operations and other procedures using models 3D printed based on scans done in the hospital. Long term though 3D printed parts may be increasingly used in the body with replacement hips already being printed, the accuracy being key 3D printing is perfectly suited to this.

 

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Makerbot’s Replicator Versus 3D systems’ The Cube

Posted on February 29, 2012 by admin
Rapid Prototyping Services

Picture credit: 3D Systems

While Makerbot entered the 3D printing market in 2009 with the aim of making 3D printing accessible to everyone; 3D Systems have been around since 1986 serving a very different part of the market, primarily to those wanting rapid prototyping services.

Makerbot’s early success obviously attracted the attention of 3D Systems who have now moved into the same entry level sector as Makerbot with their Cube 3D printer, ideal for small businesses and individuals such as hobbyists and amateur designers. Despite 3D Systems most expensive offering coming in at around $1 million and them having a wide range of different printers for direct manufacturing and rapid prototyping services their new offering has undercut Makerbot’s Replicator coming in at $1299 compared to the $1799 for the Replicator.

The Replicator does offer 2 color printing which the Cube doesn’t meaning the choice isn’t obvious for consumers, the Replicator can also be modified by users, its even possible to add more colors, and it can print larger items than the Cube.

Perhaps then it was inevitable that a face off between the two companies would come and it came at CES this year at the roundtable event hosted by CNET.

The attitude of Cathy Lewis of 3D Systems still seemed very commercially minded and perhaps the Cube will appeal more to small businesses wanting rapid prototyping services in house. While the two tone Replicator is better for creating finished models and art the monotone printing of the Cube lends itself to rapid prototyping services more.

Bre Pettis of Makerbot in contrast to Cathy Lewis seemed to want to talk much more about making 3D printing for everyone and accessible to those even unable to do their own designing. While Bre mentioned Google Sketchup as a free product available to everyone Cathy was quick to plug 3D systems’ own CAD offering, which is far from being free software.

When you look at the availability of CAD files as well though Makerbot’s Replicator starts to look like better value despite its higher price tag. Makerbot’s Thingiverse is an online repository of open source CAD files shared by users, the collection has been building for four years and is impressive it also means that those unable to do their own CAD or still learning can print straight away or customize an existing design: which takes a lot less time and is a good way to initially hone skills.

Cubify is the equivalent to Thingiverse that 3D systems offer. Showing 3D systems different approach to 3D printing: CAD files on Cubify have to be paid for to be used; despite this it has a smaller repository, though this is partly through being a more recent service. Again though it points towards The Cube being more io an Enterprise Printer and a tool for designers who want to make money from design, or advanced users such as those wanting to use it for Rapid prototyping services in house with no need to have files to get them started. 3D systems take 40% of the money made on Cubify as well though, perhaps explaining how they can afford to sell their printer for less.

Overall Makerbot came out looking better, 3D systems’ Cathy Lewis falling back on The Cube looking better Ergonomically than the Replicator, a matter of opinion anyway and really not the point.

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A 3D printer in every home?

Posted on February 28, 2012 by admin

3d printing service at homeThe reaction that many have to the idea of having a 3D printer at home is that they would have no use for it as they don’t have the skills or knowledge to create 3D CAD files to print on it. Unlike with 2D printing where you only need basic skills to create a text document or even a leaflet using a 3D printing service needs a 3D CAD file. This is missing the point though, for a start you often print graphics or photos on a 2D printer that you haven’t created but have been sent or have downloaded from the internet. Also with a photo you have just pressed a button to take a digital image, if 3D scanner technology catches up with 3D printing services then it should be possible to scan 3D objects that you want to copy in a similar way, this could include making scaled down 3D models of friends and family: in other words a 3D photo.

What some futurists are suggesting though is that 3D printing services in the home will actually replace manufacturing in large part; it may take a leap to get to this from where 3D printing is now, and this may be some way off, but there seems little reason why at least a large proportion of manufacturing couldn’t be done at home or at least with a local 3D printing service. You will of course still need to buy the rights to print a product and how licenses would be controlled and how copyright and other IP would be protected seems difficult to predict. The theory though is that you would choose a product online, download the file and send it to your 3D printer. Limitations might be with products made of certain materials, more complicated products and the size of items you would be able to print on what would probably be a desktop sized printer. The first two issues though aren’t3D Printing Service ProJet 1000 insurmountable and increasingly complicated items with moving parts and even circuit boards are being made using 3D printing services and increasing numbers of different materials can be 3D printed even including some metals, glass and ceramics.

As for the size of items you could print parts and assemble some items or you could of course go to a local 3D printing service, as you would do now with 2D printing services if you needed an A1 size poster printed.

As with many technologies though the limitations on what people predict actually coming about is adoption and whether most people want something or it will remain a niche. While hobbyists may enjoy printing their own products other people may prefer to just go to a store or order online and the costs of printing at home would have to be as cheap or cheaper. Currently people could download and print a book on a home printer but few do as it is still cheaper generally to go to a bookstore either online or offline.

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Is 3D printing set to change manufacturing for ever?

Posted on February 23, 2012 by admin
Rapid Prototyping Services

Picture credit: 3D Systems

3D printing is already coming to dominate rapid prototyping services, the advantages of using 3D printing being such that those companies using old techniques struggle to compete. The future though is DDM, direct digital manufacturing, and though it will undoubtedly still have its roots in rapid prototyping services these printers will be a step beyond and will revolutionize far more than small departments in businesses: they will revolutionize every part of a manufacturing business including the entire manufacturing process but also distribution and the ability to provide bespoke designs to customers.

There are still some limitations for 3D printing but they are slowly being overcome: they of course include cost and speed but the trend for these are downwards and upwards respectively. Cost of course includes the cost of the equipment but also the cost of materials which will vary depending on the products being made, only certain metal powders can be used in 3D printing currently though, with expensive titanium being the most common. As for the cost of the equipment this is coming down as more companies enter the market and demand increases improving economies of scale. As speed of 3D printers increases of course the value from a printer will be more as it can produce more products.

With rapid prototyping services speed was not very important, with little effort companies could create 3D printers that made models in a couple of hours with a higher level of accuracy than a model that may have taken two days using traditional rapid prototyping services techniques. With direct digital manufacturing it is likely that speeds will increase quickly; using multiple lasers could cut times drastically straight away and there is little limiting how quickly a laser can work if a 3D printer is built to high enough standards.

The tipping point of course will come when 3D printers can produce goods almost as quickly as traditional manufacturing equipment with the same footprint and less user input leading to overall lower costs: to the extent that it makes financial sense to replace equipment with a return on investment likely within five to ten years say. Some may choose to invest before some may wait until later and new companies or those expanding may go for 3D printing technology straight away, it is currently mainly start-up businesses and rapidly expanding technology businesses who are beginning to use 3D printers for manufacturing.

Using 3D printers for manufacturing will have other effects though, the economies of scale from having one massive factory will drop quickly and it may make sense to have multiple factories around the world to save on transport costs. The amount of labor required will be minimal and so the extra cost of having a factory in a country with higher labor costs will still be less than shipping costs to get goods to markets. Many see the 21st century as China and India’s century already but 3D printing could negate their advantage: a supply of cheap labor.

The other major difference with DDM using 3D printers is that the technology as developed originally for rapid prototyping services allows for tweaks to designs to be made very easily with very little costs and no extra setup time. Goods made to bespoke designs and made to order will become more common then and even small companies will be able to produce a much wider range of designs for products including not only colors and patterns but also features.

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The robust Comet l3D 5M entry-level scanner

Posted on February 14, 2012 by admin

3D scanning is actually a lot harder technically than 3D printing, 3D printing technology is expensive but the levels of accuracy are high. With 3D scanning getting high accuracy is difficult and requires expensive equipment. The Comet Sensor Systems L3D 5M though is the first entry-level system to come out that offers a high degree of accuracy at a price that can actually be afforded by many small and medium sized business rather than purely by specialists. Previously those using 3D scanners in small businesses, such as those with design requirements, those scanning designs for reproduction through 3D printing or architecture firms, would probably have had to make do with a handheld scanner. A handheld scanner is only as accurate as the hand that holds it, for some uses this is fine for others millimeters count; with a handheld scanner you of course have the shake of the hand and the difficulty of lining up a scan.

3d Scanning SerivceThe Comet sensor is still light weight so it can be taken into buildings and to other places to scan objects in-situ but it stands on a tripod giving a fixed and secure point from which to do 3D scanning giving much better accuracy.

Many businesses of course still use hands-on techniques for measurements; even on basic objects with only flat planes this is time consuming and many delicate items, such as historic artifacts, can be easily damaged. With the Comet system historians and archeologists, those that work with delicate parts and perhaps need to complete quality control and many others can benefit from being able to measure an object quickly and safely without touching it and they can then use the information to create a 3D CAD file.

3D scanning from a fixed base makes stitching together 3D scans much more easy as well to create a model. The scan of different parts of an object of building can be done from the same height angle and distance each time whereas with a handheld scanner this would not be possible.

Once a 3D scan has been made into a finished computer CAD drawing that can then be used in a number of ways: the design can be modified to create a new design, the plans can be used for traditional manufacturing including reverse engineering a competitor’s design or of course they can be used for 3D printing. 3D scanning is the perfect accompaniment to 3D printing, it can be used to reproduce items commercially as well as to scale items, both up and down, and to reproduce items in different materials: for example taking a clay model and reproducing it in a hard and more robust resin.

As mentioned for historians and archeologists 3D scanning is ideal and when a museum, company or other organization have access to 3D printing as well it means that delicate and important items can be reproduced safely allowing them to be studied much more easily; as many models as needed can be made of course meaning copies can be sent to other museums, universities and other institutions allowing more people to study an item.

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