News and Insights of 3D Printing and Manufacturing
Desktop Metal has made its third announcement of the month at Formnext today: the launch of “the world’s first metal binder jetting system designed for machine shops.” The new additive manufacturing system is fittingly called the Shop System and is available starting at $150,000.
This morning, Formnext 2019 is kicking off in Frankfurt—with a lot to show. AM companies from around the world will come together in the German city this week to showcase new additive manufacturing solutions and products and to create new connections and partnerships. Digital manufacturing company Carbon, which is presenting its own solutions at the trade show, has made some announcements, including the availability of its newest 3D printer, the L1 and the addition of Jabil to its Carbon Production Network.
In addition to expanding its Arcam additive manufacturing portfolio at Formnext with the launch of the Arcam EBM Spectra L and an automated powder recovery system, GE Additive has unveiled the new Concept Laser M2 Series 5 system. The new 3D printer, the latest generation of its popular M2 system, integrates features that enable increased part quality and consistency, better productivity and enhanced usability and maintainability.
Accucode, an American reseller of Nano Dimension’s electronics 3D printing technology, is opening the world’s first service bureau for 3D printing electronics. To support the new service, the company has also purchased a second DragonFly LDM 3D printer from Nano Dimension.
It is November 19th, 2019 and the fifth edition of Formnext is off to a promising start. 3dpbm’s team on the ground will be speaking with various industry partners and experts to learn about new technologies and releases as well as tracking this year’s Formnext trends. Playing a more omniscient role, I will be covering news from across the industry and compiling this year’s top stories here for you.
Royal DSM, Chromatic 3D Materials and German RepRap (GRR) have formed a partnership to develop high-performance, flexible solutions for 3D printing using Chromatic’s line of FlexTune polyurethane (PU) materials. Together, the companies will create PU-based 3D printed parts for the automotive, rail and footwear sectors, to name a few.
After acquiring a 30% stake in Italian metal AM service bureau BEAMIT, Swedish company Sandvik and its Italian partner are showcasing a combined metal powder and AM offering at Formnext. At their joint Sandvik-BEAMIT booth, the companies are displaying a range of Sandvik’s Osprey metal powders and customer use-cases, as well as introducing new nickel-based superalloys and titanium powders.
BigRep, the German large-scale 3D printing specialist, has brought a 3D printed “pod car” named LOCI to Formnext 2019. The autonomous electric car demonstrates the new BigRep Part DNA technology, which embeds NFC chips into 3D printed parts.
Invited by Outpie Partners, a Netherlands-based company that promotes and facilitates business relationships between China and Europe, we recently had the opportunity to tour many of China’s tech hubs, focusing mainly on AI, from Shenzhen to Hangzhou, and then further up the Chinese East Coast to Shanghai, Wuxi, Jinan, and Bejing. While it’s true that China’s manufacturing is currently focusing almost exclusively on the very large – and AM is not part of the big picture – 3D printing is growing as fast as everything else and we had the opportunity to see it first hand when we visited Latec, a metal 3D printer manufacturer based in Jinan.
Italian 3D printing company Lumi Industries is preparing to unveil a new desktop 3D printer at Formnext this week. The resin-based 3D printer, called Lumi³ (LumiCube), was built for easy and accurate additive production and integrates a slew of new features that provide better efficiency and quality.