News and Insights of 3D Printing and Manufacturing
A recent survey conducted by Belgian 3D printing company Materialise has shed some light onto how Chinese manufacturing companies view 3D printing: how it fits into the manufacturing sector, what its benefits and limitations are and, importantly, how its adoption could impact China’s dominant role in the manufacturing world.
When the 2020 Tokyo Olympics roll around, Australia’s cycling team will be mounted on some fairly high-tech bikes. Constructed in partnership with Australian bike brand Bastion, the bikes each feature a set of three 3D printed titanium components: the stems, Madison handlebars and cranksets.
The partnership between HP and Volkswagen, two of the largest companies in the world in their respective fields of expertise, was formed last year with the goal of producing large batches of metal 3D printed automotive parts. One year later the first key milestone has been achieved with a production run of more than 10,000 parts – a set of 3D printed ID.3 models – produced by HP and GKN Powder Metallurgy in just a few weeks, to support the visionary ID.3 electric vehicle launch event.
3D printing has found yet another application in the automotive sector. Ding Tool LLC, a company specializing in paintless dent repair tools, is launching a series of 3D printed dent repair tools at the SEMA show this week in Las Vegas. The patent-pending tools were 3D printed using technology and materials from B9Creations, a South Dakota additive manufacturing solutions company.
Among the newest generations of products, drones are arguably those that best embody the concept of innovation. Not only for their technical characteristics, but also for the cutting-edge technologies used to develop and build them. As a manufacturing process, 3D printing is increasingly used within the drone production cycle, mainly for prototyping. Italdron, an Italian company specializing in the design and production of innovative commercial drones, has been using 3D printing since 2014 and has further raised the bar by collaborating with WASP for the production of its latest, futuristic models. This latest application case clearly demonstrates how the right AM technology is now mature enough to ensure reliable final components and, at the same time, significantly reduce development times and costs.
3D printer manufacturer voxeljet AG is teaming up with Creavis, the strategic innovation arm of Evonik Industries, to pursue the development of new plastic materials for binder jetting 3D printing. voxeljet and Evonik will also reportedly present “new technology” at Formnext 2019 this month.
3D printing company Optomec has achieved an exciting milestone, having sold and shipped its 500th industrial 3D printer. The landmark system was deployed to Optomec client General Electric and has been installed at an unnamed division of the company.
Jay Leno is no stranger to 3D printing. The former Tonight Show host is a massive car aficionado and has, through Big Dog Garage and Big Dog Productions, utilized AM to help restore and refurbish all manner of vintage and rare automobiles. From here on out, it seems the comedian will be turning to 3D printing more than ever, as Leno’s auto repair shop has signed a new partnership deal with 3D printing giant Stratasys.
ExOne, a pioneer of binder jet 3D printing technologies, is introducing the tenth member of its metal 3D printer family: the X1 160PRO. The 3D printer, which builds on the company’s 20 years of experience in the binder jetting arena, is ExOne’s largest metal 3D printer to date and can deliver high throughput production.
Sportswear brand Adidas has introduced a new sneaker model as part of its ALPHAEDGE 4D series. The new shoe, which leverages Adidas and Carbon’s 3D printed FUTURECRAFT concept, stands out for its reflective style.