News and Insights of 3D Printing and Manufacturing
Stratasys today announced it will be increasing its stake in Xaar 3D Ltd., a company founded last year by the 3D printing giant in collaboration with Xaar PLC, a supplier of industrial inkjet printheads. Stratasys now holds a 15% stake in the company and plans to increase it to 45%, with Xaar PLC owning the remaining 55% through its fully owned subsidiary Xaar 3D Holdings.
One of the moments that will likely stand out when we look back at the history of construction 3D printing is the construction of Europe’s first 3D printed building in 2017 by 3D Printhuset (now COBOD). As a call back to this original structure, which still stands in Copenhagen, and to show how far its come with its construction 3D printing technology since 2017, COBOD recently reprinted The BOD building.
Veering from its recent cycling-related announcements, 3D printing company Carbon is launching a new premium digitally printable denture workflow and material system in partnership with Dentsply Sirona, a leading manufacturer of professional dental products. The new workflow and material system significantly improve the process of 3D printing dental prostheses as well as the quality of the dentures.
Just nine days in, September is gearing up to be an exciting month for cycling and 3D printing enthusiasts. With Eurobike 2019 taking place last week, bike designers and their manufacturing partners were excited to showcase the latest in 3D printed cycling equipment. We saw 3D printed bike seats by Carbon for Specialized and fizik, as well as a new 3D printed carbon fiber bike frame by AREVO for Pilot. Now, Dutch metal 3D printing company MX3D is getting in on the action with the unveiling of its first 3D printed aluminum bike, Arc Bike II.
Industrifonden, a venture capital investor based in Stockholm, led an investment round for 15 million SEK (Swedish Krona), about $1.5 million, to finance metal 3D printing company Freemelt. The money intended to fuel the next phase of the company’s growth, driving the metal 3D printing revolution forward with the development of the Freemelt One system. Freemelt is a Swedish company that is developing the first open-source EBM 3D printer, following the original patents on EBM expiring in 2016.
Volvo Trucks North America announced this week that it has adopted 3D printing for the production of tools and fixtures. The 3D printed components are being used at its New River Valley (NRV) facility in Dublin, Virginia, where all trucks for the North American market are manufactured. Since implementing additive manufacturing for tooling, the automotive company says it has already experienced faster production rates and continuous quality improvements.
Polish startup OVE has joined forces with Memjet, a global leader in 2D printing technology, and scientists from the Warsaw University of Technology, to tackle the challenges of full-color extrusion 3D printing, developing OVO, a new system which promises to make this technology finally reliable and accessible.
Desktop 3D printer company XYZprinting has announced the latest 3D printer in its da Vinci series: the da Vinci Color 5D. The machine—which one can’t strictly call a 3D printer—combines full-color 3D printing with 2D inkjet paper printing and laser engraving in a single platform. XYZprinting will be showcasing its newest product at IFA 2019 from September 9 to 11 in Berlin.
Mankind is accelerating its exploration of space and the universe at an increasingly rapid pace. Manned habitations such as the International Space Station (ISS) have been in existence for over 20 years. We are on the cusp of starting to launch deep space exploration missions, but there are many challenges to overcome related to prolonged existence in space stations and transport vehicles to ensure our pioneers are able to live and operate in clean and safe environments. Facilities like the ISS harbour and nurture dangerous bacteria that are detrimental to humans, where already studies are starting to show that astronauts experience issues related to reduced immune systems, a syndrome called Immune System Dysregulation.
Evonik Venture Capital, the VC arm of German chemicals company Evonik, has announced an investment in Meditool, a Chinese startup specializing in PEEK 3D printed implants for neuro and spinal surgery. Evonik is the lead investor in a “high single-digit million-euro” fundraising round for the Shanghai-based medtech startup.