News and Insights of 3D Printing and Manufacturing
When David Bowie asked “is there life on Mars?” in 1971 you can bet he wasn’t thinking of humans. As it happens, we could very well be bringing life to Mars in the near future thanks to efforts being undertaken by NASA and 3D printing companies. One of those companies, NY-based AI SpaceFactory, is hoping it will be the one to provide homes for when humans do eventually step foot onto the Red Planet.
In the realm of construction 3D printing, bigger always seems to be better, as companies scale up their concrete 3D printing systems to build houses on the spot. Andrey Rudenko, the inventor of the 3D Concrete House 3D printer, however, is showing that there is value in scaling the technology down.
Airbus and Dassault Systèmes have signed a five-year Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) to cooperate on the implementation of collaborative 3D design, engineering, manufacturing, simulation and intelligence applications. This will enable Airbus to take a major step forward in its digital transformation and lay the foundation for a new European industrial ecosystem in aviation.
Thermwood has produced what could very well be the largest 3D printed autoclave tool for a helicopter ever made. The project, realized through a partnership with aircraft manufacturer Bell, utilized Thermwood’s LSAM 60 mm melt core technology and reinforces AM’s applications in mold production.
UrbanAlps AG and its Stealth Key startup closed a CHF 2.5M (Swiss Francs), equivalent to $2.5 M, series A financing round to finally move into full-scale production for its high-security 3D printed key and lock system. The financing round allowed the 3D metal printing start-up to overcome the death-valley between prototyping and serial production. With high-security products shipped to 4 continents, thousands of Stealth Keys 3D metal printed and close to a hundred customers, the Stealth Key targets its expansion to the German security market.
Xerox is the company whose copying machines business was so successful that its brand became a synonym for the family of products it made and sold. Since the company was quite active in the 3D printing patent arena, many may have thought it could have done the same for 3D printers. However, Xerox has never made a clear move into 3D printing, at least not like HP and Xaar have done. Until now that is. At the Investor’s Day 2019 conference taking place in New York, Xerox announced several new products in the 3D printing segment along with the acquisition of metal 3D printing startup Vader.
Milan has become something of a 3D printing design hub in recent years, largely thanks to the occurrence of prestigious events such as the Salone del Mobile, a furniture expo held every Spring in Italy’s capital of fashion and design. Last year, for instance, the Salone del Mobile’s showstopper was a 3D printed house located in Milan’s central square, Piazza Cesare Beccaria—which 3DPBM founder Davide Sher had the chance to see firsthand.
Italian 3D printer manufacturer Roboze is undeniably on the rise. In December, the company reported the securing of a €3M investment and its expectations to see growth of up to 500% in 2019. Today, the company is signalling its commitment to this growth by announcing its entry into the Japanese 3D printing market through a collaboration with K.K. IRISU, a Tokyo-based industrial equipment supplier.
Figuring out how to best implement 3D printing into an established production workflow can be tricky. In many cases, a trial & error approach can prove costly and fail to bring the desired results. Fortunately, there is now sufficient literature available that can help to avoid mistakes and establish a clear ROI strategy right from the start. Few companies have done more in this regard than Formlabs did by introducing a reliable, high-quality stereolithographic (SLA) technology that just about any business can easily afford.
NASA Nebraska Space Grant office provided funding to examine the development, validation, and mechanically characterization of antimicrobial 3D printed medical devices for astronauts. The objective is to test the antimicrobial properties of Copper3D’s PLACTIVE filament material on the International Space Station.