News and Insights of 3D Printing and Manufacturing
Ever since it was announced at IFA many have been wondering if the XYZ da Vinci Color desktop FDM-inkjet hybrid, full-color 3D printer can truly deliver in terms of quality and reliability. Can it really compete with currently available full-color technologies such as those from 3D Systems (Projet CJP), Stratasys (Connex 3 polyjet) and Mcor (paper lamination)?
NASA tests conducted by engineers at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, focused on NASA’s first 3D printed rocket engine prototype part made of two different metal alloys through an innovative advanced manufacturing process. NASA has been making and evaluating durable 3D printed rocket parts made of one metal, but the technique of 3D printing, or additive manufacturing, with more than one metal, is significantly more difficult and has not yet been achieved with any commercially available technology.
Apis Cor, the parent company of a Skolkovo resident startup that uses 3D printing to construct buildings, has raised about $6 million in investment from the Rusnano Sistema Sicar venture fund, the Vedomosti newspaper reported Thursday. Apis Cor made headlines and received global media coverage for its efficient and scalable construction 3D printing business.
Solvay has entered into a binding agreement with German chemical company BASF for the sale of its Polyamides business, a crucial step in Solvay’s transformation towards a multi-specialty chemicals company.
Paweł Robak took up the position of Managing Director. His transition to OMNI3D has brought a lot of positive changes to the company – a new sales strategy, expansion of the range of filaments and further development of Factory 2.0.
Spatial Corp, the leading provider of 3D software development toolkits (SDKs) for design, manufacturing, and engineering solutions, and a subsidiary of Dassault Systèmes, and ModuleWorks, the leading supplier of CAD/CAM software development toolkits for machining and simulation, have developed SDKs (aka software components) that offer CAD/CAM vendors complete workflow solutions for additive and hybrid machining.
Thirty Flemish companies and research institutions are currently putting the last hand to ‘Family of the Future’, a demonstration project on 3D printing. The results of the cooperation will be presented on November 8 during the Prototyping 2017 trade fair in Kortrijk, Belgium and on November 14 at Formnext in Frankfurt, Germany. Materialise CEO Fried Vancraen will highlight the importance of co-creation at both occasions.
With close to a third of the bridge printed, Dutch design studios MX3D are well on track to be finished printing in early 2018 as programmed (see timeline below). By now, the company working on the bridge designed by Joris Laarman also mounted a robot directly on the bridge. Unlike so many high-profile 3D printing projects that clash with physical impossibilities, the first generatively designed, metal 3D printed bridge looks like it is going to become reality (and no, you cannot buy it).
Arconic, a global technology, engineering and advanced manufacturing leader, and Airbus have achieved a 3D printing first—the installation of a 3D printed titanium bracket on a series production Airbus commercial aircraft, the A350 XWB. Arconic is 3D printing these parts for Airbus’s newest widebody aircraft at Arconic’s additive manufacturing facility in Austin, Texas.
Leading 3D printing software and service provider Materialise and Structo, a Singapore-based dental 3D printing solutions provider, announced the launch of Structo PrintWorks Pro. The software is a customized version of Materialise Magics Print and is aimed at simplifying 3D print file preparation for dental professionals using Structo’s Mask Stereolithography (MSLA) dental 3D printers.