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Dealing with Brand Pollution in the Business of 3D Printing 3D Printing Processes

by Business

Over the course of the last three years, the desktop fabrication segment of the 3D Printing industry has come a long way. We have seen a great deal of innovation on the hardware side and a few new solutions that hold a great deal of promise in solving the issue of dual extrusion. At DesignBox3D, we have worked hard to choose our partners carefully and will often proudly share with anyone that happens to be listening that our longest running relationship has been with Espen Sivertsen and the entire team at Type A Machines. One of the core reasons for this mutual respect is that they look at additive manufacturing the same way as we do. It is a quickly emerging component in the design to manufacturing tool-chain and Type A Machines, like DesignBox3D, wants to be a key part of that tool-chain. Part of this vision of having Additive Manufacturing play a key role in the design to manufacturing process involves an intense focus on continual R&D and innovation on the hardware side, coupled with a desire to expand the capabilities of the hardware on the materials side of the equation. Type A has taken their version of Cura and added capabilities that cannot be found elsewhere. Absolute 3D Internal ™ structures and the 88+ materials and rising that are supported today are prime examples of the material flexibility of this platform.

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Zortrax Closes First Half of 2016 with Record Revenues for $6.7M 3D Printer Hardware

by Technologies

Zortrax reached a record-breaking $6,7M turnover in the first half of 2016, exceeding last year’s first-half result by more than $1.9M Zortrax – one of the leading European providers of 3D printing solutions – recently published its financial results for the first half of 2016. The company’s income level increased by 42% (compared annually), which resulted in more than $6,7 million of turnover. This exceeds last year’s first-half results by more than $1.9 million. The net profits have also increased by 114 percent annually to approximately $2 million. Sales of Zortrax’s key product, the M200 printer, have increased by 40 percent since the second half of 2015. “It was an intensive and demanding six months for us,” said Rafal Tomasiak, CEO of Zortrax. “We were working on the debut of the new M300 model and at the same time closing another financial round.” During that time Dariusz Miłek joined Zortrax as a new shareholder. The successful financial round enabled the company to transfer its research and development department from China to Poland and secure funding for future projects and acquisitions. The company has achieved the same income levels during the first six months of this year as it did during the first nine months of 2015. Zortrax also managed to increase its sales of printing materials, especially in the U.S. market where it noticed a 116-percent increase in sales compared to the same period in 2015. The American market is a top priority for Zortrax, as it plans to further develop the company’s market share in that country.

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Entrepreneur disappears after building “world’s first 3D printed hotel suite Professional Additive Manufacturing

by Automotive

In September 2015, news of the “world’s first 3D-printed hotel suite” made its way to the public. Countless news outlets, from Forbes to USA Today, covered the story, allowing it to proliferate across the globe. Just two months later, however, another piece of news failed to gain the same traction. Lewis Yakich, the head of the project and main shareholder in the Lewis Grand Hotel, had gone missing.

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Hunting for Medals with 3D Printing and Treed Filaments 3D Printing Processes

by Medical

Canoe and Surf: Two Italian athletes at the Paralympics and World Championships. Prostheses and guardians printed with TreeD Filaments materials by engineer Marco Avaro. Veronica Yoko Plebani went to the Paralympics in Rio. Fabrizio Passetti prepared for the World Championships in La Jolla, California. These are two Italian athletes who already have a rich collection of achievements and trophies, and they share one characteristic: they use prostheses 3D printed by biomedical engineer Marco Avaro, using TreeD Filaments materials. In his laboratory Avaro works with a material derived from Carbonium, an highly technical material developed specifically for this application. Veronica practices canoeing, Fabrizio surfing. “For Veronica I made a brace for the hand – explains Avaro- while Fabrizio needed a prosthesis in extremely high-performance carbon, capable of withstanding even considerable stresses“. Both athletes are thrilled with the result and are tangible evidence of the extraordinary results that can be achieved thanks to 3D printing. In the orthopedic laboratory Del Bene Fabio in Trieste, the engineer is working virtually non-stop and with TreeD Filaments he is able to create increasingly sophisticated prosthetics. “At the base there are high-quality, high performing filaments, made by Treed Filaments, and WASP printers. Now 3D printing has become something structural, calculated and extremely precise. We are printing parts with tolerances of two tenths of a millimeter.” It is important to note that a prosthesis is a tailored medical device and is subject to a whole series of rules and characteristics, based on prescriptions written by qualified physicians. Obviously we carried out a series of trial and error.The filaments are certified and in this period the specifications are being written.

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AMBER Researchers Develop New 3D Bioprinting Technology to Make Alternatives to Bone Grafts 3D Printing Processes

by Medical

Researchers in AMBER, the Science Foundation Ireland funded materials science centre, hosted in Trinity College Dublin, have created a process to support 3D printing of new bone graft material. This world first research, led by Professor Daniel Kelly and recently published in the journal Advanced Healthcare Materials, could be used to regenerate large defects caused by tumour resections, trauma and infection, as well as inherited bone deformities. Professor Kelly’s research could also have numerous applications in craniomaxillofacial (the whole area of the mouth, jaw, face and skull) and orthopaedic surgery, especially in cases where tissues with complex geometries need to be regenerated, for example cases in the head, jaw or spine. Worldwide, 2.2 million procedures a year require a bone graft. At present there are currently two methods to provide a bone graft. The first is an autograft, where bone is transplanted from one site to another site within the same person. This type of grafting can be quite painful, and issues can arise at the site of extraction, as it heals. The second, an allograft is where bone is taken from a donor and transplanted. Complications can include donor site morbidity, poor availability of transplantable tissue and disease transfer from the donor to the recipient. AMBER’s new 3D printing method could replace traditional methods and eliminate these difficulties, by enabling the printing of larger and more complex shaped implants. Furthermore, the mechanical properties may be tailored for specific applications, which means bone grafts could be used in more complex cases such as in the head and jaw. AMBER researchers’ method consists of using 3D bioprinting technology to fabricate cartilage templates which have been shown to assist the growth of a complete bone organ. The AMBER team used 3D bioprinting to deposit different biomaterials and adult stem cells in order to engineer cartilage templates matching the shape of a segment within the spine. The team implanted the templates under the skin, where they matured over time into a fully functional bone organ with its own blood vessels. During skeletal development many of our bones are formed by a process in which cartilage templates are transformed into a vascularised and functioning bone organ. Professor Daniel Kelly, Investigator at AMBER and Director of the Trinity College Centre for Bioengineering, said: “This is new approach to tissue and organ engineering and we’re very excited. 3D bioprinting is a rapidly expanding area in the fields of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. While the technology has already been used to engineer relatively simple tissues such as skin, blood vessels and cartilage, engineering more complex and vascularised solid organs, such as bone, is well beyond the capabilities of currently available bioprinting technologies. Our research offers real hope in the future for patients with complex bone trauma or large defects following removal of a tumour. In addition, this bioprinting approach could also be used in the development of the next generation of biological implants for knee and hip replacements. Our next stage of this process is to aim to treat large bone defects and then integrate the technology into a novel strategy to bioprint new knees.” Professor Kelly will be presenting his research at the 5-Year Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute (TBSI) Symposium on Monday September 5, where leading bioengineers, cancer scientists, clinicians and immunologists will discuss their next-generation research projects. For a full agenda of speakers, see:https://www.tcd.ie/biosciences/assets/pdf/agenda_tbsi_5anniversary_draft_tb.pdf A short video of the process can be found here, A short video of the process can be seen here,https://youtu.be/NWBa8OWgApM. The paper can be found in full here:https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adhm.201600182/full.

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How to Name a New and Revolutionary 3D Scanner? Find Out on September 12th 3D Scanning Sevices

by Business

Lifting the veil of secrecy, I will tell you that our team has been working day and night on a brand-new, never-before-seen, hand-held 3D scanner. And it’s almost here! However this post is not about how great or unique this piece of tech will be. This article is a glimpse into the life of an innovative, somewhat bizarre, yet never-boring team of brilliant techies. It turns out that naming a 3D scanner is almost as difficult as inventing a 3D scanner. Our team of engineers is ordinarily in harmony with our support, sales, manufacturing and marketing staff, but in the last few weeks we’ve witnessed heated intra-departmental discussions all around our Moscow office and at our manufacturing plant. The debate especially intensified, as the first prototypes started circulating around the office and the topic of color also began appearing in conversations (“What color should the scanner be?”). So what were some of the name choices? To understand why certain names were suggested, you have to know the key features of the new technology. As we are not yet formally announcing the new scanner, I won’t go into details, but I will say this: it is a hand-held, white light 3D scanner with three sets of interchangeable lenses that never have to be calibrated and can be switched out easily like lenses of a professional photo camera (snap on/off these lenses and you can go from capturing tiny objects such as jewelry to large objects such as cars or furniture). So the new scanner will ultimately have three “heads” and will be able to scan objects of almost any size. Sounds like a breakthrough, right? Our whole whacky team is very excited about the upcoming release (due out this autumn). So what do we call this new device? Here is where the debate starts… Some of the suggestions (and reasons for rejection) were:

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Thor3D wins case against Artec in German court 3D Scanning Sevices

by Business

At the 3D Printing Business Directory we pride ourselves in working with some of the most fascinating companies in the industry. One of these is certainly Moscow based 3D scanner manufacturer Thor3D, whose recent history has seen the company go thorough some difficult times and yet overcome the challenges that have come before it. Now Thor3D is pleased to announce the end of a prolonged legal dispute with Artec Europe S.a.r.l. in Germany. On August 25th, 2016 the Dusseldorf Higher Court handed down a final decision in favor of Thor3D and the creator of the technology behind the scanner, Mr. Andrey Klimov. The disagreement between the two companies started in 2015, when Artec Europe S.a.r.l. mistakenly assumed that the recently-announced Thor3D scanner, might contain misappropriated technology. The company filed a claim in the Dusseldorf court asking the court to confiscate one of the Thor3D scanners at the Euromold 2015 exhibition for an independent review. The court granted the request, and a prototype of the scanner was seized. Since this action was taken as a precaution (the Court, at the time, agreed with the plaintiff that once the exhibition was over, the alleged device might leave the country), Thor3D was not informed ahead of time, nor had a chance to voice its opposition. Several months later, there was a hearing in which we finally had a chance to present our arguments before a judge and in March 2016, the court sided with us. It agreed that the prototype should not have been confiscated in the first place, as Artec Europe S.a.r.l. did not prove that it had exclusive rights to what it claimed was “its” technology (regardless of whether Thor3D used it in its scanners….which it didn’t). The decision was upheld again in August 2016, after Artec Europe S.a.r.l appealed. We would like to take this opportunity to make several things clear: