News and Insights of 3D Printing and Manufacturing
From the ice to the roads, Californian startup KAV has expanded its range of protective gear today with the launch of a 3D printed bike helmet. The new product follows the company’s original release last year: a custom 3D printed helmet for ice hockey.
Early last year the Swiss brand NOW 3D printed by SLS a set of generatively designed bindings that were put through a simulated testing environment (and passed). A new collaboration between Stratasys and Slicelab + Fequalsf (Aaron Porterfield), just produced a new set of 3D printed snowboard bindings that were produced using the Stratasys Origin One high-speed photopolymerization 3D printer using the Loctite 3172 material. The printed bindings were functionally tested with a weekend of boarding at Breckenridge, Colorado and performed perfectly.
Hush Puppies, the iconic Wolverine Worldwide brand, will commercialize Voxel8‘s digital manufacturing technology in unique midsoles that provide enhanced comfort, support and longevity.
Voxel8, a Boston-area multi-material digital manufacturing company, and Eddy Ricami, a leading Italian manufacturer to the fashion industry, entered an exclusive arrangement for Eddy Ricami to produce and sell high-fashion accessories using Voxel8 technology and ActiveLab system.
Superstrata, the company founded by Arevo Labs to commercialize composite 3D printed bikes and e-bikes, has shipped the first Superstrata bike. The bike marks a significant milestone as it represents one of the very first continuous fiber-reinforced composites 3D printed consumer products ever to hit the market. As such it was highlighted by 3dpbm as one of the best 3D printed products of 2020.
In spite of all the doubts about pricing and workflow, in spite of tough competition from Asian footwear manufacturers, adidas’ idea to bet on Carbon’s technology for footwear midsoles continues to pay off. Pricepoints for some models have dropped below $150 and new models keep coming out, such as the multi-colored 4D Fusio. And with many new technologies coming into this segment, 3D printed footwear is most definitely here to stay.
Since its founding in 2017, Dutch company Aectual has taken the tenets of 3D printing—including customization, design freedom and sustainability—to heart, applying them to the areas of architecture and interior design. Many of our readers will be familiar with the company: in 2018, it gained notice for 3D printing a section of terrazzo-style flooring in Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport. Just a few months ago, it also unveiled a collection of 3D printed fully-circular furniture made from plant-based materials.
Last month Stratasys bought Origin and Desktop Metal bought EnvisionTEC. Both acquisitions were not casual. They were strategic decisions made by companies that, for different reasons, had some cash to bet on the next 3D printing growth area and decided to go for high-speed photopolymerization technology: EnvisionTEC’s founder Al Siblani invented and patented the technology for high-speed, continuous DLP but never thought much of its potential; Origin’s Programmable Photopolymerization (P³) is one of the technologies that went after the potential of these processes for digital mass production through durable photopolymerizable materials.
Designed by Khawarizm Studio for the 3D Printed Luminaire Competition, the Lou’Lou’ lamp is the winning proposal submitted by Huda Lighting and Immensa Labs, revisiting the relationship between cultural heritage and nature in an innovative 3D printed lighting fixture.
3DRap is a startup based in a small town on the hills of Irpinia, in Southern Italy, in the medieval town of Capocastello. As the name implies the company was founded around the idea of RepRap 3D printing: they created an open-source system, leveraged the Arduino platform for a number of projects and built a digital production facility. But the sweet spot where their open-source 3D printers began to truly make business sense is sim racing: 3DRap is now a manufacturer of custom 3D printed mods for sim racing peripherals, hitching a ride on one of today’s key technology trends to reach people all over the world.