AMUG Newsletter July 2018

President’s Report

The AMUG team has returned from its annual planning and strategy meeting. Fourteen team members convened for 2.5 days to review the past and plan for the future of the conference and the organization.

While there were plenty of agenda items related to critical, but mundane, items like finance, organizational structure and duty assignments, the bulk of the time was invested in the conference program. We reviewed all of your input—from the survey, mobile app, feedback meeting and onsite conversations—to give us direction. That input led us to long conversations on the speaking agenda and AMUGexpo. And those conversations resulted in a quite lengthy action-item list that, when accomplished, will make the 2019 conference more productive in delivering to our core mission of helping users through advancement and education.

At the heart of our 2019 plan are new methods to improve the quality of presentations and expand on the workshops and hands-on activities. By the conclusion of our meeting, the team was excited, enthused and confident that the fundamental changes to our program will deliver a great experience for all of our members. We look forward to sharing this plan with you once we have ironed out the details. For a glimpse of what’s to come, see the next article.

In our meetings, we also confirmed that conference registration and hotel reservations will be available October 1. Both will be available through amug.com, and we will make you aware of the availability in future newsletters.

Changes to 2019 Conference Program

After reviewing feedback from the 2018 AMUG Conference, we are making changes to next year’s conference program. We realize that in previous years there have been too many concurrent presentations as well as too many speaker sessions with a ‘sales tone’. It is our goal this year to reduce the number of sessions that will be held concurrently while also having more engaging and hands-on training sessions. By holding fewer sessions amongst all of the tracks, including the sponsor track, we will reduce the number of sessions and lengthen the time allotted to educational training and hands-on programs.

The agenda team will be working over the next few months to develop and reformat the conference program to provide programs that meet the needs of AM users ranging from beginner to advanced sessions.

AMUG Conference Scholarship Sponsorships — We Need Your Help!

The additive manufacturing (AM) community from around the world converges at the AMUG Conference with these goals in mind:  to share expertise, best practices, challenges and application developments; to see what’s new and exciting in the AM industry; and to network within the AM community.  If you have attended, you have experienced this amazing event and understand the value of being afforded such an opportunity.  Now, think about what an opportunity like this would mean to someone that has never attended; to someone that is new in the AM industry; or maybe someone that is teaching young engineers about the AM industry.  How valuable would this experience be to them? Now ask yourself, how can I play a part in making a difference?

The exciting news is that for one student and one educator, there is an opportunity to attend the AMUG Conference through an AMUG Scholarship!  The Guy E. Bourdeau Scholarship, which was founded by Renee Bourdeau in 2014, is awarded to a student that has shown a passion for AM and is actively integrating AM into their professional development.  The Randy Stevens Scholarship, which was founded by In’Tech Industries in 2014, is awarded to an educator that puts emphasis on and shows passion for AM in their teaching and advising of students.  Both scholarships fully fund the awarded individual’s travel, lodging and conference registration. For more information, you can visit the following site:  www.amug.com/scholarships/.

This is where you can step up and help!  We are actively seeking additional sponsors to assist in the funding of these two great scholarships.  Sponsors will receive recognition for their willingness to support these awards, plus they will gain the satisfaction of helping the next generation of AM enthusiasts.  If you are interested, please contact Brett Charlton (Brett.Charlton@bd.com) for more information.

3D Systems Launches E-commerce Site for New FabPro™ 1000

3D Systems has launched an e-commerce site for its new FabPro™ 1000 entry-level industrial 3D printer that combines smooth surface quality, accelerated throughput and a straightforward user interface.

This powerful, compact additive manufacturing system is optimized for producing high-quality, plastic part prototypes as well as casting patterns for jewelry at print speeds up to three times faster than competitively priced systems. It’s offered with three different materials: FabPro Tough BLK, FabPro Proto GRY, and FabPro JewelCast GRN.

Customer feedback confirms the system’s superior price/performance ratio. One example is Simon Walker, owner of Artforge, which designs and manufactures highly accurate collectible miniatures and unique jewelry. Simon has “…been very impressed with the FabPro 1000’s print quality and smooth surface finish – so important when you’re producing pieces to be cast for fine miniatures and intricate jewelry.”

The FabPro 1000 is priced below $5000 (US)/€5.000 (EU Countries) and can be ordered online.

The new FabPro 1000 entry-level industrial 3D printer from 3D Systems.

Smart Part Washer: High-quality Parts, Lower OpEx, and Satisfied Employees

Carbon recently released a solution brief about its Smart Part Washer (SPW)— a critical piece of equipment in the Carbon SpeedCell™ system. Investing in SPW will allow organizations to:

• Produce consistent high-quality parts
• Lower operating expenditures
• Create a more satisfied workforce

For decades, the post-processing stage in 3D manufacturing has been neglected, and customers had no choice but to use non-standardized operating procedures to produce parts. Used in conjunction with the Carbon M Series printers, the SPW addresses customers’ needs for a well-defined, controlled, and repeatable post-processing method for washing the parts. Moreover, the SPW extends the part provenance with 100% digital traceability of the post-processing washing operation for any given part.

The Carbon SPW is ideal for customers seeking to scale-up production and could lower part-washing labor costs up to 50%. Read the complete solution brief here or send a note to sales@carbon3d.com.

Carbon’s solution brief on Smart Part Washer, which supports M Series Printers, is now available.

AppliedAM Registration Now Open

Registration is now open for the application-focused symposium, AppliedAM. Coinciding with IMTS 2018, the half-day educational forum features insight from industry luminaries on the cutting-edge 3D printing applications helping shape the future of manufacturing in medical, aerospace, industrial, electronics, and automotive, among other industries.

Topics for the interactive forum include:

• How industrial 3D printing is being employed
• Why additive manufacturing (AM) is a cornerstone of Industry 4.0
• How 3D printed parts have transformed design and production
• Impactful benefits of AM, and how these benefits will grow
• Why some industries are lagging in AM adoption
• Best practices for successful AM adoption

Featured organizations include: EOS, Boeing, Arconic, Siemens, Under Armour, with many more to be announced shortly. Registration includes access for you and a guest to the EOS Networking Party on the McCormick Place rooftop following the event.

Register now.

AppliedAM | Wednesday, September 12, at McCormick Place in Chicago.

BASF and Essentium Help Amputee Make Prosthetics to Help Others Walk Again

Chris Casteel, a 54-year-old through-the-knee amputee, is a board-certified prosthetist and owner of Anew Life Prosthetics and Orthotics in Detroit. He helps patients be mobile again post-limb loss with prosthetics and orthotics. While his company is for profit, he’s known to not shy away from bro-bono work for patients from all walks of life—the underinsured and the homeless.

To help his mission, Chris recently teamed up with BASF and Essentium to try a new, revolutionary 3D printed prosthetic socket on his patients. The socket is 3D printed with BASF’s Ultramid® polyamide reinforced with short carbon fiber that is manufactured by Essentium subsidiary TriFusion Devices.

What makes this socket stand out among traditional carbon sockets is that it’s lightweight yet tough and more flexible. For more information, please contact us at 3d-printing@basf.com.

To learn more about Chris and his fascinating and inspiring story, click on the image.

Chris Casteel at Detroit Slow Roll in June 2017 (Photo: Randy Repicky).

4-laser MetalFAB1 System Launch at IMTS

Metal additive manufacturing is maturing rapidly to become a regular production technology. When applications shift from single parts being prototyped to small and larger series production, process and equipment requirements change from manual flexibility to automated predictability and integrated reproducibility. With its growing installed base in the aerospace, automotive and high-tech component industries, Additive Industries’ MetalFAB1™ system has proven its benefit in the domain of industrial parts production.

MetalFAB1 will be presented during the IMTS show, in Chicago, where MetalFAB1, with its 4 lasers, will cover the entire 420mm X 420mm powder bed. Visit our booth #432006 on September 10-15 to find out more on the latest developments within Additive Industries.

Visit IMTS booth #432006 to see the launch of the 4-laser MetalFAB1.

3D-printed Tools for Better Ergonomics, Speed and Design Complexity

Factory production lines know the right jig or fixture speeds production, which increases productivity. But that’s just the beginning. Well-designed tools are more ergonomic, offering both increased worker safety and productivity, as well as cost savings.

Traditional machining produces heavy, costly, multi-piece tools that become an even greater liability as repetitive motion injuries erode line productivity with worker disability. Redesign means even more protracted timelines for machined parts.

For manufacturers in aerospace and automotive, 3D-printed jigs and fixtures reduce fabrication costs by 50-90% while also improving ergonomics and assembly time. Hear specific applications and results achieved by industry leaders such as BOOM Supersonic, Team Penske, Eckhart and MAHLE in the downloadable solution brief, “Jigs & Fixtures on the Factory Floor,” available here.

Solution brief describes applications and results of 3D-printed tools in aerospace and automotive.

Selective Laser Melting Leads to 40% Weight Reduction

A steering knuckle, developed by Hirschvogel Tech Solutions, was designed with a structural lattice mimicking bionic geometries. Printed with selective laser melting on the quad laser SLM 500, the resulting component maintained structural integrity while reducing weight 40% compared to the traditionally forged part. Working with their partners at SLM Solutions, Hirschvogel was able to prepare the build with production in mind, optimizing support structures to minimize post-processing.

Download the case study for more information and stop by SLM Solutions Booth 43-2304 at IMTS to see the finished component for yourself along with Selective Laser Melting live!

Steering knuckle is the focus of downloadable case study.

Specialist in Spherical Metal Powder Production Designed for AM

Discover how AP&C’s Nickel Alloy solutions can enhance your additive process. Our unique APA™ technology produces highly spherical metal powder designed for excellent flowability and low porosity. We are the leader in the production of titanium and nickel alloys. The high quality of our powder allows for more precise printing and batch-to-batch consistency. AP&C’s premium-quality nickel alloy powder provides the foundation for world-class AM components. Make our Ni powder a key part in your AM process.

www.ge.com/additive

AP&C nickel alloy powders for AM.

Flexibility and Adaptability for Metal AM

Here at ExOne®, we have set ourselves apart from other AM companies by engineering the most flexible 3D printers on the market today. In addition to providing complete settings to produce high density, single alloy parts with ExOne provided materials such as 316L and 17- 4PH, customers can also process their unique materials with our equipment. The ability to change many process settings and to choose between three different printhead resolutions allows users to optimize the process to fit their needs. Coarse printing can provide the fastest speeds while fine printing provides the best resolution (down to 3µm Ra with no post processing) compared to alternative AM technologies.

Our latest recoating technology is one of our most impressive releases yet, and we believe a total game changer in binder jet additive manufacturing. ExOne’s Innovent+ recoating technology allows us to process ultra-fine and non-flowable metal and ceramic powders, which enables rapid development of single material alloys to near full density. By uniformly distributing powders through vibrated screens, customers can now print their MIM powders and process finished parts to MPIF material standards.  This streamlines the adoption of ExOne’s binder jet technology into our customer’s existing manufacturing processes and enables material development for the specific part application.

This media filter was printed in 22 micron 316L stainless steel using the new Innovent+.

Renishaw Improves Consistency in Additive Manufacturing

Renishaw has developed new process monitoring software, InfiniAM Spectral, for use on Renishaw systems. Renishaw released the software package to help manufacturers overcome the barriers to AM in critical applications, process stability and part quality.

Laser powder-bed fusion (LPBF) builds components from millions of laser exposures. This process must be highly accurate to produce a functional part. However, there are sources of variation that can occur during the build process, which can produce anomalies that impact the longevity of the part. Real-time spectral monitoring technology enables manufacturers to gather melt-pool data to enable traceable production and process optimization.

InfiniAM Spectral is part of a developing family of products that helps users capture, evaluate and store process data from Renishaw LPBF technologies. The software enables data capture, presentation and analysis, representing a powerful tool for developing a deep understanding of the AM process. Learn more here.

Real-time spectral monitoring with InfiniAM Spectral.

New Production-Grade Multi Jet Fusion 3D Printing Center Unveiled in China

HP Inc. together with Guangdong (Dali) 3D Printing Collaborative Innovation Platform recently unveiled a new production-grade 3D printing center in China, the world’s largest manufacturing market.  The platform is powering its new Lanwan Intelligence – HP Multi Jet Fusion Technology Mass Manufacturing Center with 10 HP Multi Jet Fusion 3D printing systems to meet the growing demand for functional prototypes and production-grade parts. This is HP’s largest deployment of production-grade 3D printing in Asia Pacific and Japan.

“The demand for 3D-printed production-grade parts will grow exponentially over the next few years as we shift from analog to digital manufacturing,” said Luo Jun, executive director of China 3D Printing Technology Industry Alliance and President of Guangdong Lanwan Intelligence Technology. “By deploying HP’s Multi Jet Fusion technology in our new digital manufacturing center in China, we can better – and more quickly – deliver cost-effective and production-grade parts to our customers.”

The full press release is available here.

Lanwan Intelligence – HP Multi Jet Fusion Technology Mass Manufacturing Center in Foshan, China

Online Calculation of Service Life for 3D-printed Plain Bearings

igus has developed a free online tool that can predict the service life of 3D-printed bearings. With its extensive testing, the Germany-based manufacturer of motion plastics can now calculate precisely the durability of even more products. igus manages its North American operations from its facility in Providence, R.I.

The 3D printing of lubrication-free and maintenance-free plastic bearings made of tribo-polymers allows a high degree of freedom in product design. In addition, the products maintain a high level of wear resistance. As igus researches and develops new 3D materials for moving applications, information gathered at the industry’s largest test laboratory helps predict the service life of customized bearings for users online.

Read the full story here.

Free online tool predicts the service life of 3D-printed bearings.

Designing for Aerospace & Defense

Digital Engineering’s special digital issue focusing on aerospace & defense shows how additive manufacturing is helping A&D organizations remove weight, reduce costs and improve reliability. Access this digital issue to get a recap of the AMUG 2018 Department of Defense Additive Manufacturing panel presentation, see how the TuPOD CubeSat completed its mission thanks to 3D printing, and learn from examples of additive manufacturing being used by the U.S. military, aircraft manufacturers and private space industry startups.

Download the special issue here.

Special digital issue covers design for aerospace and defense.

Latest Issue: Materials Are the Enablers of Additive Manufacturing

When we think about the advance of additive manufacturing, we tend to think of the machines. AM machines continue to captivate because new processes are still coming, and the machines that apply them continue to evolve. 3D printers are, in a word, cool.

But additive machines deliver value only by applying a material, and the advance of the technology will ultimately demand and be driven by new materials. That’s why the latest issue of Additive Manufacturing magazine focuses on AM materials, ranging from custom metal alloys to conductive polymers to active materials. Also in this issue, find a preview of additive manufacturing products to be displayed at the International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS).

The July issue of Additive Manufacturing magazine dives deep into material advances for 3D printing and the new applications they enable.

We’re 10 Years Old!

Our latest edition is the 100th magazine to roll out – covering the full design and development process of all number of products: from tiny pieces of jewelry to super yachts, with everything in-between.

Take a look at how additive manufacturing is changing the bigger picture of design, engineering and manufacture, by grabbing your free copy here.

100th issue marks the 10-year anniversary of DEVELOP3D.

3DMP Offers August AM-Tech Tour

The 3D Metal Printing Experience and Tech Tour, August 8-9 in Pittsburgh, PA, promises to be an info-packed event, including tours of the GE Additive Customer Experience Center and the Carnegie Mellon NextManufacturing Center.

Presentations at this signature 3D Metal Printing magazine event include Metal 3D Printing: An Overview of Trends and Processes; Find Your Diamonds—A Quick Introduction to Part Screening for Additive Manufacturing; Metal-Additive Design and Manufacturing in the Aerospace Industry—Opportunities and Challenges; and more.

Visit our website for details and to register.

3D Metal Printing Experience and Tech Tour, in Pittsburgh, PA, August 8-9, includes a tour of Carnegie Mellon’s NextManufacturing Center.

TCT Show 2018 Registration Now Open

We are pleased to announce that registration for our flagship UK design-to-manufacturing event, TCT Show, is now open. Taking place on 25-27^th September, around 300 exhibitors will pack out halls 3 and 3A of the NEC, Birmingham, UK, with the latest technologies, applications and services that are shaping the future of manufacturing.

The TCT Content Team has been working non-stop behind the scenes to bring you a world-class conference line-up featuring more than 60 speakers who will deliver key insights into AM materials, technologies and processes across three stages – all completely free.

Over 10,000 visitors are expected to attend TCT across three show days to find solutions and be inspired. Just ask the likes of Airbus, Ford and Johnson & Johnson who can be counted amongst last year’s attendees. So, what are you waiting for? Register for your free ticket and conference pass here.

TCT Show will feature over 60 presentations from world-leading speakers across three stages.

Summer 2018 Issue Out Now!

Get your FREE copy of Metal AM magazine today. The 138-page Summer 2018 issue has just been published and includes the latest industry news as well as the following exclusive articles:

• GE’s Industry in 3D: It’s time to pay attention to Additive Manufacturing.
• Poly-Shape: Metal Additive Manufacturing for the high-performance motorsport industry.
• LPW Technology: AM materials specialist expands into metal powder production.
• An introduction to metal powders for AM: Manufacturing processes and properties.
• Design for Additive Manufacturing presents opportunities for software developments.
• How process parameters drive successful metal AM part production.

View online or download in full your free PDF copy of the magazine dedicated to the metal additive manufacturing industry.

Summer Issue available for download or online viewing.