Skip to main content

AMUG Newsletter December 2016

By December 11, 2016August 11th, 2017
 

December 2016

President’s Report

You can count on it.  Like clockwork, December brings a time for reflection on the closing year and anticipation for the new year.  AMUG is no different. Looking back over the last 12 months, the AMUG Conference has experienced significant attendance and sponsorship growth. Growth that is the direct result of our highly active membership, engaged in advancing the state-of-the-art in additive manufacturing.  Sponsors have responded by contributing their technical experts to the conference agenda to fuel hands-on workshops and high-level technical conversations.  Administratively, the implementation of numerous subcommittees is engaging more members to contribute to future AMUG success.  The result is an AMUG Conference experience that is like none other.

Looking ahead, we know that the 2017 conference will be the largest ever, as current hotel and conference registrations outpace the advanced registrations of last year. Attendees will experience an agenda, which is nearly complete, filled with compelling keynote speakers, hands-on sessions and informative discussions. Don’t miss out—be sure to go online at www.am-ug.com to reserve your spot at the early registration price.

As we wind down the year, take some time to reflect on your own accomplishments.  The AMUG Board wishes you Happy Holidays and the promise of a spectacular 2017!

Happy Holidays
Steve Deak

Steve Deak
AMUG President

UL Training Course Returns to Conference

UL is offering the first course in its multi-tiered professional certification program, UL’s Foundations of 3D Printing Workshop, immediately following the AMUG Conference. This course is a discussion-oriented session in which participants receive comprehensive introductory knowledge of the 3D printing industry. Following the course, participants may opt to take the online proficiency exam, which is available at no extra cost. Passing marks earn a certificate of proficiency, which is required for admittance to the follow-on courses that may lead you to 3D printing certification.

The course will be held at the Hilton Chicago on Friday, March 24, from 8:00 am to 12:00 pm. Paul Bates, AMUG vice president and UL instructor, will lead the course. For details and registration information, click here.

Paul Bates, UL instructor

Paul Bates offers instruction during UL training.

Conference Keynotes

We are bringing back, by popular demand, two keynote speakers and adding one new voice to the conversation. Jason Lopes, of Legacy Effects, and Todd Grimm, of T. A. Grimm & Associates, will once again take the stage to inform, inspire and excite AMUG Conference attendees. Grimm will kick off the conference on Monday, March 20, and Lopes will follow on that day, but with a twist. Lopes will also take the stage throughout the week for video tours through Legacy Effects and for a Q&A session on Thursday.

Stacey DelVecchio, additive manufacturing product manager for Caterpillar, will step onto the AMUG stage on Tuesday, March 21, to discuss how Caterpillar’s strategy to bring 3D printing from prototype solution to manufacturing method has evolved. Stacey will also share how Caterpillar is leveraging its innovative incubator to “think big…start small…act fast”. As product manager, Stacey’s team focuses on deploying AM technology within product groups. She also manages the company’s Additive Manufacturing Factory.

From left: Todd Grimm, Stacey DelVecchio and Jason Lopes.

Early Bird Registration

When planning for a five-day event with nearly 200 presentations, a 2-night expo with food and beverages, 3 meals a day, and nightly activities, an accurate attendance estimate is crucial. With your early registration, our estimate improves, so we reward you with an early-bird rate of just $795. For that one low rate, you are covered for everything but hotel and transportation.

The early-bird rate is good through February 10. But why wait…head on over to our website and register today.

Please note that the rate increases to $895 through March 11. After that date, the on-site registration fee increase to $1,195.

Hilton Chicago’s Grand Ballroom, the site of some AMUG Conference activities.

SPONSOR NEWS

Stratasys

The Role of 3D Printing in Surgical Planning Advancement

Physicians and surgeons are increasingly recognizing the value of 3D printing, not only for developing medical devices, implants and prosthetics, but for creating patient-specific replicas of bones, organs and blood vessels. Made possible through software that converts a patient’s scans into STL files, these medical models enable medical teams to improve diagnosis, inform treatment decisions, plan and practice selected surgical interventions in advance of the actual treatments.

Kaleida Health’s Gates Vascular Institute uses 3D printing in their surgical planning programs to prepare for complex endovascular cases. They are also collaborating with the Jacobs Institute and the Toshiba Stroke and Vascular Research Center to make full-scale implementation possible. A new white paper by Stratasys in partnership with the Jacobs Institute demonstrates how hospitals can implement such programs, including information on required resources and ways to overcome barriers, based on the experience of several prominent vascular research institutions.

For more information, download the white paper, “Implementing Preoperative Surgical Planning Using 3D Printing,” here.

3D printed simulation models

Dr. Vijay Iyer at the Gates Vascular Institute uses a 3D printed heart model to test a mitral valve repair prior to treating the patient.

HP Inc.

HP Inc. 3D Printing Team gets Ready for 2017 AMUG Conference

“HP’s approach to driving the next industrial revolution through widespread adoption in 3D printing for digital manufacturing is one of industry collaboration — as demonstrated with our Open Platform approach and early participation in the 3MF Consortium. The AMUG Conferences are an ideal platform for the industry to come together face-to-face to collectively share, learn and grow — and that’s exactly what we plan to do at the 2017 conference. We are looking forward to an inspiring, productive and fun week!” Stephen Nigro, president of 3D Printing Business, HP Inc.

The HP team will be showcasing its recently announced HP Jet Fusion 3D Printing Solution in action at the 2017 AMUG Conference.

Steve Nigro

Stephen Nigro, president of 3D Printing Business, HP Inc.

3D Systems

3D Systems Expands SLA Materials Range with Accura® Phoenix

In order to unlock more applications and greater printer performance, 3D Systems has added Accura® Phoenix to its Accura materials line for Stereolithography (SLA). Offering superior clarity and heat deflection temperatures of over 270 ˚F/130 ˚C (over 180 ˚F/80 ˚C without thermal post-cure), Accura Phoenix is ideal for automotive applications where visualizing hot fluid flow is critical to evaluating performance.

Accura Phoenix is also less rigid than existing high-temperature materials, enabling improved performance in assembly operations where some flexibility may be required. Accura Phoenix is compatible with the 3D Systems ProX® 800 and ProX 950 Stereolithography printers. Click here for more information.

Accura Phoenix material

Accura Phoenix offers superior clarity and heat deflection temperatures.

Carbon

Carbon’s Technology and Engineering-grade Materials Helping Companies Design and Produce at a Fast “CLIP”

From automotive giants to Silicon Valley startups, the companies working with Carbon are pushing the boundaries of innovation. That’s not hyperbole – Carbon’s real, industrial-grade parts, made possible by CLIP, are empowering companies to use 3D printing for rapid prototyping and low-to-medium volume manufacturing.

Alta Motors, an electric-powered motorcycle startup, is using the M1 and CLIP to build “the best motorcycle that’s ever been built.” CLIP has enabled Alta to accelerate the production of its Redshift MX motorcycle and remain nimble and competitive in an established market. The company has implemented CLIP across its entire production cycle, from prototyping and design through validation and production, making it even more streamlined and efficient.

Read more here or check out our video. You can also connect with us directly to chat about how CLIP is speeding up its development cycles, cutting costs, and delivering what you never thought possible through 3D printing.

Alta Motor’s Redshift MX electric motorcycle.

Somos

How Do You Use SLA?

Stereolithography isn’t just for prototyping anymore. As we showcased at formnext, Toyota Motorsports Group’s GT86 race car uses parts made from Somos® NeXt during the VLN racing series.

We want to learn more about how you use Somos SLA materials and give you a chance to win a $100 Amazon gift card. To enter, simply answer “What is the best application that uses Somos SLA materials?” by sending it to info.somos@dsm.com or clicking here.

Toyota Motorsports Group’s GT86 race car

Toyota Motorsports Group’s GT86 race car uses SLA parts.

SLM Solutions

SLM Solutions Debuts SLM 280 2.0

The SLM 280 2.0 metal additive manufacturing system from SLM Solutions was debuted at formnext in Germany in November. The updated system combines quality and efficiency with comprehensive monitoring functions for process control.

With a focus on productivity, the updated system offers configurations with up to two 700W lasers and improved gas flow of the build chamber to maintain top-quality builds without soot buildup from the high-powered lasers. The updated gas flow is complemented by a new filter configuration designed to nearly double the life-cycle of the individual filters and reduce consumable costs.

In addition to these improvements, dozens of other changes, incorporated in both hardware and software, were made as a result of customer feedback on the SLM 280 1.0, including redesigns for convenience, ergonomics, throughput, worldwide industrial standardization and ease of use.

SLM 280 2.0 3D printer

SLM 280 2.0

EOS

Factory of the Future

Would you like to get a glimpse of what an advanced factory could look like and how additive manufacturing integrates within your manufacturing ecosystem? From order through completion, see how your factory of the future may look in this video.

EOIS automated factory of the future

Factory of the future.

ExOne

ExOne Announces Developments in Printing 300 Series Stainless Steel with New System Options

ExOne® Binder Jetting technology is now capable of printing finer, industrial-grade metal and ceramic powders on the ExOne Innovent® System. The new enhancement package available for Innovent includes printhead and recoater upgrade options:

Standard: Innovent® Enhancement Options:
• 80 picoliter printhead • 30 picoliter printhead
• 50-200 micron layer thickness • 50-200 micron layer thickness
• Spherical and/or angular powders • Spherical and/or angular powders
• Minimum powder size of 20 microns • Less than avg. of 30 microns powder size
• Labyrinth style recoater • Sieve style recoater

A 300 series stainless steel, 316L, has been qualified as ExOne’s newest standard industrial material. ExOne will accept customer pre-orders through the North Huntingdon Production Service Center (PSC) in the first quarter of 2017.

Additional information available here.

316L binder jetted parts

316L parts from Innovent System.

GE

$10 Million Investment in 3D Printers for Educational Programs Across the Globe

GE announced a $10 million investment over the next five years in two educational programs, aimed at developing a pipeline of future talent in additive manufacturing. GE believes enabling educational institutions to provide access to 3D printers will help accelerate the adoption of additive manufacturing, worldwide.

“We want to build an ecosystem that drives additive manufacturing across multiple industries. GE is committed to this space for the long-term,” said Mohammad Ehteshami, vice president of GE Additive. “A new world is coming and we want future generations to have exposure to it from an early age.”

The investment supports two global programs – one for primary and secondary schools and one for colleges and universities. Both programs subsidize 3D printers/additive manufacturing machines. Applications will be accepted from January 2017, enabling printers to be available to schools and universities during 2017. For more information, visit www.geadditive.com.

GE technician working with metal AM.

BASF

BASF Technology – 100% Metal Parts from Filament-Metal-Printing

Nowadays, Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) is mainly used for plastics. Through our dedicated R&D efforts, BASF scientists were able to create an innovative process for the production of 100% metal parts using FFF.

For instance, a filament comprising 80% steel powder (by weight) and 20% plastic binder can be used in a conventional FFF-printer to 3D-print metal/plastic composite parts. But, by subsequently adding a step using an standard industrial debinding and sintering process, you can then get 100% steel parts!

One of the benefits of metal parts fabricated and sintered with BASF Filament-Metal-Printing is that they can be substantially more cost-effective than parts fabricated with selective laser melting of metal powders. This opens up new opportunities in an evolving market, and BASF is committed to working with the right partners to produce affordable stainless steel parts.

Metal parts from FFF

100% steel parts from FFF.

Renishaw

Renishaw and Dassault Systèmes Pool Expertise for the Integrated AM Experience

Renishaw is collaborating with Dassault Systèmes, as part of its commitment to provide and enhance software for metal additive manufacturing (AM).

Users of selected applications within Dassault Systèmes 3DEXPERIENCE can now design, optimise, simulate and set up AM builds directly for production on Renishaw’s metal additive manufacturing systems.

Both Renishaw and Dassault Systemes have software that is accessible to authorized third parties, and this played a key role in the collaboration. It ensures the laser paths (scan paths) generated by DELMIA are optimized for Renishaw metal AM systems and produce the best quality builds. This open ecosystem ethos enables collaboration with other experts working towards the common goal of creating a streamlined AM software experience.

Find out more here.

Dassault Bleu car hinge part in QuantAM.

ENGINEERING.com

6 Next Gen 3D Printing Technologies that Might Change Everything

3D printing has been in existence for the past 30 years, slowly evolving bit by bit, but in the past few years, industrial additive manufacturing technology had a boon. Not only have existing industrial AM machine manufacturers pushed their technologies to the extreme, but a series of start-ups have emerged with potentially revolutionary processes for 3D printing with new materials at new speeds in completely unthought-of ways.

ENGINEERING.com gives a rundown of six of the most exciting technologies that have emerged in 2015 and 2016 in this article.

More at ENGINEERING.com:

XJet’s Nano Particle Jetting listed as one of the most exciting technologies.

3D Metal Printing Magazine

Take a Look at the Current Issue of 3D Metal Printing Magazine

Here are highlights from the current issue:

Mass Customization Comes to Dentistry

Thanks to digitization and quick-changeover 3D metal-printing machines. This industry-leading digital outsourcing center employs 16 metal-printing machines worldwide (12 at its manufacturing facility in Southern California) to keep up with growing demand for printed dental-restoration devices.

The Right Prescription for Medical

GPI Prototype & Manufacturing Services thinks it has found just that, with its 10 3D metal printers and years of expertise positioning it well to serve that industry as well as aerospace and others.

Other articles cover the recently opened training facility on the campus of the University of Louisville; 3D metal printing of automotive stamping dies, and selling replacement parts in an AM world.

Download the digital issue here.

Argen prints several crowns and bridges, shown here on a 90 x 90 mm build plate.

Metal AM Magazine

Just published: Download your FREE copy of the Winter 2016 issue now!

In addition to over 35 pages of the latest industry news, the Winter 2016 issue of Metal Additive Manufacturing magazine includes the following exclusive features:

  • GKN Aerospace: The development of additive manufacturing at a global tier 1 aerospace supplier
  • Modeling the mechanical behavior of additively manufactured cellular structures
  • Cost and practicality of in-process monitoring for metal additive manufacturing
  • Additive manufacturing at World PM2016: Advances in the processing of aluminium and magnesium alloys

Download your FREE PDF copy of the magazine dedicated to the world of metal additive manufacturing.

TCT Magazine

Sin City, Here We Come

We’d usually use a December newsletter to reflect on a year just past; a year in which we saw GE invest over a billion dollars into the industry; a year in which we saw technology debuts like that of Carbon’s CLIP and HP’s Jet Fusion in the flesh; a year in which AMUG, TCT, formnext, et al posted record attendee numbers… but we won’t do that, there’s far too much to get on with.

Namely, TCT’s first event of 2017— CES in Las Vegas. For the fourth year running, we’re sponsoring the 3D Printing Marketplace and curating the 3D Printing Conference. This year’s line-up includes talks from XJet, Worrell, GE, SAP and rounding it all up, Todd Grimm. For more information on the conference and registration details head over to tctmagazine.com.