AMUG January 2021

President’s report

Happy New Year!  We have made it through 2020 and now welcome 2021. Hopefully, all of our expectations for 2021 will come to be.

Now that we have changed the date and location of the AMUG Conference, we expect to provide you the ability to meet in person and advance your knowledge of AM. We hope everyone can, and will, safely attend.

Things are fluid so we do not know what the regulations/protocols will be at the time of our event. As you may know, we have engaged a consultant to help ensure we have the best preparations in place. Following the consultant’s guidance, we are being reserved and conservative in our plans until we get closer to the event. But it is our hope that we will be able to expand our utilization of the facility (Hilton Orlando) and welcome more members.

I’m guessing that you have many questions. I can assure you that we did throughout the planning process. To address these questions, we have compiled a list of frequently asked questions (FAQs). This is available now and will be updated regularly at amug.com/faq/.

I cannot express how challenging this year has been for AMUG (not to diminish the challenges you have personally faced). I need to thank all of our volunteers, directors, and officers that have had to work through the many changes we encountered. I invite you to share your appreciation with them whenever possible. Their efforts are truly above and beyond anything that would normally be expected.

Please read below to understand more of what has been transpiring in preparation of the AMUG Conference. Should you have anything to share, as always, please feel free to reach out to us at any time. We appreciate your help in making our event as great as it can be.

Please be well and stay safe.

Give more to get more!

Happy New Year to everyone! As I sit here writing this from my home office, I miss watching our AM machines perform their magic, and most importantly, miss my interactions with my co-workers, peers, and friends. I am hopeful that we are turning a page and kicking to the curb all the issues, frustrations, losses, and everything negative 2020 brought to us.

As I think about when I began attending AMUG Conferences, I understand I was really just an attendee. I came to collect information, increase my knowledge, and take away whatever I could. However, after attending the first couple of years, I began to realize that AMUG is about sharing, and if you really want to walk away from these conferences with some key insights, knowledge, and new industry connections, then you also need to get involved and share your knowledge/talents. Shortly after, I began presenting and volunteering, and once I adopted this mindset of giving, I quickly realized that the more I put into AMUG, the more I got out of it.

I am part of the AMUG Nominating Committee, which is looking for those individuals who have already been receiving the benefits of volunteering and may be interested in increasing their involvement. We would of course encourage becoming more involved at any level. However, the Nominating Committee is specifically looking for those who are interested in becoming AMUG Board members, which means serving as a director/officer. If you have any interest or know someone who may be interested, I would like to encourage you to view the officer and director positions here to learn more. You can then go to the Nomination Form to nominate yourself or someone else for consideration. Any questions can be directed to nomcom@amug.com.

With optimism for better things to come in 2021, what better way would there be to re-engage than to get more involved with the AMUG organization!

I look forward to seeing you in sunny Florida in May!

Harold Sears
Nominating Committee Member

Hello first-time AMUG Conference attendees

On behalf of myself and the members of the New Member Committee, we look forward to meeting you at the annual AMUG Conference in Orlando. Yes, warm weather!!

I know there may be a lot of questions due to the COVID situation, and we want to get them answered. Start with our FAQs. If questions remain, I welcome any inquiries to be emailed to my attention (NewMember@amug.com). I will get back to you quickly with an answer.

Moving forward, if possible, please make your hotel reservations now. From my experience, you do not want to end up in the overflow hotel and miss out on all the networking that takes place during the evenings. Also, try to arrive on the Saturday before the conference. One reason for this early arrival would be to take advantage of the tours being made available to you.

Finally, and most importantly, make sure you attend the New Member/First Timer welcome meeting, which will be held just prior to the opening of the AMUGexpo. You can expect to be introduced to the AMUG Board. Something new this year will be a different format…we will be conducting it mostly as a Q&A session, which gives you the opportunity to discover the ins and outs of the conference and what makes it different from all others.

As always, my motto for the New Members/First Timers is “don’t be a wallflower”. You get out of the conference what you put into the conference.

Take care,

Derek Ellis
New Member Committee Chairperson

3D Printing with Fused Filament Fabrication and Fused Granulate Fabrication (pellet printing)

Fused Granulate Fabrication (FGF)—also known as pellet extrusion printing, pellet printing, fused pellet fabrication, or fused particle fabrication—offers production speeds that are up to 200x faster than Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF). Undoubtedly, some large applications that were previously not economical with FFF (i.e., too slow to print at large scale) become economical with FGF.

That said, FGF printing isn’t appropriate for all designs. This white paper helps explain when a product design is best suited for either FFF or FGF printing. Based on a webinar presented by DSM and JuggerBot 3D, this paper discusses fundamentals of these technologies, their polymer portfolios, differences between FFF and FGF and key operator decisions needed for successfully printing parts.

Read more here.

White paper guides the decision for FGF vs. FFF.

Dyndrite ramps up for 2021

Did you miss Digital Manufacturing Investor Day 2021? If so, you can watch the replays of the investor- and entrepreneur-led panel as well as the 5-minute presentations by the hot emerging companies selected for this event. Visit our  replay page now.

The second annual Dyndrite Developer Conference, our premier online event for developers of next-generation, production-oriented AM hardware and software solutions, is planned for April 20-21, 2021. Discussions, product showcases, and customer case studies will feature advancements made by developers, licensees, and academics using Dyndrite technology. Featured topics include: automation, software developments, OEM research/advances, academic research, compute benchmarks and applications.

Reserve your seat early!

Missed out on the live event? Tune into the replays.

Origin becomes part of Stratasys

Mass production is often viewed as the holy grail of additive technology. Producing at scale with additive’s disruptive design freedom and supply chain benefits would be a huge boon to any manufacturer because it bypasses the constraints of traditional manufacturing.

One 3D printing innovation that’s helped move in that direction, due to its faster print speed, is digital light polymerization (DLP). Origin, a San Francisco company, developed its own software-based process based on DLP principles called Programmable PhotoPolymerization. Origin’s P³ technology pushes the envelope of speed and production output with incredible accuracy and a wide array of material options.

During the early stages of the COVID pandemic, Origin produced clinically validated nasal test swabs in the hundreds of thousands when traditional supply chains faltered, validating its technology’s scalability and speed-to-market.

Earlier this month, in a move to expand its leadership in polymer additive technologies, Stratasys acquired Origin. This new addition means much broader market access to Origin’s technology thanks to Stratasys’ global go-to-market and support infrastructure. You can read more about this announcement in this Stratasys press release.

The Origin One 3D printer uses Programmable Photopolymerization (P³) technology.

Announcing Ultrafuse® 17-4 PH filament launch & metal webinar

Kick off 2021 strong with Forward AM’s newest launch of Ultrafuse® 17-4 PH, a hardened stainless-steel metal filament with particularly robust properties for a variety of applications. What makes this material stand out is its superior magnetic properties, its ability to fully heat treat, and its capability to maintain its mechanical and corrosion resistance at temperatures up to 600 °F. If you have challenging application needs for prototyping or production environments in automotive, aerospace, petrochemical, medical, and other industries, then this is the material for you!

Product benefits include…

• High mechanical strength and increased hardness,
• Excellent corrosion resistance, and
• A wide range of post-processing options for green parts

…resulting in an easy and affordable way to 3D print metal parts.

To learn more, please join our upcoming webinar to hear from Forward AM’s metal expert team on material properties, catalytic debinding, and sintering processes to get to the near-net shape for your parts. We will be sharing application use cases with Sparox 3D, a pioneer customer who has already experienced the benefits of this material firsthand. Examples include a solar panel clamp and a gate lock that enable serial production.

Webinar Details

Topic: Introducing Metal 3D Printing with Ultrafuse® 17-4 PH
When: Wednesday, January 20 at 10am EST
Registration: click here

For more information, visit www.forward-am.com.

Join the webinar to learn more about the new Ultrafuse® 17-4 PH.

Introducing the Formlabs Community Roundup

Dan Kirchgessner, community manager at Formlabs, invites you to join him for a new monthly series streaming on YouTube Live: The Formlabs Community Roundup. Every month, Dan will be sharing the latest and greatest in Formlabs news and development, as well as providing an exclusive look inside the company.

If you’re interested to…

• Get inspired by the latest prints from our awesome community.
• Get the inside scoop on our products and see what is on the horizon for Formlabs.
• Meet Formlabs employees from all around the company and hear them talk about their work.
• Share your ideas and feedback directly with Formlabs.

…then the Community Roundup is for you!

Bring your questions to our kick-off session on January 28 at 12 pm ET. From Castable Wax 40 to CES, we’ll share how Formlabs has started 2021 with a bang and what we’re looking forward to in February. Check out the livestream or view the session on-demand on our  YouTube channel.

Formlabs User Summit, 2019.

Essentium shares how to achieve high quality jigs and fixtures with AM

The pressure is on manufacturing engineers to design the jigs and fixtures that will facilitate efficient mass production and assembly. At the same time, the ability to modify these jigs and fixtures quickly and efficiently has become increasingly important in the race to drive innovation and competitiveness.

Advances in AM systems and new filaments have closed the gap with traditional subtractive manufacturing tooling methods, enabling faster and cheaper iterations of the parts needed to support production. However, the expanded choice in materials complicates matters, as different filaments have various properties and work for different applications. This is why Essentium has developed guidelines providing manufacturing engineers with tips for proper material selection and best practices for 3D printed jig and fixture design and execution.

Read the Guide to 3D Printing Jigs & Fixtures.

Clamping fixture printed with best practices found in the Guide to 3D Printing Jigs & Fixtures.

Renishaw goes big on nanofiber

To help with ongoing personal protective equipment (PPE) shortages, Ontario-based nanofiber manufacturer BIG-nano has collaborated with Renishaw to create a local supply chain for protective masks using AM. BIG-nano developed a fine liquid blowing technique for the production of nanofiber, allowing it to more easily scale production at affordable costs.

Renishaw used one of its RenAM 500Q systems located in Canada to build a novel titanium nozzle for the liquid blowing process, which is capable of producing N99 quality fabric while reducing maintenance costs and downtime. Read the story here.

Nozzles being printed in a RenAM 500Q system.

Webinar: The Technical Drivers Behind Designing for Binder Jet and How the Technology Compares to Casting

Join this webinar to learn about the new innovations in Binder Jet technology and get an overview of design considerations and the technical drivers behind them. The session will explore Binder Jet’s advantages and why it is suited to displace castings.

Wednesday, January 27, 2021
10 am EST.

Register

Join the webinar on Binder Jet technology.

The path to airworthiness certification

The USAF Rapid Sustainment Office increases mission readiness by rapidly identifying, applying, and scaling technology essential to the operation and sustainment of the U.S. Air Force. Applying AM technologies to improve the sustainment of the USAF fleet is a key component, and printed parts go through numerous design iterations and qualification cycles on the path to aircraft installation. Fit checks, one of the final steps in the process, are an opportunity for design engineers to work closely with the maintainers on installation and quite literally get the technology off the ground.

If you’re a reader of the RSO Tech Essentials blog, you know that the C-130J finlet parts are moving forward on the path to airworthiness certification. In early December, a team consisting of engineers and aircraft mechanics at Warrior Base on Robins AFB, GA, installed a total of four, five-foot-long finlets, each measuring only 11 inches wide and 1 inch thick, on both sides of the exterior aft of the aircraft.

Given this successful fit check, airworthiness certification is on the horizon. Minor adjustments will be made to the models, and structural FEA for brackets and finlets will be finalized. Stay tuned to the USAF RSO pages for updates on this and many other innovative technology projects.

Installation of finlets on C-130J for fit check.

DMG MORI Digital Event

We invite you to learn the latest trends in DED and SLM AM at the DMG MORI Digital Event, 2- 4 of February. We open our doors at the Additive Manufacturing Excellence Center exclusively for you.

Register now.

Meet your expert online at the Digital Event.

Caelynx joins the CATI family

On January 5, Computer Aided Technology (CATI), a leading provider of product development solutions, merged their InFlow Technology subsidiary with Caelynx, an engineering consultancy and Dassault Systemes Platinum Partner based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Specializing in engineering simulation software and services, the Caelynx team has been helping customers innovate through advanced virtual prototyping and simulation for fifteen years.

This union amplifies CATI’s commitment to bringing the best product development solutions and services to their clients in a variety of industries, including transportation, aerospace & defense, consumer goods & packaging, industrial machinery, electrification, and more.

Read more in our press release.

Caelynx merged with CATI’s InFlow Technology subsidiary.

ExOne launches online calculator for production metal 3D printing

Comparing the cost of metal 3D printing for production is easier than ever thanks to ExOne’s new Production Metal Cost Calculator. This online tool is designed to provide manufacturers with a per-part estimate for binder jet 3D printing a precision metal part on any metal ExOne Pro series 3D printer.

With just a few easy inputs— material, machine, part dimensions, and volume— manufacturers can quickly compare binder jet 3D printing to other forms of traditional and AM production.

ExOne’s Pro series of metal printers, the X1 25Pro®, X1 160Pro™, and new InnoventPro™ series, is a lineup that competes with existing systems from Digital Metal and new binder jet systems from Desktop Metal, GE, and HP.

“As customers compare new binder jetting options in the marketplace, we wanted to provide greater transparency into the affordable costs of binder jetting with ExOne technology,” said John Hartner, ExOne’s CEO.

The new ExOne Production Metal Cost Calculator provides manufacturers with a per-part estimate for binder jet 3D printing a precision metal part.

Register for Carbon webinar: The Evolution of Additive Manufacturing

Curious about AM? This webinar is for you. Join Carbon’s Global Market Development Engineer Jason Lopes as he covers the history and evolution of AM and how it fits into the manufacturing ecosystem today.

Additive is introducing new manufacturing possibilities and expanding business opportunities—whether it’s creating new designs that were previously impossible to build, bringing better products to market in less time, or enabling low-volume production.

In this webinar, Jason will share best practices on how to design for additive, including shifting from a prototyping to production mindset and improving part performance using the Carbon DLS™ 3D printing process. We hope you can join us!

Webinar: The Evolution of Additive Manufacturing
Date: Tuesday, January 26, 2021
Time: 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM PST
REGISTER

Jason Lopes to present “The Evolution of Additive Manufacturing”.

Desktop Metal co-founder to speak at AMS 2021

Co-founder and chief technology officer for Desktop Metal, Jonah Myerberg, will be participating in two panels during the Additive Manufacturing Strategies summit. From February 9-10, 2021, AMS 2021 will be held in a virtual format, with topics broken down into four verticals: Medical/Dental, Metals/New Materials, Bioprinting, and Software/Automation.

Desktop Metal CTO Jonah Myerberg will be participating on day one, February 9. In the morning, he will be one of two speakers, along with ExOne CEO John Hartner, to speak on Panel 2: Desktop Metal Printing. Myerberg will be back in the afternoon to sit on Panel 5: AM in the Context of Industry 4.0. This second discussion will include Mike Vasquez, founder and CEO of 3Degrees, Al Siblani, president and CEO of EnvisionTEC, and Brian Matthews, CTO of Meltio.

Register for the event here.

Jonah Myerberg, CTO of Desktop Metal.

AM creates new paths to production

What stops an inventor from becoming a manufacturer…or an invention from becoming an available product? In a conventional manufacturing workflow, there is often a “mold moment,” the point at which the only way forward is through the costly and time-consuming step of procuring tooling.

AM eliminates this barrier, meaning that production can look different. We share examples in the January issue of Additive Manufacturing Magazine. Inventors can become manufacturers with no startup costs thanks to Angled.io, the subject of our cover story. Products can become better when machining and 3D printing compete for the work, as is the case at medical manufacturer Amplify Additive. 3D printing is even changing the nature of tooling itself, as our coverage of foundry tool supplier Humtown Additive shows. Read the issue.

How fast can an inventor become a manufacturer? Read the issue or subscribe.

Reporting on 3D printing technologies and additive manufacturers

Following are some of the stories you’ll find on our website:

• For years, offshoring has been more of a habit than a solid strategy. What started as a move to lower manufacturing costs has led to a slew of business disruptions. A look at why companies that offshore prototyping and other parts production should ‘bring manufacturing back home.’ Read it here.
• Are mergers and acquisitions good or bad for manufacturing? There’s a lot of disagreement. On the positive side, the purchaser immediately acquires new capabilities, taps new revenue streams, and increases market share. Negatives include staff consolidations, dilution of competition, and company cultures that fail to coalesce. Read it here.
• Top 10 list: The three most viewed posts on The Additive Report website last year were about a new 3D printing file format, postprocessing, and a NASCAR champ’s hybrid additive manufacturing factory. Learn what the other seven posts were.

If you don’t receive The Additive Report, please subscribe here.

A provider of 3D printing and other manufacturing services explains why reshoring parts production is a good idea.

New dates announced for TCT 3Sixty

New dates for your calendar from the TCT Group towers this month: the UK’s leading 3D printing and AM event, TCT 3Sixty, will now take place on September 28-30, 2021, at the NEC, Birmingham.

The rescheduling of the show reflects the highest regard Rapid News Group places on the health, safety, and wellbeing of all attendees. A September dateline offers more time for UK and worldwide vaccine programs to take effect and provides a better route to delivering a substantial community gathering to facilitate learning, networking and deliver value for confirmed exhibitors.

Visitors to the show can look forward to a comprehensive conference program focusing on AM evaluation, adoption, and optimization, delivered across multiple stages with live stream feeds for a worldwide audience. This year will also provide more ways to connect with the community before and during the show through a new digital platform that will complement the live in-person event.

For more information, get in touch.

TCT 3Sixty’s new date: September 28-30.

Railroad application spotlighted in Winter 3D Metal Printing

Due out in early February, the Winter issue of 3D Metal Printing details how a railroad OEM is on the right track in its AM efforts. The company, Wabtec, sees AM as a ‘technology pillar’ and plans to use the process to produce more than 25,000 parts by 2025.

This spring, Wabtec will open a new AM facility in Pittsburgh, PA, to produce large-scale, lightweight parts, promising to reduce lead times to customers by as much as 80 percent. The new facility will locate at Pittsburgh’s Neighborhood 91 195-acre dedicated AM campus. Developed in conjunction with the University of Pittsburgh, Neighborhood 91 is a new hub connecting all aspects of the AM supply chain.

www.3dmpmag.com

Wabtec has been printing pneumatic brake panels from AlSi10Mg on an SLM 800 printer. Photo courtesy of Wabtec.

3D printing metals or composites—how to choose

This article from Markforged gives users an understanding of which 3D printed materials are most suitable for a given project so that they can take full advantage of the efficiency and convenience of 3D printing. Read it here.

Make Parts Fast is a website that covers additive technology for design engineers.

Parts printed with Onyx, a micro carbon fiber-filled nylon.

Engineering Workstation Review issue out now

Digital Engineering has published its annual Engineering Workstation Review special focus issue. You can read all of the latest reviews of top-of-the-line workstations from Dell, Lenovo, BOXX, HP and others, targeted at design, simulation and prototyping applications.

Get the special issue here.

New issue with focus on engineering workstations now available.

Strategies for advancing the automation of metal AM

In the early days of metal AM process development, automation was off the radar of machine manufacturers. Technologies created for rapid prototyping simply had no need for it and, until the last decade, few truly anticipated the pace at which Laser Beam Powder Bed Fusion and Binder Jetting would evolve in the race towards the series production of metal parts.

In the Winter 2020 issue of Metal Additive Manufacturing magazine, Joseph Kowen reported on how the industry has addressed the challenges of automation so far and what developments we can expect in the near future.

Read this in-depth and insightful review of automation strategies for AM now.

Keep in touch with Metal AM and be the first to know when we publish every issue. Follow us on LinkedIn and sign up to our newsletter today.