AMUG January 2023

President’s report

AMUG Members,

Wow! Our AMUG 2023 conference is coming together! Our attendee registration has already jumped more than 200% compared to the same period last year. Our sponsors and exhibitors have climbed to more than 130% of last year’s participation. The agenda is filled with presentations, discussions, and hands-on classes. Plus, the AMUG Technical Competition is now open for submissions. You won’t want to miss the 2023 AMUG Conference.

The AMUG Conference is the ‘full-immersion’ experience of AM with 4 days (and 5 nights) of AM technologies covering applications, materials, software, hardware, and more. It provides outstanding value—meals and activities are included—and our negotiated hotel rate is very reasonable.

All of this is organized by our army of volunteer committees. They have upped their game and worked diligently to raise the bar higher than ever. With owners and operators contributing their talents to the AMUG organization, they know precisely what AM users want or need to see, hear and accomplish. This is just one of the differentiators that make the AMUG Conference successful and different from other shows.

If you are attending for the first time, you will be amazed at the amount of networking with your peers and associates that takes place. Almost every activity is focused on meeting new people to build career relationships. If you are a returning attendee, you already know how important networking is for sharing knowledge and experiences. Every user has unique tips, tricks, and techniques, so don’t be afraid to connect and find solutions, and don’t be afraid to share – that’s our goal.

I am looking forward to seeing you soon at AMUG 2023.

Mark Abshire
President
President@amug.com

AMUG Conference agenda

Your AMUG agenda team has been working hard to create another great program for attendees like you. We are pleased to announce that the preliminary agenda is now available. We have over 200 sessions of presentations, panels, and hands-on workshops to choose from; deciding which one to attend will not be an easy choice! The AMUG Online Planner is expected to go live soon, so be on the lookout for additional information.

If you arrive early, take advantage of our many pre-conference activities. If you’re interested in professional development, ASTM will conduct its two-day certificate course “Establishing an AM Facility for Critical Part Production using PBF-LB/M” (Powder Bed Fusion using a laser-based system with metal). This course requires separate registration from the AMUG Conference, and participation is at an additional cost. For more details and the registration link, click here.

Or, early arrivers, sign up for one of our offsite tours. DMG MORI Chicago is once again opening its doors to AMUG attendees for a tour of their facility in Hoffman Estates, and Impossible Objects is offering tours of its factory floor in Northbrook. Round-trip transportation from the Chicago Hilton to each tour location will be provided, but you must register separately for each tour. You can find additional details and registration links for the tours here.

We are also still exploring the possibility of hosting a networking event at Topgolf.  If you are interested in a pre-conference Topgolf experience, please contact Tom Sorovetz (EventManager@amug.com) so that we can get an accurate headcount for a reserved space at the complex.

Announcement: Keynote Presenters Confirmed
Rob Ducey and Nicholas Jacobson (LAIKA Studios and CU Anschutz Medical Campus) and Max Haot (Launcher) will address members at the 2023 AMUG Conference. Rob and Nicholas will share how a connection forged at the 2019 AMUG Conference led to an untraditional collaboration between an architect and an animator, which then fueled innovative medical breakthroughs using AM. Max will share how breakthrough innovations using AM are enabling Launcher to develop the world’s most efficient rockets and transfer vehicles to deliver small satellites into orbit. Additional details will be included in a coming AMUG press release.

Jordan Weston
Director, Education and Conference
DConfEd@amug.com

AMUG 2023 Scholarships deadline is February 6. Apply now!

Students or educators in the AM/3D printing space are encouraged to apply.

The AMUG Scholarship applications are live at amug.com/scholarships.

Those selected for the scholarships will receive expenses-covered access to the AMUG Conference. The opportunity to attend the AMUG Conference, where the scholarship recipients are immersed in the AM community, is invaluable.

Many past winners, like Sean Dobson, John Sorvillo, and Kate Schneidau have become an integral part of AMUG and AM communities, and they continue to participate and give back to the industry.

There are two distinct categories.

Students: The Guy E. Bourdeau Scholarship sponsored by Cimquest, Inc.
Educators:  The Randy Stevens Scholarship sponsored by In’Tech Industries

Submission: 2023 Scholarship Submission Site

The deadline to apply is February 6, 2023.

Past Winners:

I did not anticipate how personally meaningful the AMUG and scholarship experience would be to me. I wouldn’t trade my AMUG experience for anything and can’t wait to help next year and see my friends again.
Sean Dobson – 2021 Guy Bourdeau Scholar

The many connections I made have allowed me to grow our 3D printing program significantly. We have doubled the number of printers in our lab. I’ve been inspired to take our program in directions I had never thought possible.
John Sorvillo – 2021 Randy Stevens Scholar

My experience was far beyond my expectation. Every person I spoke with was welcoming and showed genuine appreciation for the AMUG community. It was infectious; nothing can beat my first AMUG experience.
Kate Schneidau – 2020 Guy Bourdeau Scholar

Enter Technical Competition; celebrate your accomplishments

How often do you take an opportunity to celebrate your achievements?

Enter the 2023 AMUG Technical Competition and take the opportunity to celebrate. Share the unique and impressive skills involved in your project or application. Highlight the innovation that happens when AM is part of your process.

If you are still wondering if you should enter, consider the viewpoint of a first-time AMUG 2022 attendee and Technical Competition participant. Thangthip Tekanil, a senior engineer at PepsiCo Global Beverage Packaging R&D, shared this experience:

“The AMUG Technical Competition was a gateway for us to showcase our innovative process…joining the competition was not a matter of winning but expressing our passion for the technology and sharing learnings with the broader AM community…The community consists of supportive, passionate people who are there to help you navigate your journey in AM. Our goal in joining the competition was to share our technology and ultimately have FUN! The competition was stiff, but this was a time for us to celebrate OUR hard work and successes and be inspired by the accomplishments of others within the industry.”

Thangthip continued, “If you’re hesitant or nervous about entering the competition but have something exciting to share, view it as an opportunity to celebrate your accomplishments! Win or lose; it does not change the amount of effort you’ve put into making your technology/process a reality. You should be proud of YOU, and this is the time to celebrate.“

The AMUG Technical Competition is an excellent opportunity to celebrate your accomplishments. Entries are being accepted through March 8, 2023. More information and the submission form can be found on the Technical Competition page.

Nominating Committee update

Your Nominating Committee has been reaching out to a large number of members—some for information gathering and others to provide information—to support elections and appointments to the AMUG team. With these contacts, we have gained a lot of insight into concerns, reservations, and questions, as well as benefitted from suggestions.  All of this has been very insightful and educational.  We look forward to sharing more of this with you in the future.

The application period for inclusion in the slate of candidates for AMUG Board positions has closed. We appreciate all that have stepped forward to be considered for the board. The committee will now be connecting with all candidates for vetting (both by AMUG and by them) to ensure that the election offers our members potential leaders that will get the job done.

Throughout the process, a common concern is the requirements and time demands placed on board members. We share these inputs with the AMUG Board. Yes, as a board of directors member, a lot is required, but a lot has been done to make the workload manageable.

If you are interested in being part of the team but not at the board level, please sign up as a volunteer.  All of the help our incredible members give supports AMUG and its growth.  And, volunteering will allow you to witness first-hand how this group makes it possible for everyone to contribute.  Together we will grow our profession, our organization, and ourselves.

Making your AMUG 2023 plans

We are almost two months before the zero hour of AMUG 2023, and a lot is happening. If you have not made your hotel reservations, please make them soon. As a reminder, the Hilton Chicago has a three-night minimum stay, and if you book 3+ plus nights but check out after only one or two nights, you will be charged for three nights. Please use the AMUG website to book your hotel rooms to get the heavily discounted AMUG rate of $154.00 + taxes per night.

For those interested in a pre-conference leisure activity, we are considering adding a Topgolf outing on Saturday, March 18. If you are interested, please contact Tom Sorovetz (EventManager@amug.com). If interest isn’t high enough, we may scrap this plan.

Just a reminder, the pool will be open daily for twenty-two hours and heated to 80 ºF Sunday through Thursday. We hold the hotels to this requirement because a dip in the pool is a great way to relax after a long day of learning and networking.

SPONSOR NEWS

Going nationwide with GoEngineer

No matter where you are, solving your greatest product development challenges is easy with GoEngineer in your backyard. Now with nationwide coverage in the U.S. and Canada, you have access to the latest software from SOLIDWORKS and 3DEXPERIENCE as well as equipment from Stratasys, Creaform, Artec, PostProcess Technologies, and DyeMansion—all from one source.

Our team of experts is readily available to help you uncover the best solutions for your most demanding projects and hosts a variety of content on YouTube for you to get the most from your equipment.

Discover what’s possible.

Get the 2023 Material Guide for ultrafast 3D printing

Learn about the latest ultrafast 3D printing materials in 2023. Which material can withstand the high heat and pressure to produce 15,000 shots in a blow molding machine? Which resins are used for production parts that need to withstand UV, changing temperatures, and other outdoor elemental conditions? This new ceramic material is the fastest 3D printing material but can also withstand the highest temperatures.

Want to know what other types of materials can be printed in minutes? Check out the guide. Download it here.

Clarkson College develops unique 3D printing education program powered by Stratasys Digital Anatomy^TM technology

Clarkson College offers certificate and degree programs in highly sought-after healthcare fields, including nursing, healthcare business, and radiography. Thanks to Blair Kauzlarich, 3D printing and training administrator, and her colleague Trish Weber, associate professor for the Clarkson College Radiography and Medical Imaging program, those certificate and training offerings now include 3D printing for pre-surgical planning and patient education in clinical settings.

“Our print lab is unique because we’re not necessarily in a hospital hub,” Kauzlarich said. “Most print labs are housed within the walls of a hospital and are really only able to cater to people within their hospital or research, but we’re based in a college and able to serve people worldwide.”

Read on to learn more.

Enroll in the EOS Additive Minds Academy Support-Free Metal 3D Printing eLearning path

Researching and reading about support-free metal 3D printing is one thing – applying the design strategy and tools is another. Let our metal AM experts train your team and share our newest insights on understanding the role of support structures, the benefits of support-free builds for your bottom line, and support-free methodologies for a variety of different applications.

eLearning course takeaways:

• Understanding the physics behind supports and how you can avoid supports
• Obtaining a toolbox of methods to avoid supports for multiple different geometries
• Understanding the possibilities and limitations of support-free building

The comprehensive overview of support-free will become your new toolbox for metal AM, and our academy consultants will be your sounding board along the way. Enroll your team in the Additive Minds Academy Support-Free AM Metal 3D printing eLearning path today.

Scaling to solve supply chain challenges

At Würth, the scalability of 3D printing operations is a typical challenge that presents itself.

For example, we recently had an interesting internal production run for a large Canadian airport. Würth is the main supplier of clips that hold advertisement banners in place inside the airport.

There were significant supply difficulties for the clips. But, we could run the print job for 4000 sets of two clips in one day. And, you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between the AM and injection molded parts. Rapid Shape’s smart features, like automatic part removal—from build plates onto conveyor belts followed by centrifugation for resin removal—allowed us to compete with injection molded parts in pricing.

How? Smart automation. Have a look!

Meltio grows to offer the ultimate software solution for easy 3D printing metal part design workflow

Thousands of industries worldwide, including aerospace, automotive, oil & gas, and mining, already rely on the hardware solutions—Meltio M450 metal 3D printer, Meltio Engine CNC Integration, and Meltio Engine Robot Integration (visit products page)—we offer with our wire-laser metal 3D printing technology. But at Meltio, we have taken a step further to go beyond hardware to present our new open-platform software and an ecosystem of software partners to ensure our customers the process of designing metal parts and ease of use as the main driver. For this reason, we presented two important pieces of news that guarantee Meltio is a reliable partner in the software sector, too.

Meltio Horizon is a new job preparation software. The easy-to-use software includes the usual print job preparation features but also is tailored to use the laser-wire metal deposition process with the Meltio M450 metal 3D printer. Meltio Horizon easily configures the printing cost model and automatically calculates the cost per part in each project. It also provides a user experience tailored around plug-and-play operations of the Meltio M450.

Moreover, we signed new partnership agreements with 12 leading software companies to foster the Meltio Engine CNC and Robot Integrations, offering customers the broadest and most compelling software portfolio to industrialize Meltio’s metal AM process.

This new software ecosystem offers tools to address a variety of applications and industries through advanced slicing features such as fixed tool orientation, revolved surfaces, features on non-planar surfaces, simple surface coating, radial cladding, and many others.

ADDiTEC introduces portable AM robot cell

ADDiTEC launched the first portable AM robot cell rated for reactive materials like titanium. The AMRC – P (Additive Manufacturing Robot Cell – Portable) is a highly capable, turnkey robotic metal AM system offered at an affordable price. The cell is powered by the Meltio Engine and provides all the benefits of a robotic architecture in a compact, welded cell.  The system can print parts up to 1.8 meters in diameter in a wide range of materials.

The AMRC – P is offered with four major industrial robot brands to fit your company’s specific needs. Additionally, we’re proud to provide world-class customer support to ensure the AMRC – P’s reliability for years to come.

The system features state-of-the-art software tools to accommodate complex multi-axis geometries, making the printing process easier and more accessible for both experienced and new users. The highly customizable software allows users to meet all their parameter requirements.

“ADDiTEC developed the AMRC – P to address what we saw as strong demand in the market for a low-cost turnkey robotic AM solution with the added flexibility of portability. We are excited to bring this disruptive product to the market together with our in-depth applications and technical support experience,” said Tilip Thiyagarajan, business manager at ADDiTEC.

ADDiTEC will be exhibiting at SciTech in National Harbor, MD Jan. 24-26 at Booth 225

Materials and Process Development for L-PBF software now available via early adopter program

Developing new L-PBF materials and parts is one of the most expensive efforts in AM. To help scientists and engineers, Dyndrite introduced its first end-user product—Dyndrite Materials and Process Development for L-PBF. This new software provides Aconity, EOS, SLM, Renishaw, and other L-PBF users a powerful tool to speed toolpath development of new materials, alloys, and multi-materials; control print speed and build rate; print difficult geometry; and execute support strategies based on your geometry.

“Dyndrite unlocked a new dimension of flexibility for our processes,” says Samuel Miller, director, AM software at an automotive manufacturer. “The additional control over our SLM machines enables us to achieve better material performance and cost productivity in a high-quality manufacturing environment.”

Be among the first to use this game-changing software; join the Dyndrite early adopter program.

Dyndrite will be at AMS 2023 (February 7-9 in New York) in booth 108.

MEDIA SPONSOR NEWS

New standards of 3D printing for better patient outcomes

Standard 3D printers can’t extrude the tissue-mimicking materials needed to make lifelike models of human organs. But who said 3D printing had to be standard? Medical Device Developments spoke to Richard Arm, a flexural composites research fellow at Nottingham Trent University, and Mike McAlpine, associate professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Minnesota, about their novel approaches to combining 3D printing with advanced materials and what they might mean for surgical practice and medical device design.

Read the article here.

From all of us here at Metal AM magazine, Happy New Year!

As we anticipate another year full of growth and opportunities for the metal 3D printing industry, be inspired by the latest issue of Metal AM magazine – featuring 8 deep-dive articles that cover the evolution of wire-based DED, sensor integration in AM parts, multiple approaches to AM alloy development and much, much more.

Get your free PDF download.

For more unparalleled insight into the world of AM, sign up for our twice-weekly newsletters here.

What were the 3D printing trends in 2022?

Now that 2022 has ended, it is time to take stock of what happened over the course of the year. For the AM market in particular, it was a busy (and slightly turbulent) period, with each month seemingly bringing new innovations and huge changes to the industry. But what exactly were the 3D printing trends in 2022? From increasing consolidation to a sector marked by disruption and much more, we looked closely at the different technologies and companies that dominated the AM industry last year.

Discover the trends here.

Speak at TCT 3Sixty 2023

We’re just two weeks into the new year but already going full speed ahead with preparations for our first TCT Magazine of 2023, and we have plane tickets booked for what’s looking to be a packed calendar of international events. First stop, Tokyo.

Closer to home, the call for papers for TCT 3Sixty is now open for our two-day, multi-stage conference program, which takes place on June 7 – 8  in Birmingham, UK. We’re calling on the AM community for cutting-edge end-user adoption stories, business-critical insights, industry analysis, and ground-breaking research. For inspiration, check out past presentations on our new TCT AM Network and submit your abstract here.

Nestled between those two days is our annual TCT Awards celebration which recognizes the best in AM technology, applications, and collaborations. We’re inviting submissions across 11 categories until February 22 and looking forward to announcing the winners on June 7.

Shell’s success with 3D-printed clamp

This article by Angeline Goh from Shell elaborates on the success story of Shell successfully installing the first 3D-printed leak-repair clamp in service.

The 3D printed clamp successfully passed the burst test conducted at 142.4 bar (over 5 times that of the intended design pressure). This satisfies Shell’s appropriate level of technical readiness to qualify the part for a field application.

In the future, Shell will focus on ensuring product quality and consistency, as well as reducing lead time and costs.

Read the full story.

3Printr.com additive manufacturing calendar

Unleash the full potential of your event by listing it on our 3Printr.com calendar, the definitive guide to AM events worldwide, all at no cost to you. Share your trade fairs, webinars, and all other events with the global community and gain the recognition you deserve.

Review the coming events or submit yours here.

The November/October edition of 3D ADEPT is out

3D Adept Media is starting 2023 by looking back over a rather demanding 2022. From mergers & acquisitions to bankruptcies, expected & unexpected milestones, 2022 led us through an emotional rollercoaster.

When one reflects on key moments that shaped last year, one can say there were situations where weighing the ‘risk-reward’ factor was more pivotal than just taking the risk and expecting a reward afterward – and vice-versa. That being said, this emotional rollercoaster is the sign that this industry never sleeps; it’s the indication that there is still so much to do to properly leverage AM and its related technologies: whether it is for prototyping, series production, or large-scale production purpose.

As you reflect with us in this last issue of the year, make sure to rethink a vision of yourself, of where you want to go – as a person or as a company – and who you want to be; make sure to take accountability for your failures and celebrate your wins; and most importantly, make sure to celebrate the people who are in this journey with you.

Read the interactive digital mag, which is loaded with exclusive features.

AM is (literally) driving the EV transition at Audi

The best part of speaking with real end-users of AM is that it helps us understand exactly what the opportunities and possibilities are for this revolutionary technology. The downside is that we don’t always hear what we’d like. That’s often the case in the automotive industry, where the use of AM is not just consolidated, it’s booming in terms of prototyping, tooling, motorsports, and one-offs, but it also remains very limited (or, rather, non-existent) in terms of direct digital mass production.

As part of 3dpbm’s ongoing AM Focus 2023 Automotive, we spoke with Dr. Erhard Brandl, head of the Audi AM Center. Dr. Brandl stated, “…the possibilities that additive manufacturing is offering in terms of developing the new generation of cars, as we transition towards full electrification, is generating a huge demand of 3D printed parts at Audi.”

Read the full interview online.

Don’t miss exclusive content in 3dpbm’s AM Focus 2023 Automotive eBook, out February 1.

Metal AM: disparate paths?

3DPrint.com Executive Editor Joris Peels discusses two key trends in the metal 3D printing space, specifically related to laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF). On the one hand, L-PBF machines are becoming increasingly complex and productive due to large build areas and more lasers. On the other, a new generation of comparatively low-cost L-PBF systems is lowering the barrier to entry for the technology, making it possible for potentially less high-end applications to be pursued with the technology.

Read the article here.

Workstation review issue, the latest from Digital Engineering

The newest Digital Engineering Special Focus Issue takes a look at the latest developments in professional engineering workstations, including support for GPU acceleration, advanced simulation, generative design, and AM.

You can download the issue here.