Skip to main content

AMUG July 2020

By July 16, 2020
 

July 2020

President’s Report

I hope this finds you well and healthy. It has definitely been a very different year than I think anyone anticipated. We have seen AM be called upon to be a lifesaver—for many people, this was from the safety of your home. For others of us, we responded from an eerily quiet office. While our medical experts find a way to return some form of normalcy, hopefully, we can find more ways to help keep people safe.

One key thing we have seen everyone evaluate is their supply chain. Good product on time is critical to making quality deliverables. The AM industry gives versatility never before available, and this pandemic will make it a visible consideration for everyone. Yet, using AM correctly requires a good understanding of the full process. Our AMUG Conference is an excellent place to gain and expand that knowledge.

Fortunately, our volunteer committees have been very active and are pulling together another fantastic program for our event. I’m sure they will offer you an agenda with an amazing amount of education, information exchange, and networking. All of that will help us to make the great products everyone expects us to. We look forward to seeing everyone (safely) in the not-too-distant future.

Be on the lookout for more of the incredible things your committees and your board have prepared for you. If you have any comments or ideas you would like to share, please reach out directly or contact us at info@amug.com.

Please be safe and stay well!

Carl Dekker
President

DINOs Awarded to 10 Members

On Monday, we released the virtual DINO Awards presentation (watch it here). From thousands of AMUG Members, ten individuals were selected to become DINOs.

Those that have demonstrated the heart of a DINO—passion and commitment to contributing to AMUG and the AM industry—are:

  • Jeff DeGrange, Impossible Objects Inc
  • Bob Diaz, College of Southern Nevada
  • Leslie Frost, GE Additive
  • Youping Gao, Castheon
  • Ed Graham, ProtoCAM
  • Paul Hojan, Christie Digital
  • Evan Kirby, Materialise
  • Ulf Lindhe, Oqton, Inc.
  • Dana McCallum, Carbon, Inc.
  • Bob Wood, ExOne

Congratulations on receiving this prestigious, coveted award!

Take some time from your day to watch the recorded broadcast to view the presentations of the DINO Awards and stay to the end to see the reactions when these ten individuals learned that they were now DINOs.

Virtual Networking Tools Update

Thank you to everyone that responded to our call for sharing your experiences with virtual conferences you have participated in recently and the virtual platforms used for those sessions. We continue to look at various platforms and networking solutions. If you participate in a virtual event that does networking well, please make a note of the meeting tool that was used and let us know what it is (contact us at agenda@amug.com).

Education Platforms – Attention Educators and Students

We would also like to ask educators and students in the AM industry to share with us the online and distance learning tools you use and find to be the most useful and engaging. We are looking to speak with a few people about developing programs that build engagement between educators/speakers and participants. If you can spare a few minutes, please reach out to our Agenda Team at agenda@amug.com.

Committees for 2020-2021

It takes a small army (of volunteers) to make the AMUG Conference exceptional and the AMUG organization strong. Thankfully, dozens of AMUG Members have accepted positions on AMUG Committees that turn plans into actions and ideas into reality.

We are also very thankful that many committee chairs and members readily agreed to serve for a second year. This continuity keeps things moving smoothly.

All chairs and members are recognized on the AMUG website, which you can view here.

SPONSOR NEWS

Renishaw, Inc.www.renishaw.com/am

AM for Serial Production of Orthopedic Implants

Croom Precision Medical has chosen Renishaw as its AM and metrology partner, utilizing Renishaw technology throughout the production and validation of its ISO13485 certified medical devices.

The company has found that using Renishaw’s AM technology allows them to incorporate complex features into their implant design at a commercially viable cost. They also report that Renishaw’s built-in AM software, used in combination with Renishaw’s metrology solutions, allows them to maintain traceability throughout their manufacturing process, which is essential in a heavily regulated environment.

Read the full story here.

Acetabular cups on the build plate.

GE Additivewww.ge.com/additive

Join Us for a Live Webinar with Stryker

Register for our next edition of Webinar Wednesday on July 29, 2020—Additive Manufacturing Devices to Make Healthcare Better: Insights from Stryker.

Stryker, a world-leading medical technology company, offers innovative products and services in orthopedics, medical and surgical, and neurotechnology and spine that help improve patient and hospital outcomes. AMagine is Stryker’s proprietary approach to implant creation that uses AM. Additive technologies allow Stryker to push beyond conventional manufacturing techniques for increased design complexity and to achieve previously un-manufacturable constructs. We will journey through Stryker’s history and proprietary additive-centered approach to designing and manufacturing devices to create revolutionary design freedom.

Click here to register for this free webinar.

Stryker implants produced additively through its AMagine approach.

Air Force Rapid Sustainment Officewww.afrso.com

Advanced Manufacturing Olympics

The Air Force Rapid Sustainment Office (AFRSO) is looking toward AM playing a critical role in the enterprise-wide sustainment process. We’re focused on how we can better use AM to create more efficient, effective, affordable, and scalable manufacturing solutions. At the AFRSO, we understand innovation like this doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It will require partnership and collaboration across government, academia, and industry to create these sustainment solutions.

In November 2020, the inaugural Advanced Manufacturing Olympics will seek to engage these diverse communities, bringing them together to tackle some of the Air Force’s most enduring sustainment pain-points. Be prepared to learn, engage, collaborate, and network. Bring your most innovative ideas to the table and help the Air Force advance to new heights in AM.

Computer Aided Technology (CATI)www.cati.com

The New Creaform MetraSCAN BLACK Elite

Highly versatile, the new MetraSCAN BLACK Elite can be used to scan various part sizes and surface finishes in real time—all with the same device.

The MetraSCAN BLACK Elite features 15 laser crosses and a high measurement rate to accelerate 3D scanning processes. Thanks to quick setup and onboarding, real-time scans, and ready-to-use files, your 3D scanning workflow will never have been faster.

A few key features of the MetraSCAN BLACK Elite:

  • Accuracy – Very high accuracy [ 0.078 mm (0.0031 in) across 16.6 m3 (586 ft3)]
  • Speed – 1,800,000 measurements per second with 15 blue laser crosses
  • Ultra-quick setup – No warm-up time; users can be up and running in less than 5 minutes
  • Metrology acceptance – VDI/VDE 2634 part 3 (ISO 17025 accredited)
  • Each scanner includes certification and fully documented test results.

To see our entire scanner lineup, visit our website. To learn more about CATI, click here.

Creaform MetraSCAN BLACK Elite in action.

Quick Ship Metal 3D Printing Service Features New Materials and Digital Quoting Tool

ExOne has added the popular stainless steels, 316L and 17-4PH, to its current list of materials offered for instant quoting and quick delivery. With ExOne’s updated Quick Ship service, customers can expect delivery times of 10-15 business days, depending on the number of units requested, part size, and other requirements.

Quick Ship parts will be 3D printed at ExOne’s metal production facility outside Pittsburgh, which has been binder jetting metal parts for more than two decades. ExOne’s production center delivers more than 500,000 metal 3D printed parts annually and has offered single-alloy metals since 2018.

In addition, single-alloy metals will be 3D printed on the Innovent+® and X1 25Pro™ systems, featuring exclusive and patented Triple Advanced Compaction Technology (ACT).

“After two years of supplying thousands of 316L and 17-4 parts to select industrial customers, our updated Quick Ship services will now allow any customer to easily acquire and evaluate affordable single-alloy parts 3D printed with binder jetting,” said John Hartner, ExOne CEO.

The ExOne Quick Ship Dashboard will allow consumers to upload a file for an instant quote for purchase here.

DSM Additive Manufacturingwww.dsm.com/additive-manufacturing

Scuderia AlphaTauri Cuts F1 Aerodynamic Development Reaction Time by up to 30%

For F1 teams, testing aerodynamics consumes a large percent of development time and resources. Teams conduct aerodynamic tests with a wind tunnel model and computational fluid dynamics (CFD). To help understand air flow, particle imaging velocimetry (PIV) is used. With high speed cameras and a laser light sheet, millions of particles in the air can be photographed in short time bursts. This aids a better understanding of aerodynamics, enabling more efficient designs to improve race performance.

Scuderia AlphaTauri and DSM investigated the interplay of process, materials, and technology, resulting in DSM developing Somos® PerFORM Reflect, a material that is transforming fluid dynamic testing, specifically PIV. Orange in color, the stereolithography material has low viscosity and low settling for producing stiff, high-temperature-resistant parts.

Printing with DSM’s Somos PerFORM Reflect cut production time up to 30 percent, enhanced testing processes and increased the speed and frequency of aerodynamic improvements.

Read the case study here.

Scuderia AlphaTauri and DSM used 3D printing with Somos PerFORM Reflect to improve F1 aerodynamics.

SLM Solutionswww.slm-solutions.us

SLM Solutions 3D Printing Success Story: Etteplan’s Y Connector

Etteplan was tasked with redesigning the y-connector of their customer’s robotic sander dust extraction channel, optimizing it for AM. The existing, traditionally manufactured component suffered from high costs, a long supply chain, and too large of a footprint causing problems on the assembly line. Etteplan’s customer hoped for a new solution optimized for laser powder bed fusion (LPBF), produced in aluminum to significantly lighten the part, enable improved airflow characteristics, and manufactured at a lower cost.

Etteplan assembled a team that included experts in AM production, design, and print process simulation. Both Etteplan’s own AM production cost estimation tool and AM process simulation software were utilized throughout the design process. Read the full case study here.

Digital Manufacturing Investor Day 2020 Delivers Technology Futures

June 30, 2020, saw a novel and interesting event–the first ever Digital Manufacturing Investor Day, an online event hosted by Dyndrite that drew over 85 investor firms, and more than 200 manufacturing experts and industry press from around the world. The event also featured 12 carefully selected emerging companies to make their investor pitch.

The featured emerging companies were: Aon3D, Addiguru, Authentise, CASTOR, Essentium, Exlattice, First Resonance, Gen3D, General Lattice, Impossible Objects, Truegage, and Voxel8.

The technologies pitched ran the gamut of MES, design-for-additive and metrology software, additive materials, and new 3D printing systems showing promise for faster, more robust additive manufacturing and factory automation technologies.

You can view replays of the event  here.

Digital Manufacturing Investor Day replay available here.

We Have a Winner in the CoVent-19 Challenge

In the April newsletter, we reported on the CoVent-19 Challenge, an effort to develop a low-cost, easily manufactured ventilator in the fight against Covid-19. The challenge resulted in more than 200 entrants and seven finalists. And we’re now happy to report the winner: the Smith College team, developers of the “SmithVent” open- source ventilator design. The SmithVent uses 3D printed parts and other off-the-shelf components to reduce its cost to less than a tenth of conventional ventilators.

What’s remarkable about the Smith College team is that none of its members had experience with ventilator technology. Yet, in an unbelievable time span of about 12 weeks, the team developed an operational ventilator that met all of the design criteria. It’s a shining example of how significant problems can be overcome when people join together with a focus and passion for making a positive difference. It’s also a great testament to the impact of AM to simplify the supply chain and enable fast solutions.

Read more about the SmithVent and other finalist ventilators on the CoVent-19 website.

SmithVent, by the Smith College team, picked as the winner of CoVent-19 Challenge.

BASF 3D Printing Solutionswww.forward-am.com

Are You Ready for Some Football…3D Printed Helmets?

As part of the National Football League’s (NFL) Helmet Challenge, last month $1.37 million in HeadHealthTECH grant funding was awarded to four teams of innovators to support the creation of safer and more comfortable helmets. The team consisting of BASF (including Forward AM), Xenith, RHEON Labs, and the University of Waterloo in Ontario, received over $400k in funding to help bolster their entry in the competition. The winning selection, which will be announced in July 2021, will be based on lab testing of the helmet prototypes by the NFL-NFLPA (NFL Players Association).

Forward AM’s toolbox for helmets and protective gear includes:

  • Ultrasint® TPU powder— flexible, tunable, durable, and made for manufacturing
  • Ultrasim® Virtual Engineering service for creating the optimal design of TPU lattice structures to achieve maximum safety and comfort
  • In-house impact and dynamic testing to speed development
  • Post-processing know-how and products, including coating, cleaning, dying, and smoothing of the final part

In addition to sports protection equipment, our Ultrasint TPU material, further empowered by Ultrasim Virtual Engineering, has many other applications, including footwear and car interior components such as seating.

To learn more, check out a recording of our latest webinar on Protective Gear or contact us at sales@basf-3dps.com.

Forward AM supports Xenith in the NFL Helmet Challenge—Learn the benefits of using AM for Protective Gear.

Essentium Shows How to Design for High Speed Extrusion And Unlock The Value of AM

As well as rewriting the economics of manufacturing production, the increasing adoption of industrial-scale AM heralds a new era that will bring enormous design freedom, customization, and innovation. The rewards are huge.

To reap the rewards requires a change to business processes from finance and procurement to training and engineering and beyond. The design process is one such area that is key to unlocking the value of AM. Manufacturers need to ensure the desired part is designed to print at speed while meeting the required quality and performance standards.

Presenting real-world applications, Essentium’s webinar will cover design principles for high speed extrusion and design techniques to increase printing speed and material throughput, allowing for faster print times without sacrificing quality or repeatability.

By the end of the webinar, you will be able to apply your knowledge early in the design process so that you can use FFF additive to achieve competitive print times for parts that meet quality standards straight off the printer.

The webinar will be held on July 29, 2020, at 11:00 am EDT. Please register here.

MEDIA PARTNER NEWS

TCT Magazinewww.tctmagazine.com

Join the AM Global Community Discord

The TCT editorial team has launched the Additive Manufacturing Global Community Discord Server, a new forum for AM professionals to meet and drive the conversation around our industry.

We want this to be a place where AM users can share ideas and learn, and we encourage members to actively participate in the discussion. If you have questions about a new process or need some advice on a particular pain point in your workflow, this is where you will find it.

While the immediate aim of this platform is to foster networking in the absence of face to face events, the long-term goal is to build a community for those conversations to continue as regular programming slowly resumes, with plans for knowledge bars and ‘Ask Me Anything’ sessions in the works.

The server already has 130+ members, conversations are starting to take shape, and we’re inviting you to join them.

Join the Additive Manufacturing Global Community Discord Server.

3D Metal Printing Magazinewww.3dmpmag.com

Book July 21-23 for Virtual 3D Metal Printing Experience

Time’s running out to reserve a seat at 3D Metal Printing’s virtual event, the 5th Annual 3D Metal Printing Experience, taking place July 21-23. The event serves up 10 information-packed presentations, as well as unique networking opportunities and a virtual tour of Cumberland Additive, a full-service additive manufacturing (AM) company in Pflugerville, TX. The tour also includes a Q&A session with Cumberland Additive management.

The info-packed conference agenda includes Penn State’s Tim Simpson, offering Design for AM, a three-part mini-course. Other confirmed speakers: Mark Barfoot, director of AM programs at EWI; Travis Hanson, manufacturing engineer at Stratasys Direct; Cullen Hilkene, CEO of 3Diligent; Francisco Medina, associate professor and director of technology and engagement at UTEP/W.M. Keck Center for 3D Innovation; Mark Norfolk, president of Fabrisonic; and Shannon Van Deren, president of Layered Manufacturing and Consulting. Register at here.

And coming soon: the Summer 2020 issue of 3D Metal Printing—set to mail in July and to post at 3dmpmag.com. Look for the latest metal-AM machine developments, case studies, and articles on AM workflow for part qualification and AM automotive tooling.

www.3dmpmag.com

The 5th Annual 3D Metal Printing Experience features a virtual tour of Cumberland Additive.

Make Parts Fastwww.makepartsfast.com

AM Meets the Need for Agility

Recent events show the need for agility to meet market demands. Dr. Joe DeSimone, executive chairman of Carbon, discussed the unique levels of agility offered by AM.

Here is the interview.

Dr. Joe DeSimone discusses AM agility in the interview.

Digital Engineeringwww.digitaleng.news

June Issue of DE Available for Download

The June issue of Digital Engineering includes a look at rapid prototyping services, along with advice for picking the right partner and technology to bring your prototypes to life. The issue also includes coverage of the CAASE20 virtual conference (co-presented by Digital Engineering and NAFEMS), as well as articles on simulation-driven design, remote collaboration, and software, and GPU reviews.

You can download the issue here.

June issue features innovations in simulation and covers rapid prototyping services.

Metal AM Magazine www.metal-am.com

Out Now: Metal AM, Summer 2020

During these uncertain times, the AM industry continues to share knowledge, embrace new opportunities and pursue new avenues of application.

In our latest issue, Metal AM magazine offers insight into some of those paths less trodden, such as the jewelry sector, and looks in-depth at the unrealized potential and applications of Electron Beam Powder Bed Fusion.

Further features investigate how obstacles to profitability can be addressed from an OpEx perspective and how companies can scale their AM operations to meet the demands of an ever-changing market and technology base, to develop an agile, resilient supply chain.

Explore these features and more, including over ninety-five pages of industry news from the quarter, in Metal AM, Summer 2020. Available for free online.

www.metal-am.com

Jewelry is one path less trodden that is featured in the Summer Issue.

Additive Manufacturing Mediawww.additivemanufacturing.media

Sustainability’s Moment Is AM’s Moment

Sustainability is often associated with recycled materials, but truly sustainable manufacturing goes far beyond this. It is continuous, a model that closes the loop of the product lifecycle for a circular economy. To move from a linear model to a circular one is undeniably disruptive. But the disruption needed to implement sustainable manufacturing closely mirrors that required by AM. Both demand disruption of the supply chain in terms of material, design, manufacturing, product, and end-of-life. Disruption in pursuit of one is also an opportunity to pursue the other simultaneously—and the right time is now.

Learn how manufacturers are already implementing sustainability measures in tandem with AM in our July issue, and glimpse the future of manufacturing in this special report.

The circular economy links material, design, manufacturing, product, and end-of-life in a continuous loop. 3D printing has roles to play in every step.

The Additive Reportwww.theadditivereport.com

Tech Reports, User Stories & Opinions

The Additive Report tells the stories of organizations that use and advance AM technologies. Below are some posts you’ll find on the AR website:

  • Fathom combines 3D printing, machining, and other technologies to provide customers a hybrid approach to parts-making. Read it here.
  • The state of printing heat exchangers.
  • Metal additive system builds parts from water-based pastes.
  • Interview with the AM program manager at the Army Research Lab. Read it here.

If you don’t receive the magazine, please subscribe at our website.

The CTO at Conflux Tech weighs in on printing heat exchangers.

Note: AM is the abbreviation for additive manufacturing.