Just as Stratasys began to enter onto 3D Systems’ home turf, now, 3D Systems (NYSE:DDD) is pulling its own such move with the introduction of a fused filament 3D printer, the Roadrunner. Developed in collaboration with contract manufacturer with Jabil Inc. (NYSE:JBL), Roadrunner relies on what the partners call High Speed Fusion (HSF). They claim that “[t]hrough the use of advanced electric motion control, this unique system operates at speeds and precision levels well beyond current state-of-the-art production platforms” and that it features “temperature capability and available build areas greater than those of competing systems.” With it, 3D Systems and Jabil are targeting the aerospace and automotive sectors.

“By introducing our High Speed Fusion filament printer, 3D Systems will build on the organizational focus that we adopted in 2020, and expand our presence in growing markets that demand high reliability products such as aerospace and automotive,” said Dr. Jeffrey Graves, president and CEO, 3D Systems. “Our investments in this solution, and collaboration with Jabil, will allow our customers to increase productivity and performance by using additive manufacturing with a hardware, software, and materials platform that is uniquely designed for the rigors and requirements of an industrial setting. The value proposition, which we believe is compelling, will open new markets for our company that are estimated to be over $400 million, with the promise of new markets, beyond these current opportunities, as the economics of this new technology platform are fully demonstrated.”

3D Systems claims that the new machine, of which no pictures have yet been released publicly, will have the “[h]ighest deposition rates combined with the best dimensional precision of any standard industrial class of fused filament platform. It is also said that the system will have the “lowest landed part cost” and the ability to 3D print with high-temperature materials, such as ULTEM and carbon fiber reinforced nylon, as well as general use filaments including ABS and PETg ESD.

3D Systems Headquarters. Image courtesy of 3D Systems.

Roadrunner is capable of 3D printing end parts for aircraft interiors and ducting, drones, under the hood and dash of vehicles, and general industrial uses. This is in addition to tooling and fixtures, as well as prototypes.

“We are proud of the progress the Jabil and 3D Systems teams have made and the ability of this solution to overcome the historical system and sub-system level limitations of current market offerings,” said John Dulchinos, vice president, 3D printing and digital manufacturing, Jabil. “Jabil understands the needs of a large-scale manufacturing environment and we look forward to continuing to collaborate with 3D Systems to make this new system available to the marketplace while also using it within our own factories.”

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This is indeed an exciting time for industrial 3D printing. The last time that 3D Systems had an extrusion-based system was its consumer-directed Cube line, which was scrapped in 2015 with the entirety of the company’s consumer division. Now, apparently the company is re-entering this segment with a focus on industrial applications.

No specifications have been released, but the Roadrunner sounds big and fast, bringing to mind machines like the Big Area Additive Manufacturing (BAAM) system from Cincinnati Inc., or its competitors. However, in this case, the system prints with filament, rather than plastic pellets, which seems counterintuitive for fast processing. Many in the industry have said that pellets are the future, as it may be easier to begin working with material already available for the injection molding world. Joshua Pearce at Michigan Tech also makes the point that directly recycled material can be used more easily via pellet extrusion, as it bypasses the step required to process plastic waste into new filament.

The 3D printing industry is in the midst of an interesting transformation. Specifically, Stratasys is now manufacturing stereolithography (SLA) 3D printers via it acquisitions of Origin and RPS. This was 3D Systems’ territory, as 3D Systems invented SLA in 1984. Now, 3D Systems is taking Stratasys at its own game of material extrusion. Meanwhile, Desktop Metal and EnvisionTEC are under one umbrella. Interestingly, Executive Editor Joris Peels just mentioned that someone like Jabil might begin manufacturing their own 3D printers.

This is a time of mergers, acquisitions and other surprises. What will happen next? In the meantime, we will surely learn more about Roadrunner in the near future. The partners have been developing this platform for over a year and will aim to begin shipping Roadrunner in 2022.

WASHINGTON, DC — Below is the oral statement prepared for delivery by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy before today’s hearing by the House Committee on Oversight and Reform.

“Good Morning Chairwoman Maloney, Ranking Member Comer, and Members of the Committee. I want to applaud the subject of the hearing – legislative proposals to place the Postal Service on a more sustainable path while addressing service performance.  You have put your finger on the precise combination of success factors that the Postal Service leadership and I have been focused on for the past 8 months – building a financially sustainable organization that fulfills our responsibility to the American people and to our employees, and that enables excellent, reliable service that meets the expectations of our customers.

There is difficult work that is ahead of us to fix the systemic problems that have plagued the Postal Service, but I am confident that together those problems can be solved, and I see a bright future ahead for the Postal Service and the public we serve, if we have the collective courage to act.  A tangible reflection of our optimism for the long-term viability of the Postal Service is our award yesterday of a production contract for Next Generation Delivery Vehicles.

Let me say at the outset that we must acknowledge that during this peak season, we fell far short of meeting our service targets. Too many Americans were left waiting weeks for important deliveries of mail and packages.

This is unacceptable, and I apologize to those customers who felt the impact of our delays. All of us at the Postal Service, from our Board, to our leadership team, to our union and association leadership, to every employee strive to do better in our service to the American people-and we will do better.

That said, the fundamental challenges that the Postal Service confronted in 2020 made the urgent change that we need to pursue even more evident. The years of financial stress, underinvestment, unachievable service standards, and lack of operational precision have resulted in a system that does not have adequate resiliency to adjust and adapt to changing circumstances.

I am proud of the dedication of our employees, who worked tirelessly to meet our public service mission during the most trying of circumstances.  While our performance during the Election was tremendous, the service performance issues that we otherwise experienced during much of the year demonstrate why we must make fundamental changes to provide our customers with the service they expect and deserve.

We need to frankly confront the problems we face, be candid and realistic about the magnitude of the solutions we require, and embrace the few, crucial, elements of legislative help we need from the Congress.  

Above all, my message is that the status quo should be acceptable to no one, because the solutions are within reach if we can agree to work together.  Our dire financial trajectory, operational and network misalignment to mail trends, outdated pricing, infrastructure underinvestment, inadequate people engagement, and an insufficient growth strategy – all demand immediate action.  We have a detailed plan for such action which we will finalize soon, and with your help we can restore a Postal Service that the American people truly deserve.

Solution – 10-year Strategic Plan

To confront these urgent issues, our team has been working on a ten-year strategy that will reinforce the Postal Service’s obvious strengths and address our obvious weaknesses. 

The key commitments of this plan will include:

In the weeks ahead, I look forward to sharing more information and engaging in discussions about this strategy with public policymakers, our unions and management associations, our employees, our stakeholders, and with the American people.

Legislative Action

To be self-sufficient we also need targeted legislation. I thank you for your leadership and renewed interest in addressing our unfair and unaffordable employee retirement health benefit costs that will give us a fighting chance, when combined with the other elements of our plan, for financial sustainability.  Importantly these funding changes can be made while sustaining and improving these valued benefits.  I look forward to working with you and the Administration to revitalize the Postal Service.”

Note: The Postmaster General’s written statement is available here.

The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.

###

WASHINGTON, DC – Below is the oral statement prepared for delivery by Postal Service Board of Governors Chairman Ron Bloom before today’s hearing by the House Committee on Oversight and Reform.

“Chairwoman Maloney, Ranking Member Comer, and members of the Committee, thank you for inviting me to appear before you today.

My name is Ron Bloom, and I am honored to Chair the Board of Governors of the United States Postal Service. 

This is not my first involvement in public service.  I served in the Obama Administration, first as a member of the Auto Task Force helping to lead the restructuring of GM and Chrysler and later on the White House Staff.    

In my 40-plus-year career, I have held leadership roles in both labor unions and financial institutions specializing in restructuring and revitalizing large complex organizations.

In addition to the Postmaster General, I am joined on the Board by five other governors, each of whom bring significant relevant experience to our task.

My involvement with the Postal Service began a decade ago as an advisor to its largest union – the National Association of Letter Carriers.

That experience – along with my work on the Board – has only deepened my appreciation for the extraordinary dedication of the more than 645,000 women and men of the United States Postal Service.

Throughout this pandemic, Postal Service employees performed with distinction. This was most evident during last November’s election, as they delivered 4.6 billion pieces of election and political mail and ensured that 99.89% of mailed ballots were sent back to election officials within our guidance to voters.

Our peak season began immediately thereafter and while the Postal Service delivered 1.1 billion packages over the holidays, we fell far short of our service targets.

With COVID sidelining thousands of our employees, many Americans -- including your constituents -- experienced significant delays in the delivery of mail and packages.

This level of service is acceptable to no one at the Postal Service and we are working to urgently address this challenge.

But as we improve service – and we are and we will – we must face some hard truths.  As presently constituted the Postal Service’s ability to serve its twin mandates of binding the nation together and being financially self-sufficient, is profoundly threatened.

For too long, the Postal Service has been burdened with unsustainable liabilities and its own failure to adapt to the changing needs of its customers.

As we look ahead, if we continue on our current path, we are projected to lose $160 billion over the next ten years.

But for the Postal Service to succeed in the long-term, we can’t just throw money at the problem. We must address the systemic issues plaguing its outdated model.

For these reasons, the Postmaster General and Postal management have been working with the Board of Governors on a comprehensive plan to invest in and revitalize the Postal Service.

This plan is still being finalized so I am not in a position to reveal any specifics today. But I can tell you that its focus is on ensuring that the Postal Service is able to meet our universal service obligation in a reliable and affordable manner to 161 million American households six and seven days each week.

This plan will require tough choices.  As I mentioned earlier, I have significant experience in revitalizing and restructuring large complex enterprises – including the integrated steel industry, GM and Chrysler and dozens in between.  And if I have learned one thing it is that the single largest impediment to achieving a successful outcome is that stakeholders will support the abstract need for change, but will seek to avoid any change that impacts their particular interest.  Successful restructuring simply cannot work that way.  We must all be ready to do our part.

Congress has a vital role to play.  Our plan will ask you to give the Postal Service relief from its current requirement to pre-fund its retiree health benefits and that we be allowed to fully integrate our retiree health plans with Medicare.

These changes will save us approximately $40 billion or about 25% of the hole we are trying to fill.

We will also be asking the Biden Administration to calculate our obligation to the CSRS Pension Plan using modern actuarial principles that more fairly apportion our responsibility, which will save an additional $12 billion.

Today, the Postal Service stands at a cross-road, facing enormous challenges and significant opportunities.

What happens next is up to us.

We can continue to ignore these challenges and demand that nothing changes while this great organization is allowed to die, or we can come together and do something really important for the United States Postal Service and the people we serve.”

Note: Chairman Bloom’s written statement is available here.

###

If I had to name just one major thing that Additive Manufacturing 2.0 company RIZE, Inc. focuses on when making its industrial 3D printers, it’s definitely safety, for which RIZE President and CEO Andy Kalambi told me in 2019 the company’s zero-emission 3D printers are “purpose built.” The latest feather in its cap, after announcing that the desktop composite 2XC 3D printer was its fifth product or material to receive the important UL GREENGUARD Certification for safety and sustainability, is the new “Safe at Home” Manufacturing initiative, which is meant to help enable organizations to build self-sufficient, distributed supply chains at the office, the factory, or the home; an often necessary task these days due to the ongoing pandemic.

As COVID-19 has repeatedly shown us, it’s critically important for supply chains to learn to become more resilient, and this new initiative will help ensure that companies can safely and seamlessly continue their workflows, no matter if its employees are working remotely or just down the hall in the office.

Role of Additive Manufacturing in Supply Chain courtesy of Croftam UK.

RIZE, a World Economic Forum (WEF) 2020 Technology Pioneer, boasts the first professional desktop 3D printer to receive UL GREENGUARD certification, which means that it helps lower the risk of chemical exposure, and in doing so adheres to third-party chemical emissions standards and gives users peace of mind that the product they’re using is safe. Research shows that many desktop 3D printers do release hazardous ultrafine particles (UFPs) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into the air, which is obviously not ideal if you’re using the system at home in an enclosed space. GREENGUARD-certified products meet ANSI/CAN/UL 2904, “Standard Method for Testing and Assessing Particle and Chemical Emissions for 3D Printers,” which means that they release lower levels of harmful chemicals into the air and are thus safer to use indoors.

“Next-generation technology is solving some of the biggest limitations of additive manufacturing, such as its emission of carcinogens and other airborne particles associated with traditional FFF approaches to 3D printing. With the pandemic expanding 3D printing outside typical industrial settings such as in home offices, the innovations of next-generation additive manufacturing players such as RIZE are changing the conversation on safety and sustainability,” said Tim Greene, research director at IDC.

Automation technology and technical educational solutions provider Festo SE & Co KG is participating in RIZE’s new manufacturing initiative by purchasing RIZE 2XC composite 3D printers and then deploying them in the homes of some of its important team members in Germany and the US. This will allow the company to create a productive, self-sufficient supply chain that’s UL GREENGUARD-certified safe.

“At Festo, we believe additive manufacturing will play a key role in shaping the future of work. Collaborative distributed manufacturing will bring about a paradigm shift, which will lead to more market opportunities and increased applications,” said Nuzha Yakoob, the head of technology and innovation at Festo North America. “We are delighted to expand our work with RIZE to help scale adoption of next-generation manufacturing technologies by putting safety at the heart of the supply chain of tomorrow.”

In addition, Festo is also collaborating with RIZE to develop workflows that are capable of delivering durable, repeatable, and high-precision 3D printed parts no matter if team members are all together in the same building, or spread throughout the world.

Kalambi said, “We’re honored that Festo shares our commitment to reconceptualize manufacturing, and find better ways to work productively in the new normal of COVID-19. The RIZE “Safe at Home” Manufacturing initiative is a powerful first step to building supply chain resiliency with advanced digital fabrication solutions like RIZE’s line of UL GREENGUARD certified 3D printers that are safe for home, work and anywhere.”

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The high-touch, high-quality 3D printing service is under threat. With OEMs starting huge services, polymer companies getting into the service game, and giant manufacturing firms looking to be the biggest in the world, small services are doomed. You’re in a market where you have salaries to pay while others will pour in millions to become the “winner takes all” in 3D printing services. Meanwhile, your customers are chomping at the bit to start their own manufacturing businesses with 3D printing.

One path out of the morass is to adopt a low-cost cluster model. Generally speaking, the fact that clusters are less expensive as an up-front investment makes them a very attractive proposition to start. The up-front investment could be a single printer. A few years ago, the opportunity was clear: scale and go up the value chain to serve automotive and aerospace companies. But we can’t all have that same opportunity now. You could follow the same path and become just another service bureau running the same machines. But, what could you do to outcompete? Be bigger?

In the face of GKN, Oerlikon, Sandvik, Jabil, could you make your own metal powder?

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As much as we all hoped it would be gone by now, COVID-19 is still spreading around the world, and so the pandemic continues. But, an interdisciplinary team of scientists and bioengineers worked together to develop a 3D printable antiviral material that they claim can actually kill the novel coronavirus, and potentially help lower the disease spread. PhD researcher John Robinson, Dr. Arun Arjunan, and Dr. Ahmad Baroutaji with the Additive Manufacturing Functional Materials (AMFM) research group at the University of Wolverhampton in the UK led the charge, and teamed up with the Ángel Serrano-Aroca group from the Catholic University of Valencia’s Biomaterials and Bioengineering Lab for rapid material development and anti-COVID viral analysis. The goal is to use the antiviral material in filtration systems and face masks in order to lower the risk of infection.

Wolverhampton’s AMFM researchers are experts when it comes to 3D printing microbial biomaterials, and wanted to look into the possibility of using 3D printed antiviral materials to lower both airborne and surface-based virus transmission, especially with new COVID-19 variants emerging, one or more of which could end up being a vaccine evasive strain.

The 3D printed COVID-resistant material developed in Wolverhampton

“Covid-19 virus transmission can be indirect through airborne droplets or direct through contaminated surfaces. Therefore, the ability to control the transmission of the virus is critical to reduce the spread and limit the unknown long-term effects,” Robinson explained. “Also, with new variants emerging, and a concern that a vaccine evasive strain may evolve, there is further emphasis on the requirement for enhanced transmission control and prevention. The requirement for long-life masks and mask filters that can be disinfected is essential. As the pandemic continues to evolve, various situations are likely to appear unpredictably. To enable an immediate response and rapid solution, we created an antiviral material that could be 3D printed, and therefore can create antiviral surfaces when and where they are needed.”

The team used tungsten, silver, and copper to make their antiviral material. Silver has been found to have antimicrobial properties, which is great, but unfortunately the material is pretty pricey, so it’s not a cost-effective option on its own in terms of large-scale implementation, and especially not for single-use products. Copper is much less expensive than silver and has been shown to have anti-COVID-19 properties, and new research also shows that tungsten can help kill viruses. While this research is limited, it does show that tungsten has antimicrobial effects against some common pathogens. like E. coli and Staphylococcus aureus, which is why the researchers decided to combine all three in order to 3D print their COVID-killing material.

John Robinson with the EOS 3D printer used to print the antiviral material

They used selective laser melting (SLM) technology to make their novel material, which is apparently displaying excellent results.

“Our antiviral material displayed a 100 per cent viral inactivation within five hours against a biologically-safe sample of Covid-19. This is a significant improvement on the previous copper coating results as all of the Covid-19 virus is eliminated. As such the copper-tungsten-silver material developed in this study could be utilised to reduce both surface contamination and the airborne spread of the Covid-19 virus,” Robinson said. “We hope that this material could have a number of uses including building filtration systems and face mask filters; for example in this project we used the antiviral material and 3D printing technology to create proof of concept mask filters for an open-source 3D-printed face mask.”

Interestingly, this isn’t the first reusable filter with antimicrobial properties that has been 3D printed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In April 2020, ExOne announced that it had worked with the University of Pittsburgh to 3D print copper filters using its binder jetting process. In the case of ExOne, the benefit of being able to tune the porosity of the print process, something that is easier to achieve with binder jetting, actually aided in the production of filters.

(Sources: Express & Star, The Engineer)

Applying WACKER’s expertise in silicone to the world of 3D printing, ACEO was launched in 2017 with one of the few 3D printing services specialized in producing elastomeric parts. Now, the subsidiary of the chemical giant has expanded its technology to combine both soft silicone and hard materials in a single print.

With ACEO’s industrial 3D printers, it’s possible to 3D print up to four materials, including support. The company offers a variety of silicones with a range of properties, including differences in shore hardness, UV resistance, thermal stability, and sterilizability. In 2018, electrically conductive silicone was added to its multi-material 3D printing portfolio to enable flexible sensors and other applications.

Silicone tube with integrated screw connection. (Image courtesy of WACKER)

By partnering with DELO Industrial Adhesives, ACEO is now offering an epoxy thermoset material that makes it possible to combine soft silicone and hard epoxy materials. The materials do not adhere together, meaning that it is necessary to mechanically fix the two substances together for part integrity. However, it also means that the materials can be easily separated after use. DELO was in 3D printing news recently through a partnership with Infotech, which has launched its own line of 3D printers using DELO materials.

ACEO suggests that “silicone applications can be made stronger by adding epoxy reinforcements or protective sections, and designers can add functionality by adding tough connector parts.” For epoxy-focused developers, “engineers can now make hard products safer by designing soft interfaces, they can provide flexibility by adding hinges or dampening by adding spring elements and so on.” ACEO highlights the fact that, by combining multiple materials into a single print, production can be simplified, as complex assembly operations can be avoided.

Seal ring with silicone on the outside (blue) and epoxy on the inside (L-structure). (Image courtesy of WACKER)

As discussed elsewhere, silicone 3D printing severely underrepresented in the industry, with ACEO representing the largest provider of silicone 3D printing. Instead, those interested in 3D printing flexible parts typically must rely on inkjetting, powder bed fusion, vat photopolymerization or material extrusion of an elastomeric, but non-silicone material. This may be acceptable for form and fit prototyping, but materials such as thermoplastic polyurethane do not offer the same chemical resistance, temperature stability, and resistance to ultraviolet light as silicones. In turn, they may not be suitable for the same applications, such as the production of sterilizable medical parts.

ACEO continues to expand its offerings through its 3D printing service, but one wonders when the next big leap in silicones will occur. Perhaps Spectroplast will become the leading competition to ACEO, but it doesn’t have the same heavy backing as ACEO does with WACKER. There may not be enough interest in 3D printing silicones at the moment to really expand the market, but maybe it will take the sale of industrial silicone 3D printers to really drive this small segment forward.

We’re starting with some business in 3D Printing News Briefs today, talking about Auburn University’s Additive Manufacturing Accelerator and Vector Photonics leading the BLOODLINE consortium, which I promise isn’t as weird as its name would suggest. Moving on, Siemens Energy has come up with a way to use 3D printing to upgrade turbine blades rather than repairing them, and Omegasonics has introduced its updated ultrasonic cleaning equipment for 3D printed parts. Finally, the Bugatti Bolide hypercar features a multitude of 3D printed components, and a Hackaday post details how to make a DIY HEPA filter fan with some 3D printed pieces.

Auburn University’s AM Accelerator Targets 3D Printing Startups

Auburn University Professor Michael Zabala operates XO Armor out of office in the university’s innovation park on the city’s southwest side. (Image courtesy of Mike Eads, Opelika-Auburn News)

Officials from the city of Auburn, Alabama are offering local entrepreneurs and faculty from Auburn University the chance to help grow a new industry by joining the Additive Manufacturing Accelerator, a partnership program between the National Center for Additive Manufacturing Excellence, the university, and the city’s Training Connection that runs through the fall of 2021. The Accelerator targets startups that use 3D printing, and offers funding and advice to help with things like establishing manufacturing processes, hiring employees, and finding customers. The goal is to help ten local companies and three startups, and provide a new local industry and student training opportunities. One of the Accelerator’s first clients is Auburn University Professor Michael Zabala, who teaches mechanical engineering with an emphasis on human biology. At the request of one of the university’s football trainers, he created bespoke padding for a player in 2019, and XO Armor was born. Athletes use the startup’s app to scan ankle, elbow, knee, and shoulder joints, then send the specifications to XO, which then creates and delivers a pad or brace to help disperse the energy from a field collision and protect the joint.

“In biomechanics, we analyze the human body, how it moves and the forces and motions associated with that,” Zabala explained. “That’s the relationship between mechanical engineering and what we’re doing here: using 3D printing and other manufacturing techniques to make devices that work extremely well with the complicated human body.”

The AM Accelerator will help Zabala create local jobs, training opportunities for engineering students, and scale XO Armor.

Vector Photonics Leading BLOODLINE Consortium

Vector says that PCSELs solve the semiconductor laser power and cost conundrum.

According to SmarTech Analysis, the market for metal laser 3D printing will skyrocket to $10 billion by the year 2025. As such, Vector Photonics is leading an Innovate UK-funded international consortium project to develop metal 3D printing chips based on its own PCSELs (Photonic Crystal Surface Emitting Lasers). Other partners in the £1.5 million Project BLOODLINE, which stands for “Bright Laser diOdes fOr aDvance metaL addItive maNufacturing systEms,” are the UK’s Compound Semiconductor Applications (CSA) Catapult, a Japanese manufacturer of semiconductors, and a Japanese industrial equipment manufacturer. The PCSEL chips should be suitable for any 3D printer manufacturer to use.

“3D metal laser printers hold metal powder in a ‘powder bed’ at just below melting point. Currently, CO2 or fibre lasers, directed by mirrors, scan over the surface of the powder, melting the metal powder to the layer below, in what is termed Selective Laser Melting (SLM),” explained Dr Richard Taylor, CTO at Vector Photonics, and Enterprise Fellow at the Quantum Technology Enterprise Centre.

“Vector Photonics’ PCSEL technology will revolutionise the SLM process. PCSELs offer a unique combination of increased laser power, by scaling up the PCSEL arrays; improved reliability, by removing the mirrors and offering and entirely solid-state solution; and greater manufacturing efficiency – the result of higher resolution printing with less finishing overheads and faster printing speeds.

“We believe that PCSELs will enable an entirely new class of next generation, metal printers and contribute to even greater market growth.”

Siemens Uses Hybrid 3D Printing to Add Features to Turbine Blades

One SGT5-4000F gas turbine blade converts as much power into rotational energy as there is in ten Porsche 911 sports cars. Because of the high gas velocities and temperatures that occur when you operate a gas turbine, you often see burn-off at the blade tip, which can lead to gaps between the tip and the ring segment and decrease turbine performance. AM and repair experts at Siemens Energy figured out how to use a hybrid 3D printing process to upgrade broken turbine blades, rather than repairing them, by adding high-resolution cooling structures in important areas in order to prevent the blade tip from failing. The technology used here was laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) metal 3D printing, and this new design can help cool critical blade areas more effectively, which can prevent material loss resulting from burn-off.

Applying AM to existing components, called Hybrid L-PBF Repair or HybridTech, is still a newer area that’s being explored, and is being developed as part of a European Regional Development Fund research project. Turbine blades that been operating at high temperature have different, individual shapes, which makes it difficult to complete L-PBF repair. So by pairing 3D scanning and a new algorithm, Siemens Energy developed a new CAD-CAM digital repair chain, which adapts the shape of 3D printed tip automatically so it’s a perfect match to the blade. The first sets of blades have already been completed, and the team is working to convert the standard repair procedures to add the new process, so it can be applied to other components in the future.

Omegasonics Updates Ultrasonic 3D Print Cleaning Technology 

California-based Omegasonics has released its updated ultrasonic cavitation equipment for cleaning 3D printed parts, which can help lead to faster, more precise 3D printing. Once certain technical parts have been removed from the print bed, they normally need precise cleaning and preparation, and the manual, labor-intensive process of using heated circulation washers to do could take up to 24 hours, depending on part size. But with Omegasonics’ updated ultrasonic technology, cleaning time can be majorly reduced. The process removes support structures from materials such as Nylon 12, Polycarbonate, PCABS, and ABS, and keeps the part quality high while bringing labor costs down.

“It used to take a full day to manually remove support material from some 3D parts. Now we just put the parts into the ultrasonic cleaner and do something else while they’re being cleaned. After three hours, we have nice, clean parts,” Armen Boyajyan, Product Finishing Manager, of Stratasys Direct Manufacturing, said about working with Omegasonics.

This new technology is part of the company’s broader 2021 plan to support its clients, and it also plans to launch several new products, including a thermal dyeing station for 3D printed thermoplastic products and one for removing soluble supports.

Bugatti Bolide’s Lightweight 3D Printed Components

The Bugatti Bolide hypercar weighs in at just 1,240 kg, with a powerful 8 liter, quad-turbocharged W16 engine, and has a nearly unheard of power-to-weight ratio of 0.67 kg per horsepower, mainly thanks to the many lightweight metal 3D printed components it sports. The automaker has long used the technology to make components for its race cars, and the Bolide, while only a working concept at the moment, is no different. Its new titanium 3D printed pushrods are hollow, and even though they only weigh 100 grams, they can handle up to 3.5 tons of force, while the wheel-mounted radial compressors, which reduce lift and cool brakes at high speeds, are made with a 0.48 mm thick 3D printed titanium central bowl. The hollow front wing mounted bracket was also 3D printed using titanium, and the huge rear wing is held in place with a strong titanium 3D printed component. Last but not least, the Bolide steering column also features 3D printed hollow parts. All of these parts help the Bugatti Bolide go from zero to 60 mph in less than three seconds.

“As an experimental vehicle in the form of a racing car, the Bolide is no show car; it is an uncompromisingly road-ready extract of Bugatti’s complete technological expertise. Bugatti enthusiasts will also find these cutting-edge technologies in other vehicles in the future,” said Frank Götzke, Head of New Technologies at Bugatti.

“It is Bolide’s many technological highlights that make it so special. This is what we are continuing to develop and work on because Bugatti has set itself apart with its impressive innovations for over 100 years – and will continue to do so in the future.”

3D Printed Parts for DIY HEPA Fan

If you’re back in the office instead of working remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic, it can be uncomfortable spending so much time around other people in close quarters with only hand sanitizer and a face mask to protect you against germs. Hackaday published an interesting DIY project for a HEPA filtering fan by Thingiverse user jshanna, which looks pretty simple to build and features some black PLA 3D printed pieces, along with a few more commonly available parts such as nuts, washers, screws, thread brass inserts, and furniture pads. It looks like a quick, easy way to clear that stale air in your office.

“The basis of this attractive and useful office must-have is a muffin fan from Amazon that has an optional variable speed controller,” the Hackaday post reads.” A long threaded rod runs up the center of the HEPA filter, so it attaches kind of like a lampshade. The fan draws up air from underneath and blows it upward through the filter and out into the room. Whenever the HEPA filter gets dirty, just take it out and wash it.”