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Formlabs Completes Large-Format SLA Ecosystem with Automated Post-Processing https://ift.tt/3Gs3uEL Double unicorn 3D printing company Formlabs is jumping on the AM post-processing bandwagon with the launch of its Form Wash L and Form Cure L today, completing its large-format SLA ecosystem with automated equipment. Earlier this year, the company partnered with Autodesk to streamline digital workflows for 3D printing, and with the addition of this new post-processing hardware, Formlabs is now focused on giving users a more streamlined workflow for large-format 3D printing so that they can enjoy more automation and ease of use for large-scale production purposes. The company’s large-format AM ecosystem was designed with users specifically in mind in order to give them a more intuitive experience while also increasing throughput, and this pair of fully automated post-processing systems is the final feather in the cap of the end-to-end solution for the Form 3L and Form 3BL printers—setting the platform up to become what Formlabs calls “the ideal 3D printing solution for cost-effective, in-house, large-scale production.”
Users should now be able to automate and streamline their large-format SLA 3D printing workflow even more with the introduction of this new post-processing equipment. The Form Wash L and Form Cure L provide pre-programmed settings that have been tuned to each of the company’s resins, which should enable consistently high-quality prints. Additionally, the systems have been validated and are compatible with the company’s entire SLA printer line and most Formlabs SLA materials, including the sterilizable, biocompatible ones made in its ISO:13485 facility. The new Form Wash L cleans the completed parts once they’ve been removed from the printer, and the new Form Cure L finishes the curing process so that the 3D printed parts are able to achieve the best possible dimensional accuracy and mechanical properties. While these systems are the final part of the company’s large-format SLA ecosystem, they can also be used for high throughput of smaller parts instead of just large ones.
According to the “Automation and Additive Manufacturing: Opportunities and Markets” report by SmarTech Analysis, 3D printing only represents about one percent of the overall manufacturing and production landscape, and adoption obstacles include difficulty in controlling quality across the supply chain. By automating necessary steps such as post-processing, which has been referred to as the AM industry’s dirty little secret, it will be easier to maintain the level of quality that’s so necessary for highly regulated industries, such as aerospace, automotive, and medical. Formlabs says that many companies outsource large-format print jobs, which can increase lead times and drive the cost up for prototypes. With access to its large-format AM ecosystem, now complete with the addition of this new post-processing equipment, users should have an easier time bringing production in-house, which can help save on both time and money, as well as boost throughput. With most units expected to ship in the first quarter of 2022, the new Form Wash L and Form Cure L are available for pre-order beginning today. Printing via 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing https://3dprint.com October 27, 2021 at 06:33AM
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Emiko https://ift.tt/2Zyy9zQ Emiko is the shop and working name of graphic designer and illustrator turned printmaker Alex Brane. Alex’s work is heavily inspired by nature and antique and vintage style art, with an added touch of magic and whimsy. She works with both hand printed and digitally produced art, typically all printed on natural fibre papers, as well as a range of textile products including tea towels, tote bags, curtains and more. A graduate in Graphic Design, prior to the pandemic Alex was working for herself laser cutting custom jewellery. She had started printmaking about a year prior with the intention of shifting her career. “Once everything closed down I knew it was time for a change! I sold everything and went back to my roots; drawing, painting, printmaking, sewing,” describes the artist. Today, Alex primarily works through the medium of linocut. Her pieces usually begin with a drawing by hand or on Procreate (or combination of both). Although always experimenting with transfer methods, currently Alex’s go-to method is tracing the image on tracing paper with graphite pencil, flipping it over, and using either a bone folder or tracing repeatedly. Once traced with a waterproof marker, ink wash or diluted acrylic paint, she begins the test printing process and touches up any details in the carving. Striving to create art that evokes happiness and creativity, and still fairly new to printmaking, Alex hopes to continue to learn and grow her artistic practice. Printing via People of Print https://ift.tt/2DhgcW7 October 27, 2021 at 05:06AM Expansion Strategy: 3D Printing Digital Imaging Company In-Vision is Now a Stock Corporation10/26/2021
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Expansion Strategy: 3D Printing Digital Imaging Company In-Vision is Now a Stock Corporation https://ift.tt/3GyUv55 Laying the groundwork for further expansion, Austrian optics specialist In-Vision Digital Imaging Optics GmbH has converted into a stock corporation and now operates under the new name In-Vision Technologies AG. The shift will allow the private business to raise money through the sale of stock to finance its portfolio of UV light projectors for industrial 3D printers and light engine systems for its broadening customer base. In recent months, interest in digital imaging technologies has increased, and beginning in 2022, In-Vision will be supplying to customers in five continents, says CEO Hans Florian Zangerl.
The high-tech company based in Guntramsdorf near Vienna, and Boston, Massachusetts in the US, develops and manufactures high-precision optical systems. Its digital light processing (DLP) UV projectors are primarily used for additive manufacturing (AM), bioprinting, 3D metrology, and lithography applications. Over the last year, In-Vision has expanded its portfolio with the release of the powerful Helios light engine for DLP 3D printing and a 4K UV LED light engine for 3D printing it calls Phoenix. Helios and Phoenix join the company’s line of light engines, including Twowave, a UV projector for different wavelengths; Mercury, designed for 3D metrology, scanning, and mapping applications; Ikarus II, which uses blue wavelength illumination for 3D printing applications; and Firebird, a high-intensity light engine for industrial applications. Light engines based on DLP technology are essential to structured light applications and have become an integral part of many industries. For example, in DLP-based resin printers, a liquid photopolymer is selectively cured by structured light through vat photopolymerization. For this method of stereolithography, a high-precision UV projector from In-Vision can be used. The products printed with the help of In-Vision’s optical engine projectors span from spare parts in industrial applications to pre-forms for jewelry production, everyday household articles, and tissue printing for biomedical applications. According to the business, “this technology is a game-changer for how we think of supply chain today,” as it “literally takes seconds from initial design to a tangible product in your hands.” As part of its growth strategy, In-Vision hired a new management team in January 2021, with Florian Zangerl at the helm. The team will continue growing the market footprint in 3D printing, as well as other industrial applications. At the time, Zangerl said the business would grow further in terms of “volumes, geographies, and areas of application,” especially since he believes the full potential of DLP technology has not yet been fully explored. Recent expansion initiatives also involved selling technology to Japanese firms, which Zangerl has described as “the biggest challenge for tech companies.” As part of a business alliance with the Japanese Correns Corporation, an importer and exporter of industrial machinery, In-Vision has already sent the first shipment of DLP-based UV light projectors for AM and bioprinting to the East Asian country. The UV light engines are expected to play an important role in accelerating the local development of DLP technology applications. Under its new status as a stock corporation, In-Vision will remain wholly owned by the Cudos Group, a globally active, technology-oriented private equity fund based in Vienna that invests in mid-market buyouts, restructurings, and growth equity deals in German-speaking countries and Central and Eastern Europe. Now that it has greater flexibility to shape further growth, the business will continue to establish its new segment of industrial 4K projectors and help DLP-based 3D printers achieve higher throughput and quality. As for its financial standing, In-Vision generates more than two-thirds of its revenues with products that are less than two years old. To maintain this innovative capacity and technology leadership on a long-term basis, it is deeply committed to research and development, reinvesting up to 25% of its revenues in R&D initiatives. In fact, with several projects always in the works, it has amassed a large number of national and international research partners, including leading academic institutions and private businesses, which complement research teams and bring in new expertise. For example, In-Vision has partnered with the Pasteur Institute in France, King’s College London, the Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien) in Austria, and Texas Instruments in the US. In addition, In-Vision has been an approved Texas Instruments DLP design house partner for over a decade, providing the global semiconductor company with engineering and manufacturing services ranging from optics and electronics design to prototyping and serial production. A few of the ongoing R&D initiatives include ground-breaking work enabling maskless lithography applications at the sub-micron resolution, developing blue and UV laser diode illumination systems, creating hybrid DLP-R, and laser scanning light exposure for additive manufacturing, and revolutionizing data storage solutions through DLP-R technology. Printing via 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing https://3dprint.com October 26, 2021 at 08:03AM FX20 Printer & Continuous Fiber Reinforced ULTEM 9085 Increase 3D Printing in Demanding Industries10/26/2021
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FX20 Printer & Continuous Fiber Reinforced ULTEM 9085 Increase 3D Printing in Demanding Industries https://ift.tt/3BaQNdX Metal and carbon fiber 3D printing company Markforged, which officially went public via a SPAC merger this year and recently launched the cloud-based Eiger Fleet software solution, has been working to maintain its top position for 3D printed industrial end-use parts at the point of need and introduced the new production-ready FX20 3D printer this summer. The official launch of this hardware will occur at Formnext 2021 in November, and everyone in the industry will be able to see how the system, paired with Markforged’s new Continuous Fiber Reinforced ULTEM 9085 filament, can help expand the use of 3D printing in demanding industries like automotive, defense, aerospace, and oil and gas.
The FX20 was precision-designed to scale “distributed global production” and is the company’s fastest, largest, and smartest 3D printer yet. Driven by sensors for high accuracy, reliability, and quality, this new technology can work with high-temperature printing capabilities to take the company’s Digital Forge platform from industrial-strength, accessible composite fabrication to more robust production. Markforged says the system can print the new flame-retardant, high-performance thermoplastic with ULTEM 9085 filament, together with its propriety Continuous Fiber Reinforcement (CFR) technology, in order to achieve heat-resistant, strong, high-performance parts; this then expands the company’s market for faster, larger, stronger, heat-resistant parts for tough industries. By pairing Continuous Fiber Reinforcement with ULTEM 9085 and adding the new FX20 to the Digital Forge platform, manufacturers should be able to print composite parts—with just the push of a button—at the point-of-need, which helps beef up operations and replace weaker parts of the supply chain by creating accurate, high-strength parts for more end-use applications. Quote request Are you looking to buy a 3D printer or 3D scanner? We're here to help. Get free expert advice and quotes from trusted suppliers in your area. Powered by Aniwaa Markforged says that its FX20 3D printer can produce parts up to eight times faster than the default settings on its other composite systems and is also able to print parts that are almost five times larger than what its next largest printer, the X7, is capable of fabricating, at 525 x 400 x 400 mm in size. Also featuring a heated build chamber that can maintain temperatures up to 200°C, it sounds like the FX20 really is “a beast of a machine,” just like Terem said when the system was first introduced this summer. If you’re planning on going to Germany for Formnext 2021, November 16-19, you can see the new FX20 3D printer in-person at the Markforged booth D01 in Hall 12. The printer, and ULTEM 9085 filament, are expected to start shipping worldwide in the first part of 2022. Printing via 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing https://3dprint.com October 26, 2021 at 07:33AM NASAs Deep Space Food Challenge: 3D Printed Steaks Powders & Artificial Soil Among Phase I Winners10/26/2021
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NASA’s Deep Space Food Challenge: 3D Printed Steaks, Powders & Artificial Soil Among Phase I Winners https://ift.tt/3vLlOnr As NASA prepares to launch lunar missions sometime during the second half of the decade, building the roadblocks for a sustainable food system ready to support off-Earth exploration is crucial. Although early Moon missions will begin by using prepackaged food systems like those employed by the International Space Station (ISS) today, extending mission duration will require reducing resupply dependency on Earth. That is why NASA is focusing efforts on finding technologies to furnish crew members with a viable food system. One of those initiatives is the Deep Space Food Challenge, an innovative competition to create novel and game-changing technologies to feed astronauts during long-duration space missions. On October 20, 2021, NASA announced that it had selected 18 Phase I winning teams to receive individual $25,000 awards and recognized ten international submissions at this year’s competition, hosted in partnership with the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). Some of the most ground-breaking ideas include 3D printed artificial soil, meat, and biopods for growing vegetables.
In coordination with the CSA, NASA launched the competition in January 2021. For the first phase, they asked innovators to design food production technologies or systems requiring minimal resources, producing insignificant waste, and maximizing safe, nutritious, and palatable food outputs for long-duration space missions that could benefit people on Earth. Specifically, the challenge asked that the system fill food gaps for a three-year round-trip mission for a crew of four with no resupply. Several winning designs used ingredients to create ready-to-eat foods such as bread and dehydrated powders that could be processed into more complex food products. We found at least eight projects that leveraged 3D printing technologies in a broad range of food-related categories. Here they are: Mission: Space Food (California)Mission: Space Food is a consortium of space, food, and technology experts creating an integrative approach to human nutrition in space. Powered by food tech startup Aleph Farm’s technology platform and culinary innovation company Astreas’ engineering expertise, the team developed a closed-loop system to cultivate and cook delicious and nutritious steaks for astronauts on their space missions. This method would allow a crew to produce meat with almost 1,000 times fewer inputs than pasture-based cattle farming by making meat from pluripotent stem cells using cell cryo-preservation and bioreactors. Additionally, the system can be adapted to grow other meats such as pork or lamb, further expanding the choice of proposed foods. Aleph Farms recently made headlines after announcing that Leonardo DiCaprio was one of its backers. As one of the first companies to dive into the niche industry of alternative meats back in 2017, the Israeli business is a pioneer at growing steaks directly from the cells of cows. In 2018 it revealed the world’s first cell-cultured thin-cut steak and a year later successfully produced meat aboard the ISS using a bioprinter by Russian startup 3D Bioprinting Solution. BeeHex (Ohio)NASA spin-off company BeeHex, a designer and manufacturer of 3D food printer equipment, has designed a Universal Food Fabricator (UFF). The multifunctional system can dehydrate plants and cultured meats into powder form foods, store them in hermetically sealed cartridges to elongate shelf life (five+ years), and fabricate food using stored food in cartridges when needed. The unique project emphasizes maximizing safe, nutritious foods requiring minimal inputs, providing astronauts with an adaptive tool for their essential needs. Since it emerged in 2017, BeeHex has been leveraging 3D printing, robotics, artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning to automate personalized nutrition. The startup has even developed a system to produce customized nutrition bars funded by the US Army and is changing how food is made by re-thinking food preparation and dispensing with its patent-pending 3D food printing and robotics systems. Interstellar Labs (California)Focused on creating advanced environmentally-controlled greenhouses, called BioPods, designed to grow fruits, vegetables, flowers, and plants anywhere, space startup Interstellar Lab has been selected by NASA as one of the challenge winners thanks to its novel modular bioregenerative system. Dubbed Nucleus, the space technology is expected to produce fresh microgreens, vegetables, mushrooms, and insects to provide micronutrients for long-term space missions. It combines several autonomous phytotrons (enclosed research greenhouses) to create a self-sustaining food production system that minimizes water, air, and nutrient inputs. Interstellar Lab is known to use 3D printing technologies to manufacture the membranes and material systems of its BioPods. The company also aims to 3D print its Mars simulators, called Experimental Bioregenerative Station (EBios), designed as the first closed-loop, environment-controlled villages on Earth. With a dream team of 15 former SpaceX, Disney, Airbus, and Thales employees, Interstellar Lab has its sights set on scaling the production of BioPods through AM to meet the growing demand for food on Earth and in orbit. Quote request Are you looking to buy a 3D printer or 3D scanner? We're here to help. Get free expert advice and quotes from trusted suppliers in your area. Powered by Aniwaa Space Lab Cafe (Colorado)Space Lab Café, a novel crop production system from Space Lab Technologies, is a compact vertical farm that continuously produces a variety of nutritious produce with minimal water, power, waste, or processing time. Best of all, it operates with or without gravity in a Lunar, Martian, or spacecraft habitat while providing farm-to-table solutions for Earth’s urban centers or remote, harsh environments. Since Space Lab has advanced 3D printing capabilities for rapid prototyping, which support numerous low and high-temperature filaments, resins for silicon oxide (SiO2) ceramics, aerospace-grade materials, and FDA-approved biocompatible materials, the company will surely leverage the technology for the Deep Space Food Challenge as well. This novel crop production system evolved from several space agriculture technologies currently in development at Space Lab through many NASA Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program contracts and grant awards. Some of the most prominent ones include μG-LilyPond, an autonomous, thin-film hydroponic vertical farm used in microgravity that supports aquatic and rooted land plants, and the MarsOasis, an innovative Martian greenhouse that incorporates an inflatable, rigidizable dome, smart hybrid lighting, and a novel means of gathering carbon dioxide from the Martian atmosphere. BigRedBites (New York)This team from Cornell University’s College of Engineering has focused on creating a symbiotic system of cyanobacteria (also called blue-green algae), yeast, mushrooms, and plants, with a processing unit to yield fresh and nutritious produce that will meet 15% of the daily caloric requirements of astronauts. For the project, the team members relied on innovations like 3D printed artificial soil and symbiotic co-dependence to maximize each subsystem’s waste and minimal external inputs. KEETA (Thailand)KEETA, a team of Thai aerospace engineers, proposed a 3D printed food system that utilizes output from an interdependent micro-ecosystem to create varieties of nutrient-rich food. The ecosystem is composed of producers, insects, and decomposers, whereby the insects will be high in protein, vitamins, and minerals while also providing a wide variety of flavors. According to a social media post by Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the KEETA team “has used the strengths of Thai food culture such as the benefits of insects mixed with 3D printing technology to create a food production system that looks and tastes good.” ALSEC (Colombia)As one of the ten winners in the competition’s international category, ALSEC Alimentos Secos proposes a food production system that incorporates four exponential technologies: microencapsulation, nanotechnology, AI, and 3D printing to formulate and develop natural, organic, and highly nutritious powdered foods. ALSEC is one of Colombia’s most innovative food firms and is spearheading the local production and development of powdered ingredients and finished products with a high nutritional value by combining micro-nanoencapsulation and spray drying technologies. Some of its most original products include powdered honey, egg substitutes, and fruits, like Acai. Electric Cow (Germany)Very little is known about this particular team and project, except that it will convert carbon dioxide and waste streams straight into food with the help of food-grade micro-organisms and 3D printing. A show featuring the Deep Space Challenge competition will air on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website on November 9, 2021, at 11 AM Eastern time. Audiences will learn more about the winning solutions and the upcoming Phase II of the competition. Special guests during the show will include celebrity chef Martha Stewart and retired NASA astronaut Scott Kelly, who will announce the winners of two awards honoring international teams that demonstrated exceptional innovation. Printing via 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing https://3dprint.com October 26, 2021 at 07:03AM
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MakerBot Simplifies ABS 3D Printing with RapidRinse & ABS-R Materials https://ift.tt/3mmMAzL After working to make its METHOD and METHOD X 3D printers safer with the launch of its smart HEPA filtration system, Stratasys subsidiary MakerBot is now focused on making its ABS 3D printing workflow simpler with the new RapidRinse and ABS-R materials, which essentially streamline the steps in the workflow for more efficient industrial 3D printing. By adding these two new materials, the company is helping its ever-expanding portfolio of advanced engineering-grade materials grow even stronger.
With a 6-in-1 modular extruder platform and “unique environmental control features,” MakerBot’s METHOD printers were designed for non-stop printing with over 15 patented Stratasys technologies and multiple material groups, focused on creating complex assemblies, prototypes, and manufacturing aids with improved dimensional accuracy and strength. These new materials were developed specifically for high-performance, industrial applications on the MakerBot METHOD X and METHOD X Carbon Fiber 3D printers, in order to help users save on additional costs and equipment. According to MakerBot, its patent-pending, fast-dissolving support material RapidRinse is able to dissolve much more quickly than other high-temperature soluble supports in just warm tap water, without the need for any caustic chemicals. The material’s water soluble properties are said to make RapidRinse a safer, easier support material, with little residue left behind, and because solvents aren’t necessary, engineers won’t need to waste money buying additional post-processing equipment. Quote request Are you looking to buy a 3D printer or 3D scanner? We're here to help. Get free expert advice and quotes from trusted suppliers in your area. Powered by Aniwaa Because of its tendency to crack, curl, shrink, or warp if the absolute correct conditions aren’t met, ABS, while highly in-demand, is a difficult material to use with desktop 3D printers. That’s why MakerBot developed its new ABS-R formulation, optimized to work with the new RapidRinse in order to offer users an excellent experience and print quality. According to the company, ABS-R enables better performance and reliability for repeatable 3D printed ABS parts, tools, and prototypes. The METHOD X has a heated chamber with patented VECT (Variable Environmental Controlled Temperature) 110 Technology, which, when combined with its proprietary RapidRinse supports, is said to make printing ABS parts as easy as printing with PLA, but with much better material properties. In addition, the company says that by printing parts on the METHOD X with its RapidRinse, engineers can achieve dimensionally accurate ABS parts of ±0.2mm. MakerBot expects to start shipping its new RapidRinse and ABS-R materials in December of 2021. Printing via 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing https://3dprint.com October 26, 2021 at 06:45AM
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Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair https://ift.tt/3biojUN Now in its sixth year, and back for their first IRL fair since 2019, Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair offers an incredible line-up of nearly 1000 artworks, from over 500 artists, famous names and specialist galleries across a range of styles and techniques. Visitors will have the opportunity to collect original prints from the most exciting artists working today at accessible price points, as well as take part in an interactive programme of talks, seminars, workshops and more from leading Curators, Collectors & Creatives. The Fair takes place 11 – 14 November 2021 at the newly refurbished Fireworks Factory; an architectural gem at the heart of London’s historic Royal Arsenal heritage site. This year, they will also be online from 11-28 November, reaching audiences across the UK and internationally. Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair is the largest event of its kind in the world, and is your opportunity to #FindArtThatFits. From established artisans to emerging graduates, artists from their International Open Call will join an exciting line-up of well-known names and specialist galleries. For 2021, this expands to include Zuleika Gallery, Long & Ryle, and Oliver Projects who will join many long-standing partners such as Jealous Gallery and Atelier Rose & Gray. “Our mission as a Fair is to showcase the very best in international contemporary print; to push the boundaries of the medium, demonstrating the versatility and ambition of what print can achieve. We want to shake off and challenge preconceptions of what print is, and for people to discover the rich heritage and new interpretations, the intricate and varied techniques, a world-wide network of incredible draughts-people, and situate printmaking within wider contemporary art conversation. For aspirational collectors, print is a brilliant and savvy way to establish an art collection with the nature of editioning often making owning an original piece of art more affordable. It is a great way to learn about different artistic processes and how they can be adapted and interpreted to inform other fine-art practises. It can be an exciting way to experiment with, or develop your own tastes or collection narrative, while encountering a broad and diverse community or artists. Original print can also be a more accessible way of bringing famous names into your collection without paying the price tag of their large paintings or sculptural works.” Lizzie Glendinning, WCPF Curator. As well as discovering the best printmakers today, visitors can take part in an interactive programme of talks, seminars, and workshops from artists and industry experts. Relax in their Mirabeau wine bar, or grab something for all the family in the new Woolwich Works cafe. There’ll also be a live DJ set and printing press demonstrations from leading artists and studios to enjoy. One of the top highlights of their interactive programme is their CAMPARI New Collectors’ Evening. New for 2021 with help from their friends at Campari, this complimentary cocktail-fuelled affair is specially tailored to those who love art, but hate the pretensions surrounding it. Visitors will have the opportunity to hear hot tips from leading experts about what, when, and how to buy art with the Own Art panel. There’ll also be a live DJ, have-a-go print demos, drop in (optional!) speed-dating sessions, and of course hundreds of artworks from today’s best artist-printmakers. You can purchase tickets for this event on the 12th November here. Other must sees include the specially curated Living With Art section which will offer new approaches to art and the interior, and free drop-in children’s workshops as part of the Young London Print Prize initiative. Conrad Shawcross, David Shrigley, and Hormazd Narielwalla, amongst other big names, will all be releasing new launches at the event. Even better, thanks to generous support from their friends at Jealous gallery, everyone who purchases a print at the fair will be entered into a prize draw for Shrigley’s new Edition. “As a legacy, we would hope to be recognised in supporting thousands of independent artists through our unique model of 50% Gallery booths and 50% curated hang – many artists, if not represented by a gallery might not have the opportunity to show within a large-scale art fair, but our open call means many international independent artists can exhibit alongside big names and specialist galleries as equals. Our selection panel made up of industry experts means you can’t buy bad – and we hope this will echo through, and we will be the go-to place for the best in contemporary print.” Lizzie Glendinning, WCPF Curator. WCPF21 takes place 11 – 14 November 2021, 12:00 – 18:00. For more information and to purchase tickets, head to www.woolwichprintfair.com. Printing via People of Print https://ift.tt/2DhgcW7 October 26, 2021 at 05:43AM
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First Lunar E-Bike Concept Has 3D Printed “Balloon” Wheels https://ift.tt/3vG3D2u German moto think tank Hookie has created the first Moon motorcycle concept, hoping NASA will take notice. Imagined for exploring the moon’s surface, the futuristic motorcycle dubbed Tardigrade has a speed limit of 15 kilometers per hour (9 mph), a battery range of almost 110 kilometers (68 miles), and several 3D printed components, including changeable airless tires that would ultimately allow space crews to tackle any obstacle on its missions. Seeking to draw the attention of the US space agency, Hookie even designed a space motorcycle helmet and suit made of high-tech materials like Kevlar and Nomex, with the NASA logo, and has described the vehicle as the “NASA bike” throughout its design and manufacturing process. Roving vehicles proved invaluable during the Apollo missions from 1968 to 1972, enabling astronauts to complete almost 20 trips across the moon’s surface. Today, NASA’s rovers have evolved, emerging as one of the most futuristic exploration systems ever created. Furthermore, the space agency is already testing concepts for a new generation of space vehicles to help robots and astronauts explore more than ever before. In the spirit of former pioneering space rovers, Hookie has focused its efforts on developing a drivable prototype from the fictional concept of a space bike. Nine months after announcing the thought experiment, Hookie’s Tardigrade was finally revealed, and the company says NASA is “speechless.” The result is an invisible frame made of ten millimeter-thin, laser-cut aluminum and a robust exoskeleton made of tubing wrapped around it. The spacious single-sided swing arms and the axles are also made of ultra-light metal, while the textile Kevlar cover with aluminum coating, which protects the sensitive drive in space from cold, radiation, or impacts, comes from NASA supplier DuPont. Aside from its attractive minimalistic lines, Tardigrade has been fitted with 3D printed mudguards, panels, and rim inlays made from UV-resistant thermoplastics and small parts sintered from nylon using laser beams. However, the biggest challenge was the construction of two highly innovative, ultra-light “balloon wheels” just under 24 inches in diameter, with a width of 7 inches that can carry an overall weight of roughly 140 kilograms with ease. Since Hookie could not find a provider to develop the tires according to its demanding specifications, the team saw it as an opportunity for even greater innovation.
Hookie took the cutting edge approach to 3D printing 12 polyurethane tread modules for each wheel, which could be directly secured to the rims. This not only met the needs for the Tardigrade, but it also enabled a new tire system that allows damaged parts of the tire to be replaced—instead of the whole tire itself—adding yet another layer of sustainability to the concept. The Tardigrade—named after microscopic animals that survive in outer space even under the most adverse conditions—results from collaboration, technology, and sustainability. The moto design experts teamed up with nine partnering businesses, including German industrial binder jetting materials developer Additive Elements and base oil product manufacturer Puraglobe, to create, from scratch, an electric space vehicle never seen before. Working with Additive Elements, Hookie managed to make the changeable airless tire pieces using a combination of ultra-lightweight binder jetting materials. This is one of the startup’s specialties and has been leveraged by 3D printing manufacturers like voxeljet in recent years. Although the exact material used has not yet been disclosed, Additive Elements is working on the final phase of a new material called AE21 with great mechanical properties that could have been applied to the lunar e-bike. The original goal was to make the Tardigrade as realistic as possible, with a modular design that could serve future interstellar projects. With a weight (134 kilos) similar to that of some of the lightest motorbikes, this vanguard design has a lot of thought processes behind it and could be a great addition to NASA and eventually help astronauts venture further from Lunar modules than ever before. Inspired by the digital design of Russian artist Andrey Fabishevsky’s lunar concept bike, the Tardigrade is finally a technical reality, and will debut at the Petersen Automotive Petersen Museum in Los Angeles as part of the ADV Overland exhibition running from July 3, 2021, through March 27, 2022. With the world premiere of its off-Earth prototype, Hookie wants to prove that “even fantastic ideas can mature into a real, tangible object. All it takes is a vision and curiosity about the unknown.” Printing via 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing https://3dprint.com October 25, 2021 at 08:03AM
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3DPOD Episode 82: Mass Customization Theory and Practice with Dr. Frank T. Piller, RWTH Aachen University https://ift.tt/3jwhPXe Frank Piller is one of the leading voices in mass customisation. He’s a Professor at RWTH Aachen University and has written and done a lot of research into mass customisation.... The post... View the entire article via our website. Printing via 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing https://3dprint.com October 25, 2021 at 07:33AM
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Roboze to Begin 3D Printing Circular Economy Program Starting Next Year https://ift.tt/3EjHxpT Starting in January 2022, Roboze, the Italian-American manufacturer of 3D printers, polymers for additive manufacturing, and composite parts, is starting a circular economy program for its customers. The program will allow users of Roboze products to recycle waste material created in the 3D printing process, as well as parts that have reached the end of their life cycle, by returning the material directly to the company. Participants in the program will also be able to purchase recycled materials at a lower cost.
Just as it displayed with a subscription plan rollout at the beginning of this year and distributed manufacturing service that it began about a year ago, Roboze is constantly making cutting-edge moves related to decentralizing the supply chain. This has always been an important issue environmentally, but more recently, it has become perhaps the paramount economic issue obsessed over in political discourse. Roboze is ahead of the curve in a way that will not only benefit the company itself, but could also very well set the tone for the industry as a whole. What Roboze seems to realize, which other similarly significant companies in 3D printing have been slower to pick up on, is that the advantage of 3D printing lies not only in its potential to replace certain manufacturing processes, but also in its potential to be the fulcrum for the creation of entire alternative supply chains. No matter what happens in the short term future, the long term issues related to supply chain disruptions are going to make what has been going on these past couple of years seem quaint. In this sense, American overconsumption and widespread employment gaps—while certainly serious problems that need to be addressed—are more secondary issues. Rather, the primary issue is that the economy in its current state only “knows” how to overproduce. An Iraq War veteran I knew once told me that in the US military, they have a saying: “Whether it’s a good thing or a bad thing, the military only knows how to do way too much of it.” Considering our economy as a whole essentially takes its cues from the US military, this sheds a lot of light on the current supply chain crisis we’ve all become engulfed in. The way the matter is conceptualized in the field of ecological economics is also quite helpful. From a microeconomic perspective, individual businesses and institutions have mechanisms in place to indicate when they’ve spent too much in one area, or produced too much in another. At the macroeconomic level, such mechanisms still don’t really exist. If enough companies take the lead from precedents like the one Roboze is setting, however, we could eventually reshape the general economy to work more rationally. And, if we don’t want to sink under the weight of all our excess container ships, we’re going to have to. Printing via 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing https://3dprint.com October 25, 2021 at 07:03AM |
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