The Time To Think About The 3-D Printed Future Is Now

From the Harvard Business Review:
https://hbr.org/2015/05/the-time-to-think-about-the-3d-printed-future-is-now

3-D printing, or additive manufacturing, is likely to revolutionize business in the next several years. Often dismissed in the popular mindset as a tool for home-based “makers” of toys and trinkets, the technology is gaining momentum in large-scale industry. Already it has moved well beyond prototyping and, as I explain in a new HBR article, it will increasingly be used to produce high-volume parts and products in several industries.

Since I prepared that article, new developments have only strengthened the case for a 3-D future – and heightened the urgency for management teams to adjust their strategies. Impressive next-generation technologies are overcoming the last generation’s drawbacks while adding new capabilities. This progress will speed up adoption and propel more experimentation and practical application. What was a niche technique is morphing into a broad-based movement driven by multiple technologies and many kinds of companies.

Many of the new developments have to do with broadening the science underpinning additive manufacturing. Early generations drew from physics and engineering. The new technologies are expanding the playbook into chemistry. Continuous light interface production, or CLIP, uses chemical reactions to better control the transformation of liquids into solids. Instead of slowly putting down a layer of material and then curing it, CLIP creates a monolithic product in what is essentially a continuous process. CLIP greatly speeds up production and boosts the material strength of the final product by cutting down on the problems created by layers. The inventors, who publicly announced this new approach in March, say they were inspired by the film “Terminator 2”  – specifically the scene where a robot reshapes itself after having melted into a puddle.

Another promising development is multi-jet fusion. This technology starts with a plastic or metal powder, but instead of solidifying the powder with a laser, it uses chemicals sprayed from 30,000 tiny nozzles at a rate of 350 million dots per second. These chemicals speed the shaping and hardening of the powder by a UV lamp. But importantly, in the future, the chemicals can also change the powdered material’s properties – adding color, elasticity, bacteria-resistance, hardness, and texture to the final product. And because the high-tech nozzles spray so quickly and precisely, the curing takes only a tenth of the time of existing 3D processes. Typical of next generation advances, it integrates a number of techniques that had been used separately.

Even more intriguing, though probably still years away, is what MIT calls 4-D printing, where the fourth dimension is time. These are objects embedded with “memory materials” that react to light or heat to form new shapes after delivery to the consumer. Imagine a piece of furniture that arrives flat, but then reshapes itself into a chair when exposed to sunlight.

And these are just the general-purpose technologies. Also emerging is xerographic micro-assembly, which promises to greatly improve computer chip manufacture by implanting components of chips with electrical charges and putting them in a highly conductive fluid. Electrical fields can then assemble these “chiplets” into full chips with greater capabilities and fewer defects than conventional chip production. Likewise in bio-printing, researchers are adding magnetic nanoparticles to living cells and then using magnetic fields to assemble the cells into artificial tumors and functioning tissues.

Big players are involved now in pushing additive manufacturing to the next level. Early phases of 3D printing involved startup companies with investments in the low seven digits. Stratasys and 3D Systems grew into industry leaders with approximately $1 billion in revenues each. Now we’re seeing much bigger stakes. Hewlett-Packard developed multi-jet fusion, leveraging its expertise in printer head technology to leapfrog the industry. CLIP comes from a startup, Carbon3D, but one with $40 million in funding from a VC group led by mainstay Sequoia Capital. MIT is investing heavily in 4-D printing. Xerox, which invented xerographic micro-assembly, had been testing the waters with an investment in startup 3D Systems. Once it saw the potential, it launched a major internal program leveraging many facets of its electronics expertise as well.

These organizations are putting their reputations as well as major capital investments on the line, and have a lot to lose if these technologies turn out to be vaporware. Carbon3D promises to release its first commercial printer by December of this year, while HP has a target date of January 2016.

The market is taking these claims seriously, as well. Both 3D Systems and Stratasys have seen their stock prices slide in recent months, in part because the market is worried about the next generation of technologies and the resources that giants like HP are putting behind them. Realizing they can’t spend like the giants, the early leaders have started shifting their R&D away from hardware and moving toward software, services, and consulting. The 3D printing ecosystem is still very much in flux.

In the midst of all this change, new strategies are required. Even if some of these new technologies fail to pan out, there’s so much activity going on, so much money and creativity now being applied, that we can safely expect the pace of additive manufacturing to pick up. That has two major implications for strategists. One is that timelines based on earlier generations of additive manufacturing may be too conservative. If the new technologies dramatically boost the speed and strength of 3D printing, then adoption rates will jump. The cost advantage of conventional “subtractive” manufacturing will disappear sooner than expected. The new capabilities to customize products will also be highly attractive. Digital platforms that coordinate 3D printing ecosystems will emerge sooner. Instead of moving incrementally to adopt 3D techniques into their organization, companies may need to pick up the pace.

Second, strategists will have to consider not only which technology to run with, but also whether to collaborate with these next generation pioneers. By partnering with, say, HP or Carbon3D, companies stand to gain earlier access. But they may also increase the risk if their chosen technology fails to meet its promise on schedule. Working with current 3D technologies, such as extrusion-, stereolithographic- and sintering-based methods has better odds but a smaller payoff. Such decisions could lead to internal strife between converts to each camp.  Companies could invest in both, but then they face the challenge of timing the switch over to the next generation, and the complexity of transitioning people and the organization from one to another, as well as the specter of writing off investments before they have been recaptured.

All of this is on top of the new level of complexity that 3D printing has brought to manufacturing generally.  What’s the proper mix of traditional “subtractive” methods with the new additive approaches. How much risk should a firm take on now, versus what’s the risk if you wait? And all of this raises the possibility of reshoring some operations, affecting established relationships with host governments and local unions.

Strategists, fasten your seat belts for a fun but bumpy ride.  Here’s where you show what you’re made of.

The Future Of 3D Metal Printing

In today's world, 3D printing is still expensive because it consumes a lot of energy, and energy costs money. But solar energy is taking off in a big way, as are several other renewable sources of energy, all of which tend to be inexpensive and more dependable. When we put the future of 3D printing and the future of solar energy side by side, we see their close relation. As the price of energy falls, 3D printing will become much cheaper, and manufacturers all over the world will pounce on the technology.

Because China is the manufacturing capital of the world, their model is therefore in danger. 3D printing has the potential to equalize the playing field. Businesses in America, for instance, will find more buyers here at home than ever before if they begin to use 3D printers to launch new products and services.

And some already have.

Companies like 3DX have already realized the potential of 3D metal printing, and offer additive manufacturing services. Design and development times are reduced, and the speed of production is multiplied as a result.

In the future, it's likely businesses will allow consumers to purchase downloadable blueprints in order to 3D print products from home. This will eliminate many of a business's production and delivery costs, significantly increasing profits. Because the blueprints could be sold at a reduced cost, the wealth gap will likely begin to close in the coming decades.

It will also be easy to modify and customize these products, or the downloadable blueprints on which they are based. This will lead to a new era of innovation and efficiency for businesses and consumers.

Services like these will eventually slash a business's costs. Prototyping is a time-consuming, costly phase, but 3D metal printing will allow companies to produce several products at once, reducing the period of trial and error. Additive manufacturing also tends to create stronger materials than alternatives, so the products will be more durable. Many companies like 3DX also know that this type of printing is more environmentally friendly.

Of course, manufacturers won't be the only ones that profit. 3D printing will one day be universally used in medicine to provide us with new tissues and organs when our old ones fail. It will be used to print pharmaceuticals when we're sick. We're even learning how to 3D print food. This technology has the potential to influence every aspect of the world in which we live, revolutionizing the way we conduct business. The future is looking bright!

3D Metal Printing Is the Future

With the introduction of affordable 3D printers, individuals and businesses now have the ability to produce one-off objects and quickly fabricate prototypes like never before. Despite the great technological advances that have been made in the last few years, there are still some issues that need to be overcome, especially with lower-cost models. Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and polylactic acid (PLA) are currently the dominant material choices for consumer-oriented devices, but the characteristics of these plastics limit what can be created. Their relatively low melting points preclude high-temperature use, and their mechanical traits leave much to be desired in demanding environments requiring high strength and wear resistance.

Though 3D printers using metal already exist, their stratospheric price limits their use to larger enterprises and puts them out of reach of the average person. Engineering metals are also incompatible with fused deposition modeling, by far the cheapest and most popular method of printing. There are two primary technologies that can use metal: selective laser sintering (SLS) and selective laser melting (SLM). SLS uses a precisely-controlled high-intensity laser to sinter extremely small areas of a powdered feed based on a CAD file, while SLM is similar but fully melts its target instead of sintering it. Both have the capability to be used with a variety of metals, but SLS is better for materials like tungsten with extremely high melting points.

As devices using laser-based processes become simpler to manufacture, their adoption will increase rapidly among all user types. Compared to common machining methods, they offer the ability to precisely create complex and durable objects economically and without human intervention. They also enable the easy processing of metals which are difficult to shape using conventional CNC techniques, such as Inconel and other superalloys that are very prone to work hardening. Additionally, 3D printing has the potential to be less wasteful than lathing and milling, as 3D printing is an additive process as opposed to a subtractive one that removes material from a larger workpiece.

Thermoplastic-based 3D printers will almost certainly continue to explode in popularity for general purposes, but printers using metal will complement them for objects requiring superior mechanical and thermal properties. As the cost of purchasing and maintaining SLS and SLM printers goes down, they may even entirely replace traditional manufacturing techniques in a wide array of applications.

The Different Types 3D Printing

3D printing is today’s great innovation that makes a huge difference in the world of mnaufacturing and printing. Also known as the additive manufacturing in which things are created in many thin layers. The process involved here is the creation of three dimensional objects based on a digital object. That said, thin layers are actually the additive material. Ferndale 3d printing is contrary to the conventional method of printing which utilizes subtractive processes such as cutting, carving and drilling.

3D printing is widely used for specific areas such as jewellery making, footwear manufacturing, industrial designing, engineering, automotive, aerospace, architecture, education, medical industry and even information systems. There is also the rising use of 3D printing in other fields because of its great uses and advantages. The first 3D printer was actually based on stereolithography? This was actually invented in 1984 by Charles Hull in which these devices are positioned on a platform that is perforated. This stereolithographic 3D printer is situated below the vat of liquid photopolymer in which a UV laser beam will then trace the desired outline for the initial slicing process on the liquid surface which will result to the hardening of the photopolymer. The platform that is perforated is slightly lowered and then the second slicing process follows and again the photopolymer is hardened by the laser, which is repeatedly done until the desired object is completely and successfully printed out. 

Finally, the object can be removed from the vat photopolymer and then any excess liquid is drained and then the object is cured. These type of 3D printers are considered the most accurate types of printing devices that the output can be built at a thickness of only 0.063mm. There is also another 3D printing technology type that uses vat polymerization which is the selective process of hardening a tank of liquid known as DLP projection. As the name suggests, a projector is utilized to solidify the layers of the desired object to be printed one at a time at each cross-section. Another technique is the material jetting or popularly known as polyjet matrix in which this 3D printing technology uses a light source to harden the liquid photopolymer.

Looking for a trusted 3d printing company? 3DX Printing Industries is the one to turn to.
With their CAD/CAM prototyping they utilize efficient CNC machining along with high speed milling and large capacity vertical machining.

Things to Know in 3d Manufacturing in Ferndale WA

Are you planning to have a 3d printing model? 3d printing model has been very improved in to the point that any person can create anything they want with their own 3 dimensional printer. But the best professional 3 dimensional printing services 3d manufacturing in ferndale wa offers you the best quality of 3 dimensional printing, but the printer should be able to scan from a exquisite design to have a good quality product. However there are things that you should be reminded of before printing a 3 dimensional model.

In Architecture there is a norm that any fixtures will hang at exactly a forty five degree and above will need extra help and support from, in order to this you need to put up support, like cones or beams in order for your model to stand and these features can be easily added to your model because of your 3 dimensional machine. In making your 3 dimensional model you should be able to know the printer’s limits, although the printer now is very advanced and high tech. There are still limits into the printing machine it is important to know the limits in order for you to be reminded of what the printer can do or what it cannot do and what designs can you add or what designs that you cannot add. Such limits of a 3 dimensional printer is the distinguishing of small details of the design. You should avoid adding small details in in your 3 dimensional model because this is beyond of the printer’s limits.

Making right orientation model will minimize the stress on models with the minimal base support. You also have to Mind the gap of your 3 dimensional model, In making your 3 dimensional model minding the gap will prevent problems for the machine to work on your 3 dimensional model, it is best if you refrain using gaps in your 3 dimensional printing, If you do not take this advice the printing will usually result into a messy product.It is also advisable to use simpler designs in order for the machine to scan and print the 3 dimensional object To prevent any further problems in making your 3 dimensional figure you should get a professional help from 3d manufacturing in Ferndale WA they have the technology and the experience in doing your 3 dimensional tasking.

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