3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing |
- Golf Pro Rickie Fowler Swings a Custom 3D Printed Golf Club
- Multi-Metal 3D Printing Made Possible with Grid Logic’s Powder Deposition Tech
- 3DPOD Episode 106: Liquid Metal 3D Printing with Tali Rosman, General Manager XEROX Elem Additive
- 3D Printing Financials: Fathom Reiterates 2022 Outlook After Positive Q1 Earnings
- Phase Gets Grant to Make Microfluidic Devices
- TCT 3Sixty Brings 3D Printing to the UK this June
| Golf Pro Rickie Fowler Swings a Custom 3D Printed Golf Club Posted: 23 May 2022 07:00 AM PDT In a round up article, we looked at all of the developments in 3D printed golf clubs. On the whole, there have been a lot of initiatives and press releases, but little in progress for the average golfer. Now, we’re seeing some signs of true movement, though through a very non-average golfer: Rickie Fowler. The PGA Tour athlete showed off some of his gear in a recent article and one item in particular caught our attention. Fowler’s club is reminiscent of the Cobra's King Stingray 20, a 3D printed putter. In fact Cobra now offers at least five different 3D printed club models, selling for $349 each. They are reportedly made using HP’s metal binder jet technology by Parmatech. According to GolfWRX, Rickie didn’t like the wings on the standard Stingray club. He felt like the balance of the club was not right for him, with too much weight at the back. Cobra then customized the club for him, creating a lower weight, wingless version with the balance he likes most.
I must confess that I have no idea what this man is saying. He’s using a lot of very specific jargon that surely make sense to golf lovers. However, I do know that I love that this club was easily customized to fit his wishes perfectly. To me, that is the dream of so much sporting equipment. We can create equipment that is more comfortable, better, and more accurate with 3D printing. So far, my own thoughts on customization of golf clubs with 3D printing have been centered around taking a scan, designing grips perfect for a single individual, or looking at the biomechanics of your swing and crafting the perfect club for a player. I’ve also looked at incorporating dampening structures on the handle so you can hit more balls accurately. There’s also the possibility of putting a dampener at the head, so that the vibration can be directed to where it needs to be. I really think that these kinds of improvements will play a role in sports going forward. However, there is an application that I had not sufficiently considered. Imagine having a tailor with whom you can talk about your golf clubs—maybe like a caddy but with a 3D printer. You could explain what you like and need in ¨golf-speak¨ and that person would completely and totally understand you. They get you, your vocabulary, and what it is that you need. And, through their golf knowledge and 3D printing ability, they’re able to design the perfect club just for you. This kind of a bespoke club experience could very well play a role in the future of couture golf. The post Golf Pro Rickie Fowler Swings a Custom 3D Printed Golf Club appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing. |
| Multi-Metal 3D Printing Made Possible with Grid Logic’s Powder Deposition Tech Posted: 23 May 2022 07:00 AM PDT One of the most interesting companies tucked away at RAPID + TCT 2022 was a small Michigan startup called Grid Logic. Though the name derives from its prior activity in improving the country's electrical grid, the concept of grid logic could be easily applied to X-Y-Z axes of 3D printing. It's this grid that the startup is disrupting in a deceptively simple and ingenious way. To tackle the issue of multi-metal 3D printing (or multi-material when ceramics are added to the mix), the company has come up with a method for depositing metal powders. Printing a colorful U.S. flag at RAPID, the system feeds three or more powders onto a substrate layer by layer. While the sand being deposited at the event was just for show, the machine is capable of combining dissimilar metals and ceramics that would be difficult to blend with other techniques, including additive manufacturing (AM). Once complete, the print is simply sintered in a furnace to create a final part.  Grid Logic demonstrating its capabilities with colored sand at RAPID + TCT 2022. In this way, the technology is most like metal binder jetting: 3D printed metal powder that is sintered. Unlike binder jet, there is no binder. The metal particles just rest atop one another, with zircon as a support material, and are sintered together. There are no complex inkjet heads, no rollers or recoaters. And there are certainly no lasers. The metallurgy is the work of CEO Matthew Holcomb, a chemical engineer, whose brother, Jim Holcomb, a former engineer with General Motors, designed the robust gantry system. On display at the booth were a variety of application demonstrators, including an axial flux permanent magnet rotor, made up of a neodymium magnet and copper conductor, to power electric vehicles. There was also a three-phase stator coil that could be used as an induction motor for a variety of industrial applications. Other parts showcased the ability to combine a copper coil within a ceramic insulator.  A demo electric motor with 3D printed multi material components. While it is possible to blend dissimilar metals with directed energy deposition (DED), that technology is unable to produce the same complexity as possible with powder bed fusion (PBF). 3D printing with multiple materials is more than a little difficult to achieve with PBF, however. And, with traditional metal binder jet, there's the need for a binder and combining different metals is also complicated. The company seems to have previously worked with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and the Department of Defense (DoD), to create beryllium-replacement components for Raytheon missile systems. Now, the company is looking for next steps, including partners and customers. Grid Logic offers 3D printing services, materials development, R&D, and the development of custom systems.  Demo parts on display at the Grid Logic booth at RAPID + TCT 2022. With that in mind, there are plenty of opportunities for the firm. For instance, the recently announced AM Forward program could see Grid Logic mentor with GE, who is near full commercialization of its metal binder jet technology. The same program would give the startup access to ORNL's Manufacturing Demonstration Facility. There are also a number of grants that the company could apply for. And because it is based in Michigan, it may be able to take advantage of Project DIAMonD.
I can't imagine this business staying independent for too long. Bound metal printing is projected to produce $54 billion in parts by 2030 according to the recent "Market for Bound Metal Additive Manufacturing 2022" report from SmarTech Analysis. Given the excitement around this segment, it wouldn't be surprising if Grid Logic got scooped up by GE, Desktop Metal, or HP. The post Multi-Metal 3D Printing Made Possible with Grid Logic’s Powder Deposition Tech appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing. |
| 3DPOD Episode 106: Liquid Metal 3D Printing with Tali Rosman, General Manager XEROX Elem Additive Posted: 23 May 2022 06:00 AM PDT Tali Rosman was responsible for a diverse amount of roles worldwide, including at Stratasys and the Israeli Air Force, before landing a job at Xerox. Her task, to lead Xerox’s Elem Additive unit. The first job she has is to commercialise ElemX Xerox’s drop-by-drop metal 3D printing technology. She tells us how she’s going to do that, for what markets it is suited, and what applications she is targeting. No, this is no broad spectrum push or something targeting the usual suspects of aviation or orthopaedics; Tali is taking a tight zoom on the technology’s strengths and focusing on aluminum and MRO. It’s a fascinating look at an outlier go-to-market that could be a portend of more Xerox technologies to come. The post 3DPOD Episode 106: Liquid Metal 3D Printing with Tali Rosman, General Manager XEROX Elem Additive appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing. |
| 3D Printing Financials: Fathom Reiterates 2022 Outlook After Positive Q1 Earnings Posted: 23 May 2022 05:30 AM PDT On-demand 3D printing service provider Fathom (NYSE: FATH) delivered positive results in the first full quarter as a public company following its listing on the New York Stock Exchange on December 27, 2021. Revenue for the first quarter of 2022 totaled $40.5 million for a year-over-year increase of 32.8%, of which $2.3 million was organic and $7.7 million from acquisitions. In line with management's expectations, the year-over-year growth was driven by increased customers served primarily through revenue from new acquisitions.  Fathom rang the opening bell of the NYSE on April 19, 2022. Image courtesy of Fathom via LinkedIn. Fathom CEO Ryan Martin told investors during an earnings call on May 16, 2022, that the ongoing demand for the company's comprehensive manufacturing services combined with the secular tailwinds in the industry led to Q1 orders volume of $43.8 million, up 17% from the prior-year period. In addition, Martin pointed out that the success in expanding Fathom's market share with blue-chip customers and adding new corporate accounts contributed to revenue growth of 33% in the quarter. Since Fathom supports several advanced manufacturing technologies, its product line breakdown showed that revenue from additive manufacturing services was down 8.6% to $4.1 million, or 10.2% of total revenue for the quarter. Instead, injection molding increased 16.8% of total revenue, and CNC Machining was up 32.9% of total revenue, reflecting primarily the benefit of five acquisitions, four of which were focused on CNC machining and one centered on injection molding. What’s more, its precision sheet metal fabrication and other ancillary technologies also increased 36.2% and 3.9% of total revenue, respectively. Considering that Fathom ended the quarter with available liquidity of $40 million, company management estimates they can complete other tuck-in acquisitions during the remaining quarters of the year. To strengthen its additive capabilities, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Mark Frost said they remain on track to commercially deploy the new Selective Thermoplastic Electrophotographic Process (STEP) technology by Evolve Additive Solutions in mid-2022. Last October, the two companies entered into a first-of-its-kind commercialization partnership whereby Fathom would become the first provider of Evolve's transformative STEP technology to produce plastic parts. Frost highlighted that this advancement in AM is another example of Fathom leading the transition from prototyping into additive production as this technology dramatically reduces lead times for parts compared to traditional injection-molded tools and parts. Getting thermoplastic parts with the same quality as injection molded parts in weeks instead of months is a real game-changer for countless applications, so there is a lot of interest in this product. According to Martin, Fathom will begin to see the benefits of STEP in the second half of this year from a revenue standpoint. But the big uptick will be in 2023 as Fathom starts to ramp some of the customers from using AM in early development all the way through production.  A partnership between Fathom and Evolve Additive Solutions. Image courtesy of Fathom. Other results from this quarter include a net income of $17.8 million, which shows great promise, compared to the net loss of $0.5 million in the first quarter of 2021. Total orders also increased year over year by roughly 17% to $43.8 million as Fathom keeps focused on accelerating customer engagement. In addition, Martin said that they secured a two-year, $10 million agreement with a Fortune 50 Global healthcare company continuing to expand mid-volume production of an existing program with this customer during the first quarter. The Hartland-based digital manufacturing provider also entered into a new multimillion-dollar agreement in the quarter with a global semiconductor company to provide low-volume sheet metal production. Based on the strong orders volume, Fathom not only increased revenue in the first quarter but also expanded its backlog of new business.
 Fathom Manufacturing CEO Ryan Martin at the company’s headquarters in Hartland. Image courtesy of Fathom Manufacturing. Stemming from these results, Fathom reiterated its financial guidance for the full year 2022. In fact, management restated it expects revenue to range between $182 million and $192 million, representing year-over-year growth of approximately 20% to 26%. Fathom also expects adjusted EBITDA to range between $40 million and $45 million, representing a year-over-year increase of roughly between 16% and 31% and an implied adjusted EBITDA margin of 22% through 23.4%. For the second quarter, the company anticipates revenue growth of up to 25% and organic growth of roughly 10% or greater. The post 3D Printing Financials: Fathom Reiterates 2022 Outlook After Positive Q1 Earnings appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing. |
| Phase Gets Grant to Make Microfluidic Devices Posted: 23 May 2022 05:00 AM PDT I’m fascinated by microfluidics. With microfluidics, you could mix, deposit, separate, or reroute tiny amounts of liquids at specific moments. Think of a 3D printer depositing a millionth of a Liter in one millisecond. Microfluidics is an enabling technology like the laser. We can imagine what it can be used for, but it may very well make much more possible. But for now, things like lab on a chip, organ on a chip, and inexpensive medical tests are firing up people’s imaginations. Through the discrete simulation of organs and how they interact with microfluidics could power millions of tests that would accelerate drug discovery by quickly allowing specific tests to happen. Or millions of drug tests could be done at home to track and find all manner of illnesses. For us, working in 3D printing, microfluidics could power the 3D printing technologies of the future. Moreover, microfluidics can also be made with 3D printers. Traditionally they´re made with cumbersome molding processes that limit the possible geometries. What’s more, even if you can make a geometry, it can often still be optimised by improving the flow through 3D printing. Startup Phase, Inc. has just gotten a grant from the North Carolina Department of Commerce's One North Carolina Small Business Program to help commercialise its technology. Previously the firm had collaborated with the National Institutes of Health (NHI) and Virginia Tech. Phase’s 3D printing technology uses biocompatible materials and lets them embed electronics inside the 3D printed microfluidic. This is a powerful combination that could connect them to reporting, sensors, IoT, RFID, or networks to allow for tracking. Furthermore, the microfluidic device itself could be smarter or measure more.  Simeon Brown, a lead technician at Phase, shows off the company's microfluidic manufacturing capabilities that use the company's proprietary 3D printing technology. Image courtesy of Phase. Phase co-founder Jeff Schultz said,
Phase’s technology called LE3D (Le 3D, L E 3D, Lethrd, I think we can all agree that we should pronounce it as if it were French) is said to use a “gold standard” biocompatible material that competing 3D printers cannot yet process. So I’m guessing that it would be Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) which is printable to a certain extent but used a lot in microfluidics. Or it could be PLGA which is a super cool material that is printable in the lab but has not really been commercialised well, and it’s what you’d want if you were working in the brain. The brain, you say? So far, the team was trying to do some completely far out things such as “aim to demonstrate the ability to incorporate a human brain's endothelial cells – single-layer cells that line blood vessels and regulate exchanges between the vessels and surrounding tissue – into a microfluidic device to simulate the barrier.” Sometimes startups really need to tackle the hard stuff. And indeed would be very impactful in the body electronic devices that can distribute medication and act as active implants. Still, the regulatory process would be harsh indeed for something so complex and new. To me, if Phase would have a good 3D printing technology to print microfluidics well, then it should focus on commercialising this in the microfluidics industry and with people who wish to make microfluidic devices and work their way towards more complexity. It feels like they have a startup with so much promise that it could go nowhere. Sometimes being able to do plenty and having a lot of potential can make choices so numerous as to blot out success. The post Phase Gets Grant to Make Microfluidic Devices appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing. |
| TCT 3Sixty Brings 3D Printing to the UK this June Posted: 23 May 2022 04:30 AM PDT TCT 3Sixty, the UK’s definitive and most influential 3D printing and additive manufacturing event returns on June 8-9 to the NEC, Birmingham. TCT 3Sixty goes beyond simply raising awareness and adoption of 3D printing and AM, so you can develop a 360-degree understanding of the potential of these technologies to help increase utilisation at all stages of your design, engineering and manufacturing process. There’s a packed show floor of more than 150 exhibitors from across the globe ready to help define your additive strategy.
Whether you’re in the evaluation stage, ready to buy or looking to optimise your usage, you can be sure that exciting displays from HP, Scott Bader, Matsuura, EOS, 3D Systems, Laser Lines, BOC, 9T Labs, GE, Xerox, Xact Metal, Trumpf, Ultimaker, Stratasys, Meltio, Formlabs, Materialise, Raise 3D, Additive Industries, Raplas, Voxeljet, Wayland and more will help you decide your next steps. THE FUTURE IS METALAt TCT 3Sixty you’ll find many of the latest metal additive manufacturing solutions and parts on display. From Aerospace to Medical, metal applications are accelerating. Come and discover your application. UNLESS IT’S SOMETHING ELSE…!You will also find plenty of polymer, ink and ceramic options, from Nano Dimension to Massvit 3D. Whatever your part size requirement, TCT 3Sixty has got you covered. UK SPECIALISTS WILL GUIDE YOUIf you’re not sure what you need, you can talk to the top 3D printing and additive manufacturing specialists in the UK face-to-face at the event. They'll be able to recommend the technology and machine that suits your need.
DON’T FORGET YOUR SOFTWAREDesigning and preparing your file for print needs some clever software to make it all work, and you can find a wide selection at TCT 3Sixty this year. Set up a meeting with the software experts to discuss what you need or how to optimise what you have. PICK YOUR MATERIALTCT 3Sixty has a huge range of metal powders, filaments, resins and plastic powder to choose from. Start exploring your options.
IF YOU CAN’T MEASURE IT, YOU CAN’T MAKE ITThe adage holds true, and you'll find the best measurement and scanning tech on the show floor. Make an appointment with these specialists to solve your challenge by registering today.
Alongside the exhibition, you will find free and exclusive CPD accredited presentations, case studies and debates across three conference stages. Speakers from Boston Consulting Group, USAF Laboratory, Deutsche Bahn, MTC, Context, Callum and other world-renowned names will take to the stage to inspire and signpost how to get the best from 3D printing and AM. Take a look at the full program here. Register now to ensure fast track entry, as well as complimentary access to our Event Hub to plan your visit, interact with exhibitors and build your own personal schedule. The post TCT 3Sixty Brings 3D Printing to the UK this June appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing. |
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