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• 3DPOD Episode 109: Part Costing and Optimization with Omer Blaier, CASTOR CEO & Founder
• Circular Economies in Space: Airbus Plans to Send Metal 3D Printer to ISS in 2023
• 3D Printing for GM SUV Opens Doors for GKN Additive’s Flexible Manufacturing
• Rocket Labs to Provide Solar Cells for NASA’s 2025 GLIDE Mission
• Desktop Metal to Lay Off 12% of Workforce & Consolidate Operations

3DPOD Episode 109: Part Costing and Optimization with Omer Blaier, CASTOR CEO & Founder Posted: 14 Jun 2022 06:30 AM PDT Israeli firm CASTOR analyses parts. It can then tell you if the part is printable, how much it would cost in different 3D printing technologies, on which part you can save money through mass reduction and much more. CASTOR´s software is a gateway to 3D Printing. Companies can use it to jumpstart their 3D Printing projects or do an analysis of the potential for 3D Printing in their organization. We talk to CEO and founder Omer Blaier about the startup, its abilities and goals. The post 3DPOD Episode 109: Part Costing and Optimization with Omer Blaier, CASTOR CEO & Founder appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing.

Circular Economies in Space: Airbus Plans to Send Metal 3D Printer to ISS in 2023 Posted: 14 Jun 2022 06:00 AM PDT Global aerospace and defense giant Airbus has announced that next year, it will launch into space what the company says will be the first metal 3D printer in use aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Airbus developed the plainly-named Metal3D machine on behalf of the European Space Agency (ESA), and envisions it as a first step in a long-term process towards creating entire circular economies in orbit. Brick# 3: kit assembly for huge reflectors According to Anthony Lecossais, part of the team that developed the Metal3D for Airbus, "…the best material to use in space is the one that's already up there. Before we can recycle satellites or even turn debris back into sustainable resources, we need first to learn how to melt metal in space without any gravity. To learn how we can print metal parts in space and validate the technology in microgravity, Airbus and its partner are delivering to ESA the first in orbit metal 3D printer." As Lecossais points out, it's of course not yet clear exactly how different a manufacturing process in space will be from that same manufacturing process at ground level, until it actually happens. On the other hand, the company Made in Space had, by 2014, already sent a polymer 3D printer to the ISS, and it sent a ceramic 3D printer there in 2020. It isn't unrealistic to think, then, that the initial step of 3D printing the first metal objects in space will be successful. All the other potentialities that Airbus envisions, in the press release the company issued announcing this project, are far more up in the air. This is at least true in terms of some of the dates Airbus throws out: that "3D printers could also be used on the moon" as early as 2029, for instance. Or, that by the middle of this decade, entire satellites could be manufactured in space, possibly from recycled space junk. And that a Space Assembly Line is an inevitable, fairly near-term future reality, where robotic arms will work together to build new robotic arms. Sure, why not! But, also, Airbus says that all of this will be the sustainable way of doing things, and I'm not sure about that. The logic is that by building things in space—since you can recycle the space junk, you see—far less energy will be used than would've been the case if you'd launched the equivalent number of new things into space. Based on how things have played out so far terrestrially, though, are we really going to recycle the space junk? Maybe astronauts will turn out to be far more conscientious and competent recyclers than the average earthling. At the very least, I feel like I need to see a successful metal AM circular economy emerge on the planetary level before I can get behind the idea of one happening in space. Nevertheless, it does seem like humanity is committed to creating more and more space junk, so at least Airbus is thinking ahead. Perhaps, if it can be figured out how to be made profitable, recycling space junk into new satellites will be commonplace in 20 years. Even so, at this point I can't see how this isn't more likely to be part of a first step on a path towards significantly increasing the amount of garbage in space, rather than a move in the direction of a sustainable space sector. Images courtesy of Airbus The post Circular Economies in Space: Airbus Plans to Send Metal 3D Printer to ISS in 2023 appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing.

3D Printing for GM SUV Opens Doors for GKN Additive’s Flexible Manufacturing Posted: 14 Jun 2022 05:30 AM PDT While at RAPID+TCT, we learned that the world of automotive 3D printing had taken a major step forward. To address an immediate supply chain issue, General Motors Company (GM) turned to 3D printing. To produce 60,000 parts over the span of five weeks for use on approximately 30,000 vehicles, GKN Additive, through its Forecast 3D operation, leveraged HP's Multi Jet Fusion (MJF) polymer additive manufacturing (AM) technology. That is an impressive feat, to say the least. It also marks an historic moment in the history of additive. To learn more about the project, as well as GKN's 3D printing division as a whole, we spoke to John Dulchinos, President of GKN Additive. 3D Printing for GM's New Vehicles So far, HP's MJF process has been used to produce over 100 million parts. Much of that work is performed by service bureaus and digital manufacturers that rely on the technology for its predictable serial 3D printing capabilities. And among those digital manufacturers is GKN Additive, one of the largest users of MJF in the world. Dulchinos pointed out that, before it was purchased by GKN in 2019, Forecast 3D was actually one of the earliest adopters of MJF. Some five years later, and we now know that MJF is one of the few polymer 3D printing processes capable of delivering end parts in large batches. Proving this point is the work that HP has done with GM so far. The largest automaker in the U.S. and second largest in the world, GM has used MJF to 3D print heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) ducts for its Cadillac V-Series and cooling ducts for the Corvette C8. These were planned additions, however. For all intents and purposes, GM had no initial intention of squeezing 60,000 3D printed parts into 30,000 vehicles. However, when its design team made a late change to the spoiler of one of its most popular full-size SUVs, it turned to GKN Additive to produce some necessary components with 3D printing. HVAC ducts and electrical harness bracket 3D printed for the V-series. Image courtesy of GM. First the GM team designed and validated the 3D printed spoiler closeout seals, before ramping production. The digital manufacturer tested and validated the parts, while also implementing a new drying process that cut the time it would have taken GM to surface finish the part in half. "GM had to make a design change for the spoiler to update it for new standards on fuel efficiency," Dulchinos told a group at RAPID+TCT. "The vehicle was already on the production line when they realized they had to make a change to this tiny seal, but that seal reduced the drag enough that it affected the emissions and fuel economy of the vehicle. So, they had 30,000 of these SUVs sitting in parking lots waiting for this seal. And the tooling for the injection mold was going to take 12 weeks to deliver. So they came to us and we worked with HP, GM, AMT, and BASF to create a solution and deliver 60,000 of these seals in six weeks. That allowed them to get the cars off the lots and to their customers. The 3D printed part was pennies of the total cost, but without it, they couldn’t ship the product." In particular, I was concerned about the safety implications of implementing a design change to a vehicle so late in the game. Dulchinos assured me that this wasn't an issue for the minor component. "Well, this wasn't a safety-critical component and it was engineered from a very similar material [to the injection molded counterpart], which was a TPU, and went through very similar post-processing to get to the finished state. From a chemistry standpoint it was all very similar," Dulchinos said. One issue to the production process was scaling up a TPU part quickly, given the difficulty of dealing with such an elastomeric material, as well as how to post-process the part. 3D printed rear spoiler closeout seal for General Motors, before (left) and after (right) undergoing the finishing process. Image courtesy of GKN Forecast 3D. Rapid Response 3D Printing With the ability to turn around a part so quickly for a key manufacturing giant bodes well for GKN and automotive 3D printing going forward. With an "emergency" component now on 30,000 vehicles that will be hitting the roads with consumers behind the wheel, GKN can likely move onto other end parts for the sector. The business now has preliminary workflows in place for just such situations. "What we’re building now is a discipline around agility with quality. That’s really what we’re trying to get to," Dulchinos said. Founded in 1759, GKN has a history in metal production that dates back to the birth of the industrial revolution. In the 1990s, it built up its powder metallurgy business substantially, laying the groundwork for adopting metal 3D printing over the past decade. Forecast3D’s early MJF fleet. Image courtesy of GKN Additive. As a foundational partner for HP's MetalJet metal binder jetting technology, the company has a fleet of four MetalJet machines, which will be scaled up as HP releases the product commercially. It will ultimately be a process for making tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of metal parts. Additionally, GKN is a leading provider of laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) technology. However, to be a key player in additive services, the company needed a polymer printing business. "In our traditional business, we make metal powders and then we take that powder, and we make over 12.5 million parts per day. So, it aligns really well with laser- and binder-based metal 3D printing, Dulchinos said. “We also understand serial production super well. What we didn't have initially was a rapid response, digital prototyping service. So, in 2019, we acquired Forecast3D." Dulchinos went on to explain that every day, he receives a report that lists the current orders, which range anywhere from $25 to $50,000+, but are all processed by GKN Additive daily. This high-mix, high-volume production is the future of additive, according to the company's president. In order to become the agile manufacturer that GKN aims to be, Dulchinos envisions a blend of traditional prototyping jobs with mass production, so that customers can be served across the lifecycle. "The key is having the digital infrastructure and quality management systems to make this work. When I make a plastic prototyping part, the quality requirements are pretty basic. No one’s asking me to make sure that this is down to a 10th of a micron in precision. They’re really not concerned with, say, how flat it is or what the texture is. They just want it fast. But we do that at scale. In Carlsbad, we run a highly disciplined manufacturing process with over 40 HP MJF printers, making prototyping parts at scale. Then we've got a host of other applications where we’re in production, using the same manufacturing discipline but to a much higher level of quality," Dulchinos said. "I think the future state of 3D printing is going to be a blend of the two. It’s going to require digital agility but at scale. We have to deliver that with quality systems and the process rigor that comes from  GKN's proven, agile processes." From Parts to Solutions Dulchinos joined GKN Additive in 2022 by way of Jabil, another manufacturing solutions provider that, in many ways, overlaps with GKN's own additive activities, down to the use of MJF printers. Having previously served as Vice President of Digital Manufacturing at Jabil, Dulchinos was a prime candidate to lead the AM division of GKN. "They’re both world-class manufacturing companies. So, structurally at the end of the day, both have over long, long periods of time—decades in the case of Jabil and centuries in the case of GKN—building a business around delivering products to customers to solve problems, with very exact standards and consistent quality," Dulchinos said. "I think the fundamental difference between the two is that Jabil is more of a systems provider whereas GKN is more of a components provider. Ultimately, Jabil could make or buy a part based on the value around the solution. In some cases, it may make sense to go down to the component level, but Jabil's core competency around supply chain management encompasses the broad set of components. GKN's core competency is in actually manufacturing parts." 3D-printed copper induction coils from GKN Additive. Image courtesy of GKN Additive. Dulchinos says that now, GKN is in the process of transitioning from being a parts business to a solutions business dedicated to specific verticals, applications, and customers. This is demonstrated by the fact that GKN offers additive solutions for such unique applications as copper inductors and heat exchangers. Explaining his philosophy to the business, Dulchinos concluded: "3D printing has been around for a long time. The problem I see with it is that we need to move beyond selling technology to enabling solutions. Everyone's got the latest technology they want to showcase, but for this to move to the kind of growth numbers that have been modeled, it needs to move from a technology to a manufacturing solution. To do that, there needs to be a thought process about enterprise-level solutions, not just making parts. I think it’s great to have companies like HP in the game. We need Fortune 100 companies in this space thinking about enterprise-level solutions. That’s really what GKN offers. We’re the enterprise-level solution for manufacturing. Ultimately, that is what the large OEMs are going to want to see. They want a real supply chain and real supply chains require companies with really deep manufacturing pedigrees and healthy balance sheets so that we can support that kind of growth." Feature image courtesy of GKN Additive. The post 3D Printing for GM SUV Opens Doors for GKN Additive’s Flexible Manufacturing appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing.

Rocket Labs to Provide Solar Cells for NASA’s 2025 GLIDE Mission Posted: 14 Jun 2022 05:00 AM PDT Next-generation launcher manufacturer Rocket Lab (NASDAQ: RKLB) will manufacture the solar array panel (SAP) to power NASA’s GLIDE (Global Lyman-alpha Imagers of the Dynamic Exosphere) mission that will study the area where Earth’s atmosphere meets space. The spacecraft for GLIDE is being built by space and defense technologies innovator Ball Aerospace and is expected to launch in 2025. SAP will use technology from Rocket Lab’s newest subsidiary, the recently acquired SolAero, an Albuquerque, New Mexico supplier of satellite solar array panels. SolAero technologies already power over 1000 satellites and has worked in at least 30 missions with NASA over the past 20 years, including the James Webb Space Telescope and the flower-like solar array that powers NASA’s InSight Mars Lander. For the upcoming GLIDE spacecraft, Rocket Lab will provide SolAero’s newest space solar cell technology, the Z4J quadruple junction solar cell, designed specifically for space applications. These high-efficiency, radiation-hardened solar cells laid down on carbon composite facesheet panels are fully qualified for space. NASA’s GLIDE will image ultraviolet emissions from Earth's vast outer atmosphere. Image courtesy of University of Illinois Urbana Champaign. The GLIDE spacecraft will launch with another Rocket Lab-powered spacecraft, also built by Ball Aerospace, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) Space Weather Follow On-Lagrange 1 (SWFO-L1). SWFO-L1 is a heliophysics mission that will collect solar wind data and coronal imagery to meet NOAA’s operational requirements to monitor and forecast solar storm activity. “Rocket Lab has become the ‘go-to’ provider of space solar power and space systems products throughout the space industry, including for ambitious heliophysics missions like GLIDE,” said founder and CEO Peter Beck. SolAero has powered over 1,000 satellites. Image courtesy of SolAero by Rocket Lab. Rocket Lab has become one of the leading space systems companies in the nascent private sector. It aims to provide end-to-end mission services for rapid, frequent, and reliable access to space, including complete satellite build and launch solutions. In the 3D printing industry, Rocket Lab is known for its almost entirely 3D printed rocket engine, the Rutherford, which relies on an electric motor rather than gas and features prop valves, injectors, pumps, and engine chambers that are all 3D printed with electron beam melting technology. Although this engine has powered the company’s small satellite Electron launch vehicle, Rocket Lab has been shifting focus to developing the reusable eight-ton payload class Neutron rocket, which also leverages 3D printing for part production. Since its foundation in 2006, the pioneering rocket maker has become a multinational company with a rich history of developing propulsion systems and launching vehicles for many government and commercial customers. After turning into the first private firm to reach space from the Southern Hemisphere, Rocket Lab has gone on to deliver over 105 satellites to orbit for more than 20 public- and private-sector organizations and completed 21 missions for a wide range of customers, including government agencies like NASA and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), branches of the military like the U.S. Air Force, and commercial businesses, such as Capella Space. However, the addition of SolAero to its portfolio of space offerings has opened new doors for the business. Now that Ball Aerospace has tapped SolAero to build GLIDE’s SAP, the company has yet another opportunity to prove that its space technology is one of the leading forces in the space-based solar power market, which is expected to reach almost one billion dollars by 2030. Led by principal investigator Lara Waldrop, an Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, GLIDE will study variability in Earth’s outermost atmospheric layer, known as the exosphere. Budgeted at $75 million, the mission will make unprecedented measurements of the far ultraviolet light emitted by hydrogen atoms in the exosphere, extending more than 100,000 miles above Earth’s surface, about halfway to the moon. This emission serves as a tracer of exospheric density, knowledge of which is needed to advance understanding of upper atmospheric physics, particularly regarding Earth’s recovery from solar-driven disturbances known as space weather. NASA’s GLIDE will survey the exosphere, the outermost layer of Earth's atmosphere. The exosphere is seen here in this illustration that shows the layers and their distance from Earth. Image courtesy of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Mary Pat Hrybyk-Keith. Historically, only a few observations of Earth’s exosphere have been made at large enough distances to capture its structure and behavior on a global scale. GLIDE would fill this long-standing measurement gap by acquiring wide-field images of Earth’s global exospheric emission from its orbital angle. On Earth, the data collected by GLIDE will provide researchers with better ways to forecast and ultimately mitigate how space weather can disrupt modern technology, such as satellite electronics, radio communication, electric power distribution, and even air travel. The post Rocket Labs to Provide Solar Cells for NASA’s 2025 GLIDE Mission appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing.

Desktop Metal to Lay Off 12% of Workforce & Consolidate Operations Posted: 14 Jun 2022 04:30 AM PDT Massachusetts-based additive manufacturing (AM) startup, Desktop Metal, announced on Monday, June 13, that the company will lay off 12% of its employees. This comes alongside a general consolidation of its operations following a string of acquisitions last year, the company stated in a press release. Calling it a "strategic integration and cost optimization initiative," Desktop Metals' CEO and founder, Ric Fulop, explained, "While the acquisitions we completed in 2021 contributed to [significant] growth and to our total market opportunity as we focused initially on harvesting product and go-to-market synergies, they also increased our cost base and global facilities footprint. …[Today's announcement] is the result of a comprehensive portfolio and business operations review conducted across all functions at Desktop Metal." The company said that it envisions the changes associated with the the plan, along with the layoffs, will save as much $100 million over the next two years. On the two largest of the five takeovers Desktop Metal made last year, ExOne ($575 million) and EnvisionTEC ($300 million), the company spent almost $900 million. When these acquisitions originally went through, the S&P 500 was approaching its all time-high, and the Federal Reserve was still months away from announcing it planned to make a total of seven interest rate hikes in 2022. Now, the company's current market cap is significantly less than the total it paid for ExOne and EnvisionTEC. Whether or not Desktop Metal still would have made every one of those acquisitions under current financial conditions, it's safe to assume that, at the very least, it could've gotten a better price tag for all its purchases. On the other hand, a 12% reduction in workforce when you've taken in that many additional companies under your umbrella seems, if anything, minimal, and the company's financial outlook could easily improve in the short term from the announcement. That of course also largely depends on how financial markets, in general, are doing. Beyond that, it will be necessary to see what exactly its "strategic integration" entails. Desktop Metal's biggest issues to tackle are all related to what the company presumably also sees as its greatest strength: the diversity of its portfolio. This certainly could become a real asset. Once more, however, it depends on factors largely outside of its immediate control—in this case, the strength of the overall AM industry. Basically, if a sector within the industry in which Desktop Metal has a stake is doing well, then it will be an advantage to be positioned within that sector, and if it's not, then it won't be an advantage. Interestingly then, the diversity of the company’s portfolio is at the moment functioning more as a source of risk than as an insurance policy. By not choosing to just focus on one thing, the company is risking spreading itself far too thin. At the same time, narrowing its focus could very well be part of Desktop Metal's strategic shift. Moreover, there's significant positive momentum in AM's favor right now, including in multiple sectors in which Desktop has a foothold. To reiterate yet again, many variables are at play in determining the direction the company takes, so it's difficult to interpret exactly how the moves Desktop Metal has just announced will turn out. Images courtesy of Desktop Metal The post Desktop Metal to Lay Off 12% of Workforce & Consolidate Operations appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing.

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