3D Printing News Briefs: November 7, 2017

We’ve got a lot of 3D printing business news heading your way in today’s edition of 3D Printing News Briefs, followed by a 3D printing event, a 3D printed work of art, and some 3D printed products for your feet and teeth. DSM and Toyota have signed a technology partnership agreement, while Authentise partners with ProtoTech and LPW Technology is partnering with Magnitude Innovations to support the industrialization of metal AM. Graphene 3D Lab will be moving its base of operations to a new facility, and the Third Mini Maker Faire from Barnes & Noble and Maker Media is coming up this month. A 3D printed Times Square art installation features the world’s largest lens, RESA Wearables will debut its custom 3D printed insoles at select Costco stores, and you can now floss all of your teeth in one bite with an interesting new 3D printed dental product.

DSM and Toyota Sign Technology Partnership Agreement

Global science-based company Royal DSM has signed a One DSM framework technology partnership agreement with Toyota Motor Corporation subsidiary Toyota Motorsport GmbH (TMG), a high-performance development, testing, and manufacturing company that specializes in 3D printed products for motorsport use and other external customers. The non-exclusive agreement involves all of DSM’s businesses that supply materials and technology to the automotive sector, such as Somos and DSM Dyneema. DSM will be the preferred material and product provider for TMG, which will create and pilot new engineering solutions and automotive products with DSM’s high-performance materials, as well as test and evaluate other DSM products.

“We are looking forward to extending our cooperation with DSM as a dedicated technology partner. Our relationship has developed strongly over the last few years and significantly enhanced our capabilities as well as contributing to DSM’s product development,” said Gerard Winstanley, Manager, Future Production Technologies & Processes, Fabrication and Additive Manufacturing at TMG. “TMG’s mission is to push the boundaries of automotive technology for motorsport and road car applications both for Toyota projects and also those of our third-party customers. We believe this partnership will support that.”

Authentise Partners with ProtoTech 

Additive manufacturing process automation software leader Authentise will be partnering with 3D visualization and CAD/CAM/CAE niche software development company ProtoTech in an exclusive agreement to build automatic capabilities for its 3Diax customers to embed watermarks, like serial numbers, into digital design geometries. ProtoTech will offer its watermarking technology through 3Diax, which Authentise will then market as the 3Diax Watermarking Module. The module can speed up the supply chain, allow for more reliable and efficient tracking and sorting of parts, and lower how many counterfeit parts are being circulated.

“As all Modules on the 3Diax platform, Watermarking works ‘behind-the- hood.’ This means the actions happen automatically, without the need for manual operator interactions, which saves our clients time and enables them to scale,” explained Andre Wegner, CEO of Authentise. “The modular structure of the platform and the API access also enables us to integrate this module with others, or directly into corporate IT systems. We’re delighted to work with CAD software professionals such as ProtoTech to extend the platform.”

The new module allows identifiers like barcodes and serial numbers to be embedded at any point in the geometry, whether it’s on an attached tag or the part itself, or below the surface so it can only be detected by X-ray technologies.

LPW Technology and Magnitude Innovations Support Industrialization of Metal AM

In order to support the industrialization of metal additive manufacturing, LPW Technology Ltd and Magnitude Innovations Ltd are combining their collective AM experience. LPW, which is a global developer and manufacturer of high quality metal AM powders, views the technology from the viewpoint of the powder, while Magnitude looks at it from a process perspective, encompassing R&D, production setup, and technology qualification. The two companies will align metal powders, parts, and machine optimization to build AM production.

“We are experienced in process development, machine qualification and calibration, and the optimisation of AM parameters to reach the requirements within highly-regulated industries like aerospace and energy.  We’ve supported organisations to bring critical applications into production, established quality management systems, and trained and educated teams to enable the adoption of Metal Powder Bed Fusion,” said Matt Tusz, CEO and co-founder of Magnitude.

“Magnitude’s knowledge of AM system and design qualification, production setup, complex application support and technical troubleshooting is complementary to LPW’s expertise in metal powders manufactured specifically for AM and powder handling systems developed to carefully control contamination and deliver full traceability to the AM process.   We are excited to be collaborating with LPW in supporting the AM industry with process and application-related challenges.”

Graphene 3D Lab Moving to New Industrial Facility

Graphene 3D Lab Inc. was founded in 2013 as a spinout of Graphene Laboratories Inc. and has been growing ever since. Now, the company has announced that in anticipation of further growth, it will be moving 30 miles away from its Calverton, NY location to a new, 8,000-square-foot facility in a Ronkonkoma, NY industrial tech park near the Long Island MacArthur Airport. The new facility comes with space for offices and labs, along with a larger production floor. The company anticipates the move-in date to be December 1st, 2017.

“Despite the unavoidable distraction of the business related to location, management is doing its best to minimize the impact and keep the business running. The company has overproduced all products we currently offer, and we do not anticipate any significant delays in shipping of customers’ orders. In the new facility, Graphene 3D will be able to substantially increase the production volume of the existing products and introduce new ones,” said Graphene 3D President and CEO Daniel Stolyarov.

“The Calverton Business Incubator was a home for our company for six years, and our production capacity has been greatly limited by the constraints of this facility. We are excited to move because we need more space to satisfy increased demand for our products. As soon as the move is complete, we are planning to launch several new products and aggressively grow our revenue.”

Third Mini Maker Faire Announced

This weekend, November 11th-12th from noon to 4 PM, Barnes & Noble and Maker Media will be bringing back the Mini Maker Faire for the third year in a row. The event offers makers of all ages and types the innovative tools, inspiration, expert demonstrations, and hands-on experiences to stimulate their curiosity. There will be some Meet the Makers sessions so attendees can learn about the latest trends from industry leaders, along with Make Workspace live-action demonstrations of technologies used in robotics, coding, virtual reality, and programming; the hands-on portion where adults and kids have the chance to work with products is known as Make & Collaborate.

Kathleen Campisano, Vice President, Specialty, at Barnes & Noble, said, “Barnes & Noble is committed to tech literacy, and our Mini Maker Faire is the perfect showcase for featuring the newest products and latest technologies. Customers look forward to participating in hands-on experiences and hearing from Makers who are experts in so many different fields. We want to once again take Mini Maker Faire attendees on a journey from idea generation and prototyping to building, making and sharing – there’s something for everyone.”

To find stores participating in the third annual Mini Maker Faire, visit the Barnes & Noble Store Locator.

Largest 3D Printed Lens Coming to Times Square in Art Installation

Each year, architecture and design firms submit proposals for a public art installation to celebrate Love in Times Square during the month of February. Today, Times Square Arts announced that design studio Aranda\Lasch and computation designer Marcelo Coelho have won the 10th annual Times Square Valentine Heart Design Competition with their collaborative, 3D printed Window to the Heart design.

“Times Square is a symbol for how we experience our world,” said Aranda\Lasch + Marcelo Coelho. “It is a physical manifestation of our culture, one dispersed and absorbed through cameras and screens. And in this culture, to fall in love you must first fall through a lens.”

The design puts the world’s largest lens, with a 12′ diameter, in the middle of Times Square between 46th and 47th Streets. Formlabs helped design the lens so it captures and distorts the image of Times Square, so light is optically bent towards its heart-shaped window. Formlabs will use its clear resin to 3D print each segment of the lens at a high resolution; the installation will remain up from February 1st through the 28th.

RESA Wearables Brings 3D Printed Insoles to Costco

From now until December 24th, 2017, RESA Wearables will be bringing its patent-pending custom 3D printed insole kiosks to select Costco Warehouse stores throughout the US. At the kiosks, customers will be able to have their feet scanned, so custom, medical-grade insoles can be designed for their exact foot shape and 3D printed right there. Milwaukee-based technology company CTS/Mighty Touch helped RESA design and build the kiosks.

“Our partnership with CTS/Mighty Touch has been the easiest and most effective way to bring our product to the customer. We’re starting with eight 6-pallet kiosk pop-up factories that we transport across the country for each show. They’re quick and easy to assemble, and have been a game changer in our ability to deliver custom insoles in under an hour,” said RESA Wearables Founder and CEO Glen Hinshaw.

The remaining Costco Warehouse stores that will host the RESA Wearables kiosks are:

• November 3rd – 12th: Store 129, Santa Clara, CA; Store 475, El Camino, CA; Store 412, Azusa, CA; Store 441, Palm Desert, CA
• November 29th – December 10th: Store 692, Hillsboro, OR; Store 689, NW San Antonio, TX; Store 1189, The Woodlands, TX; Store 1106, Township, MI; Store 1115, Mount Vernon, VA
• December 15th – 24th: Store 337, St. Louis Park, MN; Store 95, Tacoma, WA

3D Printed Teeth Flosser Released

In 2012, a worldwide interdisciplinary team of computer scientists, dentists, and engineers began using advanced technology to try and improve and facilitate tooth-brushing. Last year, they began manufacturing the resulting invention – Blizzident, a 3D printed toothbrush with bristles tailored to each person’s teeth. Now, the team has just released its new 3D-Flosser, which lets you floss all of your teeth at once with just a single bite. It positions floss between your teeth, and prevents you from biting too deeply into the floss.

“Biting into the tailored 3D-Flosser is as easy as biting into an apple,” Blizzident team member Chris Martin told 3DPrint.com. “Instead of cleaning about 30 inter-dental regions by hand with tooth-floss, it is a quick and simple bite into the 3D-Flosser now. The 3D-Flosser is designed and tailored based on an impression or scan of the teeth.”

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