3D Printing News Briefs: November 14, 2017

We’re getting down to business in today’s 3D Printing News Briefs…business news, that is. Rize announced an addition to its corporate staff at formnext today, and 3D printing bureau Hobs Studio is moving its headquarters to a tech and creative campus. Roboze has a new reseller, CARMAT and AddUp have signed a partnership agreement, while the AFRL integrated the Senvol Database into its software platform. Authentise is now the leader in additive manufacturing data connectivity, Autodesk Netfabb now supports Farsoon’s metal and polymer 3D printers, and VAC-U-MAX is introducing a new metal powder recovery system.

Rize Appoints New Vice President

Bryan Ferrand

Boston-based Rize Inc., well-known for its patented Augmented Polymer Deposition (APD) technology, is exhibiting at formnext 2017 this week in booth C28, Hall 3.1, and announced at the event today that industry sales veteran Bryan Ferrand has joined its leadership team as the Vice President of Global Channels. Ferrand has achieved record growth figures over his 16 years working in the 3D scanning, 3D printing, and machine tool industries, working with over 300 channel partners around the world at 3D Systems and Mcor Technologies. In his new position, Ferrand, who is with the rest of the Rize team at formnext, will be responsible for propelling worldwide sales and channel growth at Rize.

“We are thrilled to have Bryan join our team. Bryan’s addition to Rize strengthens our Management Team and reflects Rize’s growing traction in the industry,” said Eugene Giller, Founder and President of Rize. “His proven industry success worldwide and his unique blend of channel and OEM expertise will have a direct and immediate positive impact on our rapid growth.”

Hobs Studio Moves HQ to Here East

Hobs Studio, the largest 3D printing bureau in the UK, is moving its London headquarters to the growing creative cluster at Here East, a tech and creative campus located at the heart of Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park that provides over one million square feet of dedicated, versatile spaces for creative and digital companies, including global car giant Ford and video game company Sports Interactive.

“Here East’s mission is to bring organisations together, from disruptors to established brands, small start-ups to multi-nationals,” explained Here East CEO Gavin Poole. “Spanning the creative, technological and construction sectors, Hobs perfectly encapsulates this mission and we look forward to seeing the results of its collaboration with our existing tenants.”

Hobs will be moving to a new 7,200 square foot 3D printing and virtual reality lab, which will employ about 30 people and offer multiple VR and 3D printing services to workers in the construction industry. The move, part of Hobs Studio’s expansion strategy, will mean relocating all of its current London 3D printing facilities, including the largest SLA 3D printer in the UK, to Here East, by the end of the year.

Roboze Announces New Reseller

Damiano Vescovo

Roboze announced that it has expanded its Italian distribution network by adding a new reseller, Selltek Srl, which is also an authorized reseller for HP and 3D Systems. Selltek has offered additive manufacturing and prototyping solutions to companies for over 15 years, and has a wide portfolio of products; it’s looking forward to adding Roboze’s precise and versatile materials to this list.

Damiano Vescovo, Selltek CEO, said, “The high precision and versatility of Roboze materials are a great opportunity to achieve our goals: not just rapid prototyping but also rapid manufacturing. We were looking for a solution for the production of parts with high performance materials such as PEEK and Ultem. Roboze met all required standards and we look forward to bring our customers in this revolutionary new opportunities. Roboze solutions help us reach all market segments with high quality, innovative and high mechanical properties.

CARMAT and 3D Printing Joint Venture AddUp Sign Partnership Agreement

CARMAT is designing and developing the most advanced artificial heart project in the world to offer people who are suffering from end-stage biventricular heart failure a therapeutic alternative. It recently signed a partnership agreement with AddUp, the 3D printing joint venture between Michelin and Fives. The goal of this collaboration is to accelerate and strengthen the industrial phase of the CARMAT heart development, and increase its production capacity before the large scale production phase begins. Thanks to its new partnership with AddUp, CARMAT will be able to make a version of its artificial heart that incorporates the benefits of 3D printing, such as reducing the number of components.

“As pioneers in the development of industrial 3D printing solutions, we are delighted to have the opportunity to associate our unique additive manufacturing technology with a medical project as innovative as the CARMAT one,” said Vincent Ferreiro, CEO and Chairman of AddUp. “We possess a know-how in providing support to our partners from the feasibility stage to the industrialization of concept ideas. We are very enthusiastic about the ability to apply it to the medical field for the first time.”

US Air Force Integrates Senvol Database

This month, the US Air Force licensed the Senvol Database, the most comprehensive industrial additive manufacturing machine and material database in the world, to integrate into HyperThought, the premier enterprise software platform for Materials Research for the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL). The HyperThought suite allows AFRL researchers to record, share, access, and manage data, and now that the Senvol Database has been integrated into its architecture, nearly 1,000 AFRL researchers will have access to all sorts of additive manufacturing data.

“HyperThought is our answer to the demand for a single system for data creation, exchange, and consumption, eliminating the inefficiencies associated with traditional data management solutions,” said Matthew Jacobsen, Materials & Manufacturing Directorate for AFRL. “The Senvol Database is the de facto standard database for industrial additive manufacturing, so it’s a perfect addition to our growing suite of repositories that give researchers on demand access to the data they need.”

Authentise Leading in Additive Manufacturing Data Connectivity

Speaking of additive manufacturing data, 3D printing process automation software leader Authentise has announced an exciting new achievement – it is connected to and receives data from more additive manufacturing device types than any other software developers, making it the leader in additive manufacturing data connectivity. Authentise has worked with multiple AM equipment providers, like SLM Solutions, to connect their devices to its 3Diax platform and Manufacturing Execution System (MES), and the data received from these companies is used to automate actions, like training machine learning models and automatic order updates, through MES. The data also helps reduce the cost and scale of additive manufacturing, and is available independently through the 3Diax Machine Analytics Module.

“In many ways additive manufacturing is not taking advantage of its digital opportunity. We’re the first to use data to really scale up and take cost out of the process. In doing so we’re also providing a test bed for all of digital manufacturing as we’re going beyond predictive maintenance and analytics to enable immediate automation based on data. That drives nearly immediate return on investment of our customers,” said Andre Wegner​, CEO of Authentise.

Autodesk Netfabb Supports Farsoon Technologies Printers

Farsoon Technologies FS271M DMLS and others are now available as machine workspaces inside Autodesk Netfabb.

Autodesk Netfabb has announced that its additive manufacturing software now supports Farsoon Technologies and its range of metal and polymer industrial 3D printers. The hardware between the two companies now has a direct connection, which allows Farsoon’s complete workflow to be encapsulated in a single software solution. Netfabb’s optimization and simulation software will make sure that Farsoon’s industrial AM hardware is all set for serial production in numerous industries, including aerospace and medical. In addition, Farsoon’s polymer SLS machine will have optimal build density, and its metal DMLS machines will enjoy reliable, repeatable builds, thanks to Netfabb’s 3D packing algorithm.

“Netfabb offers real value to our customers by offering several options in both functionality and pricing. The customer buys what’s best for the work and for the bottom line,” explained Phillip Conner, Director of Additive Manufacturing for Farsoon.

“Our customers, from the first-time user to the AM expert, all like the intuitiveness of the layout and immediately feel comfortable using Netfabb.”

You can visit Farsoon Technologies at formnext this week, and learn more about its AM hardware, at booth E31 in Hall 3.1. Autodesk is also exhibiting at formnext – learn more about Netfabb’s range of features at booth F70 in Hall 3.0

VAC-U-MAX Introduces New Metal Powder Recovery System

VAC-U-MAX Additive Manufacturing Metal Powder
Recovery System (AM-MPRS)

VAC-U-MAX, which designs and manufactures pneumatic conveying components and systems for vacuum conveying, batching, and weighing of powders and bulk materials, just introduced its new Additive Manufacturing Metal Powder Recovery System (AM-MPRS), which offers conveying, screening, recovering, and reuse of metal powders like stainless steel, cobalt chrome, and Inconel. The easy to use AM-MPRS, which is NFPA 484 compliant for handling metal powders, uses a vacuum to extract metal powders from the printing bed. It then sieves them into a pail, drum or IBC in a contained environment for later use, which cuts the metal powder recovery time by 85%. The powders are conveyed in a closed system, which reduces the operator’s exposure to metal dust and increases plant and personnel safety.

The system includes a powder pick-up hand tool, and a static-conductive hose, for both aerospace and non-aerospace applications, with a smooth bore. The AM-MPRS also features inert gas-purge fittings, a HEPA Filter canister with filter, high-output suspended vibratory sieving machine, a vacuum receiver, ultrasonic de-blinding kit, and, if a customer requests it, an optional gas-purge manifold.

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