NOVEMBER 2019
Orthodontics, robotics and advanced military aircraft
are just three of the myriad application areas for
32
additively manufactured parts
June 2020 / www.theengineer.co.uk
Product Q&A - 3D printing
Q&A:
THE NEXT
DIMENSION
Meet the panel
Jennifer Milne, product manager at
Formlabs
Dave Veisz, VP of Engineering, MakerBot
Bryan Austin, Director of Additive
Manufacturing Sales, Renishaw
What trends / customer requirements
are driving developments in your product
area?
JM: One of the major trends driving
additive manufacturing is material
science. The materials that are used in
the 3D printing process, when coupled
with novel designs only possible with 3D
aerospace, consumer goods, and
robotics, so the demand for engineeringgrade
materials is high. As a result,
we have been developing advanced
materials that address their needs, such
as Nylon Carbon Fiber, PC-ABS and
PC-ABS FR. We have also partnered with
leading global materials companies,
including BASF, Kimya, Mitsubishi
Chemical, Polymaker, Lehvoss, and
Jabil, to launch MakerBot LABS for
METHOD, an open materials platform
that lets our users print a variety of
specialty materials, future-proofing their
investment in a 3D printing platform.
BA: In many market-sectors additive
manufacturing (AM) has progressed
beyond being simply an interesting
technology for researchers, to
becoming embedded into mainstream
manufacturing. As such the drivers for
the use of the technology are the same as
for any other production process, which
is cost per part and quality. This means
that there is a growing requirement for
sensibly priced multi-laser systems that
can guarantee good quality parts on a
consistent basis and high productivity.
Give one or two examples of how your
products are helping customers meet the
challenges that they are facing?
JM: Formlabs were instrumental in
helping University of South Florida
Health and Northwell Health, the largest
health provider in New York State,
develop a 3D printed nasal swab to be
used to test for COVID-19. Formlabs 3D
printers enabled these hospital systems
to rapidly prototype the design and go on
to produce them in large volume. Also,
Formlabs’ 3D printers enabled Ashley
Furniture to iterate on the shop floor in
real time. Ashley Furniture is doing 10%
more business and has eliminated the
need for outsourced manufacturing,
bringing lead times down from 3-4
weeks to 15.5 hours and reducing costs
from $10 to $5.90 per part.
DV: All Axis Robotics, a machine shop
and leader in turnkey robotics and
automation solutions for other machine
shops, uses the MakerBot METHOD
X to produce custom tooling parts -
significantly reducing lead times for
its bespoke end-effector designs. This
ability to create custom solutions for
customers has helped All Axis Robotics
JASON FORD reports
Desktop
factory
MakerBot is one
of the world
leaders in the
desktop 3D
printing market
printing, enable customers to develop
products that perform better than those
created through traditional means of
manufacturing. Material science is
impacting every application 3D printing
can be used for - from healthcare to
engineering. In the healthcare use case
in particular, the customer need for
biocompatible materials is driving the
industry to create plastics that are ISO
13485 certified.
DV: Our products are developed with
customers’ needs in mind. We work with
companies that operate across different
industries, including automotive,
Jennifer Milne
Formlabs
Dave Veisz
MakerBot
Bryan Austin
Renishaw
/www.theengineer.co.uk