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RoVa 3D Printer

It was beyond imagination for both the company as well as the onlookers when ORS Solutions 3D printer named RoVa 3D completed their Kickstarter goal of $25, 000 in just 2 days. As of today the company has crossed the milestone of $100,000. RoVa 3D is the first multi- material 3D printer.

The printer is based on the company’s previous 3D printer named, MH3000R1. The features of RoVa 3D are as follows:

  • print dimension (in inches): 11.18” x 11.88” x 7.55”
  • Print volume: 1002 cubic inch
  • Foot print (without spool): 15” x 10.75” x 17.5”
  • Z resolution: 50um
  • print temperature: 450 °C
  • Heated print bed: Yes
  • Print material: PLA/ABS/ Nylon/ PC/ PETT/ +more
  • Number of print heads: 5
  • Cost per print head: $519.80
  • Cost per liter of build space: $157.80
  • Aerospace alloy frame for ultimate rigidity and long life
  • Liquid cooled print heads to prevent jamming
  • High torque stepper motors for faster and more accurate prints
  • Fully assembled and ready to print

The company plans to give owner of MH3000R1 with parts with the help of which they can upgrade their printer and for CAD499, the users will get all the upgrades that come with the RoVa3D.

The company launched a contest named “Name Our Printer” for their new version of MH3000R1. For the first two weeks they asked citizens of Canada and USA to send their innovative names for naming the machine then the contest was opened to the rest of the world. There were many entries but the name that got selected was by Joe Williams from Bay of Plenty in New Zealand. He suggested the name RoVa in reverence to the Mars Rover. The “V” in the name RoVa is capitalized in order to associate it with the number of printing heads that is five (Roman numeral V=5).

The printer is priced at $2, 599.

Image Credit: ordsolutions.com

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Impact of 3D Printing on Small Businesses

3D Printing Impact on small businesses
3D Printing Impact on small businesses

3D Printing is slowly creeping into the manufacturing industry. Right from the manufacturing of customized jewelry to creating human tissue and organs, 3D printers are all set to join the main stream of manufacturing. Bigger companies have been using this technology in their manufacturing process for quite some time now, but the smaller companies have recently adopted this technology in their production processes. This has been possible with the sudden fall in the prices of 3D printers and also because of the wide variety of application which these printers are capable of performing.

3D Printing technology is totally capable of changing the way we do business and could also change the theory of Henry Ford’s assembly line technique of mass production. If smaller companies want to use 3D printing in their production process they have to radically change the working of these three areas:

  • Production
  • Storage
  • Employment practices

If the necessary changes are made in these three areas then the small scale industries can benefit one hundred percent from 3D Printing technology. Let’s talk about these three sectors separately in order to get a better perspective of the existing challenges.

  • Production:

A 3D printer can improve the efficiency of the business production process, lower down costs and also improve productivity. In does not matter if the production process adapted by the company is an in- house process or an outsourced process 3D printing can bring about changes right from the raw materials stage to the finished product stage. Large printers are suitable for large scale industries but for the small scale industries there is a need for small 3D printers which are also cost effective.

  • Employment:

It will take a long time for the 3D printing process to be as simple as the 2D printing process but until then in order to print a high quality 3D print out there is a requirement of significant technical skills. This would require the hiring of a 3D printing specialist or a need for retraining the current employees. This element should be considered in depth before thus technology is implemented in the business.

Storage:

Since 3D printers can produce goods at a faster pace along with increased quality 3D printers can reduce the storage area that is required in the traditional manufacturing processes. Rather than stocking the products goods can be produced when there is a demand for it. Moreover this would lead to less wasted stocks. This would be an added advantage for companies that sell customized goods.

According to the research conducted by Gartner group, in another 5 to 10 years 3D printer would become an essential part of every household and businesses will sell their designs rather than selling finished goods. This would enable the customer to print his own items at home. With this new transformation in the manufacturing industry, there would be a considerable fall in the resources, labor and cost expenses which are incurred by the company. This in turn would empower the company to sell their goods at a very competitive rate. Ultimately reaching the win- win situation!

Image Credit: Ewan Munro (flickr handle: 55935853@N00)

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3D Printing helps the Oil and Pipeline Sector

3D Printing influence on Oil and Pipeline Industry
Oil and Pipeline Industry made better with 3D Printing

Oil and pipeline industry is one of those sectors that are considered to be very hazardous in spite of this; the fact the importance of this industry cannot be avoided. Pipelines can malfunction due to various reasons like corrosions, cracks or dents. Consequently it would damage properties, cause injuries and in the worst case scenario fatalities. So in order to arrest these problems in the initial stage and to secure the safety of the people as well as the pipes it is necessary to keep a constant check on the pipes. There are many organizations that work towards achieving this goal, in this article we will discuss one such organization which has managed to smartly amalgamate the oil and pipeline industry with the 3D printing industry.

A company named Industrial Inspection Systems Limited based in Ontario Canada provides automated Non-Destructive Testing and Examination (NDT/NDE) solutions to the oil and gas industries in other words it provides testing and automation solutions to pipeline manufacturers. The company offers solutions that enable the manufacturers to automatically inspect their pipelines welds in case there is any defect. If there is some defect then the defect is marked and an alarm is triggered so that adequate action can be taken.

The company from the very beginning has been using 3DP in their work place. The director of the organization said, “Prior to 3D printing, we had to involve a machine shop to create our system prototypes out of aluminum. With each change and improvement, the costs were adding up so we looked to a less expensive solution. We found 3D printing to be instrumental to our business, giving us the power to make changes on the fly, quickly and easily.”

After the company moved from their traditional methods of proto- typing to the 3D printed proto- types , “The biggest shock factor was that we could quickly print parts that would take a very long to machine. Saving time is one of the biggest benefits of replacing external machining services with in-house 3D printing. Machine shops work on multiple projects, so we entered a queue which often took weeks to complete. With our Afinia 3D printer, we can pre-prototype many versions of any item and save that time for developing innovative solutions and focusing on our clients’ success.”

After the considerable reduction in proto- typing time the company had enough time to focus in their other projects and also take care of the customers in a better way. The company has started a new 24 hours hotline number for the consumers and has also started helping training operators, system backup and maintenance. The director says, “We also use the Afinia 3D printer to manufacture cable attachment fixtures and enclosures for electronic components. All of our inspection systems are custom-made for our clients and many times we can’t buy these items off-the-shelf.” He also said, “We are looking forward to the time when Afinia offers a unit with a larger print area. Our existing printer comes in handy for so many jobs, so it’s no surprise that IIS would be excited to see a bigger Afinia 3D printer.”

Hope this article instigates some of the other similar companies in this domain to start using 3DP in their companies so that they too can reap the benefits of 3DP like Industrial Inspection Systems Limited.

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Effect of 3D Printing on E-Commerce

How 3D Printing influences etailing and ecommerce
Effect of 3D Printing on Ecommerce industry

With the fall of prices and technological advancements, 3D printers are selling like hot cakes in the market and have undisputedly made a bold entry into the mainstream market. The progress of these printers has outrun the expectations of the analysts with market shares that grew with leaps and bounds to $3.07 billion in 2013 from $2.2 billion in 2012. According to the Wohler’s report the annual growth rate for the year 2011 to 2013 is expected to be 32.3 %. Apart from Wohler’s another research company named McKinsey Global Institute’s research reveals that the market for 3D printer is expected to expand by 2025 to a market that has $550 billion circulating. Hobbyists are trying out their options of creating everything possible using 3D printers – from action figurines to home appliances, but the major impact would be felt by the manufacturing industry.

Since these printers are expected to generate a lot of money in the near future mid- market manufacturers, are already evaluating the viability of 3D printers to supplement their already existing supply chain system. The extraordinary benefits of 3D printers are attracting these manufacturers to incorporate these printers in their supply chain. This is being done for primarily three reasons:

  • To increase flexibility
  • Improve responsiveness
  • Cost savings

These three can be achieved by incorporating these printers strategically in the supply chain system.

3D Printing and E- Commerce:

The advancement in technology paired with the fall in prices is opening new opportunities especially for the e-commerce industry. There are a lot of online stores that are dedicatedly selling 3D printed objects and there are others that are selling 3D printers and related items online. Both these stores are in more than one way are increasing the popularity of 3D printers among commoners. Some big shots of the e-commerce industry are looking beyond the possibility of selling physical 3D printed objects and are planning to venture into the service arena. If this comes true then there would be a drastic change in the e-commerce industry with online merchants selling blueprints of the items that the consumer wants and ultimately the consumer becomes the manufacturer!

Ebay, one of the biggies of the online shopping business, has rolled out an iPhone application named eBay Exact. This application allows its customers to buy customized merchandise from three 3D printing companies. Apart from eBay, Amazon established a 3D product store earlier this year in partnership with 3DLT. With this partnership Amazon now offers approximately 73 products on its official website. These products mainly consist of jewelry and accessories for electronic goods. Amazon also sells 3D printers and their supplies such as filaments and spare parts. 3DLT also manufactures 3D printing template, that can be downloaded by consumers. For this venture, it collaborates with individual designers who create 3D printable files that the company sells online to consumers who can in turn download it on their computers and generate a print on their personal 3D printers. Since the technology has not become a so called “household technology” there is a significant amount of possibility that many people do not have 3D printers at their disposal for such people the company has a vast network of over 500 3D retail printers where customers can bring in their files and get the object printed.

Shapeways, another big shot in the 3D printing industry is one of the world’s largest market place for 3D printed products and printing services in a multitude of material. The company sources some of the product designs that are sold on their website form designers and hobbyists. The other companies that work on similar grounds are Sculpteo, which allows individuals to buy and sell designs and also provides a printing service.

Rocky Future?

Like coins, which have two sides and both the sides are quite different from one another but to complete the coin both the sides are necessary. There are a lot of opportunities that 3D printing has the potential to offer but it could be a possible threat to the retailers. With the entry of 3D printers, consumers can become the manufacturers and they will be capable of DIYing many things which in turn would later become the supply side of e-commerce industry. Companies such as Amazon and Walmart can easily reduce their inventory by adopting this technology in order to manufacture low- value or rare parts on demand.

Implications of E-Commerce Merchants:

3D printing offers these merchants with an alternative from buying goods from manufacturers. The designs can readily produce templates for products. The creation and maintaining of a flexible, responsive and cost- effective system of supply chains needs a constant evaluation for new strategies, processes and technologies. With the constant backing from intelligent operations and supply chain collaborations, 3D printing will definetly prove to be a wonderful supplement for the traditional manufacturing system but replacing the traditional system is not possible at this stage due to limitations of speed, cost and steep learning curve associated with 3D printing.

Image Credit: Ritesh Nayak (flickr handle: itsmeritesh)

 

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Airwolf 3D’s: AW3D HD2x Dual Hot End 3D Printer

Two is better than one! That’s the attitude that we all carry similar is in the case of extruders. There are undoubtedly many positive aspects that are there in a dual extruder 3D printer but the other side of the coin is quite unimpressive. Some of these ugly facts are that there is a lot of difficulty in maintaining the flow over the two extruders and also the alignment should always be similar in the two extruders for a perfect print out. The other very persistent problem in these printers is the maintenance of the correct heat level in both the extruders which has to be checked throughout the printing process. The other issues consist of drippings, clogging, unwanted system shut downs and the list is never ending. Dual printers are not new to the market they have been there for quite some time now.

When there is a problem there is someone who undoubtedly comes up with a solution to solve this problem. A company named Airwolf recently announced the launch of their new printer named AW3D HD2x Dual Hot End 3D Printer. This is a printer which the company feels that would put a full stop to all the annoying problems that the owners of a dual extruder head printer have to face. The key element of the printer which is the JRx print head is installed in the printer. This print head promises to make multiple extruders printing a happy experience. These extruders have their own stepper motor and are manufactured as a single piece unlike other 3D printers. The co- founder and chairman of Airwolf, Erick Wolf 3D said, “Our ultimate goal is to place a 3D printer on every desktop,” explained Erick Wolf, Airwolf 3D co-founder and chairman. “To accomplish this we have to design and manufacture units that include the features customers want at an affordable price. Our new dual hot end AW3D HD2x is the latest example of our commitment and our most significant product ever. We’ve engineered it to be a simple-to-use, hassle-free 3D printer that combines the versatility of two hot ends with the desirability of printing over 20 different materials including polycarbonate and nylon. Basically, we’ve built a $10,000 desktop printer for a fraction of the cost.”

About the printer:

This printer can print in two different colors or two different materials at the same time. The printer has nylon gears due to which the printer has a longer life span as the wear and tear is minimal. The build dimension of the printer is 11″ x 8″ x 12″, having a printing resolution of 0.06mm and a speed of 150mm/s. The most amazing part of the entire printer is that the company actually knows how to get their customers involved as they has pretty awesome perks attached with the printer. Such as a free two hour training session at their facility in California, a spool of ABS filament, a flash drive with their software and a set of allen wrenches which are ideal for adjusting the hardware. The printer is priced at $3,995.

Imagecredit: airwolf3d.com

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Is Moore’s Law applicable for 3D Printing?

Is Moore's law applicable for 3D printing?
Moore's law applications in 3D PRinting

The most ironic thing about visionaries and scientists is that whenever a new concept comes into the lime light, it is at first mocked and not taken seriously, but later it is accepted with open arms. Similar was in the case of Gordon E. Moore who wrote a paper in 1965 in which he predicted the number of transistors per square inch on integrated circuits would double every year. This prediction was made way back in 1965 but even now, it is taken as a benchmark by the semiconductor industry, and we can see the visible shrinkage in the device sizes year after year. Three years after making the prediction, Mr.Moore started the very famous Intel company, and the rest is history.

If the Moore’s Law is applied to the 3D printing industry, then in the near future, the 3D printers would become leaner, meaner and better. But the burning question is that would that mean that the prices of 3D printers would fall down massively? The answer to this is- “Most Probably”! Though it is not necessary that the prices of the printers would fall massively as often technological progress comes at the cost of an increase in the manufacturing cost, in the case of 3D printers, as the technology becomes more main stream, there will be favorable shifts on the cost side as well.

Mention of Moore’s Law

The CEO of 3D Systems, one of the giants of the 3D printing industry, most recently compared the industry’s progress to the Moore law. He said, “Printers are going to double up on performance and double down on costs. Expect printers to become real powerful home appliances. The train has left the station.” Apart from the brief mention of the Moore’s Law by Avi Reichental, this law has been spoken of by the Bank of America and Merrill Lynch.

In a recent turn of events a video was released by 3D Systems in which the company talks about the breakthrough that the company had made by breaking the speed barrier and being able to manufacture items at a speed faster than that of injection molding. The main point in the video was to emphasize on the fact that 3D printing speed is doubling every two years which in turn bring us back to the Moore’s Law.

Whether there is any possibility of 3D printing cars within hours or plastic toys within seconds is yet to be seen. But the way things have progressed in the past one year the application of the Moore’s Law seems to be apt for this industry as well. The most adventurous thing would be to watch if 3D printing trajectory follows the path of progression as stated by Gordon E. Moore for the electronics industry.

Image Credit: Intel Free Press (flickrhandle: intelfreepress)

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David, First Consumer Pellet 3D Printer from sculptify

Sometime during May the news came in that there is a company that is planning to develop a very innovative desktop 3D printer which would be capable of allowing its users to print with limitless material options. The printer would be capable of printing directly from the pellet feedstock and thus overseeing the filament middleman seen with FDM/FFF 3D printing. Now the same company named Sculptify which is an Ohio based company has come up with a 3D printer that has the benefits of Fused Layer Extrusion (FLEX) process. They have named the device as “David” which is an innovative 3D printer that works directly with pelletized materials. Since there are no filaments in the printer the printing process is very easy, cost effective and highly versatile.

According to Slade Simpson, Sculptify Co-founder and CEO, ““David is an incredibly versatile device that can be used by both consumers and prosumers alike. Sculptify believes that for 3D printing to reach its fullest potential, printers need to be able to serve hundreds of different purposes. We think that FLEX technology is the next logical step in making this possible.”

The name that the company has given to the printer is quite unique as it does not relate to the technology but the company chose the name “David” as it had some reasons behind it. Simpson explains, “We came up with the name David after being inspired by the famous sculpture created by Michelangelo. It’s one of the most recognized works of art in the world, and reminds us that with the right tools, anything is possible. We have poured our hearts and souls into this printer for the past year and a half, and we are really excited to get it into people’s hands.”

The technical specifications of the printer are mentioned below:

  • Printing Technology: Fused Layer Extrusion (FLEX)
  • Build volume: 20w x 22d x 18.5h cm 8140 cubic centimeters
  • Build surface: aluminum
  • Hopper Volume: Continuously Refillable
  • Nozzle diameter: 03mm, 0.4mm, 0.5mm (all included)
  • Extruder max. temperature: 330°C
  • Layer resolution: 20 microns for PLA
  • Positioning precision: XY axis: 8 microns or better, Z axis: 3 microns or better
  • Stepper Motors: 1.8”step angle with minimum 1/16 micro- stepping
  • Construction: aircraft aluminum Polycarbonate windows
  • Weight: 29 kgs
  • Product dimensions: 53.8w x 50.2d x 62h cm
  • Connectivity: USB

The company is expecting high level of acceptance of this product by the people. The company’s Director of Business Development, Luke Daniel, says, “David provides customers with the freedom to choose from an extensive selection of materials — which range from hard and durable to soft and flexible. By eliminating the dependence on filament, Sculptify can offer exotic materials and composites never before used in 3D printing.”

The company plans to go live for this product in the Kickstarter sometime during the month of August. Backers of this project will be able to buy the printer in exchange of funding the project. With this product Sculptify has placed a firm foot in the very dynamic world of 3D printing.

Image Credit: sculptify.com

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3d Printing has a role to play in F1 Racing

F1 Racing and 3D Printing
3D Printing has a role to play in F1 Racing

Speed is something that fascinates most people and when that speed collaborates with racing the amalgamation is just mesmerizing. Watching these high speed cars run on race tracks at speed which is somewhere around 200 mph can leave its spectators awestruck. At such a high speed problems are bound to take place and in order to fix these problems the team should have the latest technology available so that the problems can be solved at a faster pace. The problems can be wide stretched right from mechanical issues to issues that arise due to minor accidents. At this point 3D printing could play a crucial role in the repair of these high speed vehicles during a typical Formula1 race. Many companies are coming forward with ideas so that the influence of 3D printing can be seen in this industry as well.

Lotus F1 racing team, before partnering with 3D Systems way back in 1998, were stuck with the traditional system of manufacturing i.e. they made tunnel models out of carbon fiber, epoxy board and metal. After the introduction of SLA 5000 System printer the company had done away with its long and tedious methods of manufacturing which were both time consuming and labor intensive. The company installed its first 3D printer inside a race car way back in 2001 and it was such a hit that Lotus opened their first Advanced Digital Manufacturing centre in 2002. At present Lotus have five such centres that produce car parts for the F1 race.

Following the footsteps of Lotus, in the recent times very first company that pops in our head when we speak of F1 and 3D printing is Red Bull. The Red Bull factory which is located at Milton Keynes is churning out many proto- types so that they can get the extra edge from the other cars that run in the F1 races. The official Red Bull Racing spokesperson said, “3D Printing is definitely the future of F1, we could get to a point where we can print out a new front wing at the track if we’ve damaged one.”

Another car company that plans on incorporating 3D printers in their race machines is Caterham, a UK based F1 racing team which has been using 3D printing to model designs for the optimal car for race day. The company has recently disclosed that it has printed around 800- 900 parts every month. The manager of Rapid Prototyping in Caterham, Ian Prince says, “For the F1 team, because it is constant development all year round, we need these machines to improve the performance of the car.”

There are many other companies that have dipped their feet into this new technological field of 3D printing. Companies such as Lotus, Red Bull, Nissan and Sahara Force India are among the few that understand the actual influence of 3D printers on the F1 racing industry.

Among the most recent team that has accepted to involve 3D printing with the F1 industry would be Sahara Force India Formula One team which signed a technical partnership with 3D Systems in order to fully exploit the existing 3D Systems printers and reduce the manufacturing time and labor that is usually required to build the various parts for these speedy cars.

 

Image Credit: Sam Badeo (flickr handle: Sambadeo)

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Monoprice’s 3D Printer: Product Number 11614

Monoprice is a company that has over the years given the best bargains for cables to printer toners in the market. This large low cost e-tailer has recently stepped into the world of manufacturing 3D printer. Keeping up with its reputation of providing the best bargains in the market, Monoprice is offering a 3D printer which they call as Product Number 11614 at a price which is $1, 199. This printer is a dual extruder FDM 3D printer. The 3D printer is now available for sale online on the company’s website. By the looks of the machine it resembles the original MakerBot Replicator 3D printer.

About Product Number 11614:

The product has generated a lot of interest since the product has been manufactured by Monoprice which is well known for its earlier products which were reasonably priced and sturdy. The printer has an LCD screen with 5 keys of control. SD card and USB flash drives can directly be put in the printer. The printer is compatible with a wide range of operating systems and runs on the ReplicatorG software. The printer comes with a 4GB SD card and can print directly from the SD card reader. The negative part of the printer is the build volume which is considerably small. However the resolution is similar to that of the MakerBot’s printers. The printer uses materials such as ABS, PLA and PVA filaments and supports materials that have thickness up to 0.5mm. The speed of the printer is also very impressive at 24cc per hour.

Technical Specifications of Product Number 11614:

  • Case Color: Black Powder Coated
  • Extruder: MK-8 Dual Head with upgraded release
  • Plate: Heated Metal Build Plate
  • Print Technology: FDM
  • Build Volume: 8.9″ x 5.7″ x 5.9″ (225 x 145 x 150 mm)
  • Printing Material: ABS/PLA/PVA Filament 1.75mm
  • Layer Resolution: ±0.10mm
  • Positioning Precision: XY: 11 Microns (0.0004″), Z: 2.5 Microns (0.0001″)
  • Layer Thickness: 0.1 – 0.5mm
  • Nozzle Diameter: 0.40mm
  • Printing Speed: 24cc/hour
  • Extruder Temperature: 0-250°C
  • Heating Plate Temperature: 0-120°C
  • Connectivity: USB Cable, SD Card
  • OS Compatibility: Windows XP/Vista/7/8, Linux, Mac OS X
  • Operation: LCD Screen + 5 keys control
  • AC Input: 100~240 VAC, ~2 amps, 50~60 Hz, 350W
  • Dimensions: 18.7″ x 12.7″ x 15.1″ (476 x 322 x 383 mm)
  • Weight: 28.7 lbs. (13kg)
  • Software: ReplicatorG
  • Files Type: Input:STL/OBJ, Output:X3G

Special Attraction – Dual Extruders:

Dual extruders are usually for doing two color print jobs. At the given price range most 3D printers print typically in one color. Dual extruders are very expensive and since Monoprice is offering this facility at a much reduced cost the product has caught the interest of many. The cheapest MakerBot printer that is available is priced at $1, 375 so the price tag placed by Monoprice is attracting a lot of buzz.

Hopefully in the upcoming days there will be more retailers following the path of Monoprice and providing people with cheap yet sturdy products.

Image Credit: monoprice.com