Today’s edition of Sliced, 3D Printing Industry’s news digest, features new powdered materials, Stephen Nigro’s departure from HP, Cody Wilson, Wallace & Gromit, Ricoh, solid oxide fuel cells, a heavy metal Thomas Edison and more.
Robo-Gromit, Swarovski crystals and Thomas Edison
An interactive Gromit dog from Aardman Animations’s classic Wallace & Gromit comedy series is causing a stir at the M Shed museum in Bristol, UK. Part of a 67 sculpture trail across the city, the Gromitronic is part of The Grand Appeal raising money for Bristol Children’s Hospital and the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at St Michael’s Hospital. Complete with a plasma ball nose and light controlling buttons, the Gromitron was made using additive manufacturing by apprentices and engineering graduates of UK metrology firm Renishaw and is on display until September 2, 2018.
In the latest development of the 3D downloadable gun debacle, online retail giant Amazon has reportedly removed a book containing 3D printable gun models from its site. The book titled The Liberator Code Book: An Exercise in the Freedom of Speech is written by C J Awelow and yields no results when searched on the site. Cody Wilson’s official account on the rise of the downloadable gun, Come and Take It: The Gun Printer’s Guide to Thinking Free is however, still available, and with Prime delivery.
3D printed dresses studded with 32,000 Swarovski crystals are highlighted in a new exhibition at The National Museum of Singapore. The dresses were created by Jamela Law and Lionel Wong of Baëlf Design for the museum’s DigiMuse digital art initiative. The dresses will be on display in Singapore through October 15 2018.
Addressing the wealth of digital and 3D printable museum artifacts online, researchers from University College London have published a paper proposing a code of ethics and standards relating to the ownership of the files. Published in Archaeologies journal as “Standardisation in 3D Geometric Morphometrics: Ethics, Ownership, and Methods” the proposal can be read online here.
GE Additive’s Arcam Q20 plus electron beam melting system has been put through its paces creating a twisting bust of celebrated inventor Thomas Edison. Arcam AB research and development technician Oskar Zielinski is credited with 3D printing the sculpture which is composed of 4,300 layers and took 90 hours of build time.
Stephen Nigro steps down as HP 3D printing lead, 3D SOFC development gets cash injection
Since stepping down from his role as CEO of 3D software company Autodesk, Carl Bass has been appointed the board of a number of companies including desktop SLA/SLS company Formlabs. Now, Bass has joined the board of directors at AI manufacturing company Oqton. On his acceptance of the position Bass stated, “Creating truly intelligent manufacturing is going to require people who are willing to approach the problem differently. The breadth of talent on the Oqton team is a powerful and unique combination. I couldn’t be more excited to be a part of realizing this vision.”
Also in company appointments, award winning Multi Jet Fusion 3D Printing company HP has announced that Christopher Schell, current president of the Americas region, will be replacing Stephen Nigro as the company’s head of 3D printing. The change will be effective from November 1, 2018. 3D Printing Industry has contacted HP for further comment.
An update of Ricoh’s Future of 3D Printing study claims that 7 in 10 retailers believe that custom 3D printing results in more satisfied customers.
Power source developer Watt Fuel Cell Corporation has closed an undisclosed amount of growth funding. The Pennsylvania-based company has a patented additive manufacturing process for producing clean energy solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) stacks, and intends to use the money to expand its production capacity and hire new staff.
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3D printed parts fro the Large Hadron Collider
A study conducted on the behavior of inkjet droplets could have the potential to improve 3D printers. A team at Binghamton University, State University at New York discuss a way to prevent the “coffee ring” phenomenon that happens in the deposition of an ink. Want to learn more? “Interfacial Targeting of Sessile Droplets Using Electrospray” is published online in Langmuir journal.
A 3D printed container of Enterprise In Space experiments is set for a suborbital voyage on Saturday August 25, 2018. The container was made by students of the “Building Creative Confidence” from the Grand Center Arts Academy (GCAA) in Saint Louis, Missouri. A livestream of the launch will be broadcast on YouTube from 1:00 PM ET via EXOS Aerospace.
The European Organization for Nuclear Research, CERN, has released a performance study of 3D printed spare parts for the Large Hadron Collider.
Biomedical engineering student Karli Sutton and Professor Benjamin Goldschmidtat of Duquesne University Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania have developed a 3D printing recycling system.
ExOne releases metal powder, new challenger approaches handheld 3D scanning market
Specialty chemicals company Evonik has confirmed that it is the developer of PrimePart® ST – the PEBA based SLS powder of German 3D printer provider EOS. The material has been on the market now for a few years, and is tipped to be the only 3D printable powder of its kind made from the flexible polymer.
Industrial 3D printer provider ExOne has qualified 304L stainless steel powder for use on its metal additive manufacturing systems. 304L is one of the most common types of stainless steel used in manufacturing. “By using the same metal powders that are used in the metal injection molding industry,” says Rick Lucas, Chief Technology Officer at ExOne, “we are able to quickly develop materials that meet MPIF (Metal Powder Industries Federation) Standard 35 and cost significantly less than parts produced using other 3D technologies such as powder bed fusion technologies.”
A new 3D scanning technology startup is soon to emerge on Kickstarter. A German company, Scoobe3D has developed a pocket-sized handheld 3D scanner that it claims can create 3D models without the need for post processing. The device uses the Time-of-Flight photography technique and polarized RGB images to create the models making scanning, they say, as easy as taking a panoramic photo. The Kickstarter campaign of Scoobe3D starts on September 4, 2018.
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Featured image shows Sliced logo over a metal 3D printed bust of Thomas Edison. Original photo via GE Additive
