In March of this year, iMakr premiered the Desktop Printing Show (DPShow) in its London store, exhibiting some of the biggest players in 3D printers such as Rokit, Fuel3D, HP and Ultimaker. On the back of DPS’ success, iMakr announced that it would be launching the Digical Show on 30th September & 1st October 2016 to fuel the demand for insight into one of the world’s fastest growing industries.
Founded on the bourgeoning fusion between digital and physical technology, the Digical Show tripled the efforts of iMakr’s DPS show from March, bringing together 30 exhibitors, and 17 guest speakers from across the 3D printed world to the fair in Parsons Green, West London.
Over 2000 people registered to attend the event, producing an estimated turnout of around 1000. For those of you who didn’t get chance to be there in person, or if you’d simply would like to refresh your memory on the industry professionals exhibiting at the first annual Digical Show, read on for a full rundown of the exhibitors at the show, and what they bring to the table of 3D printing, scanning and modelling.
3D Printing Projects
Italian based World’s Advanced Saving Project (WASP) returned to London following its popular exhibit at the DPShow. This time they showed chairs printed in only 8 hours by their DeltaWASP 3MT printer, intended for future use within the home.
Katjes Magic Candy Factory is printing the world’s first gummy candies in shapes such as frogs, Batman, and Will Smith’s face. The process takes less than 5 minutes, and all candies are vegan, dairy-free and gluten free.
The team from MyMiniFactory had three demos at Digical, the first showing drones made in collaboration with Parrot and 3DRobotics; the second, their live competition with BBC’s Micro:bit bringing coding into schools; and finally the team behind Scan the World that’s creating a 3D archive of the world’s art objects, one scan at time.
Suture are in the process of creating handheld medical devices, made using laser sintering. The director of the company, Alex Berry, also conducted one of Digical’s 17 lectures, speaking on ‘The integration of additive manufactured and commercially sourced parts for medical prototyping of complex devices’.
Mingjing Lin, a fashion designer specialising in the implementation of 3D printing in fabrics, had a range of her garments to show to Digical-goers.
And Dejan Mitrovic, the founder of 3D printing educators Kidesign, was also there and did a talk on Inspiring the next generation of designers.
SLA DLP Printers
The product of 5 years in development, the B9Creator SLA DLP printer from B9Creations, showed detail and skill in application to dentistry, and was a testament to the passion of its creator, mathematician an former US Air Force pilot Michael Joyce.
A rival in injection moulding, Miicraft 3D printers, owned by Taiwanese projection specialists Young Optics, were there showing the MiiCraft 125 SLA DLP printer.
In a Digical exclusive, photopolymer specialists PhotoCentriC were also there. They showed the Liquid Crystal 3D printer using Daylight Polymer Printing from LCDs only, rather than the usual LCD/UV light mix found in atypical DLP printers.
FFF Printers
Formon Core is a forthcoming user-friendly printer from industry newcomers Formon. With a focus on design and usability, the printer has a surprise feature that gradually unveils an object as it is printed.
DWS showed their XFAB® printer that uses the same technology as their professional models, and has the patented Tank Translation System keeping an eye on temperature, usage and calibration.
And finally, Raise3D were there showing their N2 and N2 Plus models printing most any filament you can get your hands on.
Kit Printers
French company Dagoma, were one of only two printer kit producers at the fair. They were there to show their DiscoEasy200 which is aimed at the printer-building novice.
The second kit company at Digical was Prusa3D. A key name in the RepRap community and Josef Průša’s company had a range of kit printers made with open source design.
3D scanners
First, a double offering from 3D scanning, printing, and engraving experts Shining3D. Shining3D showed their dental CAD/CAM scanner for modelling and impressions, and the Einscan Pro body scanner.
Secondly, FARO Design were also there, showing 3D scanning specially for the desktop. The portable ScanArm is a solution to problems faced in the product lifecycle management process.
And finally, the aptly titled Scan in a Box showed their modular, tripod structure scanner at Digical, complete with dedicated IDEA software for scan optimization.
SLS Printing
Sinterit launched the world’s first desktop selective laser sintering printer at Digical, and was the only SLS printer to be seen at the fair. The Sinterit Lisa impressed with highly detailed figures made from 12 carbon nylon polymer.
Printer Ranges
iMakr‘s dedicated stand had a showcase highlighting UP3D‘s Up Mini 2 printer & Up Box, the latest DLP from Gizmo 3D and the Pegasus Touch DLP from Full Spectrum Laser, which are all available from the iMakr store.
3DISON the small but mighty team behind ROKIT desktop printers were also there, showing the high-grade AEP plastic printer, the ROKIT Stealth 300 model and the Invivo bioprinter which can be seen with its iMakr team of research engineers below.
3D printing and software manufacturers Craftunique showed the Craftbot 2 and Craftbot XL, contributing enhanced connectivity and size to their standard Craftbot model.
Finally, Korean 3D technology company Hyvision‘s, range of printers at Digical covered The FFF Cubicon Single, Single Plus and Style, and the company’s first DLP, the Cubicon Lux model.
Filament
esun brought their child-friendly, low temperature eMate and eMorph filament to the fair, which is affordable, reusable, and environmentally friendly.
Safe, green, and four times stronger than the typical PLA filament, Floreon showed the capabilities of its Floreon 3D filament at Digical – a compound plastic made by fusing biopolymer floreon with polylactic acid.
And last, but by no means least in our list of filament exhibitors, Fiber Force brought its Italian-made fibers to the show, displaying a range of PLA, ABS and special filaments, including Woodforce, Nylforce Glass Fiber and High-speed PLA.
CAD software
Leaders in CAD & CAM software solutions Type3 were eager to show what their range of software can do for jewellery design. The 3DESIGN CAD is named as THE reference for 3D jewelry design, but is also supported by Type3’s 3SHAPER, and TYPE EDIT.
Multitool printers
Currently in a category of its own, ZMorph’s most advanced move to date: the ZMorph 2.0 SX multitool printer. In addition to 3D printing, the 2.0 SX performs CNC cutting and laser engraving all in one machine.
That concludes our roundup of the Digical Show 2016! With the success of this year its safe to assume that iMakr will be back with a second annual show in 2017. We can’t wait to see what this year’s exhibitors return with, and welcome the new contributors that are undoubtedly on the horizon.
Featured image: Visitors to the Digical Show, photo via: iMakr