Yesterday, the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) opened its Additive Manufacturing and Multifunctional Printing (AMPrint) Center, with the intention of making Henrietta, NY a global presence in the development of 3D printing.
Professor Denis Cormier is head of the facility, and brings over twenty years’ experience in the manufacturing industry to the role, having led research funded by Boeing and LiquidX Materials in the past. It is his goal to 3D print products produced by AMPrint faster than anything currently on the market, which is certainly a goal within reach considering students will have access to some of the most advanced 3D printing equipment from Optomec, Stratasys and Novacentrix at their disposal.
In addition, RIT also announced that it has acquired a MagnetoJet liquid metal 3D printer (seen printing above, gif via: Vader Systems) from Vader Systems for the AMPrint Centre, which is interesting considering that New York based company are relatively new to the 3D printing market. As previously reported Michael Petch, 3DPI’s editor-in-chief, heard the rumor that Vader would be selling their MagnetoJet to RIT when he met the father-and-son Vader team at IMTS Chicago in September. He also got to take a closer look at the MagnetoJet 3D metal printer, which uses an aluminum wire filament as opposed to the metal powders often used in the additive manufacturing of metal and, as the name suggests, also uses magnets in its liquid jetting 3D printing process, which is a first for the industry. Commenting on the acquisition, Prof. Cormier said:
We are very proud and honored to have the first MagnetoJet printer as part of the AMPrint Center. It promises to be an indispensable tool for the fabrication of metal parts and will greatly further our capabilities and help our industrial partners.
It could also be reasoned that including Vader systems in the AMPrint Centre is to encourage other startups to explore the potential of RIT.
The AMPrint center’s current corporate partners include GE Research, Eastman Kodak Co., Stratasys, Clarkson Unviersity, SUNY New Paltz, Corning Inc., and Xerox – who have been credited with providing a significant commitment to the facility, by RIT president Bill Destler:
The state’s Center for Advanced Technology designation, along with the grant we received through the state’s Higher Education Capital Facilities Program and a significant commitment from our partners at Xerox, made it possible for us to build and equip this state-of-the-art facility. The center will be a unique asset to companies for research, product development collaboration and the talent that they need to grow and compete globally.
So, watch this space. Discoveries from the multimillion-dollar facility should certainly be something worth waiting for. If you’re interested in the future developments from AMPrint and other world leading research facilities, you can sign up to the 3DPI newsletter here.
Featured image is the Institute Hall of RIT that will house the new AMPrint center. Photo via: Chris Cooper
