Additive Manufacturing

RapidMade Featured in U.S. News Article on 3D Printing

RapidMade's founders were recently interviewed by U.S. News and World for an article explaining how 3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, has helped entrepreneurs innovate.

Here's an excerpt from the story which was published on line this week:

Renee and Mark Eaton, with their son Micah Chaban, founded RapidMade, a 3-D printing, manufacturing and engineering company, based in Portland, Oregon, in 2011. About to graduate from the University of Oregon, Chaban told his parents he was contemplating job searching in Germany. Living in England at the time, the Eatons had read an article in “The Economist” on 3-D printing and the idea for RapidMade was born.

’We had both worked in manufacturing for years and were disheartened that so many kids were gravitating to lower-paying service jobs because high-tech manufacturing jobs either weren’t well known or readily available,’ Renee Eaton, chief executive officer of RapidMade, wrote in an email.

’During our careers, we had both been forced to close or downsize plants and relocate production, so we wanted very much to bring back manufacturing. We thought Additive Manufacturing (3D printing) was a great local and sustainable way to do that.’

She explained that entrepreneurs can develop and evaluate a design in little time with rapid prototyping and that by using 3-D printing to create tools, they can decrease lead times and cost. Most of RapidMade’s customers are new to 3-D printing, and the company’s engineers can help determine the best technology to create a product from a design, she wrote.

Research Study Demonstrates Benefits of 3D Printing in Surgical Outcomes

Study confirms value of 3D printed models in planning wrist surgeries

Study confirms value of 3D printed models in planning wrist surgeries

If you read our blog, you know that we are especially interested in the medical applications of 3D printing.  I've written a few times about its adoption in surgery planning.  Now a recent published study conducted by Italian surgeon Dr. Nicola Bizzoto quantifies three advantages of 3D printing a patient's wrist (distal radius) fracture before operating.  

Having an exact replica of the broken bones allows the physician to thoroughly plan the surgery in advance, knowing where to place screws and which plate size to implant. This preparation reduces operating room and anesthesia times.  Shorter surgeries save hospitals money and less anesthesia improves patient outcomes.  The model can also be used to improve patient education.

I only wish this practice had become widespread before my wrist surgery in 2014. The operation took longer than planned because my wrist was worse than expected - there were bone fragments that had to be removed.  As a result, the anesthesiologist had to fully sedate me, and I ended up spending New Year's Eve in the hospital - not a Happy start to 2015, so while I hope to never go through a similar procedure again, I'm heartened by the increased popularity of 3D printing in medicine.

 

3D Printing Battles Animal Extinction

Ivory-look-alike artwork (Image Credit: 3ders.org)

Ivory-look-alike artwork (Image Credit: 3ders.org)

3D printing enthusiasts are using additive manufacturing to combat animal extinction on multiple fronts.  One Italian-based artist, Andrea Pacciani, is creating exotic ivory-alternative objects that she hopes will entice patrons toward her "sustainable, animal-friendly pieces."  Not only do the items look and feel like ivory, because they are 3D printed, Pacciani is able to create designs that cannot easily be produced with traditional carving methods.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) has also adopted the technology to create a graphic reminder that we won't be able to just 3D print more animal species if they are driven to extinction.  Its ad campaign, produced by Young and Rubicam, shows partially printed, like-like reproductions of an elephant, orangutan, and whale to communicate its dire message.

Other nonprofit firms, such as Paso Pacifico have used 3D printing creatively to advance their causes.  Paso Pacifico chose

to create 3D printed decoy sea turtle eggs to track and take down poaching rings, and scientists at the International Centre for Birds of Prey (ICBP) have 3D printed vulture eggs embedded with micro-sensors to learn vital information about vulture nesting habits.

These initiatives show the commitment and ingenuity dedicated to saving at-risk species and the potential and versatility of 3D printing.

Fashion Industry Gets 3D Make Over

3D Printing took another turn on the fashion run way.  The revolutionary technology was on display at the 2016 Met Gala "Manus x Machina: Fashion in the Age of Technology." The gala showcased new clothing inspired by myriad technologies; among them, 3D printing was prominently featured. Additive Manufacturing, another term for 3D printing, is a fashion designer's choice to enhance and support the unique geometry of garments. There is a variety of applications though, from remote controlled clothing to printable fashion.

New Balance Enters 3D Printed Shoe Race

Photo Credit: Brittany Herbert/Mashable

Photo Credit: Brittany Herbert/Mashable

New Balance joins Nike, Adidas and others in the race to gain a foothold in the 3D printed shoe market.  NB has announced a new $400 sneaker that utilizes additive manufacturing. As technology develops, shoe companies are looking for new, innovative ways to make shoes stronger, more comfortable, more versatile and adaptive. The sneaker touts a new porous insole that molds to the wearer’s foot. This is another example of how 3D printed wearables are becoming more prominent and how the expansion of 3D printing technology is spurring creativity in industry.  Time will tell if the industry has put its right foot forward.

GE Opens New Additive Manufacturing Facility in Pittsburgh

As Pittsburgh natives, we've been awaiting the Opening of GE's New Additive Manufacturing Facility there.  The Grand Opening was earlier this week.  Officially named the Center for Additive Technology Advancement (CATA), the plant is officially located southwest of the city near the airport in Findlay Township.  The move symbolizes GE's belief that improving the speed and effectiveness of additive manufacturing will give it a strategic advantage.  Just "down the road" from Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh - Hail Pitt - perhaps GE will collaborate with these schools on AM research.

According to Business Wire, 

The new facility represents a $39 million investment over three years and will result in the creation of 50 high-tech engineering jobs initially, in disciplines ranging from mechanical and electrical to systems and software engineering. This is GE’s first multi-modal site in the U.S., designed as an innovation hub offering training and development in both design and applications.

Having lived through the repeated Pittsburgh-based plant closings of the 80s and 90s, personally we're hoping this is just the beginning of a bright, high-tech renaissance for SW Pennsylvania.  

3D Printed Iceman Heats Up Museum Display

Photo Credit: 3Dprintingindustry.com

Photo Credit: 3Dprintingindustry.com

One popular application of 3D printing is creating exact reproductions of antiquities.  As is often the case, museums want to display artifacts but face challenges making priceless objects available to the public.  The latest example of this technique is the recreation of the Iceman.  

Ötzi - the Iceman, the oldest European mummy, was replicated by Additive Manufacturing. Two 3D replicas have been made for display at the South Tyrol Museum in Italy. Using CAT scans taken of Ötzi, the models were rendered and printed using 3D engineering and manufacturing techniques. Once printed and assembled, a rubber mold was applied to the replicas, which were then sculpted and painted. Because Ötzi needs to be preserved, he will be stored in stable conditions while visitors of the museum can see these identical models.

3D Printing Makes Custom Solder-Free Circuit Boards Cleaner and Easier

It is now easy to make your own custom solder-free circuit boards through 3D printing. An independent creator on DIY website Instructables has 3D printed its own personally designed circuit board. The circuit board was created in CAD, printed, and its trace channels lined with conductive material. Once built, this circuit board does not require solder to establish working electrical connections, an easier and cleaner way of building your own circuit boards. This is perfect for hobbyists but also indicative of the many custom applications 3D printing can have in technology development. Read the article for more details on how to build your own custom circuit board.

RapidMade Expands Services Offered

3D Printing, Manufacturing and Engineering

RapidMade's services now include:


Product Design and Engineering

  • Simple static part design to fully automated mechanical and electrical equipment
  • Design for prototyping and manufacture
  • In-house prototyping capabilities for faster iterations and overnight customer feedback
  • 2D and 3D drawings, tolerance and other manufacturing specifications, technology transfer and patent application documentation, equipment manuals, FDA and other compliance as well as other specialized engineering work

Rapid Prototyping

  • 3D printing, quick-turn machining, traditional metal and plastic forming, short-run castings
  • Thermoset and thermoplastic manufacturing, hard and soft metals, composites available
  • Full-color concept models, functional prototypes, assembly and embedded electronics
  • Quotes generally in under 24 hours, parts in days

Contract Manufacturing

  • Production quantities ranging from one to tens of thousands
  • A multitude of available manufacturing processes 
  • Expertise in selecting the right manufacturing process for you
  • Personalized attention to detail and top quality customer service
  • Tooling and part library for easy re-orders

3D Scanning and Reverse Engineering

  • Extremely high accuracy 3D digitization of parts as a reproducible STL file
  • Available reverse engineering to create fully defined parametric files and 2D dimensioned drawings
  • Inspection of manufactured goods to identify deviation from the original design
  • Full-color scans also available

Industrial Pattern and Toolmaking

  • Highly accurate tools in days, not months - at a lower cost
  • Patterns and tools available for all standard manufacturing processes: Injection molding, urethane casting, sand and investment casting, sheet metal stamping, plastic forming and much more
  • Additional finishing capabilities available

Displays, Exhibits and Promotions

  • Full color 3D printing can be done as quickly as under 24 hours
  • Print directly from renderings in CAD or BIM modeling software
  • Great for architecture, store display and marketing customers
  • Very fine feature detail and beautiful aesthetic quality

Finishing and Coating

  • A wide range of finish options including paint, powder coat, plating, media blast, tumbling and much more
  • Clear coat and dyed plastic available for cost effective finishing of prototypes and manufactured goods

Use RapidMade to Rapidly Make Industrial Patterns and Tools

Epoxy and Silicone Molds are popular

Epoxy and Silicone Molds are popular

RapidMade Advantages:

  • Reduce Cost
  • Decrease Lead Times
  • Keep Intellectual Property in the US
  • One Stop Shop for Design, Tooling and MFG
  • Unprecedented Ease and Design Freedom

Types of Available Tooling and Parts:

Epoxy and Silicone Molds

  • Tooling in days, not months
  • Reduces investment costs for short run production
  • Lower material costs than 3D Printing
  • Reusable tooling allows for many castings
  • Many available casting materials, including but not limited to:  Urethane, epoxy, polyester, medical and food grade resins, plaster, and many other resins and composite materials

Injection Molds and Inserts

  • Injection mold tooling in days to weeks, not months
  • Very inexpensive part cost
  • Tool life from 10k+ unit from prototype tooling to hundreds of thousands of units from production tooling
  • Top quality aesthetic finish and mechanical properties compared to other Rapid Prototype technologies

Sand Casting Patterns

  • Least expensive way to fabricate quantities of small to large metal parts
  • Typical materials are aluminum, bronze, zinc and steel
  • Tooling can be produced in less than 1 - 2 weeks and cost a fraction of traditional methods
  • Capable suppliers of core boxes, follow boards, gates and risers and other necessary sand cast tooling
  • Unit production in days, not weeks

Investment Cast Patterns, Molds and Waxes

  • Highest quality of finish of all casting methods
  • Typical materials include aluminum, bronze and steel
  • Available tooling includes: master patterns, silicone rubber molds, and wax burnout patterns
  • Can direct print one-off or small batches of direct burnout patterns without investing wax tooling

Vacuum and Thermoform Tooling

  • Heavy gauge production plastics available like ABS, Polyethylene, Polystyrene and Polycarbonate
  • Light gauge packaging plastics available like PET and Polystyrene
  • Can form parts up to 12 feet long
  • Prototype tooling available in as little as a couple of days
  • Production tooling is good for over 100,000 forms and is porous for highest part quality

Carbon Fiber, Fiberglass and Other Composite Tools

  • Decrease tooling and mold lead time compared to traditional methods
  • Increase complexity of design without increasing cost
  • Soluble cores available for hollow parts
  • Waxed finishes available for easy de-molding
  • Save money on prototype and production tools

Sheet Metal Stamping and Forming Tools

  • Very low cost tooling for small batches of sheet metal parts
  • Male and female tooling available for traditional two die stamping as well as single die hydro-forming
  • Tools delivered in a fraction of the time compared to traditional methods
  • Inexpensive and durable composite tooling available as castings from pattern

Robotic Arm End Effectors

  • Custom tooling that fits any part with complex internal geometries like vacuum channels
  • Reduce weight, inertia and material waste during fabrication
  • Simplified designs are easier to engineer, manufacture and assemble - cutting down on cost and time for tooling fabrication
  • Improve tool life by cutting down on breakable components

Molded Paper Pulp Packaging Tools

  • Get high accuracy tooling for a fraction of the cost of machined tools
  • Prototype tooling can also be used as permanent tooling good for thousands or even tens of thousands of molds
  • Tools can be turned around in days instead of weeks
  • Tools can be used as patterns to make tooling for multiple lines or facillities

Custom Jigs, Clamps, Fixtures and Other Tooling

  • Most miscellaneous tooling can be fabricated rapidly and for less cost using additive manufacturing
  • Use existing CAD data for the part to design mating tooling
  • Quickly test for geometric conformity or hold parts for post operations or inspection

Get a Quick Quote today.


Cut Lead Times & Production Costs with Rapid Vacuum & Thermoforming Tooling

Based on your lead time and production quantity, three tooling options are available:

  1. Prototype 3D Printed Tooling:
    1. 24-hour turnaround possible
    2. 30-100 forms
    3. Variety of material and finish options
    4. Reduced cost and lead time compared to traditional tooling
  2. Prototype CNC Foam Tooling:
    1. 1-2 week turnaround
    2. 30-100 forms
    3. Suited to larger parts
    4. Extremely accurate
    5. Significant cost and lead time savings over permanent tooling
  3. Production CNA Aluma-Tek Composite Tooling:
    1. 2-4 week turnaround
    2. 100,000 forms
    3. Very steep angle undercuts
    4. Range of sizes - up to 6+ feet
    5. Extremely accurate
    6. Faster and more economical than machined aluminum

Contact RapidMade to learn more.

RapidMade Selected One of Oregon's Top Manufacturers by Portland Business Journal

Come join us this Thursday to celebrate (details below)!

When: Thursday, October 29th | 7:30 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.

Where: Sentinel Hotel | 614 SW 11th Ave. | Grand Ballroom

#PBJManufacturing

The Oregon Manufacturing Awards are intended to recognize Oregon Manufacturers. This is one of the few public awards programs for manufacturers in the United States.  We're honoring manufacturing firms from all over our region for outstanding operations, products, facilities, and most importantly, the best manufacturing workforces in the world.

As part of the awards program, Tim BoyleCEO of Columbia Sportswear will be joining us for a live Q&A with Publisher Craig Wessel. Tim is at the helm of the 70 year old sportswear apparel giant which his grandparents began in 1938. Although it is a public company today, Columbia remains a family affair. Boyle's 91-year-old mother Gertrude, aka "one tough mother" is chairman of the board, and both his son Joe and sister Sarah Bany are on the board. Tim started working at the company after his father passed away, helping his mother Gert run the fledgling retailer while he was finishing college. He took over as CEO in 1989.

Don't miss this conversation with this fascinating Oregon company, and discussion on where Columbia is headed in the future! 

Companies being recognized this year are:

  • Beaverton Foods
  • D.R. Johnson Lumber
  • Energy Storage Systems
  • Evo, Inc.
  • FEI
  • Indow
  • Microchip Technology Inc.
  • Pratt & Larson Ceramics
  • Premier Press
  • RapidMade
  • Shwood
  • Townshend's Tea Co.
  • Valliscor

 

 

Stop Waiting and Paying for Expensive Tooling to Test Your Rubber Products.

Decrease R&D cycles and save money by direct 3D printing with RapidMade.

How do you prototype or fabricate small batches of rubber, urethane or other elastomers products when?

Soft elastomers won't machine.

Fabrication by sheet lamination and gluing is inaccurate, weak and ugly.

Injection molding and other casting methods can take weeks to months and require expensive tooling.

Instead, 3D print your next rubber product design. RapidMade has successfully manufactured hundreds of gaskets, connectors, covers, plugs and other rubber products for a myriad of industries.

Advantages of using RapidMade for prototype and small-batch rubber product fabrication includes:

Fast turn around - Printed rubber products delivered in as little as 2 - 3 days.

Inexpensive low volume production - 3D printing has no tooling. Order as few as one part on short notice.

Multiple material options - Our 3D printed Thermoplastic Urethane rubber comes in shore 40 and 70 A durometers and a wide range of colors. Find our more about our SLS TPE material.

Multi-material prints - Using our polyjet technology, embed gaskets and other rubber materials directly inside of a rigid plastic assembly. Mix plastics to get over 100 digital materials ranging from shore 20A to 85D hardness.

During and After Prototyping - RapidMade offers expert engineering and design services as well as competitively priced urethane casting and injection molding options for larger volume production.

Fill out our Quick Quote form to get your inquiry started today!

 

Rapid Extrusion Prototyping - Fast, Easy, Inexpensive Alternative to Traditional Manufacturing

Prototyping extrusions can be difficult and costly for a lot of reasons. Many engineers have traditionally approached the prototyping of these two products through two means: machining billet into a close net shape or producing tooling and extruding the prototypes. These processes have large drawbacks:

Extrusion Machining Issues : 

Wastes a lot material and machining/programming time making them very costly in low volumes.

Struggles to mill certain features common to extrusions like thin walls, deep draws without draft and sharp angles.

Is very time consuming. Getting iterations of machined parts will generally either take 3 to 6 weeks or rack up heavy expedite fees.

Extrusion Tooling Issues:

Requires long lead times.  Creating tooling for exact extrusions generally takes up to 12 weeks to produce a run of prototypes.

Is extremely expensive for low-volume prototype runs, costing from thousands to tens of thousands of dollars for a tool that may only be used once.

The Solution: Additive Manufacturing/3D Printing

Prototyping your extrusions with additive manufacturing alleviates all of the issues presented by traditional processes.

3D Printed Extrusion Solutions:

3D printed parts require no tooling at all. Only pay per part that you make.

Lead times can be as little as a business day for plastic and a week for metal extrusion prototypes.

3D printed prototypes can do all the features with which machining struggles, walls as thin as 0.020", zero draft draws as deep as 12 - 14" (or longer), and sharp angles with no radii. 

RapidMade offers a wide range of material options from extremely fast, affordable and recyclable ABS plastic to metals like aluminum, stainless steel and titanium.  Interested?Get a quick quote

Now You Can Make Large Custom Parts Over a Meter Long

Voxle.jpg

Large Format Features include:

  • A max build volume of 1000 mm x 600 mm x 500 mm
  • Part resolution of 600 dots per inch.
  • Standard Layer Thickness: 120 microns
  • 0.3% Part Accuracy (min. +/- 100 µm) 
  • Much faster lead time than CNC machining of complex patterns
  • Saves on material by reusing powder 
  • Sand casting mold print material available for large patterns that would require complex or impossible cores and undercuts
  • Low Ash investment casting resin available with hollow insides for direct printed "wax" patterns with high quality burnout.
  • Acrylic epoxy composite material available for high quality plastic parts and models.
  • Avoid expensive waste and time consuming assembly associated with CNC machining of large objects.

Fill out our Quick Quote form to start your order today!

Academics Use 3D Printing to Rebuild Artifacts Destroyed by ISIS

3D print by RapidMade for Decimate Mesh Art

3D print by RapidMade for Decimate Mesh Art

Since ISIS began destroying priceless artifacts in territory it controls, archaeologists and artists around the world have been scrambling to salvage and, or recreate the objects being annihilated.  Recently RapidMade worked on one of these projects:  Ryan Woodring's Decimate Mesh Art Exhibit.

Closer to the tragedy, in a bold and proactive counter offensive, 

Archaeologists at Oxford and Harvard have launched a high-tech offensive against Isis by creating a full digital record of threatened ancient sites and artefacts in the Middle East by Islamic State.

Using 3D cameras, the academics  who've partnered with Unesco, plan to collect millions of digital images that will enable them to capture and reconstruct any piece that is destroyed. Their plan involves positioning "hundreds of the internet-enabled 3D cameras around important sites where they will take full photographic records from several different angles before uploading them to an open-source database online.

Given the wide-scale destruction wrought on the area to date, the project team recognizes that it is literally "up against the gun" to save as many antiquities as it can.

For years, museums like the Smithsonian have been creating digital libraries of their collections to catalog, study and share.  But this effort is one of the first geared specifically to safeguard artifacts from defacement or destruction.

 

 

 

 

 

What Manufacturers & Developers Should Consider when Investing in 3-D Printing

Here's a great white paper written by RapidMade Co-Founder and Advisor Mark Eaton:

Investing in 3-D printing technology can provide significant business advantages. Product development, customer value, manufacturing costs and product life cycle management can all be positively impacted by this technology. Determining where to make the investment requires careful consideration of the expected outcomes and thorough analysis of the business, processes or products that will be impacted by the investment.

For companies considering investing in 3-D printing, outsourcing to a reputable service bureau is a viable, cost-effective alternative that is less susceptible to changes in technology and materials than in-house ownership. The benefits derive from eliminating the initial capital cost of the equipment and the infrastructure setup cost to avoiding the operating costs of ownership and obsolescence issues relating to the rapid development of 3-D technology.

History of the 3-D Printing Market

The technology for 3-D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, has existed since the 1980s. Although the additive manufacturing market took approximately 20 years to reach $1 billion, five years later in 2012, it had reached $2 billion. By 2013, consensus estimates by Gartner and Wohlers indicate it had reached $2.5 billion. A significant portion of this revenue was derived from 3-D printer sales, but estimates by PwC and ZPryme indicate that by February 2014, 67 percent of manufacturers who responded were already testing or using 3-D printing.

Despite advances in speed, reliability and material availability, 3-D printing has to this point still been largely used for prototyping, testing and tooling. Although rapid prototyping remains important, the pivot to printing more fully functional finished products and components is the direction that analysts see the sector heading.

For example, GE plans to mass produce 25,000 LEAP engine nozzles using additive manufacturing and already has $22 billion in commitments, said Dr. Mark Cotteleer of Deloitte Services in October 2014. Medical, dental and automotive are other sectors that report increasing use of 3-D printing to create fully functional parts.

Yet, in a recent December 2014 Gartner worldwide study, 60 percent of respondents cited the high acquisition and startup costs as delaying their investment in 3-D printers. Of those surveyed, 37 percent had just one 3-D printer within their organizations, with 18 percent owning 10 or more.

The average number of printers per organization was 5.4. One interesting finding was that respondents felt overwhelmingly that using a 3-D printer as part of their supply chain generally reduces the cost of existing processes, especially research and product development costs. The study concluded that those companies who were using the technology for product development were seeing a 4 percent improvement in costs.

Types of Technology and Materials

Despite the widely held mistaken belief that 3-D printers can "print anything," commercial manufacturers and product developers are still faced with the reality that there are many types of 3-D printing processes. Each process has speed, part tolerance and quality-related factors to consider.

Similarly, each 3-D printer is designed to work with a select set of materials. Most commercially available 3-D printers (often called professional or production printers) are designed to work with either plastic or metal. However in the case of plastic, the material or polymer will vary depending on the 3-D printing process, as will the mechanical, aesthetic and functional properties of the finished part.

UV-cured polymers behave differently to laser-sintered nylons. In the case of metals, parts printed on a laser-sintered machine will have different properties to those produced on an electron-beam or laser-melt style printer. Complexity further increases when the user has to consider ceramic, biomaterials and/or materials needing regulatory approval, which may require not only specialized materials, but printers with unique attributes.

Most materials, often termed feedstock, are pre-processed to create the liquid or powder that is ultimately reformed as a printed part. The cost of materials is a significant factor in the adoption of 3-D printing. Depending on the material type, prices can range from $35 to $600 per kilogram; specialty materials that have unique applications can be much higher.

In many cases, companies that supply 3-D printers try to control the material supply using, for example, prefilled cartridges or other means. Of late, this practice is beginging to change as new 3-D printer manufacturers enter the market, alternate material suppliers emerge and machine owners determine how to override printer settings. In fact, the study conducted by Roland Berger showed that experienced 3-D printer owners had effectively created their own supply chain, and this was driving down material costs.

Traditional Manufacturing Comparisons

Three-dimensional printing is still in the early adoption phase when it comes to the production of finished components and products. Speed of printing has yet to match the rates of typical mass production techniques. Companies such as GE, Siemens and Autodesk envisage 3-D printing being used in conjunction with or alongside traditional manufacturing techniques.

The rate at which 3-D printing will supplant traditional manufacturing techniques, such as CNC machining, injection molding or casting, is openly debated and will largely depend on advances in technology, materials and software.

But according to a recent Siemens report by Sandra Zistl, "Even though analysts at WohlersAssociates expect the rapid prototyping market to grow to more than $5 billion by 2020, 'Money will be made with manufacturing, not with prototypes,' forecasts Tim Caffrey, a consultant at Wohlers." This assessment is shared by Bernhard Langefeld, a machine construction expert at Roland Berger Strategy Consultants and one of the authors of the study titled "Additive Manufacturing – A Game Changer for the Industry?"

What is also often a source of debate is the degree to which commercial manufacturers and product developers should own or outsource 3-D printing technology. Here we have to turn to traditional methods for evaluating capital investment and make-buy decisions. At the same time, we have to consider the risks of obsolescene, premature adoption of new technology, and the true cost of ownership.

In order to asses the capital investment or make-buy decision, we first must understand the expected financial and commercial returns from the decision, and to do that, we have to carefully consider the benefits of 3-D printing technology and where to apply it.

The capital cost of acquiring a professional or production 3-D printer varies tremendously. UV polymer printers vary from the mid-$30,000 range to $200,000 for the more complex machines. Metal-laser sintering machines will cost anywhere from $500,000 to $1 million-plus. It is also important to realize that just like traditional manufacturing, there will be additional costs for cleaning systems, dust collection, chamber gas-delivery and recovery systems, and for more sophisticated printers, complex material handling systems will be needed. Similarly, space and building requirements have to be considered, as do machine layout, material flow and cell design.

Three-dimensional printing is able to create a part directly from a digital file. However, this creates additional considerations because the ability to create an effective part is a function of the quality of the file; for example, is it an accurate representation of the desired finished part? Software that can manipulate the file to change the structure of the part or that can adapt the file to more effectively print the product is also available.

For each printer type, there is often a need for different types of software. The costs of this software must also be conisdered as part of the capital investment. Workflow software is also required when managing multiple files and parts if the production of these parts is to be efficient.

3-D Printing Applications

As this white paper indicates, there are many potential applications and markets for 3-D printing technology. In general, these can be 

characterized into four primary categories; marketing and promotion, product development and design; production elements such as tooling, fixtures, products and components; and business services.

When considering an investment in 3-D printing, determining the application or intended purpose requires the investors to make a careful assessment of their existing business, process or product. Secondly, it requires a clear understanding of the expected outcomes from the investment; reduction in product development time, increased customization, lower supply chain costs, improved quality, new commercial opportunities and added customer value are some of the examples often cited for investment.

For example, the United States Postal Service estimates turning postal processing centers into 3-D printing hubs could generate $646 million in commercial packaging revenue. However, reaching such a conclusion requires analysis and investigation of multiple factors as well as a thorough understanding of available technology, materials and software. In these cases, businesses are turning to existing 3-D printing companies such as Stratasys, RapidMade and Baker 3D Solutions to help them navigate the decision process.

3-D Printing Total Cost of Ownership

Having identified the need for investment in 3-D printing, the business leader is most often faced with the make-buy decision (or in-house vs. outsource). A number of factors must be considered.

Traditional factors such as the protection of intellectual property and the critical nature of the product or component remain important. Of additional importance is the degree to which the 3-D printing technology itself is evolving. In 2009, the FDM patents expired, which led to the launch of many low-cost desktop copies. Similarly, in 2014, the SLS sintering patents expired, and this is expected to impact the cost of these printer types. Three-dimensional printer speeds are expected to increase fourfold over the next five years with companies such as Siemens stating that material feed rates will improve from 10 cm3/hr to 80 cm3/hr.

While many 3-D printing manufacturers market and advertise the simplicity of these machines, the reality is that print builds fail and need to be reprinted. Similar to traditional manufacturing processes, there are usually post-processes required to finish the product. There are waste streams that have to be managed; support material often has to be removed, and production has to be planned to ensure the printers run efficiently. Labor operating costs are similar to modern CNC machines, although these can be automated if volumes dictate.

For a typical commercial manufacturer or product developer who is producing products constructed of multiple materials and components, multiple 3-D printer types will be required. It is not uncommon to require multiples of the same machine because print rates sometimes result in daylong builds. The Gartner survey from December 2014 found that, for those owning 3-D printers, the average number of machines owned was 5.4. For a simple product development, for example, it is not uncommon to need three different types of 3-D printers.

This total cost of ownership analysis and the recommendation to buy versus make is very similar to the analysis that would been done for a traditional machine tool. What is the labor cost to operate; what are the waste factors; what are the utilization rates; what are the utility and space considerations; what are the maintenance costs, etc. Factors that will also need to be considered are the material limitations of each 3-D printer type, the software and the pre-processing that is required along with the associated costs.

In most cases, there will be fixed engineering and operating support costs that will have to be applied over the planned usage hours. Consumable costs will include materials as well as print heads, UV lamps, lasers, build plates, support material, part-cleaning solutions, chamber gas, etc.

For many situations, the option to buy from a "service bureau" will be more cost-effective than owning the technology. As with traditional manufacturing, a service bureau can specialize by using one type of 3-D printer or by better leveraging costs over aggregated production volumes.

As a cautionary note, it is important to select a reputable service bureau. Not all 3-D printers are built to the same quality and their ability to maintain build tolerance or part strength will vary. So it is important to understand how the part will be printed.

As with traditional manufacturing, service bureaus can be differentiated by those that have engineering expertise, a quality management system, a maintenance program and certified technicians compared to those that do not. Just like traditional manufacturing, there are print tolerance limitations that have to be considered in the design, and a service bureau with embedded engineering capabilities will be able to address these issues.

Consider also the importance of ensuring that the material supply chain is robust. Whether the decision is made to print In-house or through a service bureau, control of the material supply chain, both from a traceability and a material compliance viewpoint, is a consideration.

For mission critical or complex materials, organizations such as the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory can provide independent certification of the material. In general, because these are essentially created materials, their properties will approximate but not always replicate traditional materials. Having access to knowledgeable resources will help avoid common pitfalls.

RapidMade Hosts 3D Printing Summer Camp Students

Middle School students from Catlin Gabel 3D printing camp enjoy RapidMade tour

Middle School students from Catlin Gabel 3D printing camp enjoy RapidMade tour

RapidMade recently hosted 13 middle school students and 2 chaperones from Catlin Gabel's 3D printing summer camp.  The group learned how we scan objects and prep files and then watched prints being made on our Objet30 Pro, Fortus mc250 and Zprinter 650.  Later they were shown how 3D prints are post processed and finished.

What's the Difference Between Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) and Selective Laser Melting (SLM)

Samples of metal printed parts

Samples of metal printed parts

What's the difference between Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) and Selective Laser Melting (SLM)?  Here's one of the better descriptions I've found that explains it:

"Selective Laser Sintering and Direct Metal Laser Sintering are essentially the same thing, with SLS used to refer to the process as applied to a variety of materials—plastics, glass, ceramics—whereas DMLS refers to the process as applied to metal alloys. But what sets sintering apart from melting or "Cusing" is that the sintering processes do not fully melt the powder, but heat it to the point that the powder can fuse together on a molecular level. And with sintering, the porosity of the material can be controlled.

Selective Laser Melting, on the other hand, can do the same as sintering--and go one further, by using the laser to achieve a full melt. Meaning the powder is not merely fused together, but is actually melted into a homogenous part. That makes melting the way to go for a monomaterial, as there's just one melting point, not the variety you'd find in an alloy. To nutshell it, if you're working with an alloy of some sort, you'll go SLS or DMLS; if you're working with say, pure titanium, you'll go with SLM."

So in lay terms, SLM is stronger because it has fewer or no voids which helps prevent part failure but is only feasible when using with a single metal powder.

RapidMade works extensively with SLS and DMLS processes.  To learn more, click here or contact us.

Original release: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-06/dlnl-lrd061614.php