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3D printing bigger than the internet


3D printing will have a bigger economic impact than the internet, technology specialist says

Manufacturing industries need to embrace 3D printing, which will have an even bigger impact on economies and society than the internet, an Australian technology specialist says.

Steve Sammartino is a digital entrepreneur and venture capitalist who advises business on how to adjust to disruptive technologies and the digital revolution.

While most of us have heard about 3D printing and its potential to improve medical treatments and manufacturing processes, Mr Sammartino says 3D printing will be far more than a niche tool.

He says it will transform everything about the way we live within a matter of years.

Speaking to The World Today, Mr Sammartino said 3D printing represented an extraordinary technological shift.

"The first time I saw it, it blew my mind as well because to see actually something physically get made layer upon layer in front of you is quite astounding. I think that 3D printing will be even greater than the information revolution because it democratises manufacturing for the first time.

What is 3D printing?

Find out all about 3D printing — a type of manufacturing that creates objects by building them up, layer by layer.

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"We're going to see desktop manufacturing in the same way that we saw desktop publishing and information transfer and so we can actually transfer physical products to other people who can print it at the other end, just like we would send an email or send a video."

But while that may be good for individuals, it will be hugely disruptive for industry, and Mr Sammartino said business leaders could not afford to ignore it.

"I think you need to embrace it. Like we've seen with the social web, the companies that moved quickly to embrace the new tools and collaborate with their audience have been the major beneficiaries.

"In fact, the idea of making and selling items is not nearly as important as the idea of providing platforms and collaborating with your end consumers.

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3D printing to transform everything about the way we live, says specialist Steve Sammartino(Eleanor Hall)

"So trying to fight the tide is kind of like — it's not a strategy that's effective for the manufacturing industry.

"The best thing they can do is work out how to use it as a platform and collaborate and get faster and quicker innovation by working with their customers and their supply chains rather than trying to fight the tide of the things that they used to make.

"Because we've seen with the social and informational web that's a strategy which simply doesn't work."

Mr Sammartino said even businesses that did not manufacture anything needed to pay attention to the technology.

"It's just a little bit like the internet. When it arrived we thought, 'Oh, that may be interesting for media', but as we've seen it's transformed every type of business no matter what industry.

An ear is fabricated with a 3D printer in a laboratory at Cornell University, in New York, in 2013.(AFP: Cornell University/Lindsay France)

"The internet is an important part of our business, and 3D printing, while we can't see exactly how that might manifest itself, there's no doubt that it'll change everything we do from just simple operations and the spaces we work in and in unforeseeable ways it'll impact, I think, most businesses.

"Even the way our homes are furnished will change and the type of things that we print at home. It'll even have an impact on our foods — we'll be 3D printing food. Smart brands will be selling components.

"Just like the ink jet printers get sold, you might have a chocolate company selling you the ingredients that go into your 3D printing machine to print things exactly the way that you want."

But making 3D printing more accessible will come with risks, Mr Sammartino said.

"One of the unforeseeable externalities is that I think that we have already seen 3D printed guns and one of the problems with those is that when they get used there's no safety concerns in the manufacturing process," he said.

"Is there a duty of care of the person sending the file or is the duty of care with the printing manufacturer or is the duty of care with the software designer that designed or scanned the file?"

He said it was an issue that needed to be considered by the Government.

"So you get all of these other legal issues that we're going to need to be very speedy on from a government perspective so that we're across it and we protect consumers."

Posted , updated 

who is the biggest game-changer?

Posted By Sculpteo on Oct 11, 2016 |

Last September, Forbes Magazine published new IoT numbers, based on multiple recent surveys. One of them, led by the organization CompTIA, focused on the impact of IoT on the business compared to other new technology such as 3D printing, robotics or artificial intelligence (see chart below). According to the CompTIA survey, the IoT is the technology that is having the most impact on the firm size and its success. Would IoT then be a bigger game-changer than 3D printing?

Let’s take a look at a bigger picture

First of all, the CompTIA survey is based on executive IT firms. The European consultancy Roland Berger led a study among French factories that showed similar results: in 2014, only 19% of them thought 3D printing could be useful to their technologies and competitive plants, compared to 86% for cyber security. In 2015, the ranking is almost the same, except that 3D printing is seen as more impactful than the year before. (see charts below)

From these figures, it seems that IoT would be more effective than 3D printing on business development. At Sculpteo, we believe that both technologies share similar interests, goals, and technological opportunities, but are also extremely complimentary. Not only because our president, Eric Carreel, is mentoring the IoT ecosystem in France! In fact, Sculpteo engineers have been working closely with and on IoT technologies. And many of our customers are using 3D printing to create their own connected device.

 

3D-printing and IoT are complementary technologies

Indeed IoT improves the 3D-printing technology while 3D-printing helps manufacture new and more effective connected devices.

3D-printers can be connected to the many billions of other smart devices in the IoT and controlled remotely. Here at Sculpteo, we turned our standard printers into connected machines thanks to a cloud service. We also managed to create our own sensors, measuring the effectiveness of our production tools and directing them remotely. These sensors are also used to control the quality of our products. You can imagine that giving the many engineers in our team, they insisted on creating themselves these useful tools and we can guarantee you they had lots of fun doing it!

Moreover, and more seriously, 3D-printing enables rapid design and prototyping. 3D-printing now makes hardware development move at an Internet-development speed! For example, Sculpteo now offers your printed prototype delivered in 2 days, which makes it easier for you to test it, work on it, and send us a new one to print faster than ever!

3D-printing not only reduces manufacturing steps and associated costs, but it also broadens the choice of materials for producing smart, connected devices on target substrate shapes and materials. Sculpteo now offers over 65 different combinations of 3D printing materials and finishes, completed with online optimization tools.

 

Next step: 3D printing IoT thanks to a 3D-printer

Exciting news! 3D-printing services have a new and demanding ambition: directly printing IoT. Wondering how? Take a look at “Project Wire”, an Autodesk design tool for creating 3D printable electronic devices, bringing us closer to being able to print electronics in their entirety!

The technology, fictitious for now, works with the Voxel8 3D electronics printer and would enable the design and fabrication of freeform three-dimensional circuits. Those would be fabricated layer-by-layer as a single object, rather than assembled from separate parts. The starting point is enabling the design of 3D wires embedded in printed models. “Project Wire” is working on phone antennas for the moment. The goal is to fabricate different antenna designs which can be embedded digitally inside of objects themselves. Such a technology would open new possibilities for fitting antennas into places that they couldn’t have been inserted before!

 

Our focus is 3D Printing + IoT + Security

To conclude, IoT certainly opens up a new world for 3D-printing technology, making the manufacturing process and the quality of the products easier to control. However, security stays the main issue. Our heads of manufacturing would definitely agree with Roland Berger: IoT technologies, from sensors to video cameras, are great, provided that they are completely secure and cannot be hacked. Sculpteo has always care about their client’s project and their confidentiality, that’s why we work on it in every step of our manufacturing process!

 

P.

S. They choose Sculpteo 3D-printing service to fabricate their connected device!

At Sculpteo, we produce a lot of very cool stuff and in particular a lot of parts for connected devices. Some of our clients shared their story on this blog. To learn more you can go in the Success Story section of this blog or take a look at these great examples that we picked for you:

  • Drinkmate: the smallest, most convenient breathalyzer in the world. It plugs right into your iPhone or Android device
  • Ubudu: a micro-location platform provider, helping businesses to better serve customers in venue, and developers to build compelling local digital experiences
  • My driving pal: a multi-purpose Device-App solution that delivers a suite of security, monitoring, and tracking applications for your connected vehicle
  • Ikilock: a new smart lock for your doors and your building doors

 

Russia's first 3D printing factory opened in Strogino Technopark / City News / Moscow City Web Site

Economics and Entrepreneurship

A smart factory for the production of various products using additive technologies has opened in the Strogino technopark in the capital. According to Natalya Sergunina, Deputy Mayor of Moscow, more than 200 innovative 3D printers are used there. They are connected into a single ecosystem that allows you to control the consumption of media for printing, operating time and other parameters. This solution helps to quickly produce batches of parts that are in demand in the food and light industry, automotive, medicine and pharmaceuticals, jewelry, construction, aerospace, energy and other industries.

“3D printing technologies have become even more active in our country after the departure of foreign suppliers. The new project in the Strogino technopark is the first such a large-scale specialized site in Russia. It employs more than 200 of the most advanced 3D printers. Their capacity is enough not only for the production of trial batches of products, but also for mass production. To replace imported counterparts, they are already making cases for electronics and other components,” said Natalya Sergunina.

Equipment for various tasks

3D printers at the factory in the Strogino technopark work on the basis of innovative additive technologies, when a three-dimensional product is printed layer by layer based on virtual model data. Basically, these are devices that create parts by melting and forcing a thermoplastic fiber through a forming hole. Such equipment is used to create objects of simple shapes with a small number of elements.

For the production of high-definition parts or those with a smooth surface, models with stereolithography technology are used, the essence of which is that a liquid polymer is converted into plastic using a laser.

Another type of 3D printer, where a high-power laser sinters small particles of polymer powder, is used to produce parts with complex geometries, including internal features and thin walls. Products made in this way are highly durable.

3D objects from a micron to a few meters

The factory is capable of producing products of various sizes and shapes, from samples of a few microns (for example, jewelry models) to large-sized objects. So, for a network of metropolitan supermarkets, engineers made a batch of plastic lamps, and for an online food delivery service, boxes for distributing orders. Other completed projects include building plugs, housings for UAV remote controls, hanging figures for decorating a restaurant, eight-meter statues, and various souvenir items.

Preparing a computer model for printing and creating an early version of the product takes only a few hours. It takes up to five days to produce a small test batch. Depending on the task, the finished parts can be processed on milling or turning equipment, applied with a textile coating, paint, varnish or a special reinforcing compound if the product is placed on the street. For overall objects, load-bearing frames are made.

“In today's realities, where speed is of the essence, 3D printing is indispensable. Creating a small batch using this method is many times cheaper and faster than using any other technology. If in conventional production only the manufacture of a product matrix takes from six to nine months, then thanks to 3D printing, you can get up to 50 thousand copies in less than a week, ”explained Vitaly Prosvirnin, CEO of the company that opened the factory.

In addition to speed, the main advantages of 3D printing are high product quality and low material consumption (for example, compared to stamping or casting, when the shape of the original workpiece must be changed to create a product).

Development of 3D printing technologies in Moscow

Strogino, the first metropolitan technopark, which turned 15 this year, also has a 3D prototyping center. Among the services it provides to businesses are the creation of architectural models, industrial design and engineering, 3D printing and modeling, molding of plastic parts, laser cutting, manufacturing of circuit boards for electronics, and much more.

In addition, in 2022, the Moscow Innovation Cluster created an intersectoral association of companies that develop, promote and replicate joint projects in the field of 3D printing and industrial design. It includes dozens of metropolitan enterprises. Individual entrepreneurs can also join them.

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Frequently asked questions | 3D printing studio 3D Skill

Home » FAQ

What is 3D printing and 3D printer?

3D printing is the creation (growing) of a virtual model in the form of a part. Simplified, this is like squeezing toothpaste out of a tube. The melted plastic is squeezed out of the nozzle and sticks to the table, layer by layer.

3D printer - is a printer that prints parts. Main characteristics of the printer: print area , layer thickness , with which it can print, print precision .

Technical principle of operation of a 3D printer: special control commands ( G-code ) generated by a special program ( slicer ) are loaded into it, then the printer executes them.

In terms of correct interpretation 3D printer is a CNC machine (with numerical control), that is, computer controlled.

The difference between a CNC machine and a 3D printer is that a CNC machine creates a product by cutting off excess from it with a cutter or other tool, and a 3D printer creates a model by growing it.

3D prints

FDM printing (thermoplastic printing) - FDM printing. The printing material is various types of thermoplastic. Thermoplastic is a plastic that melts at 190-260 degrees. These are PLA, ABS, PET-G, SBS, Carbon, Flex . The advantages of printing are the ease of printing and the general availability of the material. Disadvantages - relatively low melting temperature of the material and low print detail. Used for prototyping and for most orders.

SLA\DPL\LCD printing (printing with photopolymer) - printing with polymerization (hardening) of photopolymer using a laser or light. Advantages - very high detail, the possibility of obtaining transparent forms, coloring before printing. Disadvantages - the high cost of the material, its fragility and low printing speed. It is used in jewelry and medicine. ABS-Like is a type of photopolymer that is similar in properties to ABS, allowing you to print precise and fine details with the durability of plastic.

Gypsum polymer printing (gypsum printing) - printing by gluing powdered gypsum and applying a pattern to its surface. Advantages - the consumption of the amount of material spent is not more than the volume of the model, no support is required, multi-color printing. Disadvantages - the high cost of equipment, the fragility of the part, the high cost of equipment. It is used in art and souvenir printing.

SLS printing (printing with polyamide) - printing by fusing plastic powder with a laser. Advantages - the consumption of the volume of the spent material is not more than the volume of the model, no support is required. Disadvantages - high cost of equipment, low detail, poor surface quality. Used for prototyping.

What is FDM printing?

FDM printing That is, the plastic enters the extruder, in which the gears capture it and direct it into a special (fluoroplastic) tube - a thermal barrier. From the tube, the plastic enters the nozzle in a heated hot end. And from the nozzle under pressure, the plastic is squeezed out, where it cools and sticks to the table. The movement of the nozzle is carried out by motors under the control of the program.

3d printer model

Basic print specifications. What is the print speed and thickness (height) of the layer, density and type of filling pattern of the model, overhang angle of the supports?

Print speed

The print speed of is one of the most important characteristics, it is the speed of the printer nozzle, measured in mm/s. Naturally, the higher the speed, the worse the adhesion of the layers and the worse the print quality.

At high speed, the plastic does not have time to harden and take the required shape, inertial forces of the print head occur, resulting in deformations, distortions, print skips and other print defects.

Layer thickness (height)

Important to know! For most printers, the optimum average print speed is between 45 and 65 mm/s, depending on the design of the printer and the media being used.

When printing, the plastic is squeezed out by a “thread”, the thickness (diameter) of which is the thickness (height) of the layer , measured in mm or microns (1 micron - 0.01 mm).

Important to know! The thickness (height) of the layer is not equal to the diameter of the plastic thread (for example, 1.75 mm) and the diameter of the nozzle (for example, 0.3 mm), as it becomes thinner due to the tension of the thread.

The thicker the layer, the more layers are visible on the printed model and the rougher and worse the print quality will be. Modern printers can print with a layer thickness of 0.05 mm, the minimum value for satisfactory quality is 0.25 mm.

Print quality versus layer thickness

Fill density

To reduce plastic consumption and at the same time maintain durability when printing, the inside of the model is made not with a solid fill, but with a certain structure - honeycombs. The strength of the model remains the same, and the weight can be significantly reduced, and hence the plastic consumption. The structure of the internal cells can be different, by default it represents squares. This is the fastest filling method. But in terms of strength, a structure resembling a honeycomb is considered the best. The parameter that determines all this is filling density . In most cases, 20% filling density is sufficient.

Fill Types Model

Supports

If the model has some parts overhanging at a certain angle, then they can be deformed under the action of gravity. To prevent this from happening, supports are built - "pillars" supporting overhanging elements of the part.

Example of building a model with supports

The angle of overhang and the density of supports differ for different plastics. For example, ABS requires tighter supports and a lower overhang due to greater fluidity during printing and a slow cure rate.

If the printer allows printing with two nozzles, then a support material different from the main plastic is used to create supports. This allows one to be used as support material that can be easily removed. For different plastics, certain combinations of such materials are used, since if you choose the wrong one, there will be no normal adhesion between the materials..

For ABS , HIPS is used, which dissolves after dip printing in Limonene .

And for plastic PLA , PVA is used (actually PVA glue in solid form), which dissolves after printing in ordinary water.

PLA printed example with PVA supports

Wall thickness

The wall thickness of the part can be adjusted. A minimum thickness of at least 0.8 mm is recommended for strength and quality.

Basic plastics: ABS, PLA, Flex

Since the nozzle heating temperature is maximum 260 degrees, certain types of plastics are required for FDM printing. Usually they use ABS, PLA, Flex.

Plastic ABS ( acrylonitrile butadiene styrene ) is one of the most common plastics, produced from oil, often used in the automotive industry as plastic products (bumpers, dashboards) and for printing housings, parts and parts of highly loaded mechanisms. It is durable, it has a relatively high melting point, but due to its physical and thermal characteristics, printing with this plastic requires a heated platform and more deformations occur during printing than when printing with other plastics.

Plastic PLA (polylactide) - biodegradable, made from sugar cane and corn. More brittle than ABS, but it has the advantage that it does not require a heated bed to print and does not warp as much as ABS.

Plastic Flex - flexible, used for printing "rubber" products, when printing they require a slow print speed.

You can get acquainted with all the important physical and technical characteristics of plastics in the table.

Default print settings

Default settings are the settings for the most basic and important print settings that significantly affect plastic consumption, print speed and print quality. The cost of printing is calculated based on the default settings. If printing with other settings is required, the customer must inform which print settings should be changed.

Thickness (height) of the layer - 0.25 mm.

Wall thickness - 1.0 mm. Minimum part wall thickness without voids to form part walls without through holes

Fill density - 20% .

Print speed - 65mm/s

Support density - 15%

Angle of overhang of supports - 75 degrees Angle of a part of the part, above which the slicer will build supports so that overhanging elements do not deform under the action of gravity.

Position on the platen - at the discretion of the operator. The print operator chooses the position of the part himself based on minimizing plastic consumption, the highest possible quality of the front surfaces, minimizing supports and taking into account his own experience.

Printing cost calculator

The website price is for cm 3 . The price of 1 cm 3 is indicated on the page of our promotions

In the case of FDM printing , the volume is calculated based on the actual consumption of plastic for 3D printing, since the default model is 20% filled and the wall thickness of the part is -1 mm, then the consumption in most cases is less than the volume of the model. So the calculation is done individually? based on the wishes of the customer and the features of the model.

In the case of SLA printing, the volume is calculated from the volume of the part plus the volume required to build the supports. In most cases, the additional volume for building supports is 10-20% of the model volume. For a more accurate calculation, it is required that we calculate the required volume. Sometimes you can reduce material consumption by making the model hollow

Otherwise the required volume is equal to the part volume.

SLA\DLP\LCD printing with photopolymer.

The principle of printing of SLA is that a laser beam guided by a lens system hits a liquid photopolymer resin, which hardens (polymerizes) under the influence of light. In this way, point by point and layer by layer, the model model is grown, attaching to the platform and previous layers.

Important to know! And for such printing, supports are also required, but there are fewer such supports than with FDM printing and it is easier to remove them.

SLA printing principle

Printing program. Slicer.

Slicer (from the English. slicer - slicer) - a program that creates a file with printer commands to print based on print settings.

We load the model into the program, set the print parameters and settings that determine the nuances of printing, after which the program calculates the amount of material, print time and creates a control code for the printer (G-code).

Print defects. Shrinkage, deformation

Printing errors often occur:

  • shrink;
  • lamination;
  • small item failure;
  • defects after removal of supports.

Shrink

One of the most frequent defects is shrinkage of . What is shrinkage? When printing, cooling plastic shrinks, i.e. decreases in size from 1 to 5% of the total volume. Most often, this manifests itself in the fact that on large (from 10 cm) parts, the edges are torn off the table and the part is deformed.
Shrinkage depends on the type of plastic and the filling density. Some plastics - ABS, PC, Neylon have strong enough shrinkage, so it is not easy to print with such plastics, the result can be unpredictable and it is desirable to print with low shrinkage plastics: PLA, PETG, Carbon, SBS. It is also recommended to use 3D printers with closed chambers and an additional border when printing.
Layering

Lamination

Since FDM technology is based on layer-by-layer deposition, the layers can be seen visually. This is critical when printing souvenirs, figurines, and when printing cases and small parts.

How to reduce layering?

Reduce layer thickness (height). The thinner the layer, the less layers are visible. But the smaller the layer thickness, the longer it takes to print.

Finishing (smoothing) with special solvents or sanding

Using a non-laminated printing technology such as photo-half dimensional printing or using non-laminated material such as Carbon.

Small items not printing

If the model has elements (parts) less than 5 mm, then the slicer simply will not be able to create the correct control commands to print such elements. To remedy the situation, reduce the layer thickness and print speed.
But it is better in this case to change the printing technology to, for example, photopolymer printing

Defects after removal of supports

When supports are used for printing, defects are sure to remain after their removal. Why? Supports are connected to the part so that the plastic does not leak and an uneven surface forms in these places. Also, since the supports have a gap and a small percentage of filling, the plastic partially flows through them and forms "snot"

Postprocessing

The printed part is often not a finished product, but requires post-processing, that is, processing after printing.
Such processing is not included in the cost of printing and its cost depends on the complexity of the operations.

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