Tag Archives: additive manufacturing
US Patent Office to Hold 3D Printing Partnership Meeting in January
The U.S. Department of Commerce’s United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will host an Additive Manufacturing Partnership Meeting on Wednesday, January 23, 2013 at the Alexandria campus. Additive manufacturing, sometimes called “3D printing,” refers to a group of new technologies that create objects from 3D computer models, usually by joining thin materials, layer upon layer. In addition to serving as a forum for users sharing ideas, experiences, and insights in the emerging field, the meeting will elicit discussions on how the USPTO can improve and expand its relationship with individual users.
Additive manufacturing is used in the fields of jewelry, footwear, architecture, engineering and construction, automotive, aerospace, dental and medical industries, education, geographic information systems, civil engineering, and many others. Representatives from 3D Systems, Sratasys and MakerBot will also be on site to provide an overview of the application of additive manufacturing in different technologies and demonstrations of 3D printers.
What: Additive Manufacturing Partnership Meeting
When: January 23, 2013 at 1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. EDT
Where:
USPTO Campus, Madison North Auditorium
600 Dulany Street
Alexandria, VA 22314
Space is limited and registration will be done on a first-come first-served basis. Please RSVP by e-mail to jill.warden@uspto.gov or maria.ewald@uspto.gov, or by telephone to Jill Warden at (571) 272-1267 or Veronica Ewald at (571) 272-8519 to confirm your attendance.
Via USPTO.gov.
Objet Showcases Exquisite 3D Printing Applications at the 3D Print Show
Objet Showcases Exquisite Examples of Professional 3D Printing Applications at the 3D Print Show
Two pieces from Neri Oxman’s ‘Imaginary Beings: Mythologies of the Not Yet‘ series, recently exhibited at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, take centre stage on the Objet stand (P19 Level 2, Porter Tun Room). Printed using Objet’s unique Connex multi-material 3D printing technology, Oxman explains why the process was significant in the development of the pieces, “Objet 3D printing technology was extremely important in dreaming up this project. It wasn’t about generating forms and then using 3D printing to print them. It was really about using multi-material technology as an opportunity to think about how to make these ‘contraptions’ or ‘wearable myths’ mythical, and how to actually make them work better as products or objects for the human body.”
Legacy Effects’ Jason Lopes, another Objet technology user, explains how 3D printing is used within the business in two seminars on Saturday 20th October 15:00-16:00 and Sunday 21st October 11:00-12:00. An award winning full service character design, make-up and animatronic studio, Legacy Effects’ work can be seen feature films such as Avatar, Iron Man II, Shutter Island, Alice in Wonderland, and Thor and has been nominated for an Academy Award® for Iron Man. With Objet Eden and Objet Connex multi-material 3D printers, Lopes’ team is able to react to short deadlines, cater for multiple projects and make changes and different versions easily with quick conversion from scan files: “The best thing about 3D printing for me and my team is that our customers and actors can interact and try out the fit of our concept designs. When we produce character suits, creature mock ups and make-up effects, the materials are so durable and workable they can really see how it’s going to work out for them on set.”
Designer Daniel Hilldrup will also feature Objet 3D printed work at the show. ‘Flux‘, appearing in the 3D Printshow’s art gallery, was produced on an Objet Connex multi-material 3D Printer.
Described by Hilldrup as “a statement on the transference of energy and its transition and total transformation from one physical state and form into another”, Flux depicts black candle wax melting into the liquid base of a candelabra, captured, like a fossil, at a specific moment in time.
“We’re delighted to count Objet among the exhibitors at the 3D Printshow,” says Kerry Hogarth, founder of the 3D Printshow. “As a leading player in the 3D printing community, providing professional equipment for rapid prototyping and additive manufacturing, Objet makes an excellent addition to the show.”
Below is a video of the Objet Connex in action.
Via Sacramento Bee.
Forbes 3D Printing Interview with Shapeways CEO Peter Weijmarshausen
Forbes recently sat down with Shapeways CEO Peter Weijmarshausen to talk about 3D printing.
In his remarks, Weijmarshausen compared traditional manufacturing processes to the innovative approach of additive manufacturing, or 3D printing.
3D printing technology was commercially invented in 1989, and had been in use for prototyping for a number of years. So, in that traditional design process, designers might have actually used 3D printers to make product prototypes. But the costs have come down a lot, and the materials these printers can work with have expanded from plastics to materials like stainless steel, silver, ceramics, and glass – with many more coming. And the answer to that original question turned out to be “absolutely yes.” There are an amazing number of real products that can be made directly with this technology. For example, my iPhone case is 3D printed. My cufflinks are 3D printed. Even my coffee cup is 3D printed.
Weijmarshausen also gave his predictions about the future.
In many ways. Think back to what we discussed about how mass manufactured products are made, and I can tell you there are inherent benefits to direct-from-digital manufacturing. First, the time from concept to actual product is condensed from years to a matter of days. We have one user who launched an iPad cover four days after the iPad launched in 2010. He didn’t have any help from Apple – he just bought an iPad in the store and designed a beautiful cover in a few days and then made it commercially available on Shapeways. So, the time to market is compressed immensely. The other key aspect is that the risk of going to market is almost non-existent, because your investment is only the design of the product itself.
The other big thing about 3D printing is the freedom it offers. For almost 100 years, designers have been trained to think within the limits of traditional manufacturing technology. 3D printing allows you to make incredibly complex designs at no additional cost: interlocking components, naturally hinged parts, semi-translucent surfaces, and even objects that can move on their own without assembly (like the strandbeest). You can make things that were not even possible before. And one of the most exciting things for me is to see young designers in schools being directly influenced by the availability of this technology. We will see products emerge that we’ve never imagined before – mind blowing shapes and solutions. I can’t wait to see what will happen in the next five years.
Read the full interview at Forbes.
Peter Weijmarshausen photo by Dave Pinter used under Creative Commons license.
America Will Lead the Future of Manufacturing, China Will Follow
In a fantastic opinion piece by technology entrepreneur and academic Vivek Wadhwa, the case is made that America will be the center of manufacturing, not China. This won’t happen through increasing Chinese labor costs or monetary policy, but through American innovation in technology. Specific innovations cited include robotics, AI, 3D printing, and nanotechnology.
Below are Wadhwa’s thoughts on 3D printing:
A type of manufacturing called “additive manufacturing” is now making it possible to cost-effectively “print” products. In conventional manufacturing, parts are produced by humans using power-driven machine tools, such as saws, lathes, milling machines, and drill presses, to physically remove material until you’re left with the shape desired. This is a cumbersome process that becomes more difficult and time-consuming with increasing complexity. In other words, the more complex the product you want to create, the more labor is required and the greater the effort.
In additive manufacturing, parts are produced by melting successive layers of materials based on three-dimensional models — adding materials rather than subtracting them. The ”3D printers” that produce these parts use powered metal, droplets of plastic, and other materials — much like the toner cartridges that go into laser printers. This allows the creation of objects without any sort of tools or fixtures. The process doesn’t produce any waste material, and there is no additional cost for complexity. Just as, thanks to laser printers, a page filled with graphics doesn’t cost much more than one with text (other than the cost of toner), with 3D printers we can print a sophisticated 3D structure for what it would cost to print something simple.
Three-D printers can already create physical mechanical devices, medical implants, jewelry, and even clothing. The cheapest 3D printers, which print rudimentary objects, currently sell for between $500 and $1,000. Soon, we will have printers for this price that can print toys and household goods. By the end of this decade, we will see 3D printers doing the small-scale production of previously labor-intensive crafts and goods. It is entirely conceivable that, in the next decade, manufacturing will again become a local industry and it will be possible to 3D print electronics and use giant 3D printing scaffolds to print entire buildings. Why would we ship raw materials all the way to China and then ship completed products back to the United States when they can be manufactured more cheaply locally, on demand?
Read the full article at foreignpolicy.com.
American flag photo by Loving Earth used under Creative Commons license.
Vivek Wadhwa photo by BAIA used under Creative Commons license.
Explaining the Future: The 3D Printing Revolution by Christopher Barnatt [Video]
Christopher Barnatt of ExplainingTheFuture.com discusses 3D printing of today and where the technology is headed in this primer video.
Key topics in the video:
- Additive product creation
- 3d printing applications: eyewear, shoes, chocolate
- Digital designs marketplaces
- Local manufacturing and reduced shipping costs
- Reduced waste in the manufacturing process
- Decomposition and digital recycling
- Open-source hardware designs and DIY
- Low-cost 3D printers targeted at mainstream consumers
