We have business to share in today’s 3D printing briefs, as Freemelt and Etteplan have entered into a strategic partnership, EOS has installed its 1,000th 3D printer in the North American market and a start-up of Digital Metal Casting has raised $ 8 million in a round financing. Moving on to research, Chinese scientists are 3D printing triboelectric nanogenerators, or TENGs, for intelligent vehicle monitoring, while Australian researchers are using 3D printing to grow skin. Finally, a manufacturer tried to build their own metal 3D printer, the results of which were quite interesting.
Freemelt and Etteplan join a strategic partnership
From left to right: Ulric Ljungblad, CEO of Freemelt, and Riku Riikonen, Senior Vice President, Engineering Solutions, Etteplan
First high-tech growth company Free cast, which is called the “catalyst for the world of metal 3D printing ”, and supplier of engineering solutions Etteplan have has entered into a strategic partnership with the aim of jointly developing and industrializing Freemelt’s next metal 3D printer. Freemelt specializes in powder bed electron beam fusion (E-PBF) technology and expects its next system to be custom-designed for industrial purposes, with improved productivity, reliability and robustness. The partnership, aimed at providing 3D printing capability to manufacturers worldwide, will build on Freemelt’s expertise in the design and construction of 3D printers, as well as Etteplan’s capabilities in engineering and software development.
“Etteplan has identified AM as one of the most important technologies for the future and we are committed to continuing to develop our AM capabilities,” said Riku Riikonen, senior vice president, Engineering Solutions, for Etteplan. “A close partnership with Freemelt opens up possibilities for deepening knowledge in the field and creates synergies with the potential to significantly increase the value offered to the market and to our mutual customers over time. “
EOS Achieves Milestone With Delivery of 1,000th Printer in North America
In recognition of the 1,000th EOS machine installation in North America, EOS presented Sintavia with a 3D printed commemorative award.
EOS recently took an important step with the delivery and installation of its 1,000th 3D printer in North America, especially the large AMCM M 4K system. The four laser printer, capable of printing parts up to three feet high, was installed at the metal fabrication maker. Sintavia, which owns 16 other EOS 3D printers and manufactures advanced propulsion systems for the aerospace, defense and space industries. EOS, which has been around for over 30 years, presented Sintavia with a special award designed by EOS Additive Minds engineer Jorge Cisneros and 3D printed on the EOS M 290 from pure copper Ti64, 316L and Cu to commemorate the Important step.
“This achievement is a milestone in the history of EOS and a testament to the accelerating adoption of additive manufacturing in North America. As the proliferation of AM continues, we remain the leading innovator in equipment, materials, services and education aimed at strengthening the successful adoption and advancement of AM as a large manufacturing process. public, ”said Andrew Snow, senior vice president of EOS North America, as well as one of its longest-serving employees.
“When customers buy from EOS, they are installing mature technology that is backed by more than three decades of experience, along with full support for all of their AM requirements. Although our industry is very different from what it was over 30 years ago, one thing has remained: EOS continues to be the industry leader, pushing industrial 3D printing in revolutionary new directions.
Foundry Lab exits Stealth with $ 8 million in Series A
With more business news from the metal AM industry, the New Zealand digital metal casting (DMC) startup Foundry laboratory stealthily released with the announcement of an $ 8 million Series A funding round, led by Blackbird Ventures and joined by new investors GD1, Icehouse and K1W1, with participation from existing investors Founders Fund, Promoted and WNT Ventures. The startup has developed microwave casting technology that can supposedly fabricate high strength cast metal components from CAD files in less than eight hours. If the startup can do what it says it can, it could enable a same-day turnaround and potentially make mass manufacturing industries not yet affected by metallic AM very happy, as parts made with the systems of Current casting such as die casting and investment casting can take anywhere from one to six weeks minimum. Foundry Lab will use the funding to evolve its team with new roles in software engineering, RF / microwave engineering, mechatronics, and more.
Foundry Lab CEO and Founder David Moodie, a former industrial designer, said, “3D printing is great for similar parts, but the world works on real parts and metal printing can never produce a real casting. I soon discovered that a foundry just didn’t fit into an R&D lab, so instead the approach became how an R&D team can make metal castings in-house without becoming a foundry. ? “
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Intelligent vehicle monitoring with 3D printed TENG
Graphic summary
A triboelectric nanogenerator, or TENG, is an energy harvesting device, and according to research, TENG-based self-powered sensing technology has many advantages over traditional power supply technology. A team of scientists from various universities and institutes in China and the United States was development of a 3D printed structural bearing TENG (BS) to be used for intelligent vehicle monitoring applications; It will act as both a rotating mechanical energy recuperator and a self-powered sensor system under high rotational speed. A good way to improve the output power of a TENG is to keep its working frequency high, which the 3D printed BS-TENG should be able to help achieve. In fact, the researchers concluded that using the BS-TENG, which consists of a 3D printed rotor and stator, could achieve speed monitoring accuracy of autonomous vehicles of over 99%.
“Here, we are offering a structural TENG bearing (BS-TENG), which achieves a speed of nearly 1,500 rpm based on the diverse design of 3D printing. It is essential that a BS-TENG unit delivers a peak power of 0.96 mW under an external load of 8 MΩ and, in addition, charge a 1000 F capacitor to achieve a voltage of 4 V which only takes 80 s at a rotational speed. of 600 rpm. The integrated BS-TENG network serves as both an energy harvester and a self-powered high-speed detection system for the safe operation of vehicles. This study presents an approach to improve the working frequency of TENGs and may offer new opportunities for TENGs in intelligent driving systems.
Australian researchers 3D print full-thickness skin
Flexible designs: printed scaffolds were very elastic and could recover after bending (top row); printed structures of various patterns (bottom row). (Courtesy: Y Zhou et al Biofabrication 10.1088 / 1758-5090 / ac2ef8)
In order to repair the wounds of the skin, which is made up of seven layers of tissue, scientists managed to grow the epidermis in the laboratory, but full-thickness functional skin containing blood vessels is another story. This is why researchers from Smart Polymer Research Institute (IPRI) at the Australian University of Wollongong, led by collaborators from Saint-Vincent Hospital in Melbourne and the Fiona Stanley Hospital and Western Australian Burn Service, has been use 3D printing to create a skin-like structure which can support the growth of dermal fibroblasts found in the inner layers of the skin. In one published study, the team showcased a 3D printing platform for engineering full-thickness functional skin tissue using a custom-designed ink composed of alginate and catechol-hyaluronic acid (HACA) . This ink balances mechanical properties and cytocompatibility (does not damage cells) with structural support, and the 3D printed hydrogel skin scaffold – with gelatin microchannels mimicking blood vessels – is very elastic and strong, and can recover after bending.
“There have been tremendous advancements in biomaterial science and cell biology as it relates to tissue engineering over the past two decades. Advances in 3D biofabrication allow us to merge knowledge in these two areas and organize existing materials in such a way as to dramatically improve performance, ”said Gordon Wallace, Director of IPRI.
DIY Metal 3D Printer with MIG Welder
Finally, a manufacturer named Lucas, who runs the Town of Cranktown YouTube Channel featuring ‘messing around in the store’ getaways, decided to try and build her own metal 3D printer, which seems like a pretty difficult project. As explained in a Hackaday message, his first attempt was basically to add a MIG welder to a Creality Ender 3 system, which, as Hackaday blogger Dan Maloney explained, “was by no means ready for the abuse he was about to take. to undergo “. In fact, Lucas himself called it a “janky setup,” and he wasn’t entirely wrong when he said goodbye to his trusty Ender 3 at the start of his game. first video, thinking the desktop printer wouldn’t pass, this poor machine has definitely seen better days.
However, he learned from his first impressions of melted and melted prototypes and set out to add improvements to his setup, including a better build plate, built-in current control with a non-destructive interface for welder controls. , a heat shield for the printer itself, a stepper motor instead of a servo and a real MIG welding feeder, which can push the wire much easier than the original spool gun than he was using. In his second video, Lucas attempted to print a Benchy boat, which took seven hours and started off pretty well, although it looked rather droopy at the end. But you can at least tell what it’s supposed to be, even though Lucas has dubbed his Metal Benchy the “most demanding paperweight ever.”
