The CAD Insider

The Consumer Market — 3D Systems Offers a Cautionary Tale

3D Systems, a leader in 3D printing along with Stratasys, continues to try to find a foothold amid wild fluctuations in its business. Just last quarter, the company reported a staggering $604 million loss. Its longtime leader of 12 years, Avi Reichental, gave up the reins to a new CEO, whose main job seems to be to plot a new strategy.

3D Systems decked out this car, a Nissan Cube, for a nationwide tour of its own Cube, a $995 3D printer for consumers, now discontinued.  (Image courtesy of Daniel Terdiman/CNET.)

The old strategy seemed something like this: Let’s get 3D printers into every home and office. The company could very well have overextended itself chasing that dream. For a long time, that really looked like a dream worth chasing. There was a fever that befell us — one that has not yet subsided. Everything was going to be 3D printed: good stuff, such as birthday cakes and human livers, and bad stuff like guns. The media was going crazy.

But, in the end, consumers never really bought in. Even at $995, a 3D printer is a very expensive piece of home equipment. Making things with it was a bit complicated — and messy. And what was there to 3D print, anyway? Maybe you bought it to make a knob to replace the broken one on your range. But you couldn’t simply push a button on the 3D printer to make the part. There were no instructions, either. A Google search revealed geeks talking about 3D scanners (more expense) and CAD programs. Don’t you have to be an engineer to operate those? You weren’t going to take a course to learn how to operate the thing. It was back to making little monsters or some other little stock figurine from a little toy, from a model library that came with the machine, before it took a place in the garage next to the treadmill, another expensive piece of equipment with high hopes. And there they sit, awaiting the next yard sale and the next sucker.

3D Systems now faces a struggle as it tries to right itself and rebrand itself as a for-business company.

What Do Consumers Do Again?

3D Systems may have found out the hard way the very nature of consumers. They consume. And they are quite content to keep consuming. Whether it’s food, entertainment, sports or hard goods, there are many more of us who will consume for the few of us who will create.

3D Systems, and other companies have sought to bring out our inner maker, to uncover the Thomas Edison or Steve Jobs hiding in each of us, thinking that each of us had in us an invention, something that we were just dying to make, or even duplicate. Give us the means, and we would flood the world with a collective, universal surge of creativity. Oh, all the things we could do if we just had no barriers to the production of the hitherto unrealized designs and ambitions.

We must be quite a disappointment.

On Top of Everything Else, SOLIDWORKS 2015 Does 3D Printing

WALTHAM, MA, Sep 24, 2014 - With every major release of a CAD program comes a dilemma. How to convey all that information? SOLIDWORKS 2015 is no exception. Dassault did its best to dumb down the changes --- there were literally thousands – for the assembled press. As most of the press are not CAD users the significance of most of the enhancements are lost upon us. For example, is the new Treehouse feature going to be a hit? No idea.

But SOLIDWORKS almost missed a opportunity to trumpet one enhancement that would have resonated with all the media present. Saying “3D printing” would have stirred even the sleepiest old journalist in a post-meatball-calzone-lunch induced daze.

With SOLIDWORKS 2015, you can make a 3D print right from the menu. You have to have Windows 8.1. Microsoft had introduced 3D printing back in November 2013 but neglected to mention that it was going to be up to software and hardware vendors to create the drivers to actually make 3D objects actually appear.

SOLIDWORKS 2015 is the first CAD vendor to come through on the 3D printing promise, says Aaron Kelly, product manager at Dassault, who was kind enough to wheel a Makerbot 3D printer to where the press had already started to file out, to show me how it was done.

Currently, the Print to 3D command only works with MakerBot 3D printers, though.

Sure enough, Aaron clicks on the menu and the MakerBot print head starts whizzing. The print volume is displayed on the SOLIDWORKS screen. The MakerBot display shows it is printing a SLDPRT file – the native part file. The conversion to STL files is either not happening or is invisible to the user.

I ask about support structures, which were not needed for the simple part being made.

“The program creates support structures if needed," says Aaron, as if by magic. Support structures are not displayed on the screen, however.

Lulzbot 3D Printer with an Animal Spirit

DETROIT, MI (RAPID 2014) - In a show all about 3D printing and 3D printers, one 3D printer stood out. Despite being in the back of the exhibit hall, the Lulzbot TAZ had gathered quite a crowd. The Lulzbot TAZ 4,  a 6th generations, spool fed, open-source machine, was zipping along making an octopus. It had been making octopuses (octopi?)  all day.

What's with the octopus?

"It's our spirit animal," says  Harris Kenny, who does handles communications at Aleph Objects, the company that owns the Lulzbot brand.

Harris Kenny of Aleph Objects attaches the print head to the Lulzbot TAZ printer so it can make more octopuses

My first spirit animal at a trade show. Sensing there was something unusual about a company that would have a spirit animal, I had to probe further.

What's with the name?

Lulz is derived from LOL, then made plural, says Harris, who seems to have an infinite patience for explaining his company name to the older generation.

But could it make industrial parts for production? It seems to be rigid despite its open frame and have a generous build volume of 11.7" x 10.8" x 9.8". As it turns out Lulzbot is already used in production. It employs its own machines to make more machines. 135 of its TAZ 4s are used to make many of the plastic parts on the machine at Aleph's Loveland, Colorado facilitiy.

Aleph Objects is all about open source hardware, having plugged into the RepRap 3D print community, on which it's printers are based. "We give 100% of our technology advances back to RepRap," says Harris

The TAZ 4  costs $2200 and comes mostly fully assembled. I think the print heads have to be mounted, as Harris is doing in picture above, as does the cross feed table. But it probably takes less time than furniture from Ikea -- and way less time than the mess of parts you'll get with a kit 3D printer, like other RepRap machines.

RepRap.org.

More Information

lulz: beginning as a plural variant of lol, Lulz was originally an exclamation but is now often used as a noun meaning interesting or funny internet content. Lol -> lul; lols -> luls; lolz -> lulz. Thank you, Urban Dictionary.

www.RepRap.org - open source, 3D printer, in kit form

www.lulzbot.com - the company's product site

 

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3D Printed Metal Parts in Mass Production

So great is the attention devoted to 3D printing that one might forget that industry is loving 3D printing, too. 3D printing of metal parts, not so long ago thought to be an expensive specialty of a few hardware vendors, is so hot that 3D metal printer vendors cannot keep up with demand.

"We try to get one of our 3D metal printers in our showroom but it's bought before it's finished and goes right to the customer," says Rachael Dalton-Taggart of 3D Systems, which bought metal 3D printer company Phenix in June, 2013.

BMW moving towards 3D printing for high volume production of big engine parts, mentioned in ExOne presentation.

A Revolution Starting?

BMW is planning to make all of its engine cores by 3D printing within the next 10 years, according to ExOne CEO David Burns, whose 3D printer company raised $90M after its IPO.

If you were used to 3D printing trinkets and just starting to believe that metal may be usable in one-off parts, may be small batches, statement of intention by a major manufacturer using 3D printing for its mass production ought to have made you sit bolt upright.

The appeal of going directly from image onscreen to real life as promised by 3D printing is unmistakable and understandable. Being able to do that in metal... not so much. Metal is ground down to a powder and re-solidified in a 3D printer machine. The concept may be simple, lay down the powder, apply heat and there's your part. But there must be more to it. These metal 3D printers are the size of toolsheds. I'm hearing prices from $700k to over a million.

We Love Metal

With mankind, it was love at first sight. Engineers love and trust metal. It has built our bridges, sent people to the moon, we won't have a car without it. Our eras are marked with names of metals, the Iron Age, Bronze Age. Sure, plastic are super, they can be engineered to have some great properties, they're lighter, they get better every day. But they're still not metal. For the strongest, most reliable, most trustworthy part...we'll keep using use metal.

So, now I can get metal parts directly from my computer? No machinist, no CNC machines, no waiting. Where do I sign?

What's the Catch?

• Density. Getting powdered metal back to its solid state, or even close, can't be that easy. Powder particles will have space between them, no matter how tightly they are packed. "We get 99.5% density in our Inconel process," says David Burns, speaking of his latest metal alloy Inconel 665. "They said it couldn't be done."
• Strength. Metals have been made strong by alloying, heat treatments and forging. Most 3D printing methods cannot include these methods. king stronger metals. So is forging. Toughness and strength , probably no better exemplified than by the beaten blade of Damascene steel or a Japanese sword -- is still a long way away with 3D printing.
• Voids. Does the process of sintering, melting powder produce voids? In all fairness, probably the pouring of molten metals into molds may have that risk, too.
• Cost. The powdered metal that must be somehow solidified is costly on both ends. It takes energy -- a lot of it -- to grind solid metal into a powder that is used as the raw material for a 3D metal printer. Then it takes a lot of energy to melt that powder so it solidifies. Then there's the cost of the machine...

The biggest allure of metal parts by any 3D printing process is pure and simple: you can create a design, push a button to get a part made. There's not even a machinist in the picture. And other than the wait for the part to emerge from the machine, there is no other waiting, no scheduling or coordination with other departments. If you own the machine, the process could not be any more straightforward. True, the machine may cost in the neighborhood of a million dollars. That's worth it to big companies like Boeing and BMW.

I hear of a Boeing aircraft part that gets made in a day on an ExOne machine -- as opposed to 10 months.

A Ford engineer makes a part and opens the hood of a Mustang, bolts it into place, and drives of to the test track.

In both cases, they have short circuited processes put into place over years that drag out design cycles and involve many people. Suddenly, a million dollar machine looks like a bargain.

Production, Not Prototypes

Again, these are metal parts that works in real life environments, not a plastic replica that could be used just for show and tell. The gains being made with 3D printing are pushing parts into production. 

Material research is the key to the revolution. "We are concentrating our R&D efforts on materials," says David. "In fact, our machine design improvements are close to a standstill.

I imagine factories of the future being banks of 3D print machines.

What Stopping the Revolution?

It all sounds ideal, parts from your computer, in metal, in large volumes. No set up, no wait, no "middlemen."

According to Dave, the reason he's not sellig way more metal 3D printers is the massive inertia inherent in the system. Metal cutting does work and has worked for a long time. How something is done in the past is being used as justification of how it should be done in the future. Change is risk. A factory manager won't get fired for getting another Mori Seiki 5 axis CNC machine, but will he go out on a limb and have all his CNC machines replaced by some new fangled technology? And what to do with all the machinists? 

EnvisionTEC Nominated for Best of Show at Solid Edge University

ATLANTA, GA (Solid Edge University 2014) - EnvisionTEC - a German 3D printer company is focused on precision. Indeed their first models were for very small parts, like replacement teeth. It is $10,000. They are now gradually introducing ever larger 3D printers, while maintaining the high resolution during printing.

(picture from EnvisionTEC blog)

For more information: see http://envisiontec.com/

TenLinks Judge

Ralph Grabowski, TenLinks' senior editor, is one of the leading CAD journalists and authors, with over a 100 books and many hundreds of articles. His upFront.eZine may be the industry's longest running newsletter. Ralph holds a civil engineering degree. More...

Mcor - 3D Printer Makes Green Parts in All Colors

SAN DIEGO, CA (SolidWorks World 2014) - If the booming market of 3D printers was confined the show floor, Mcor Technologies would be a runaway hit. I meet up with Mcor cofounder¹ Conor MacCormack at the tail end of 3 days of exhibits. Immaculate in a suit, flanked by colleagues in their signature orange uniforms, the indefatigueable Conor is once again on point, convincing, persuasive and knowledgeable It may be the hundredth time this show he's told how Mcor's 3D printer is superior to market leaders 3D Systems and Stratasys. His machine is greener, the parts emerge with more and better colors, they are more accurate.. but Conor delivers as if I was the first editor he's pitched to.

Readers of this blog know Mcor and how it is unique in using paper as raw material. Ordinary copier paper goes in. 3D parts come out. So green compared to plastics and solvents used by competors. In addition, using paper allows the use of ink-jet technology on paper, a time-proven way to achieve a multitude of colors and shades. Other 3D printer companies still brag about adding a 2nd color but most 3D printed parts are done in one color. How realistic is that?

Mcor has patented inks that permeate the paper. The part can have internal color, any color. That's good for making part assemblies all in one shot -- and just about anything else. What doesn't have color, inside and out, in real life? Think of medical applications, anatomical models...

The color is not nailed down just yet. In the most critical application you could imagine (3D selfies) your skin is... well, maybe not exactly the way you want your skin to appear. A little off color, maybe a bit blotchy. But Mcor is still way ahead in the game. And this story is just building. Mcor is working with a leading authority for even better color fidelity.

 Nominated for Best of Show

Mcor has been nominated by 3 TenLinks Judges for Best of Show SolidWorks World 2014

Elise Moss SolidWorks user TenLinks Judge	"Mcor's 3D printer uses paper and regular ink. The price of the printer is high, with a base price of $25k, but you save on the back end using regular paper and ink. It eliminates the need for the caustic lye bath. It prints in full color. You can recycle the models when you are done. The size of the models which can be created are comparable to what you can get out of a Stratasys system. Paper jams would be easier to manage than dealing with typical 3D printer materials. Mcor units will relatively easier and cheaper to run and maintain. "
(name withheld) SolidWorks user TenLinks Judge	Mcor was the most innovative at SolidWorks World. Some people like Mcor because it’s green. Some people like Mcor because it’s David going against the Goliaths in the 3D printer industry. Some people like Mcor because it’s disrupting the industry. I like Mcor because it produces inexpensive, lightweight parts with great mechanical properties in full color. I see this becoming a favorite among maker shops popping up around the country. I also see their system EASILY going into new specialized materials (like composites). "
Roopinder Tara TenLinks Judge	"Paper goes in and 3D parts come out -- with the strength of wood! And while other 3D printers brag about two or more colors, Mcor with its patented inks and color ink jet heads with paper, provides the most colors and shades. Stick with Mcor for the next level of realism and parts as close to environmentally safe as you can get."

See also

• Mcor 3D Printing - Paper Goes In, Strong Cheap Models Come Out - Roopinder Tara, CAD Insider, Aug 9, 2013
• Mcor site
• TenLinks Best of Show coverage

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Autodesk Buying Delcam Ignores Hottest Trend in Manufacturing

What will Autodesk buy next? It's a game CAD insiders play: pondering the next move of a cash-rich market leader.

Oh, it would have to be company that has great technology and a bright future. If you've been listening to CEO Carl Bass, Autodesk would have to be looking for a company that would help the future generations, kids or their adult(ish) counterparts, the makers. The company, lock-step behind their leader, is embracing new business models. Design apps, not monolithic software on archaic workstations, but apps for their mobile devices. Cloud based, preferably. And helping design was just getting started. Let's make things, they say. But in a new way. Let's make what you (the consumer) wants to make, be it a copy of a sculpture you like, some furniture, something frivolous, a replacement for the knob that fell off you oven and broke...The company with an overabundance of design tools seemed itching to help the entire population be able to hold in their hands whatever may have popped into their heads but may have lacked the design/engineering/manufacturing/financial skills/resources/expertise. No worries, Autodesk was going to make it happen. Mass customization. The very democratization of creation. It had to be simple enough for the person off the street.

Autodesk would just have to buy a 3D printing company, right?

On November 6, Autodesk announced it would be buying Delcam (see press release). Old school CAM at its finest. Picture metal shavings on shop floors and skilled machinists running hulking metal cutting machines. Delcam, a market leader in mainstream CAM. Even with the fanciest multi-axis CNC set up, the state of the art in subtractive machining, is basically the way things were made. Metal gives way to plastic. More parts are made from composites for which no surface machining is required. But the latest generation doesn't even want/need any of that. They want to hit a button and have the part come out.

Even 5 years ago, it would have surprised no one if big CAD bought big CAM. But now, a different way of making things had all of us in rapt attention. 3D printing everything from guns to livers has certainly captured the public attention, but the advancements show promise of 3D printing in manufacturing.

It is a promise from which Autodesk seems to have diverted.