Earlier in the year, a consortium that includes China’s BLT announced a major breakthrough in using a high-precision, liquid metal UV 3D printing process to upgrade the hinge for Chinese smartphone maker OPPO’s foldable Find N6 phone. Around the same time, another leading Chinese OEM in the metal AM market, Farsoon, announced that it was […]
US Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) has approved the PBF process for 17-4PH stainless steel demonstrated by Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Keyport, located in Washington state (one of ten Naval Warfare Centers located across the country). Keyport is the first Warfare Center to have received NAVSEA approval for a metal AM process, making this
Chromatic 3D Materials has inaugurated a test firing site at Camp Ripley in Little Falls, Minnesota. It’s a 210 square kilometer Minnesota National Guard site used for training service members from many branches of the U.S. military, as well as local police and units from countries like Norway. Chromatic will take a five-year lease for testing
The latest earnings from 3D Systems (NYSE: DDD), Prodways (EPA: ALPWG), and Align Technology (Nasdaq: ALGN) show that the 3D printing market continues to move forward. Some businesses are growing faster than others, but all three companies reported positive developments during the quarter. 3D Systems reported another quarter of improving results as it continues its
Tom Bakker is a talented engineer who has worked in LPBF, custom machine building, and on semiconductor equipment. Now he wants to make LPBF metal printing cheap. With Metal Base, Tom is developing a low-cost system that will make LPBF accessible. He has already sold 6 to beta testers, and the systems are running there.
Many dynamic, interactive objects change their appearance through the use of electronics, like LEDs and screens. But if the object is squished, twisted, or pressed too hard, or exposed to chemicals or water, those electronics won’t work properly anymore. Surface optics can change the appearance of an object without delicate electronics, but their interactivity is
We’re starting with business in this weekend’s 3D Printing News Briefs, then moving on to defense. We’ll move on to young 3D printing entrepreneurs, and finish with some research out of MIT. Kind Designs Raises $10 Million in Pre-Series A Financing Round Living Seawalls. Image courtesy of Kind Designs Miami-based climate resilience company Kind Designs
Eplus3D has worked with UCL Rocket on liquid rocket engines. Right now, they’re working on a regenerative liquid oxygen (LOX) and isopropyl alcohol (IPA) liquid-cooled architecture. These rockets use IPA as a coolant before igniting it along with the liquid oxygen in the combustion chamber. The cryogenic engine (because the LOX is cooled to under
The latest earnings reports from Xometry (Nasdaq: XMTR), Protolabs (NYSE: PRLB), and Lincoln Electric (Nasdaq: LECO) suggest manufacturers are still spending. All three companies reported solid results, although each tells a slightly different story about where the 3D printing market stands today. Digital manufacturing platform Xometry and on-demand manufacturing company Protolabs both posted record quarterly
Other than workforce development, materials qualification is perhaps the greatest existing barrier to the scale-up of metal additive manufacturing (AM). Moreover, improving access to data on metals qualified for the most widely used AM processes could help address both challenges: validating the underlying technical processes removes a meaningful portion of the risk associated with an
