Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/739236
s e p t e m b e r . o c t o b e r 2 0 1 6 c g w 2 9 has been an awareness that better formats are needed to translate the digital 3D model to 3D printing machines. CAD vendor Autodesk has called for better 3D printers that are rugged, standardized, and use standard materials. As part of Autodesk's Spark initiative, the company introduced its own model for a 3D printer in 2014, the Ember. Companies signing on with Autodesk to support Spark include HP, Microso, 3D Hubs, Voxel8, Dremel, and Big Rep. Another major step was the establishment of the AMF file-format standard developed by standards body ASTM Inter- national (American Society of the International Association for Testing and Materials). Meanwhile, Microso set out to develop another file format called 3MF as an alternative to the STL file format. The com- pany used its bucks to form the 3MF Consortium, which is now supported by the ASTM as well. The list of founding members of 3MF includes stalwarts Auto- desk, HP, Microso, Dassault Systemes, FIT, GE, Materialize, PTC, Shapeways, Siemens, SLM Solutions, Stratasys, and Ultimaker. The goal for AMF and 3MF is to create a file format that consistently describes a 3D model, including internal information, color, and textures, and could communicate with 3D printing machines. 3MF has made the format available with all its updates on GitHub. Given the wide-scale interest in using 3D printing for more than rapid prototyping, it's likely that support for 3MF will grow. Additive manufacture technology is rapidly improving to the point where 3D printing for replacement parts and for short-run production is already happening. In order for 3D printing to become practical for mass production, parts need to be manufactured in exactly the same way. That seems sort of a dead-obvious observation, but 3D printers oen produce parts with unacceptable variation and inconsistency. One of the requirements driving standards forward is the ability to define how a part is manufactured accurately and repeatably. In essence, there are three major trajectories for the improvement of 3D printing: pro- cess, price, and materials. Ma- chines have to be developed that are faster, more repeatable, and more reliable. An overnight run to produce one model is tolerable for one-offs and prototypes, but it's not going to satisfy the needs of production. Low-cost ma- chines are not as important as low-cost production. Machines that can produce parts at a high speed and at a low cost pay for themselves. Aer all, factories are not inexpensive. And, thus far the cost of proprietary materials is a major factor in the overall expense of 3D printing. There are signs, however, that change is on the way. N E W P L A Y E R S , N E W R U L E S As of this writing, the additive manufacture business is in a bit of a sus- pended state as the community watches what HP is up to. HP has introduced the Jet Fusion printer, which has the potential to change the 3D print industry in much the same way that HP came to dominate the ink jet print- ing world. The company makes a very good case with the Jet Fusion, which, HP says, will be able to combine multiple colors and even material properties in a process HP says is 10 times faster than any printer currently on the market and using mate- rials that are less expensive. HP says the print heads can lay down material at 30 million drops per second. HP describes its printers' functions in terms of voxels, 3D volume elements of approximately 21 microns (or .02 millimeters) each, and claims parts can be built at over 340 million voxels per second. These are not desktop printers. HP is building two models, the 3200 that accepts 20 kilograms of ma- terial and will sell for approxi- mately $120,000, and a faster, larger model that accepts 200 kilograms of material for $200,000. HP is also selling an optional cooling unit, which speeds the postprocessing of printed parts. The company says the printers are suitable for creating production parts as well as prototypes. One of the keys to HP's strategy is that the company says it is taking an open systems approach to materials. One of its first partners is Arkema, which makes a variety of materials for 3D printing, but HP says there will be other companies devel- oping materials to expand the potential of the Jet Fusion. Autodesk has essentially wrapped up its Spark initiative, Fused Fused Fused Fused Fused MATERIAL COATING APPLY AGENTS APPLY ENERGY FINAL FUSION MULTI JET FUSION PROCESS: Academic Institutions 10.5% Medical/Dental 12.2% Consumer Products/Electronics 12.2% Industrial Business Machines 12.2% Government/Military 5.9% Architectural 3.1% Motor Vehicles 13.8% Aerospace 16.6% Other 4.9% THE HP MULTI JET FUSION PROCESS LAYERS MATERIAL AND TARGETS FUSING AGENTS TO SELECTIVELY FUSE MATERIAL WITH THE EXPOSURE OF LIGHT. THE UNFUSED POWDER CAN BE REUSED. ANALYST TERRY WOHLERS SAYS $5.2 BILLION IS BEING SPENT ON 3D PRINTING PRODUCTS AND SERVICES WORLDWIDE. COURTESY HP COURTESY "WOHLERS REPORT 2016"