Great Britain Cycling Team: Riding to Olympic Victory on a 3D Printed Track Bike by Renishaw10/28/2021
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Great Britain Cycling Team: Riding to Olympic Victory on a 3D Printed Track Bike by Renishaw https://ift.tt/3BrUmMO Countless people use bicycles every day. They’re so ubiquitous that we rarely give them a second thought unless we’re purchasing one. When we do that, we like to make sure we get the perfect fit and performance level. Renishaw is doing just that for the Great Britain Cycling Team, and it’s paying off in one of the biggest ways—with Olympic medals. Renishaw, a global engineering firm headquartered near Bristol, manufactured an ingenious new track bike for the team. The company used its knowledge of additive manufacturing (AM) to help create the high-tech bike that the Great Britain Cycling Team then rode to win seven medals at the Tokyo Olympics. Renishaw was approached by British Cycling in early 2019 to join the HB.T bike development team with Lotus Engineering, which was already onboard. The automotive consultancy, which designed the iconic 108 and 110 bikes ridden by Olympic gold medalist Chris Boardman in 1992, had already collaborated with Hope Technology, a cycling component manufacturer, to build the HB.T. The objective of the collaboration was to design a cycle that would improve the bike’s speed in order to help the Great Britain Cycling Team refine its performances and push for medals. Ben Collins, a Design and Development Engineer for Renishaw’s Additive Manufacturing Group, was pivotal to the project, and was excited to see how Great Britain’s push for Olympic gold medals could be enhanced by Renishaw’s involvement. Collins explained that the team recognized how 3D printed metal could create more complex and lightweight components than standard manufacturing methods, and that optimizing strength to weight would be crucial to success. Their goal was to design a bike that was light enough for Olympic competition, and the HB.T enhances previous designs by using a lightweight build to improve overall speed and reduce drag. Renishaw used its own AM expertise to quickly print plastic and metal prototype parts for aerodynamic testing of the new design. The parts needed to be strong enough to sustain the strain from the riders, and also lightweight and geometrically accurate. Once the proof of concept was successful, Renishaw used its RenAM 500Q systems to manufacture titanium and aluminum parts, customizing the various parts, such as handlebars for the competition bikes, for the individual athletes. Other companies have taken on 3D printing various parts for bikes. Tim Schutze created the PRO/CES 3D printed bike saddle, which was designed to be genderless and customized for the needs of each rider. In 2020 Carbon partnered with Specialized to design its version of a 3D printed saddle called the Adaptive. Even with the increased popularity and creation of individualized cycle parts, Renishaw’s project is quite unique. The partnership was a massive success. Not only did the team win a total of seven Olympic medals, but it also did so while making British Olympic History. Laura Kenny won a gold medal in the Madison with Katie Archibald and a silver medal in the women’s team pursuit, which made her the most successful British female Olympian of all time. Jason Kenny’s gold medal in the men’s keirin and silver in the men’s team sprint also made him Britain’s most successful Olympian ever.
It’s safe to say that after their brilliant work during the Olympics, Renishaw and the Great Britain Cycling Team’s partnership is only beginning, as the company is now a long-term official supplier for the team. We can’t wait to see what they come up with next. (Source: BristolLive) Printing via 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing https://3dprint.com October 28, 2021 at 12:15PM
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Additive Manufacturing Strategies: 3D Printing Summit Returns March 1-3, 2022 https://ift.tt/3mmMiJ5 In February of 2020, just a few weeks before the world began shutting down due to the COVID-19 crisis, 3DPrint.com and SmarTech Analysis held our third annual Additive Manufacturing Strategies event, focused on the business of 3D printing for medical, dental, and metal applications. The first AMS summit was held in Washington, DC in 2018, while the 2019 and 2020 events both took place in Boston. Last year, again thanks to the pandemic, AMS was held in a virtual format, and while it went really well, we did miss seeing everyone. So we’re happy to announce that AMS 2022 will be held as a hybrid event this spring, both online and in-person from March 1st through March 3rd, and that’s not all that’s different—the event is also moving to another state, and will now be the only 3D printing event in New York!
Each of those nine verticals—three per day—is devoted to coverage on a specific topic, and each vertical is available for an Exclusive Sponsorship. Tuesday, March 1st, will be focused on metal 3D printing topics, and the specific verticals will be Compact Industrial Metal AM, Large-Format AM, and Metals and New Materials. We’re very pleased to announce that Stifel Global Technology Group, which we partnered with on our virtual AM Investment Strategies event, has already signed on as the Presenting Sponsor for the metal AM vertical. On Wednesday, March 2nd, the event will cover 3D Printing for Healthcare, 3D Printing for Dentistry, and Bioprinting, and Thursday, March 3rd will be devoted to Automation, Rapid Manufacturing and Software, AM in Aviation and Space, and AM in the Automotive Industry. There will be more than 45 sessions during AMS 2022, with over 60 speakers, making up more than six hours of live sessions each day of the summit. Exhibitors will be presented live, but you’ll easily be able to interact and network in the expo hall whether you’re there in-person or attending from your computer screen. All panels will be moderated and include time for Q&A at the end, and there will also be a live video Q&A in the general sessions. AMS 2022 will also offer a branded networking lounge for live attendee and sponsor meetings, both in-person and via video, as well as graphic branding and sponsor content downloads for those attending online. All the panels and sessions will be archived and available for registered attendees to view through the end of March 2022. Due to safety restrictions, there are a limited number of in-person tickets available for AMS 2022, so you’ll want to register soon if you’re interested. The early bird rate of $899 is available through November 19th, 2021, before it goes up to $1,199, and those who attend in-person must be fully vaccinated, and will also get to enjoy daily continental breakfast and lunch, as well as a networking reception on March 1st. For those interested in attending virtually, which allows for both live and on-demand viewing, the early bird rate is $99, and will go up to $139 on November 19th. If you register before this Sunday, October 31st, you’ll be entitled to a 20% discount on research reports from SmarTech Analysis, so act fast! Printing via 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing https://3dprint.com October 28, 2021 at 12:15PM No rent! No deposit! After-sales service! SLA Manufacturer Vistar Launches a New Cooperation Model for 3D Printing Service Provider https://ift.tt/3jN8IRQ In recent years, with the maturity and popularity of SLA 3D printing technology, more and more industries and customers are adopting this technology, from prototypes to shoe models, from... View the entire article via our website. Printing via 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing https://3dprint.com October 28, 2021 at 12:15PM
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Studio Carlijn | Connect https://ift.tt/3Cj7SUh Connect is a new collection of screen prints by Studio Carlijn; a design studio founded by Carlijn Timmermans based in Breda, the Netherlands. The series is inspired by being in contact with shape and colour, and balancing energy in everyday life, reflecting feelings of positivity, combined with the unexpected. Carlijn first came into contact with screen printing during her academy years. Here, she learnt the basics of screen printing, and also how to perfect the technique. She then went on to study at Cambridge where she was given complete freedom to fully experiment with silkcreen. “Then screen printing really felt like a playground to me,” describes the printmaker. Connect was born after Carlijn began to lose the joy she once found whilst screen printing. She scheduled an intuitive conversation with her coach who urged her to start creating again and playing with the shape and colour that had become her signature. This was the step that made her experiment and challenge herself once again, creating the collection using her favourite shapes and only four screens. “I would describe my collection as peace, trust, but also that you have to enjoy your life in a playful way! The art you bring into your life should feed into your daily life and get you excited about it!” Up until a few years ago, Carlijn only worked with two colours; black and white. Over time, she started to notice that combining colours brought her far more happiness. She comments; “I have an eye for colour combinations. When you combine a shape with certain colours, it gives a meaning to someone. I like to play with that and keep the right balance in my work.” Aside from bringing their own playful designs to life as screen prints, Studio Carlijn also take on design and print commissions and custom work. www.studiocarlijn.com Printing via People of Print https://ift.tt/2DhgcW7 October 28, 2021 at 06:11AM
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CARTODROMO studio https://ift.tt/3BoeNdm CARTODROMO is a screen print studio based in Bari, South Italy, specialising in art prints on various media including paper and fabric. The studio was founded in 2019 by Cristina Todisco; an independent Italian printmaker. CARTODROMO works in collaboration with artists to create unique works using the medium of silkscreen. Recently, Cristina and her team have been working on a collection of four-colour photographic prints made for Italian photographer and artist Alessandro Tricarico, with super stunning results. Besides the classic four-colour and multi-colour prints, the studio love to experiment and combine the use of different artistic techniques with screen printing. “The combination of techniques allows you to create unique works and the artist himself will become part of the printing process creating some details by hand,” says Cristina. For example, in a piece for Japanese artist Tai Ogawa CARTODROMO used spray acrylics for the background, with two layers of screen printing on top. Similarly, for a commission for Chinese artist Tracey Yu they combined watercolour with screen printing. CARTODROMO are also active in the promotion of artistic and cultural activities through the organisation of exhibitions, workshops, and courses. Cristina comments; “It is a very stimulating part of the job and it allows you to get in touch with people interested in printing processes”. They recently collaborated with artist Boris Pramatarov during a residency in Bari, printing one of his works and organising an exhibition. As well as art prints, the studio can also print on other media including t-shirts, fabrics, CDs, and wood. Printing via People of Print https://ift.tt/2DhgcW7 October 28, 2021 at 05:14AM
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Interview with Michael Fuller, CEO of 3D Printed Heat Exchanger Firm Conflux Technology https://ift.tt/3vTczBY Michael Fuller heads up Conflux Technology, an Australian firm that uses powder bed fusion to make heat exchangers for automotive, racing, power electronics, power generation, and aerospace. The company has just received over $6 million in a Series A round from AM Ventures and Acorn Capital. Heat exchangers have seemed to be a market that 3D printing could not really play in because the gulf between conventional manufacturing’s costs and the costs of 3D printed parts. But, starting in niche areas such as Formula 1, 3D printed heat exchangers have been used very effectively. Conflux now wants to make them more ubiquitous through lowering costs and optimising designs. We interviewed Conflux Technology’s CEO Michael Fuller to find out more. We asked Fuller why exactly 3D printing was a compelling technology for heat exchangers.
So there lies the crux to the advantage of 3D printing in heat exchange. Not only can we reduce mass or integrate parts or reduce part count but we can also make a device different throughout its body so that the optimal geometry creates the optimal conditions for performance.
To help achieve this, Fuller sees design and post processing as playing important parts as well.
90% of Conflux’s customers are overseas and for now he sees “an aspirational horizon of 10,000 parts per year in series for micro electronics, machines making semiconductors, manufacturing machines. We’re not getting one on every motherboard. But, as we mature we’ll see more applications.”
Now the team will work on vertical integration and manufacturing.
Looking back on the path so far Fuller is happy that “we’ve been able to build a business, to take it from the first phase to profitable circumstance. Customers are buying what we were selling and we aim to be the best in the world in heat exchange.” Printing via 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing https://3dprint.com October 27, 2021 at 09:51AM
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Conflux Gets $6M in Series A Round from AM Ventures for 3D Printed Heat Exchangers https://ift.tt/3mhKKQj Australian heat change company Conflux Technology has just received an AUD $8.5 million (around $6.3 USD) Series A round from AM Ventures and Acorn Capital. Conflux designs and manufactures heat exchangers for the aerospace, power electronics, power generation, and automotive markets. Heat exchangers can optimise the performance, reduce energy consumption, and lengthen part life for a myriad of applications. 3D printed heat exchangers can be customised, made more specific, reduce mass, or have optimal geometries that other technologies simply can not make. Conflux Technology CEO Michael Fuller said,
Ben Dalling, Portfolio Manager at Acorn Capital states,
Arno Held of AM Ventures stated that,
Two things that you can take away from the above quotes are one, Michael’s focus on increasing production capacity and capabilities, and two, Arno’s declaration that “Heat exchangers are one of the biggest applications in 3D printing.” A focus on production to me signifies that there is proprietary knowledge in process and manufacturing that the company hopes to exploit to such a degree as to ensure its edge in the future. It also means that they are going to use this round to satisfy anticipated demand, not market their way to more customers, which is a very good sign. A real focus on an industrial application makes this part of a new wave of companies that are addressing the manufacturing and other hard industries. Real parts for real problems is the stage of the 3D printing evolution that we find ourselves in. In the case of Conflux, the real parts that they make can radically affect industries as diverse as defence, missiles, rockets, satellites, semiconductor equipment, batteries, electronic cars, F1 cars, machine tools, HVAC, and many more. Heat sinks, heat exchangers, cold plates, and heat management tools are in millions of items. At the moment, of course, we’re too expensive to make many of the billions of heat sinks out there. But, for high end applications such as satellites, 3D printed heat sinks are already making a difference today. By taking its expertise and focusing it on making better heat exchangers, Conflux may very well develop completely optimal geometries for heat exchange for particular applications. If it can industrialise and significantly lower costs through automation and better machines, it can Dollar by Dollar increase its addressable market until it is not making dozens of parts but thousands, tens of thousands and millions. I love AM Ventures’ investments, it’s all smart money. I love almost their entire portfolio of companies. And this again seems a very prescient bet on the future of real parts for real problems. Printing via 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing https://3dprint.com October 27, 2021 at 09:15AM
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University of Idaho Receives $4M NSF Grant To Study Recycled Wood for 3D Construction https://ift.tt/3bdX7qn The University of Idaho announced that it has received $4 million from the National Science Foundation to research the reuse of waste material from home construction, especially wood, in 3D printing. Part of the NSF’s EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Improvement Program, the funding will be utilized by a team led by Michael Maughan, Ph.D, P.E., assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the university’s College of Engineering. Researchers from Auburn University will also be working with Maughan’s team on the project, which will receive just under a million dollars a year in funding through 2025. The team will be focusing on printing parts for 3D constructed homes, from floor panels to roofs, and the project will focus not only on the ecological sustainability of 3D printing with wood, but also heavily on life cycle assessment considerations typical to home construction in general.
The engineering process that Maughan and his team have worked on involves taking waste wood and sawdust from mills and wood processing plants, combining the material with a binding agent, and then using 3D software and printers to design and produce the wood filament to specification for construction. The university has made innovating with wood a primary focus in recent years, not only to emphasize the manufacturing inventiveness of its faculty and students, but also to equally highlight the significance of the timber industry to the state’s economy. The school’s Idaho Central Credit Union Arena, which opened this month, has brought attention to the same priorities, as the university says it’s the first structure of its kind to be made entirely from engineered wood.
When compared to plastics and even metals, 3D printing with wood is in more preliminary stages across the industry as a whole, but its development has increased in the past few years, notably including the purchase of the startup FORUST by Desktop Metals earlier in 2021. But perhaps more so than with any other material, the foremost priority for companies involved in 3D wood printing is ecological sustainability. Conventional manufacturing with wood, of course, has a two-way detrimental impact on carbon emissions, not only in adding carbon to the environment in the process, but also in removing trees which sequester carbon from the atmosphere. This is only the latest in a number of recent projects that have announced a heightened focus on using recycled materials in 3D printing starting in 2022. Roboze recently announced its circular economy program that will start for customers next year, and 6K just purchased Specialty Metallurgical Products to double down on its efforts to 3D print metal using scrap material. Considering the multifaceted supply chain benefits of using recycled materials in 3D printing, we can only expect to see more of this sort of thing as the industry evolves. (Source: Construction Dive) Printing via 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing https://3dprint.com October 27, 2021 at 08:03AM
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3D Printing News Briefs, October 27, 2021: Post-Processing, Jet Engines, & More https://ift.tt/3GoQksh In today’s 3D Printing News Briefs, we’re starting off with news about a special report by Wohlers Associates, Inc., and then moving on to research, as a team of engineers... The post 3D... View the entire article via our website. Printing via 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing https://3dprint.com October 27, 2021 at 07:33AM
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ICON’s 3D Printing Construction Technology to Build 100 New Homes in Texas https://ift.tt/2XPFSbP A large-scale neighborhood of 3D printed homes is set to break ground in the Austin, Texas, area in 2022. The 100-home community, co-designed by international architecture firm BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group, will be built using proprietary 3D printing technology from additive construction developer ICON and finished by Lennar, one of the nation’s leading homebuilders. Designed as a diverse collection of contemporary living spaces, the homes will take on a variety of distinctive spatial concepts. The design itself modernizes the aesthetic of the typical “suburban home,” while the 3D printing technology will texturize and provide distinctive touchpoints for each space. Ultimately, the homes will combine novel building technology with traditional construction materials. The construction concepts revealed by BIG, ICON, and Lennar explore the freedom of form facilitated by 3D printing that will allow engineers to include sinuous curves on the walls, as well as integrate photovoltaic roofs, which are electricity-generating solar panels that will be positioned on the rooftop of each residential structure. These innovations are significant steps to reduce waste in the construction process and make homes highly resilient, sustainable, and energy self-sufficient. This newly announced joint venture to develop a new residential project deepens a relationship that began with Lennar’s investment in ICON’s recent $207 million financing round and offers a promising path toward delivering affordable, technology-driven homes that meet rising demand. In fact, this new endeavor is announced at a time when the Central Texas housing market is booming. Gaining ground as one of the nation’s top thriving tech hubs, Austin has seen its median home price climb to an all-time high of $575,000 in July 2021 and has now settled at $480,000 as real estate markets begin to cool down; still, it reflects a 59% increase in less than five years. As the shifting real estate market continues to impact housing prices, buyers’ rush, and intense bidding wars, there is a 5.5 million shortage of single-family homes across the country, and that number is on the rise. For aspiring homeowners, the market is challenging, and finding affordable housing has become a nightmare. Aiming to solve this problem, 3D printing construction startups are working tirelessly to deliver better, more resilient, sustainable, and energy-efficient homes at radical speeds, with less waste and more design freedom, without compromising beauty and human dignity. A pioneer in 3D printed homes in the US, ICON recently completed four houses in the fast-growing East Austin neighborhood, two of which sold within days of their listing in March 2021. Additionally, last year, the team delivered a series of 3D printed homes for 480 homeless individuals, representing about 40% of Austin’s chronically homeless population, and delivered the world’s first community of 3D printed homes in Mexico for families living on $3 a day. By leveraging its innovative proprietary robotics, software, and advanced materials, the startup proves that 3D construction robotics allows homebuilders to radically increase supply, whether solving for social housing demand or creating the most advanced custom builds.
As one of the fastest-growing additive construction firms, ICON is not only focused on developing its main additive technology to 3D print housing for humans on Earth but has also developed several outstanding projects for NASA. Among them was a 1,700 square-foot 3D printed Martian habitat for the agency’s analog mission in a field test location at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. But keeping construction projects on schedule and budget is only possible thanks to the precision and speed of ICON’s construction 3D printing system, known as Vulcan. Designed and engineered from the ground up for volume 3D printing, the large-scale Vulcan is capable of printing homes and structures up to 3,000 square feet, built to the International Building Code (IBC) structural code standard and expected to last as long, or longer, than standard Concrete Masonry Unit (CMU) built homes. According to the company, Vulcan can produce resilient, single-story homes faster than conventional methods, with less waste and more design freedom. At the same time, advanced materials are considered stronger and longer-lasting than traditional building materials. With the potential to revolutionize construction, AM is becoming adopted by the industry at scale, and ICON is not the only firm pioneering a niche service that could save homebuilders thousands of dollars. For example, competing firm Mighty Buildings also leveraged 3D printing technologies to build a neighborhood in Rancho Mirage, California. But as demand for housing increases, the biggest challenge for these companies is turning out more construction technologies and materials. Ballard, whose business now has a valuation of more than $100 million, said he is getting ready to “stand up manufacturing in our new facilities and begin larger-scale projects.” Furthermore, Ballard says that the demand for 3D printed housing has gone through the roof, giving ICON a great reason to continue engaging in new construction developments and eventually disrupting the home construction industry with cheaper and faster technologies. Printing via 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing https://3dprint.com October 27, 2021 at 07:03AM |
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