This question should be asked in various business initiatives.  However, I want to ask this question as it relates to additive manufacturing especially in smaller manufacturing companies that have yet to adopt additive manufacturing. 

When just beginning something—be it a journey for improvement or an initiative to ensure you are prepared, I always suggest starting small.  Companies that want to dip their toes into 3D printing have a couple of choices; own their own AM equipment or rely on service bureaus.  Times are also changing.  And those old production processes mean you could be losing your competitive edge by missing out on LARGE cost savings.  

Additive manufacturing can provide significant ROI to small manufacturers by helping:

• Improve their industrial tooling processes
• Produce more high-value, complex, low-run parts
• Create highly customized products for their industry and their customers

Start with a basic step process for additive manufacturing:

1. It starts with an organizational shift.  Generate an additive manufacturing mindset within the organization.
2. Create a roadmap.  Pilot a targeted small area and then scale up.
3. Develop a business case.  Examine impacts of parts from your supply chain and or product life cycle with the use of additive manufacturing.
4. Identify challenges and evaluate whether additive manufacturing fits in your company.

You have to get started with additive manufacturing/3D printing - doing nothing gets you nothing!

Historically most machine shops have been job shops, which makes the business dependent on constantly obtaining new customers with new machining needs.  3D printers can enable a machine shop to create its own new products and gain more independence.  

Let us review why it makes sense to adopt 3D printers in machine shops today.  

• Diversification - Metal 3D print technologies are the next evolution to the machine shop.  The ability to complement their subtractive with additive manufacturing.  The evolution of adding plastics, carbon, and now metal additive manufacturing to produce tooling, fixturing, and end-use parts.
• Optimize the tooling with metal 3D printing.  Shops can now leverage 3D printing cost-effective plastic parts or metal parts to enhance workflows and projects.  A machine shop can rely on the printer to mitigate errors and improve timelines from pre-production prototyping to creating production tools to printing end-use parts for quick fixes.
• Small-batch production — additive manufacturing technologies provide direct production options for low volume production and bridge manufacturing.  Save on tooling costs with 3D printing directly from a file, and take advantage of speed to market.

Complex geometries are the best use case for metal AM.

Most importantly, metal 3D printing

• Is especially helpful for geometries that are costly, time and labor-intensive processes to produce on a CNC machine.  Designs that leverage metal AM's freedom to generate internal features of the part, intricate geometries such as lattices, and complex forms such as topology-optimized shapes to maximize their performance while minimizing their weight and the total number of components in an assembly.  
• Communication to the machinists to help interpret drawings that have so many call-outs and can be difficult to catch all with complex geometries.  This helps eliminate time and material waste with a CNC job that a call-out may have been missed.  A 3D print can be a valuable tool prior to machined part production.
• To produce parts for test fit and function.  This will shorten the feedback loop in the machine shop with 3D prints in advance of production.  3D printing allows for faster prototypes, setting up prints to run overnight then using parts the next day.

Jigs, fixtures, and other customized production tools are essential for efficient, effective manufacturing.  Tooling is a fixed expense that must be amortized across large quantities of parts. 

• One important capability is an alternative to casting.  Machining lead times can be a hostage to the lead times from foundries delivering cast parts.  With production, metal additive manufacturing in-house, the machine shop can print its own parts as needed, without any lead-time from a supplier. 

In summary, additive manufacturing eliminates the following barriers with tolling-free production:

1. Optimized designs
2. Mass customization
3. Rapid design to production
4. Cost-effective at any scale
5. Digital inventory
6. Low operator burden

To learn more about metal additive manufacturing solutions, please connect with us directly at https://www.mastergraphics.com/desktop-metal

The official definition of Investment casting is an industrial process based on lost-wax casting, one of the oldest known metal-forming techniques.  The term "lost-wax casting" can also refer to modern investment casting processes.

Additive manufacturing technologies are rapidly evolving and their applicability to investment casting grows with it.  Instead of using injection-molded wax patterns companies can now also choose to directly 3D print patterns using Stereolithography (SLA) and MultiJet (MJP) materials.  Using these AM technologies and 3D printer software such as 3D Sprint from 3D Systems, you can streamline your time and labor-intensive process to advance production and reduce expenses.  Today this is referred to by 3D Systems as "digital foundry" which enables foundries to deliver a new level of service to their customers.  There is no need to change anything in the workflow process.  More importantly, they can expect patterns in hours rather than days or weeks.  Foundries that want to compete in this market and maintain a competitive edge should be using additive manufacturing or... be left behind.  

With the new technologies for investment casting, foundries will be able to:

1. Produce low volumes of casted parts from a CAD model in 24-48 hours
2. Reduce the costs of tooling
3. Eliminate the time it takes to produce tooling
4. Reduce costs and space for tooling storage
5. Deliver unmoldable products

Using powerful software such as 3D Sprint from 3D Systems you can apply chemical etching offsets.  Apply scale compensation for metal shrinkage.  Digitally create and position gates and vents.  Create sectioning of large parts and joints.  Prepare and optimize files for printing. 

Print your master pattern by choosing between plastic and wax master patterns.  But how do you determine which type of master pattern?  Let me summarize the differences:

With MultiJet printing (MJP) for wax casting patterns, you use 100% real wax printing technology.  This technology is great for small to medium size parts typically less than 8 inches in X, Y, and Z geometry.  These patterns are significantly lower in cost due to the material costs.  They are produced in less time than traditional patterns production again for low to medium volume prints.  You can expect accuracy and repeatability with wax patterns and fits into the existing investment casting process.  Also, ideal for customized metal components to bridge manufacturing.

With Stereolithography (SLA) for plastic casting patterns, you would use a castable resin material.  This provides you with highly accurate, high yield, large parts, and very complex lightweight master patterns.  They will maintain dimensional stability over years.  Typically, there is less manual finishing and labor expense with SLA processes.   3D Systems uses a QuickCast resin that is 30% lighter weight and provides consistent strength X, Y, Z geometries.

To learn more watch, the 3D Systems YouTube video. Understanding How 3D Printed Casting Patterns Work in the Foundry

I almost can't believe I am writing this but I just got back from attending my first live conference since the COVID pandemic hit us!  I was fortunate enough to attend the 2021 Additive Manufacturing Users Conference (AMUG) where the leading users of additive gather to share their knowledge, expertise, and updates on best-in-class additive manufacturing processes.  There is too much to share in just one blog so I will have more follow-up blogs but wanted to start with what the experts noted as the trends they saw in 2020.  In one of the sessions, industry leaders outlined what they believe will be the next areas of success around 3D print in 2021.  Here are my notes from what was presented...

BASF - Noted that they are seeing more traditional injection molding companies looking to leverage additive manufacturing and leveraging 3D print to augment their traditional services.  Historically because of the volume and material needs that injection molders require they have been slower to adopt Additive Manufacturing technologies but BASF believes advancement in materials and throughput will increase the adoption.

www.forward-am.com

DMG Mori - Stated they believe automation around 3D print, enhanced reliability, and improved quality assurance processes will be key for additive.   Much like the notes above from BASF, they believe adoption will also increase as the materials improve for both metal and composites.  In addition, more hybrid systems will be leveraged to take advantage of both traditional and new manufacturing technologies.

www.dmgmori.com

Dyndrite - Believes that software solutions have lagged 3D print technology and 2021 will be the year software makes a big step forward to catch up.  With the explosion of manufacturing data, software will need to be developed to run 3D printers more efficiently, quickly and to leverage data better.  The need for technology-agnostic front ends will be another improvement as manufacturers will leverage various 3D print technologies.  

www.dyndrite.com

Essentium - Predicts the continued rise of full-scale production, improved leveraging of 3D print for supply chain resiliency, and the development of materials to solve specific applications versus a general material solution.  The trend for true additive manufacturing that occurred in 2020 will continue into 2021.

www.essentium.com

ExOne - Beyond just the overall desire for 3D metal parts, they see the demand for more metal materials will increase along with the desire to implement additive processes to satisfy green initiatives. There will also be a continued leveraging for metal print for light-weighting and part consolidation.  Metal certainly has a strong future.

www.exone.com

Take these as my notes and I encourage you to visit each of their websites to see what they are focused on.  Overall I believe the message was consistent, it's not only about the print technology but the processes utilized both before and after printing.  Design processes and technologies will continue to evolve to better leverage and prepare data for printing.  The post finishing processes will be improved to support a true manufacturing process for both producing parts in quantity but with quality assurance.  Throw in materials development and I believe 2021 will be another step forward to true additive manufacturing.  

As always, if any of the directions I noted above resonate with you (or does not) please reach out as I am always curious to hear real-world feedback.

Lastly, I encourage you to check out the Additive Manufacturing User Group - www.amug.com
The Additive Manufacturing Users Group's origins date back to the early 1990s when the founding industry users group called 3D Systems North American Stereolithography User Group.  Today, AMUG educates and supports users of all additive manufacturing technologies.  If you are at all involved in 3D around production, this is a group you should support and join.

You can have the best 3D printed parts in the world, but if you do not have a good cleaning/post-processing workflow, your parts are likely not going to look their best or be as functional as possible. This is especially true with powder-based 3D printing technologies. 

The most common cleaning process for powder-based 3D printing is bead blasting.  In the past, this was done manually bent over a bead blaster; you would have a bead blaster hooked up to an air compressor and clean each part one at a time.  This process not only takes time, but you could damage and/or discolor the parts by putting the spray nozzle too close to the part.  See example A for discoloration, called burn marks. If any of you have ever bead blasted by hand you know what a pain in the back, neck, and eye strain it can be, not to mention a major time suck especially if you have many parts to clean. 

Now with the DyeMansion Powershot C automatic cleaning system what would take me hours has been reduced down to 10 minutes a load.  The other advantage with the DyeMansion Powershot C is I get consistently clean-looking parts.  See example B.  The cleaned parts are ready for finishing or shipping depending on your or your client's needs.  Again, remember the advantage of additive manufacturing is cost-effectiveness and turnaround time.  

In the video below, you can see I am unpacking parts from the HP Multi Jet Fusion.  I am just cleaning the loose powder off the parts as the HP recycles the unused material back into the system for reuse.  The parts are then loaded into the DyeMansion Powershot C and cleaned. 

After using the DyeMansion cleaning system, I would never want to go back to the cleaning process manually again.

Please feel free to give me a call at 800.873.7238 x2735 or send me an email at gene.call@mastergraphics.com with any questions or if you want to discuss post-processing.

What is biocompatibility and how is it relevant to 3D printing? 

 “Biocompatibility is a general term describing the property of a material being compatible with living tissue. Biocompatible materials do not produce a toxic or immunological response when exposed to the body or bodily fluids. Biocompatible materials are central for use in medical implants and prosthetics to avoid rejection by the body tissue and to support harmonious biological functioning.”

3D printer materials have advanced in the medical field. So much that once what was impossible to imagine is now occurring. 3D printed technologies and materials have developed to the point that they are replacing traditional methods of bone and joint replacements in the human body. Knee replacements are often now printed in metal to replicate the replacement knee (using a scan to print an exact replica of the damaged knee) versus using the traditional method of machining net near shape knee and then working to make it fit. Let’s discuss a few of many applications specifically in the medical field. 

Biocompatible materials are used for 3D printing in various medical applications, including dental and orthopedic implants(spinal), drug delivery, hearing aids, tissue, craniomaxillofacial (CMF), dental, veterinary, and prosthesis. Common biocompatible 3D printing materials include polymers, metals, ceramics, composites, and carbon compounds. 3D printing facilitates the easy production of orthopedic implants, dental devices, surgical guides, anatomical models, medical tools, prostheses, and custom enclosures. Taking it one step further and not limited to the printing of organs, bone regeneration, and drug release.

Below I am highlighting some key application use cases with medical 3D printing:

• The applications of Anatomic Models is still highly used in 3D printing and Medical image data is the foundation of highly-accurate, patient-specific anatomic models that can be made in a variety of materials to support patient education and surgical planning.  

• A surgical guide is a medical device that is 3D printed based on the DICOM data which is patient specific. It is used for the accurate placement of the implant in the bone structure. It replicates the exact surfaces of the patient’s intraoral situation  
• And in today’s Covid 19 environment we are printing PPE devices such as masks, ventilators, swabs, and more...
• For instance, Align Technology produces transparent dental aligners – 17 million per year. With the help of 3D Systems 3D Printing. Most removable orthodontic appliances, including retainers and positioners, are made from plaster reference models; individual teeth on these models can be manually sectioned and repositioned with wax.
• Surgical implants and prosthesis is advancing due to innovations in the biocompatible 3D printing materials market.

If you are in the medical space, are you keeping up with the medical advancements in 3D printing?

Biocompatible 3D printing technology is being increasingly used for tissue regeneration in vascular tissue engineering applications. Players operating in the biocompatible 3D printing materials market use the technology to produce patient-specific devices in the biomedical field. 3D printing serves as a resource for the production of devices and systems in biomaterials, and in the field of tissue engineering.  

There are Major Challenges for Biocompatible 3D Printing Materials Market – Why?

Currently, only a few biocompatible materials are widely employed in the healthcare industry. The U.S. FDA (United States Food & Drug Administration) has not yet approved the research in the development of some biocompatible materials. This is restraining the global biocompatible 3d printing materials market.

With 3D printing, the possibility of making health not only accessible but also individually customizable. Each day companies are making exciting discoveries and opening new doors for patients and healthcare professionals alike. The medical world is changing rapidly, and 3D printing will continue to revolutionize the path forward.

Click the link below to read the case study by 3D Systems to see how biocompatible and functional microfluidic components for rapid and portable diagnostics testing were developed.  https://www.3dsystems.com/customer-stories/rapid-diagnostics-device-developed-using-figure-4-standalone

Reach out if you want to discuss other case studies or biocompatible solutions. 
barb.miller-webb@mastergraphics.com

When it comes to advancing manufacturing processes, people pick a team on which to play: the additive manufacturing team or the subtractive manufacturing team.  This meant that people used technologies such as MultiJet, SLA, SLS or FFF technologies for additive manufacturing, or CNC machining for subtractive manufacturing.  The result, companies have a divide with both sides feeling threatened and intimidated by the other.

Additive Manufacturing (AM) rose in the 1990's.  Companies thought this would replace traditional machining and I injection molds. It was realized AM at that time had limited materials tolerances, lower speeds and higher prices. AM adoption was slower with manufacturing as a result.  Traditional manufacturers were offended that a technology could replace their skill set.  On the flip side, additive manufacturers were not impressed by traditional manufacturers refusing to advance product development with speed or diversity.  This division slowed the acceptance to AM technology.

So what has changed today?  Proven successful applications over the years.  With the advancement of material properties, faster print technology, better resolution/tolerances and lower equipment pricing has companies adopting AM to complement subtractive manufacturing instead of competing.  More case studies are being produced today with successful applications.

What are a few applications we see additive manufacturing used successful within companies today?

• Jigs or fixtures is used to locate, insert or support something.  Also go/no-go gauges.  Traditionally, these items have been machined which involved expense and time to program the work, buy the material and machine the parts.  3D printed parts can be printed overnight for next day needs, ensure repeatability, save scrap costs and lower the cost of production.
• Mold inserts - low volume injection molds such as up to 200 shots are proving out for companies that want to get to market faster.  The divide is coming together with the designers helping design the fixtures for the tool room manager.
• Thermoforming used as direct tools or custom 'inserts' within traditional tools
• Sheet metal forming tools 3d printed will provide an efficient replacement to waterjet and laser.
• Indirect master patterns save weeks and months with 3D printing.

I work with companies to help educate them about additive manufacturing, to help assure companies will not acquire the wrong technology for their application needs.  The real value of AM technology is found when people take time to learn where the complementing technologies and materials make sense.

A traditional manufacturer should embrace additive manufacturing, because it is truly complementary to their existing processes and adds value.

When customers see these technologies their manufacturers, they feel more comfortable that they are working with a progressive manufacture.  Additive manufacturing is no longer considered "hype".  It is here, and it is staying.  One common comment I hear from manufacturers that have implemented AM, "more applications and cost saving were discovered." While it is unclear if AM will ever fully replace subtractive manufacturing technologies, it seems fairly certain that it will, in the long run, become a significant complement to subtractive manufacturing.

Download the jigs and fixtures eBook for further ideas, or contact Barb Miller-Webb at barbara.miller-webb@mastergraphics.com

"The pain of Change could be LESS than the pain of NOT changing"

It's often not easy to change − whether it is a personal change or business change. I work with customers and often the path of least resistance is to stay status quo − not implement any changes or new processes because often it's perceived as the path of least resistance. I hear "We have done it this way for years and it works" but does it?  Often if you step back and analyze your areas of PAIN, the steps to address those challenges are often times easier than not changing. You can relate to this concept on a personal level if you think of eating healthy − or at least I can relate.  Often the initial change in diet is challenging − you don't like the food options − you miss eating past favorite foods and often the easiest thing to do is NOT change.  So often we are not determined to see the change through and give up.  The end result, we gain a few pounds and are not as healthy.  As opposed to going through the pain − changing our diet − and in the end having a healthier self!  The change seemed hard but easier than the bad habits leading up to issues later that are even more difficult to address than the current situation.

So how does this relate to 3D Print/Additive Manufacturing?  Often I work with clients that have a difficult time stepping back and looking at their overall processes and addressing the changes needed to avoid larger pains in the future.  Like eating right − they hear 3D printing is the future but think it does not apply to them.  I can tell you first hand the organizations that challenge themselves to be more innovative and focus in process change become class leading.  This ability to take on short term pain for long term gain makes them industry leaders − they look at any and all technologies to sustain continual improvements.  Needless to say their commitment to process change makes them industry leaders.  Ever look around and wonder how your competitors have implemented a change that you know gave them an advantage? Commitment to process improvement no matter how disruptive it may initially have been.

Let me get back to how you should look to see if 3D print may address some of your current or long term pains.  It starts internally to truly understand your current challenges and be honest within your organization.  The next step is to find a trusted partner you can be vulnerable with and work to outline/map a future to address those pains.  This of course is easier said than done − need I bring up dieting again?

As an example on how I personally work to be a trusted partner, I work with customers to understand their specific pains within their existing manufacturing process and then determine (together) if additive manufacturing or 3D printing can bring value to addressing their challenges.  I need to be candid often when there is no solution available − thus you need trust that a partner isn't just trying to sell you things.  My clients also need to trust in the process and be candid with themselves on the changes they need to make.  Many companies fail to recognize that change is a process that makes improvements to the organization, instead they ignore the problems/pains and continue to do the same thing over and over again.

If together we can't find a compelling reason/need to change the current process, or a personal impact, the change will not happen in the company.  We are conditioned to avoid pain and discomfort.  There's always adversity, fear, uncomfortable sensations, problems, distractions and so on.  We need to address the pain together...

How can trusted partners help customers discover the compelling reason?  The following are a few questions that I ask to help discover their compelling reason and you should make sure your vendor is asking you:

1. What are your current biggest challenges in your manufacturing processes?
2. Can you be more specific? Give me an example?
3. How long has that been a problem?
4. What have you tried to do about that?
5. How much do you think that has cost you?
6. How do you feel about that?
7. Have you given up trying to deal with the problem?

Will the change you are considering:

1. Speed up your time to market with your products?
2. Cut costs in you manufacturing?
3. Reduce your manufacturing downtime with on demand production?

Change will only happen when the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of change.  I encourage you to take a step back from the whirlwind and really look at what current pains that are worth addressing.

My last note, check out Mark Blumreiter's blog 22 Ways Manufacturers are using 3D print to see if his outline sparks any ideas on areas 3D print can address your pains.

Even if we can't help you I am always up for great business discussions so don't hesitate to reach out if you want to chat on pain.

Are you struggling to produce consistent results on parts dyed from HP’s Multi Jet Fusion printer? The last step in many users of HP 3D’s technology is to dye the parts so the final result is a deep black – well colored part.   Often, we see various set ups such as crock pots or large pots on burners to dye parts black from the various HP 3D printers. We see this system also in place for dyeing SLS parts. A typical example is below. Over time this process gets messy, time consuming, and provides inconsistent results.

Until recently, the current option for automated dyeing was DyeMansion’s DM60. This unit is the Rolls-Royce of dyeing. We have sold this technology for the last few years and truly has been game changing when you talk true Additive Manufacturing being implemented with high standards and measurable output. The DM60 uses a scientific process teamed with a unique dye system to produce unmatched final parts with repeatable and exact dye results – including color. The DyeMansion has a fit.

But…..what if your budget or process does not call for such an exact dye and your main goal is to replace that large pot dying process? Enter OmegaSonics…they are known for their ultrasonic cleaners but have developed a dye tank specifically to dye parts from HP MJF’s technology. The HP 1818 Dye Tank. The biggest advantage of the Omegasonics solutions? The unit starts at $ 14,995! The time saving and part quality improvements make the ROI on the system less than 12 months – in my opinion of course.

We had a client test the beta unit and have used it for over 5 months with great success. They had previously used a messy pot set up and now have an automated dye process with better results. You can view a video we created of the beta unit using the link below. I want to make sure to note that the final production unit has black outer panels (yes some dye will still cause a mess😊) and the mesh basket shipping with the unit has a finer mesh to hold smaller parts than the beta unit. You can view our video here:

Lastly, let me outline some of the key features:

• Price – I had to mention that again because at 15K the unit is very affordable.
• Adjustable Heat - Heat up to 200°F with simple – easy to use controls
  
  
• Robust pump - The key feature of the unit (besides the heated vat) is the circulation of the dye.  This is accomplished with a durable Ryton pump.
• Large volume capable - Basket is 14" x14" x 15"
• Overall Build Quality of Unit - Not only is the unit built with high quality, strong materials, it is on casters for portability.
• Dyed Parts Results - One of the challenges typical pot dying has is under sides of parts are not dyed as well as the side.  Envision the part sitting on the bottom of the pot.  With the circulation of the dye, the final parts have consistent dyed surface on all sides.
• Throughput - The HP1818 Dye Tank increase the number of parts you can dye in a given time.

As many of you know, the hidden challenge of 3D printing is finishing processes. We are excited to see manufacturers such as OmegaSonics entering the 3D post processing equipment game. I believe this system will be sold with a majority of HP’s 4200 and 5200 series printers.

If you want more information on the unit, feel free to visit us at www.mastergraphics.com or contact me directly at kevin.carr@mastergraphics.com