3D Printing: The Stories We Didn’t Cover This Week–February 6

In this week’s 3D printing news, we have more than one story about metal 3D printing, which is growing ever more popular. Materialise is sponsoring a 3D printed metal workshop tour, and Siemens opened up a multi-million dollar metal additive manufacturing facility. There’s also Sculpteo’s thickening tool that’s now here to stay, CAD Technology has received Platinum status from Autodesk, and e-NABLE has received support from Ultimaker to further their 3D printing of prosthetics. Finally, in an effort to encourage new users, XYZprinting is offering discounts on 3D printers and now has a STEAM 3D printing curriculum available.

Thickening Tool from Sculpteo is Here to Stay

Sculpteo is all about optimizing your 3D prints without making you go back to your CAD files to make design changes. And with that commitment comes the thickening tool, which is now out of beta and here to stay permanently. Both material and size impact a print’s thickness, and Sculpteo’s “Solidity Check” allows you to now do a more user-friendly “Thickness Measurement” check. The thickening tool is available on the “Print Page”: this is when you select different printing options, including selecting solidity. By clicking on “Review” below the 3D viewer, you will be able to view which walls are too thin to print. Then at the bottom of the screen you can switch the Thickening Tool on and watch your model get thickened in front of your very own eyes! If everything is thick enough to print, your model should be all green with no red areas.

CAD Technology Center Receives Autodesk Platinum Designation

The CAD Technology Center (CTC) in Bloomington, Minnesota has just received high recognition from 3D software company Autodesk. The Autodesk Value Added Reseller designation acknowledges that the recipient provides a high-quality level of support, customer service, solution expertise, and general support. This also means that Autodesk will be making further investments in the designated company via consulting and development services.

CTC gears its services to the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) markets, and Autodesk’s Steve Blum, Senior Vice President of Worldwide Sales and Services, has this to say about the honor bestowed upon CTC:

“We are proud to announce CTC as our newest Platinum partner. They deliver solutions for their clients that provide tangible, real world value. Being named a Platinum Partner acknowledges the pivotal role the CTC team plays in delivering world-class design solutions, products and services across the AEC landscape.”

CTC’s portfolio of international and Fortune 500 companies is not likely to shrink anytime soon now that the company has received Platinum Tier Partner designation from Autodesk. CTC Express Tools already serves 40,000 customers worldwide and will likely expand its reach with this more concentrated backing from Autodesk.

Metal Additive Manufacturing Gets Multi-Million Euro Investment from Siemens

As 3D printing with metal grows into more of a staple practice for industries globally, we see more companies investing in it and this is the case with Germany-based Siemens. In an effort to get ahead of the metal additive manufacturing game, the company has announced it’s investing about €21.4 million into a new facility in the Swedish city of Fingspång. This facility will be used for rapid prototyping, manufacturing and repair of industrial gas turbine components for Siemens. Employing about 20 people, this facility is Siemens’ first foray into additive manufacturing in metal, and it will not likely be its last.

As Siemens’ website explains:

“Siemens is a global powerhouse focusing on the areas of electrification, automation and digitalization. One of the world’s largest producers of energy-efficient, resource-saving technologies, Siemens is a leading supplier of systems for power generation and transmission as well as medical diagnosis.”

With the addition of metal components to its huge body of technologies, Siemens is positioned to be a leader in metal additive manufacturing as it chooses timely investments in an emerging technology.

Ultimaker Contributes to e-NABLE

It appears that Ultimaker is also making some timely investments. e-NABLE is a very important organization that sponsors 3D printing projects for prostheses–mainly for children. It is an incredible project that speaks to the best of how 3D printing can be used for positive health and medical-related projects. Well, things just got even better for an organization that already has a great cause. Erik de Bruijn, founder of Ultimaker, has been working on improving the organization’s “Hand-o-matic.” Bruijn announced:

“Today, I am proud to announce that Ultimaker has chosen to expand their support of this amazing e-NABLE Community and become the first official sponsor for this website! Their sponsorship will help cover the cost of upkeep and time devoted to collecting and documenting the open-source information and stories being shared here for those who are seeking help in obtaining or creating an upper limb 3D printed assistive device.”

This kind of support from Ultimaker will help the organization expand services further, helping an organization that aims to help so many others. If you are interested in helping out a great organization, please email: jen.owen@enablingthefuture.org.

Materialise Sponsors 3D Printed Metal Tour

Metal 3D printing is growing more popular, and people are wondering how they can work with metal more and more. Materialise has announced a 3DP Academy Metal Tour to familiarize more people with metal 3D printing that will reach 9 countries in 3 months! This tour involves informative workshops designed to inform you about metal additive manufacturing and common alloys to print with. Participants can count on deep insight into metal 3D printing, interact with the Materialise team, and receive exposure to 3D printing samples, materials, and finished products. Basically, these workshops are one stop shopping for all metal 3D printing related issues.

You can check out more information about this series of workshops here and watch a video about them here.

XYZprinting Offers Deep Discount on 3D Printers

XYZprinting has announced a special promotion aimed at new customers. The company’s open-source 3D printer, the da Vinci Pro 1.0, is usually $699 and the user-friendly da Vinci Junior 1.0 is $349. Both printers will be discounted $100 and can be bought on XYZprinting’s online store.

Simon Shen, CEO of XYZprinting, summarizes the promotion:

“We’re excited to announce this promotion so consumers, who are new to XYZprinting, can purchase our 3D printers at an even lower price point. As 3D printing continues to drive demand in the marketplace, especially in the education sector, we believe this promotion will further our mission of increasing consumer accessibility to 3D printing.”

The company has also announced its STEAM curriculum program, which is in beta version now, and XYZprinting is releasing XYZmaker, a new modeling application, so young designers can edit projects in the classroom.

That’s all the news this week! Discuss in the 3D Printing News This Week forum over at 3DPB.com.