3D Printing: The Stories We Missed This Week — July 30, 2016

This week included a lot of 3D printing news from all around the world, and as per usual, it was nearly impossible to keep up with all of the latest announcements and innovations. The New York-based Graphene 3D Lab announced a couple of organizational changes, appointing a new Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Secretary. Research and Markets has determined that by 2021, metal additive manufacturing powders will reach around $1.2 billion in revenue. iMakr is expanding their 3D printing platform into France, which will offer customer service and engineers speaking in their native tongue. ROBO 3D unveils information on their new STEM Education Kit, while Ultimaker finally releases the source code for their 2+ and 2 Extended + 3D printers. Aurora Machine has announced a deal with Vader Systems to acquire the Mk1 liquid metal 3D printing system. CAD software developer PTC has joined the 3MF Consortium as a founding member. Lastly, Shapeways warns their community about a possible data breach on their website.

Graphene 3D Lab Announces New Appointments to Upper Management

Over the past few months, the graphene composite producer Graphene 3D Lab Inc. has been involved in some top-secret innovations, and currently offer more than 100 graphene and graphene-related products and 3D printing materials. It seems that the company will be shaking up their upper management as well, as they’ve just announced two major organizational changes. Corporate finance expert Robert Scott has been appointed as the new Chief Financial Officer, and will use his experience as the Founder and President of his private company, Corex Management Inc., to make Graphene 3D’s business model more cost effective. The company has also announced that Jeffery Dare will now serve as the Corporate Secretary of Graphene 3D, citing his experience in managing external reporting and corporate compliance as his strongest suits. Dare served on the management teams and boards of numerous publicly traded Canadian companies.

“We are extremely pleased to welcome Mr. Scott and Mr. Dare to the Graphene 3D Lab management team,” said Elena Polyakova, co- Chief Executive Officer. “Mr. Scott brings the financial experience the Company requires as we continue to develop and advance our product line. Mr. Dare’s strong track record of serving in public companies makes him an ideal candidate as our Corporate Secretary during this exciting period of growth.”

Revenues from Metal 3D Printing Powders Expected to Reach $ 1.2 Billion in 2021

Research and Markets has recently announced the addition of a new study, entitled “Additive Manufacturing with Metal Powders 2016: An Opportunity Analysis and Ten-Year Forecast”, which focuses on the revenue expected to be made from metal additive manufacturing powders. According to their new report, metal powders will generate revenues of around $1.2 billion in 2021, and are expected to go on and reach $2.4 billion in 2025. The study provides a full-scale analysis on opportunities for metal powder suppliers, the evolution of the market, existing and emerging metal 3D printing technology, and much more. The study covers a plethora of metal powder materials, including steels, cobalt chrome, nickel alloys, titanium alloys, aluminum, copper alloys, and other precious metals.

iMakr to Expand Their 3D Printing Services to France

With brick-and-mortar locations in New York City and London, the 3D printing company iMakr has recently announced their decision to expand their services to France. Known for their large selection of 3D printers, 3D scanners, and materials, iMakr is prepared to take their three years of experience and apply it to the French market, which they claim has an increasing demand for 3D printing, particularly in their creative and business communities. The French version of their 3D printing platform will offer the same product selection as their other two stores and website, but will also include French-speaking customer service representatives and engineers. iMakr also plans to organize an array events around France to get a broader audience more involved in the 3D printing community.

ROBO 3D Unveils New 3D Printing STEM Education Kit

After creating an exclusive 3D printing STEM Education Kit for the Boys and Girls Club of America organization, 3D printer manufacturer ROBO 3D is now looking to provide access the same educational experience to teachers around the country. The company unveiled the full details of the STEM Education Kit at ISTE 2016, an annual education technology conference that took place in San Antonio, Texas, during the month of June. ROBO 3D’s curriculum was developed to walk students and teachers through every step of the 3D printing process, from 3D design to the final product. For grades K-8, the hands-on project-based lesson plans are specifically designed according to each age group, and also coincide with Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). ROBO 3D has created two different bundles for their STEM Education Kit, both of which include one R1+PLUS 3D printer, lifetime access to ROBO3D’s K-8 educational curriculum, filament, and graphic LCD screen, and more.

“3D printing challenges students of all ages to get creative and think outside of the box,” said Braydon Moreno, co-founder of ROBO 3D. “ Not only does 3D printing foster more in-depth learning in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) but it is another tool for teachers to get students engaged and learn how to conceptualize their ideas and bring them to life.”

Aurora Machine to Acquire Mk1 Liquid Metal 3D Printing System

The New York-based machine shop Aurora Machine has just announced a completed deal with Vader Systems LLC., which will grant them a new liquid metal 3D printing machine. The newly acquired 3D printer, called the Mk1, will allow Aurora Machine to manufacture aluminum parts, which they currently machine with CNC mills and lathes. The deal with the Buffalo-based Vader Systems makes Aurora Machine the first manufacturer to utilize their liquid metal 3D printing system, and is expected to be delivered in early 2017. The printer will utilize the patent pending MagnetoJet technology, and will propel liquified metal from an 800°C chamber encased in an electromagnetic field through print nozzles, working similarly to an inkjet printer.

“Vader has developed a revolutionary machine that will radically change the metal manufacturing industry,” Jonathan Amoia, President of Aurora Machine, said. “With the Mk1, we will be able to not only produce our customers’ parts faster and more cost efficiently—with much less wasted material—but the Mk1 also opens up new design possibilities that will help our customers gain a competitive advantage. We were fortunate to meet the Vaders early on and position our growing company to be part of a very elite list of first run customers.”

Ultimaker Releases Source Code For Their 2+ and 2 Extended + 3D Printers

Back in January, the open source 3D printer manufacturer Ultimaker unveiled their new Ultimaker 2+ and Ultimaker 2 Extended + 3D printers. Now, about six months later, the 3D printing company has just released the open source code for their latest line of printers. Ultimaker has uploaded the documentation and source files for all parts in the Ultimaker 2+ 3D printer onto GitHub. In the Bill Of Materials (BOM) directory, all of the Ultimaker parts are numbered and named with the correct amounts and raw materials, enabling users to delve deep into the source code of their 3D printer and modify it however they wish.

PTC Joins Prestigious 3MF Consortium as Founding Member

The CAD software developer PTC has recently joined the prestigious 3MF Consortium, which was formed to help bridge the gap between the latest 3D printing hardware and outdate file formats. PTC will be considered as a founding member of the Consortium, and will help the organization to develop and promote a new full-fidelity file format for 3D printing. The PTC Creo CAD software has helped streamline the additive manufacturing process already, enabling their users to design, optimize, prepare, and validate designs for 3D printing quickly and easily. Now, as a founding member of the 3MF Consortium, PTC can apply their CAD software prowess to help eliminate the issues with file formats that are currently plaguing the 3D printing industry.

“PTC joining the 3MF Consortium is yet another important step toward the goal of developing a viable, end-to-end, global additive manufacturing solution,” said Adrian Lannin, executive director, 3MF Consortium. “PTC is well-known for its innovative technology platforms and solutions for the Internet of Things, and they will become an important contributor to the 3MF Consortium.”

Shapeways Investigates Possible Data Breach on Website

A few days ago, the 3D printing service bureau Shapeways alerted their community about a possible data breach on their website, which may have allowed intruders to access user names, email addresses, and shipping addresses. Although the news is a bit alarming for Shapeways users, the company claims that the data breachers did not obtain any 3D model files or credit card information, which they do not store on their own systems. Although they haven’t heard of misuse of the possible breached information, and also protect user passwords with a hash, the company decided to be cautious and inform their user base about the potential breach. Shapeways is currently working with law enforcement, and are also reviewing their security procedures, and ask that users contact them if they suspect that someone is attempting to gain access to their account. The statement was emailed to Shapeways users, and offered advice to ensure that no critical information is obtained by the intruders.

“Although we protect your password with a hash in an effort to prevent malicious attackers from misusing it, to err on the side of caution we suggest that you reset your password at your earliest convenience. You can reset your password by logging into your account, navigating to the account settings page, and following the directions there for changing your password. If you use your Shapeways password for any other site, we recommend resetting the password for those sites as well. We encourage you to use strong passwords and not to reuse your Shapeways password on other sites,” the statement reads.

What interests you most here? Let’s discuss this news and these topics further over in the Week’s 3D Printing News forum at 3DPB.com.