The Latest 3D Printing Business News: Partnerships and 3D Printers Galore

To kick off the beginning of a busy workweek, we’re sharing a few 3D printing business stories with you today, starting with the announcement of a strategic alignment between metal additive manufacturing service provider Sintavia, LLC, and the family-owned TRUMPF Group, a leading technology company that offers production solutions in the machine tool and laser sectors. The two companies have agreed to work together on machine qualifications for aerospace applications, increasing the penetration of TRUMPF’s TruPrint metal 3D printers within the aerospace industry.

Both companies have been focusing on the leadership side of their businesses, with Sintavia announcing two new additions to its leadership team last month and TRUMPF, effective July 1, 2017, expanding its Group Management. The agreement between Sintavia and TRUMPF involves a TruPrint 3000 printer, which will be installed in Sintavia’s Florida-based manufacturing facility.

“Between TRUMPF’s leadership in precision tool manufacturing and high technology laser applications, and Sintavia’s vertically aligned manufacturing platform, we feel that this development is a win-win for both parties. The TruPrint 3000 is both scalable and qualifiable, and we look forward to working with Sintavia as it goes through these processes with its numerous aerospace customers,” said Ralf Kimmel, General Manager of TRUMPF North America.

The TruPrint 3000, the first 3D printing system TRUMPF has released since the TruPrint 1000, is a universal medium-format machine with industrial part and powder management. It’s meant for series production of metal 3D printed, complex components. It features a build volume of 300 x 400 mm and quickly replaceable build and powder support cylinders, and is fitted with a 500 W fiber laser with a 1,070 nm wavelength. TRUMPF and Sintavia have a target installation date of early 2018 for the TruPrint 3000.

Brian R. Neff, Sintavia’s CEO, said, “TRUMPF is a globally recognized leader within the high technology tooling and laser industries, and their machine customer support is the best in the world. Moreover, the TruPrint 3000’s build chamber is completely modular and secure — a requirement for Sintavia’s new Lean production facility. We are excited to work with TRUMPF on the TruPrint 3000, and to grow the relationship into the future.”

Moving right along with our 3D printing business news, Addaero Manufacturing, a world leader in 3D printing for mission critical applications, is expanding its metal capabilities by partnering up with industrial 3D printing supplier EOS. Addaero is a manufacturing service provider based in Connecticut, and last year introduced Electron Beam Melting technology (EBM) to its facility with the addition of Arcam’s Q20 Plus. Now the company is adding Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS) technology by investing in two new EOS M 290 machines.

“EOS has proven itself as the leader in DMLS industrial 3D printers. When we decided to expand our metal AM offerings with DMLS, the EOS M 290 was the obvious choice to ensure that we continue to supply our customers with precision manufacturing for the most challenging applications,” said Rich Merlino, president of Addaero Manufacturing. “We are excited to partner with the EOS organization and look forward to binging our process driven methodology to the M290 platform.”

EOS recently introduced a semi-automated powder handling system for metal 3D printing called ICPM M pro that was designed specifically for the M 290 printer.

Addaero offers AM process qualification, serial production, new materials development through the EBM process, and reverse engineering. It is committed to providing high quality components through 3D printing technology, and knows that to achieve this, it’s necessary to have multiple methods and techniques in place in production operations, which is why it employs both EBM and DMLS, which have been compared and contrasted before.

Andrew Snow, senior vice president of EOS North America, explained, “EOS M 290 technology is used for serial production for a variety of industries, like aerospace, that have small to medium size, highly complex parts. Our underlying powder bed laser sintering process – DMLS – is very cost and time effective, and DMLS can use most alloys, so both prototype and production parts can be made from the same material allowing for rigorous testing.”

To wrap up this this 3D printing business showcase, Israel-based Nano Dimension, a top 3D printed electronics provider known for its DragonFly 2020 3D printer, will be collaborating with Cadlog Srl., headquartered in Milan, to develop the necessary commercial and service infrastructure so it can begin sales for the recently released DragonFly 2020 Pro 3D printer in Italy.

“We are extremely pleased to expand our footprint to Italy through our partnership with Cadlog, a well-established and respected company with years of experience working in the PCB design and manufacturing industries. Their complementary range of software and educational services make them the ideal choice for our DragonFly 2020 Pro 3D Printer,” said Simon Fried, CBO of Nano Dimension.

The DragonFly 2020 Pro, now available for early access commercial sale, features multiple updates and has enhanced capabilities, thanks to its larger size. The industrial 3D printer allows companies that are involved in electronics to learn the benefits of cost-effective, fast, and secure agile electronics developments, so they can “take control of their development cycles.”

Cadlog has been around since 1986, and distributes high-quality software tools, along with support and training services, for the control and optimization of the electronics industry design and production flows in southern Europe.

Filippo d’Agata, CEO of Cadlog, explained, “Cadlog is dedicated to finding leading-edge solutions that help companies in the electronics design and manufacturing industries eliminate product development errors, optimize workflows and improve time-to-market. Nano Dimension’s DragonFly 2020 Pro 3D Printer not only allows designers to produce complex circuits for prototyping without the design constraints of traditional design and manufacturing processes, but it also offers significant improvements in workflows, making it excellent for agile electronics development and a perfect fit for our new and existing customer base.”

Now that Cadlog has been established as a DragonFly 2020 Pro distributor, engineers and designers in Italy will be able to go from proof of concept to design validation, then test fixtures, all the way to 3D printing their own multilayer PCBs.

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