In celebration of finally leaving the long month of January behind, we’ll start today’s 3D Printing News Briefs with some good news – Carbon is celebrating its fifth anniversary! Moving on, some other companies have things to celebrate, as Sharebot introduces a new material and CollPlant announces its Nasdaq listing. UL and Ricoh will allow for a tele-presence capability at their upcoming AM workshops, while Ampower and inspire AG are partnering to hold their own AM workshops, and some innovative research has been published about 3D printed titanium drug-delivering implants. Finally, on a less celebratory note, Type A Machines announced that it is closing its doors for good.
Carbon Celebrates Fifth Anniversary
“The age of digital 3D Manufacturing is here, and Carbon is fundamentally changing how the world designs, engineers, makes, and delivers products,” said Carbon CEO and Co-Founder Joseph DeSimone, PhD. “Since its inception, Carbon has continuously pushed the boundaries and transformed industries; we’re creating new classes of products, workers, and business models, where product design and engineering is facilitated by cloud-based computing and a wide range of technologies and materials that enable the creation of perfectly tuned–even personalized–products that, until now, were impossible to produce.”
Sharebot Introduces New Professional Material
The new material format, available in both black and white, works well with the company’s recently launched Sharebot QXXL. The professional 3D printer, which has a 700 x 350 x 300 mm build platform, touchscreen display, and auto calibration, is Sharebot’s biggest offering, and also features Internet connectivity. PLA-S 4kg is now available now on Sharebot’s online store for €99.
CollPlant Listed on Nasdaq
“We believe the Nasdaq listing gives us the opportunity to increase the trading liquidity of our securities, broaden our shareholder base and significantly raise our profile in the investment community,” said Yehiel Tal, CEO of CollPlant. “CollPlant’s proprietary product line addresses indications for a diverse fields of organ and tissue repair, and is making a real impact in the field of regenerative medicine. Our flagship rhCollagen BioInk product offering is being developed for 3D bioprinting of tissues and organs, and our Vergenix line of rhCollagen products includes a soft tissue repair matrix for the treatment of tendinopathy, as well as a wound repair matrix to promote rapid, optimal healing of acute and chronic wounds. Trading of CollPlant’s ADSs on Nasdaq is a natural extension of our growth goals.”
Tele-presence Allowed at Upcoming Additive Manufacturing Workshops
Melissa Albrecht, UL AM Global Program Manager, said, “We’ve been receiving numerous inquiries for public workshops at locations and geographies we haven’t visited yet. Tele-presence is a great way for us to reach those audiences in an effective way, providing greater access to instructor-led training while decreasing travel as a potential deterrent for participation.”
Ricoh and UL will have this new learning format available for the Foundations of 3D Printing and Design for AM workshops on March 19, 20, and 22, and the Managing Quality and Safety in AM workshop scheduled for May 22 and 23.
Ampower and inspire AG Holding Joint Additive Manufacturing Workshops
“Our workshop has already been successfully carried out with both large and medium-sized companies,” said Dr. Christoph Klahn, Head of Department at inspire. “Through the process and production chain know-how of Ampower, the customer will be competently supported after the workshop also in the technical implementation of the identified applications and the establishment of a qualified production.”
3D Printed Titanium Drug-Delivering Implants
The abstract reads, “Investigations were performed to optimise the design and SLM process parameters required to create the releasing MCs with minimum dimensional deviation to allow a controlled dosing of the drugs, while considering the process impact on the surface roughness and porosity of the builds. The build orientation, internal contour spacing, and laser process parameters were varied to assess their effect on the resolution of the MCs with diameters of ∼200–500 μm. It was found that, vertically oriented channels were found to have the least dimensional deviation from the target dimensions compared with horizontally-oriented or inclined channels. The dimensional deviation of the MCs was found in range of 220–427 μm, while the horizontal surface roughness (Ra) was in range of 1.46–11.46 μm and the vertical surface roughness (Ra) was in range of 8.5–13.23 μm when applying energy density varying from of 27–200 J/mm3. It was found that, there was a clear correlation between the energy density with both dimensional deviation and horizontal surface roughness, while no correlation was found for the vertical’ surface roughness. The study identified the optimum conditions to manufacture drug-delivering metallic implants, creating hollow samples with releasing MCs equivalent diameter of ∼271 μm, horizontal surface roughness (Ra) of 4.4 μm, vertical surface roughness of (Ra) 9.2 μm, and build porosity of 1.4% using an internal contour of 150 μm and energy density of 35.7 J/mm3.”
Type A Machines Shutting Down
“I’m deeply appreciative and proud of the many customers, partners, and individuals who helped make Type A Machines a unique and innovative company, who pushed the boundaries of what was possible, and dedicated themselves to an ideal,” said Andrew Rutter, the Founder and CEO of Type A Machines. “Our future will be a bit better thanks to them.”
The award-winning Series 1 was the first 3D printer to include material profiles and on-board WiFi. We’re sure to hear more from Rutter and the other innovators behind the now-defunct company in the future, and wish them the best.
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