Valentine’s Day is next week, so we’ll start today’s 3D Printing News Briefs off with a heartwarming story, before moving on to 3D printed models, and plenty of business news. The ‘Window to the Heart’ installation, featuring the world’s largest 3D printed lens, is officially up in Times Square this month. Moving right along, a 3D printed model of the county town of Ipswich could help solve traffic issues in Morocco. Invisalign is expanding to the Middle East, and Dremel DigiLab is unveiling its 3D45 3D printer in the UK for the first time. Sandvik invested $25 million in metal 3D printing, and Onshape is introducing two new Integrated Cloud Apps.
‘Window to the Heart’ Installed in Times Square
“It’s remarkable how ArandaLasch + Marcelo Coelho’s Window to the Heart responded to this year’s broad theme of Labor of Love for the 2018 Valentine’s Heart competition. They created a rare optical experience that pushes the boundaries of technology, as well as draws on the hyper-stimulating atmosphere of Times Square,” said Susan Chin, Executive Director of Design Trust for Public Space, which curated the Times Square Valentine Heart Design. “In a time when our love and empathy are tested every single day, we’ll now have a special window to share viewpoints and to see one another in a different light at the Crossroads of the World.”
Window to the Heart will remain on view for the month of February at Father Duffy Square, between 46th and 47th Streets; visitors can follow the conversation on social media with #WindowHeartTSq.
3D Printed City Model to Help with Traffic Issues in Morocco
A scaled-down 3D printed model of Ipswich, the county town of Suffolk, will soon be sent to Rabat, the capital of Morocco, and installed in a vacant car park to help government officials and city planners test out new ideas for traffic flow, transport systems, and housing in a smart city. The recreation includes 3D printed houses, park benches, and cars containing small, embedded supercomputers, in an effort to create a true Ipswich replica. Once the data is collected in Morocco, it will be sent back to Ipswich and analyzed. The immediate goal is for the technology to be used to test out the safety of road designs, but it could one day help set up cameras in crowded smart cities that can help find missing people.“It’s a very grown up form of Sim City. Just like Sim City it allows us to develop policies and try them out on the model,” explained Frank Domoney, Chief Skills Transfer Officer of the Anglia-Mahgreb Smart City company. “It’s like a flight simulator for city managers.”
Invisalign Expanding to Middle East
Align Technology subsidiary Invisalign, which uses 3D printing technology to create its brand of clear, plastic teeth aligners, announced this week that it will be strengthening its commitment to the Middle East, and will be opening its first regional Middle Eastern office in Dubai. The Middle East and African orthodontic market has been growing steadily over the last several years, as dental health importance has increased, and the Middle East region has an estimated nearly 440 thousand new orthodontic case starts each year.
“We see tremendous prospects for growth in the Middle East, especially in markets such as the UAE and Saudi Arabia,” said Mawlid Chaoui, General Manager of Invisalign, Middle East and Africa. “Having an established presence in Dubai will enable us to provide direct support and ongoing clinical education to our growing customer base of Invisalign providers and help establish the Invisalign system as a leading treatment of choice in the region.”
The digital Invisalign system combines proprietary virtual modeling software, rapid manufacturing processes, and mass customization to straighten teeth, using the custom-made, removable aligners that have been prescribed to over 5 million patients by Invisalign-trained orthodontists or general practitioner dentists.
Dremel DigiLab Brings 3D45 3D Printer to the UK
“3D printers have become an essential teaching tool as the world’s economies gear to the needs of the next industrial revolution,” said John Kavanagh, Global President, Dremel. “The Dremel DigiLab suite provides the tools and range to inspire children and give them the skills they’ll need for the workplace of the future. The DigiLab 3D45 is the first 3D printer designed to perfectly suit the school environment. It combines simplicity of use and reliability with the capacity to produce advanced designs at a price that schools can afford.”
Sandvik Invests in Metal 3D Printing
In a company statement, Göran Björkman, President of Sandvik Materials Technology, said, “This investment should be viewed as the latest evidence of our commitment to an area that we believe strongly in.”
Onshape Introducing New Integrated Cloud Apps
Onshape has reported an increase of 600% of app usage in 2017, and with that in mind, is launching two new Integrated Cloud Apps at the Pacific Design & Manufacturing Show today. SIMSOLID Cloud, which is now embedded in Onshape, is meshless simulation that works on users’ original, fully-featured CAD geometry, without needing any geometry simplification or meshing; it delivers test results in seconds and has automatic tools for specifying solution refinement. VisualCAMc by MecSoft is a powerful CAM app that includes production-ready tools and functionality for programming milling CNC centers and machines.
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