3D Printing News Briefs: August 3, 2018

On today’s 3D Printing News Briefs, we’re giving you the rundown on some of the latest 3D printing stories to get you into the weekend. Sintratec has welcomed a new distribution partner in South Korea, and CRP USA will be attending the upcoming SmallSat conference in Utah. A small 3D printed chain link was used to lift a really big load, Desktop Metal published a video on how to debind parts for sintering, and the US Air Force is setting up a rapid sustainment office, which will use modern technologies like 3D printing to lower the costs for aircraft repair. Finally, Cimquest explains some of the most fundamental concepts of 3D printing.

Sintratec Welcomes New Distribution Partner

Junwhan Lim, L.corporation CEO, and Christian von Burg, Sintratec CTO

Top Swiss 3D printer manufacturer Sintratec is ramping up its efforts in South Korea, and has now announced L.corporation as its new distribution partner in the country. The Seongnam-based 3D printing specialist has several years of experience in distributing SLA and FDM 3D printers from other manufacturers. Now, with the addition of the Sintratec Kit and Sintratec S1, L.corporation can add SLS 3D printers to its portfolio.

“The SLS market in South Korea is still underdeveloped compared to the FDM and SLA markets,” said Junwhan Lim, the CEO of L.corporation. “In the industrial sector, the SLS market is dominated by EOS. However, the demand for 3D printers in the Korean industry is still below its potential as the necessary skills are lacking. Sintratec’s entry-level models are exactly what they need.”

CRP USA to Attend SmallSat Conference

The annual Small Satellite (SmallSat) Conference and exhibition starts tomorrow, August 4th, at Utah State University, and CRP USA will be attending the event for the fourth year running. The company will be displaying its innovative space industry solutions, obviously, 3D printed with its high-performance Windform materials family. One of these is a 3D printed CubeSat, designed as both a sole CubeSat and a unique way to dispense two smaller TubeSats.

At its booth #43T at SmallSat 2018, CRP USA will be demonstrating how effective Windform 3D printing materials can be for creating structural space applications such as smallsats, as these composite materials have passed outgassing tests. The SmallSat Conference will be held at the university’s Taggart Student Center until August 9th.

HK3D Solutions 3D Prints Strong Tractor Part

When we hear about strong 3D printed parts, the obvious question to ask is “Just how strong is it?” When HP launched its Multi Jet Fusion 3D printing technology back in 2016, the company provided an obvious example of the strength of its materials by 3D printing a chain link, which was then used to lift a 1995 Toyota Avalon into the air. Some of the most high-strength materials out there are made of carbon fiber by Impossible Objects and Markforged.

Recently, HK3D Solutions, which is home to the first Markforged print farm in the UK, performed a similar test of strength, and 3D printed a 77-gram chain link with Onyx carbon fiber filament by Markforged. This 3D printed part had lifted 1,102 lbs before, but the company wanted to test it in a real world scenario. So the engineers took the part to an actual farm and attached it to a tractor, then used it to successfully lift and carry 2,645 lbs of manure.

Tractor Uses 3D-Printed Part to Haul 2,600 Pounds

Desktop Metal Debinding Parts

In a new video, materials engineer Jesse Cataldo from Desktop Metal shows viewers exactly how easy it is to debind a part 3D printed in metal on the company’s Studio System. It’s important to debind your metal parts, as it gets them ready for sintering. The process begins in the Fabricate dashboard, when you select the parts you want to debind, set up a new job, and choose your debinder.

Once both lids of the debinder are opened, you can put your parts inside and close and lock the lids back up again. Choose the Jobs in Queue from the debinder’s user interface screen, select your job, and hit the Start button. The cycle should take about 15 hours, after which you have fully debound and dry parts.

Air Force Rapid Sustainment Office

Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson demonstrates a 3D printed part of a KC-135.

According to USAF secretary Heather Wilson, in the first quarter of 2017 alone, the US Air Force had 10,000 requests for parts that did not receive a bidder, either because the original manufacturer was no longer in business or because it was not feasible for an existing company to make just one part. In order to use emerging technologies like 3D printing and robotics to reduce the cost of operating depots and fixing aircraft, the USAF will be creating a new rapid sustainment office. Wilson said at a recent Washington Post event that this office will create new ways to use technology, including cold spray to repair metals and using 3D printing and robotics to make depots more efficient by creating replacement parts.

“We reverse-engineered this and 3D printed it,” Wilson said at the event in reference to a 3D printed “trim wheel” for a KC-135 tanker. 

“This part cost about $50, $55, including all the engineering and everything else. If I had to go out to industry and have them set up the traditional way to do it and buy one part, this is over $700. So we can drive down the costs for a part that is airworthy.”

Cimquest Explains Key Concepts Behind 3D Printing

CAD/CAM integrator Cimquest, a 3D printer reseller for Rize and HP, wants to make sure that the world knows about and understands the most important and fundamental concepts of 3D printing – accuracy, precision, and tolerance.

Dave Macfie, the company’s Director of 3D Printer Sales, is the star of the new video in Cimquest’s “2 Minute Tuesday” series, which explains why it’s important to understand these important concepts, and the differences between them, in order to get your desired level of 3D printing performance. In the video, Macfie provides detailed descriptions of these three concepts and why they are important. Check out the full video below:

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