3D Printing News Briefs, December 5, 2020: CADENAS, Nexa3D, BCN3D Technologies

In this edition of 3D Printing News Briefs, we’ve got software news, business, and something fun for your weekend. CADENAS’ eCATALOG solutions makes digital twins a reality, and Nexa3D is announcing some new reseller agreements. Finally, BCN3D celebrated the 35th anniversary of Super Mario Bros with a fun 3D printed project!

Digital Twins: Multi CAD Data from One Source

German software developer CADENAS is helping component manufacturers digitize with its popular eCATALOGsolutions platform, which can offer companies the chance to create digital twins from a single source of interdisciplinary data for both MCAD and ECAD systems. This is a major boon when it comes to digitizing product data for mechanical engineering components, but unfortunately it’s a difficult, time-consuming process, especially when you’re dealing with a variety of different systems. But by using the digital product catalogs in CADENAS’ eCATALOGsolutions, users, like PHOENIX CONTACT GmbH & Co. KG, Harting Technology Group, and Weidmüller Interface GmbH & Co. KG, can add the necessary CAE and CAD information to technical components with electrical functions so that digital twins can be created in a variety of native formats, including Siemens Automation Designer, AutoCAD Electrical, and Zuken e3.series.

“In the past, we have already supported our customers not only in CAD but also in CAE planning with extensive technical and commercial product data. These were created either in-house or in cooperation with external service providers. However, updating the product data was time-consuming and error-prone, since various data sources and output formats had to be supported. With CADENAS’ solution, we now gather all the necessary information in one central system and process it to the standardized ECLASS ADVANCED format as required,” said Simone Brinkmann-Tewes, Head of Smart Data Engineering at WAGO Kontakttechnik GmbH & Co. KG. “In this way, we can guarantee that the digital product data for all current CAD and CAE systems are consistent and up-to-date as digital twins. This enables us to cover our customers’ needs completely and to react more flexible to future requirements.”

Nexa3D Grows Reseller Network in Europe and North America

This week, Nexa3D announced its latest round of global reseller partnerships, with companies in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Turkey, Mexico, and the United States. These newest partners will expand the additive polymer 3D printer company’s reach in offering thermoplastic and photoplastic systems, like its QLS350 and NXE400, in addition to software solutions, materials, and post-processing. It’s been a pretty busy year for Nexa3D, even with the pandemic, as it acquired NXT Factory and announced partnerships with Henkel, BASF, Siemens, DSM, and more, not to mention even more reseller partnerships. Its latest partners are AM technology supplier Vossi Group Oy, which serves Finland and the Baltic States of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia; Promakim in Turkey, which provides flexible packaging, outdoor and indoor advertising products, digital printing, and 3D printing solutions; automated machinery and equipment provider AXIOMATEK in Mexico; and Tennessee-based Product Development Inc. (PDI) in ths US, which offers plenty of AM and prototyping technologies, such as desktop milling, vacuum forming, and 3D printing.

“We are thrilled to work with these esteemed additive manufacturing companies. I am confident that they will help us realize fast and impressive results as we approach the end of the pandemic, and refocus our efforts to digitizing the world’s supply chain in the years to come,” stated Nexa3D’s CEO Avi Reichental. “Together, we will build back better with a more robust, secure and sustainable future for the benefit of our mutual customers.”

BCN3D 3D Prints the Rainbow Road

One of Nintendo‘s most beloved video game series is Mario Kart, and it recently released Mario Kart Live: Home Edition for the Nintendo Switch, which features an augmented reality element. Tech company BCN3D Technologies is a big fan of Nintendo as a whole, and Additive Manufacturing Specialist Antonio Aranzana thought of a fun idea: 3D print a real Rainbow Road (SNES) home circuit for Mario Kart Live in honor of the 35th anniversary of Super Mario Bros. For this task, two BCN3D engineers and ten employees used its print farm of Sigma R19 systems, to print 4,434 PLA pieces at its Barcelona headquarters. There are side tiles, corner tiles, and center tiles, the latter of which feature holes on all four sides so they can attach to the others just like a puzzle. A 0.6 mm diameter hotend was used to design them to reduce print time: nine minutes and three grams of PLA material per tile, and the full circuit required two and a half spools for filament for each color.

The 210 x 297 x 210 mm Sigma R19 was able to print 24 of the PLA pieces, in duplication mode, in just under two hours. So it took four days and ten 3D printers to fabricate the entire circuit, which came to approximately 5 meters long. Even though BCN3D’s Sigma D25 could have completed the process in only three days, which would have majorly saved on productivity, the project still turned out pretty well. BCN3D shared all of the STL files for its 3D printed Rainbow Road on Thingiverse so you can make your own version! You can check out the entire process here: