3D Printing News Briefs, April 24, 2021: PrinterPrezz & Vertex Manufacturing, VELO3D, ASTM International, Desktop Metal

PrinterPrezz and Vertex Manufacturing are working together to enhance AM workflows for the medical industry, and VELO3D has a new board member. ASTM International has issued its annual Request for Ideas. Finally, Desktop Metal has qualified 316L stainless steel for high-volume 3D printing with its Production System. That’s what we’re talking about in this weekend’s 3D Printing News Briefs, read on for all the details!

PrinterPrezz & Vertex Manufacturing Enter Strategic Alliance

A new strategic alliance between PrinterPrezz Inc. and Vertex Manufacturing will hopefully lead to better 3D printing workflows for the medical industry in the creation of a unified ecosystem, complete with optimized design and specialized post-processing. PrinterPrezz uses nanotechnologies, surgical expertise, and both polymer and metal 3D printing to create next-generation medical devices, while Vertex is a supplier of metal 3D printing services and capabilities. By partnering, the two companies will integrate traditional fabrication technologies with more cutting-edge ones, and will work to offer customers a variety of services for the advanced manufacturing of medical devices.

“Providing a full suite of offerings for our customers ensures better visibility, improved delivery times, and faster learnings and enhancements throughout additive manufacturing workflows. With this partnership, we can provide medical device manufacturers with an end-to-end workflow from 3D printing to post-processing, all under one quality management system,” said Shri Shetty, the CEO of PrinterPrezz.

“PrinterPrezz has production facilities and innovation labs in the San Francisco Bay Area, close to major research hospitals, high volume surgery centers and innovative medical device companies. PrinterPrezz’s assets include extensive design services and equipment for metal 3D printing of medical devices and instruments as well as polymeric materials programs. Greg and the team at Vertex Manufacturing, based in Cincinnati, Ohio, have decades of experience in post-processing of complex, additively manufactured parts and offer traditional machining and specialized post-processing technologies. With this strategic alliance, customers of both companies will be able to access an integrated platform for 3D design, advanced 3D printing and post-processing for medical devices.”

VELO3D Welcomes New Addition to Board of Directors

Stefan Krause

Metal 3D printing company VELO3D Inc., which specializes in high-value parts, announced this week that it has appointed experienced international business leader Stefan Krause, former CFO of Deutsche Bank and BMW, to its board of directors, where he will serve as the audit committee chair. As VELO3D recently became the sixth AM company this year to announce that it was going public, with plans to merge with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) JAWS Spitfire Acquisition Corporation, this is a timely appointment on the company’s part. Krause has over 30 years worth of experience at some of the world’s most successful and recognizable companies—in addition to BMW and Deutsche Bank, he also served as chairman of Rolls Royce Motorcars, Postbank AG, and BHF Bank, as well as co-founder and CEO of electric vehicle maker Canoo.

“Stefan’s international business background, his expertise in branding and go-to-market strategy and his deep experience managing public companies make him a welcome and valuable addition to our board as VELO^3D prepares for life as a public company. His presence will help VELO^3D continue our accelerated growth at scale and speed adoption of our full stack metal AM solution, freeing the most imaginative engineers on the planet to build the impossible,” said Benny Buller, the Founder and CEO of VELO^3D.

ASTM International Issues Annual Request for Ideas

Launched in 2018, the ASTM International Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence (AM CoE) is a collaborative partnership meant to speed the adoption of 3D printing by coordinating elements of the industry’s ecosystem, such as education, standards, and R&D, that were previously disconnected. The AM CoE has officially launched its annual Request for Ideas (RFI) to the greater AM community, to seek out new R&D projects that could help accelerate the development of industry standards. Once the ideas are reviewed, AM CoE partners Auburn University, EWI, The Manufacturing Technology Centre (mtc), NAMIC, NASA, and WSU-NIAR will conduct the chosen projects, and the proposing organizations may support standardization and technical steps as well.

“As we near the launch of the fourth round of projects, we are again opening the request for ideas. All ideas will be evaluated based on a set of criteria, including:

• Narrow scope of work, that can be completed in 6-9 months

• Focused on high-priority AM standardization gaps (identified by ASTM committee members and the AMSC roadmap)

• Alignment with mature technologies that have been demonstrated in a relevant environment (TRL 6+)

• Level of interest from AM stakeholders

To learn more about the RFI, you can attend the AM CoE’s free informational webinar on Tuesday, April 27th at 10 am EST.

Desktop Metal Qualifies 316L for Production System

The Production System platform enables printing this heavy industry fluid connector in 316L stainless steel as a single, consolidated component and can support a throughput of nearly 5,500 parts per week.

This week, Desktop Metal, which also went public recently, announced that it has qualified 316L stainless steel for high-volume additive manufacturing with its industrial Production System, which enables extremely fast print speeds using its patent-pending Single Pass Jetting (SPJ) technology. This material, which the company affirms meets MPIF 35 standards for structural powder metallurgy parts, has excellent mechanical properties at extreme temperatures, and this, paired with its high corrosion resistance and great weldability, makes it a good choice for applications in demanding conditions, such as food preparation equipment, customized surgical tooling, a gear shift knob for the automotive industry, and a rocker arm for salt water marine environments.

“The qualification of 316L stainless steel with leading mechanical properties on the Production System platform is part of our aggressive roadmap to support an array of materials for binder jetting and a testament to the advantages of SPJ technology, which enables mass production throughput without sacrificing part performance and repeatability. With 316L on the Production System P-50, businesses will now be able to leverage additive manufacturing to produce complex, end-use parts suitable for use in harsh environments at volumes and costs competitive with conventional manufacturing,” said Desktop Metal’s CTO and Co-Founder Jonah Myerberg.

“As innovators in the automotive, medical, consumer products and petrochemical industries continue to embrace the benefits of additive manufacturing, implementing applications made possible with 316L stainless steel, we will begin to see even more widespread adoption of binder jetting technology. Materials that push the boundaries of what AM technology can do will continue to advance the industry and drive unparalleled throughput while significantly reducing cost and waste.”