3D Printing News Briefs, May 22, 2021: Tvasta, Royal3D & Port of Rotterdam, Tangible Solutions, nScrypt, Massivit

In today’s 3D Printing News Briefs, there’s an update on India’s 3D printed houses, and a functional 3D printed workspace is now at the Port of Rotterdam. Tangible Solutions is expanding its post-processing staff and equipment, and nScrypt has released its nStudio software for beta testing. Finally, Massivit just launched a new 3D printer that’s even more…well, massive. Read on for the details!

Tvasta Startup Constructs 3D Printed House in India

Tvasta Manufacturing Solutions, a startup founded in 2016 by three Indian Institute of Technology Madras alumni, has completed construction on what it’s calling the first 3D printed house in India, a single-story, one-bedroom home of about 600 square feet on the IIT Madras campus. The startup used its proprietary concrete material to 3D print the home, which it says helped cut the typical construction costs of building a home by 30%. Tvasta developed its technology in collaboration with Habitat for Humanity’s Terwilliger Center for Innovation in Shelte, and it took about 21 days to print the house, though the startup can typically complete this in just five days when COVID-19 restrictions aren’t a factor. This 1BHK project was meant to showcase the manufacturing and R&D capabilities in India, and even though the house will likely be used as a campus conference center, it is still an inspiration for the country’s affordable housing project.

“Tvasta’s 3D Printing technology is built to bring digital technological advantages to the realm of construction. The focus is to make the process available to all sections of the construction industry, including affordable housing and large-scale infrastructure building. The reduction in overall time required for construction involves an order of magnitude change. What would require months to build can be built in days. Currently, the capability is to print the superstructure of a house that would require 4 to 5 months to build conventionally in about 5 days,” explained Adithya VS, the CEO of Tvasta Manufacturing Solutions. “The technology has also been designed in such a way that it is sustainable and green. The material used contains industrial waste and recycled material. This reduces the overall carbon footprint of the structure during construction.

“The company is currently working on scaling up this technology to make it available throughout India. For this, the company has partnered with several large-scale construction companies and institutions. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has also given wings to the project by providing support through the ASHA Incubator programme under the Global Housing Technology Challenge launched by the Prime Minister.”

Functional 3D Printed Workspace at Port of Rotterdam

Inside RDM GrofSmederij at the Port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands, you can now find a really cool functional 3D printed workspace that was built for robotics company VertiDrive. Called the R-Iglo, the multipurpose, self-supporting shell structure was designed by the ArchiTech Company and printed out of recycled PET material, with glass fiber reinforcement, in just a few weeks by Royal3D. This flexible, sustainable workspace, measuring at 25 m2, has an acoustically optimized wall shape, and is comfortable and versatile enough to be used as laboratory, meeting room, office, or an individual workspace, since it also has heating, electricity, LED lighting, and ventilation.

Once printed, Royal3D’s R-iglo takes just two days to assemble, and is available in sizes ranging from small to extra-large, and in different colors as well. Clients can even have their company logo 3D printed in the structure, and Royal3D offers short to long term rental options of the R-iglo, which includes maintenance service or full ownership, plus pick-up and recycling at the end of its lifetime.

Tangible Solutions Expanding Staff & Milling Equipment

Tangible Solutions, an Ohio-based contract manufacturer of 3D printed titanium orthopedic implants, announced that it is expanding the equipment used in its post-processing, as well as its engineering and post-processing staff, in order to meet AM production demands. An ISO 13485:2016 certified and FDA registered 3014273501 company, Tangible Solutions handles every part of the orthopedic implant workflow, starting with design support and prototyping all the way to 3D printing, post-processing, and testing during and after production. The company has been printing over 1,000 implants a week during the pandemic, which is creating a post-processing backlog. By increasing its post-processing and engineering staff by 33%, and adding three new 3-axis milling machines to the floor for post-processing purposes, Tangible Solutions is much better equipped to handle its increased production load.

“Tangible Solutions offers orthopedic OEMs and clients two very distinct advantages. Our business model focuses 100% on 3D printed titanium implants for the orthopedic industry. That’s all we do, so we are experts in the entire product development lifecycle and how to best support our customers,” stated Adam Clark, the CEO of Tangible Solutions.

“Secondly, we handle the entire process of additive manufacturing these devices in house. We know the FDA submission and clearance process inside and out. All post-processing is done in house, and we know and understand how vital it is that medical devices be beyond clean and biocompatible. They must be unbelievably smooth to avoid patient irritation. Our knowledge controls the testing, the inspections, and meets the most rigorous standards.”

nScrypt Releases nStudio Software for Beta Testing

nScrypt Inc. announced that it is releasing its next generation nStudio machine control software for beta testing by some of its Factory in a Tool system users. The company says that nStudio will likely replace both the older and current versions of its software, due to its new and improved features and better user friendliness. For instance, the software’s intuitive user interface shows all of the necessary controls in a consolidated view for more ease of use, and you have the option to pause after a scan, with a more accurate scanning percentage as well. Some of the many new features include a fully integrated machine setup, motion program post processor, machine 3D view, and the ability to view the scan path and fiducial positions in the 3D viewer. Additionally, nStudio features an enhanced graphical design that’s consistent with Windows 10, a client-server architecture that allows for remote operation, and supports STL, G-code, TXT, DXF, and Gerber files, including DXF infilling.

“We are excited to release nStudio for beta,” said nScrypt’s CEO Dr. Ken Church. “Our users asked for many of these features and others were developed by our talented software team. This feature-packed, user-friendly software package will make our Factory in a Tool 3D manufacturing systems even more powerful and enable our users to fabricate complete products, like fully functioning electronic devices, with greater ease.”

Massivit Launches New Large-Volume 3D Printer

At the recent AMUG 2021 conference, large-volume additive manufacturing Massivit, headquartered in Israel, announced the official launch of its latest massive 3D printer—the super-fast, industrial Massivit 5000. The printer is able to fabricate parts up to 1.8 meters high, with hardly any support structures, and was designed to respond to the Industry 4.0 needs of several industries, including automotive, marine, rail, and scenic fabrication. The new Massivit 5000 3D printer features a user-friendly interface and a high rate of speed, which the company says means it can print custom, full-scale parts, molds, and prototypes within just hours, instead of weeks.

“Leveraging the exceptional build volume and production speed of Massivit 3D’s Gel Dispensing Printing technology, the Massivit 5000 offers a range of resolutions, printing modes, and materials for high definition, cost-efficiency, and ease-of-use.”

To learn more, you can register for an on-demand webinar of the Massivit 5000 launch here.