3D Printing Announcements at Formnext 2021: Essentium, DeskArtes, Oerlikon & Urwahn

While there are obviously less attendees this year, Formnext 2021, taking place right now in Frankfurt and touted as the AM industry’s largest annual event, still welcomed over 600 exhibitors, more than half of which are international companies, and everyone in attendance is required to be either vaccinated against, or recovered from, COVID-19. The weeklong event is almost over, but announcements from the show floor just keep rolling in, and we have some more to share with you now.

Essentium Launches Advanced Additive Material Solution

Industrial AM solutions provider Essentium, Inc. wants to open up sustainable, distributed manufacturing at scale, and as such announced that it has launched Essentium PPS-CF, a 15% carbon fiber reinforced polyphenylene sulfide filament made with LUVOCOM 3F resin from LEHVOSS Group. This high-performance, semi-crystalline polymer features great temperature, strength, stiffness, and chemical and wear resistance, making it a good choice for challenging, high-temperature applications and a lower-priced option than something like PEEK or PEKK. The company is also launching a 5 kg spool of PPS-CF, which should help get rid of bottlenecks in industrial-scale additive manufacturing, as well as a mobile app that connects to a camera in Essentium’s HSE 240 HT Dual Extruder printer to help users remotely monitor their 3D printed part production and ensure that only high-quality parts are being created.

“Manufacturers are under enormous pressure to drive agile supply chains that respond effectively to market needs. They are demanding AM solutions with engineering rigor to rapidly shift to finished part production or create high-quality tooling,” said Essentium CEO Blake Teipel, PhD. “Essentium is further expanding our ecosystem offerings to meet this need and deliver tangible value to customers across aerospace, automotive, and energy and alternatives industries, who are defining what’s possible through distributed and sustainable manufacturing.”

Visit Essentium at Booth D41, Hall 12.1.

DeskArtes Releases 3Data Expert Configuration Software Version 14.0 

Finnish company DeskArtes released its 3Data Expert 14.0 configuration software, the company’s flagship solution for efficiently creating and manipulating faceted models for additive manufacturing applications. With a great GUI, excellent algorithms, user-friendly data preparation workflow, and access to multiple 3D printers through its Print Configuration files, DeskArtes says with its 3Data Expert 14.0, users can easily prepare models for 3D printing—all the way from geometry conversion, model repair and editing, and build orientation to support generation and slicing—with only a few clicks of the mouse. DeskArtes 3Data Expert 14.0 is available with an annual licensing possibility and a permanent one, in an effort to provide all its customers the best service.

“DeskArtes 3Data Expert version 14.0 with simple AM workflow services both experienced AM users as well as people starting to use 3D Printing. Additionally, flexible DeskArtes software can be used to run and prepare data for any AM system due to its Print Configuration setting files and different support geometry definitions,” said Ismo Mäkelä, the CEO of DeskArtes.

Visit DeskArtes at Formnext at Booth A29, Hall 12.1.

Oerlikon Delivers 1,000th 3D Printed Bicycle Component to Urwahn

Finally, the Oerlikon additive manufacturing team in Germany 3D printed 150 sets of seven custom bicycle components for a new design developed by Sebastian Meinecke, the founder of fellow German firm Urwahn, and recently delivered the 1,000th part for the bike, which is on display at Formnext this week. Several years ago, Meinecke began this partnership by taking his idea for the custom ride to the Oerlikon team, and together they chose the materials, machines, and processes to develop the next-generation bike. It has a unique shape that differs from the typical trapezoid that other bikes use, and also features integrated LED lighting, rear wheel elastic suspension for a comfortable ride, a GPS tracking system, and more. Additionally, the frame is protected, and jazzed up, with a rainbow-colored BALINIT CROMA PLUS coating from the Oerlikon Balzers brand, so no two bikes will look the same.

“The collaboration with the Oerlikon team has been great. With their knowledge of materials and technology, we were able to develop a process chain that enabled us to offer new and unique features such as fully integrated electric systems for the product. And this is just the beginning,” said Urwahn Founder and Managing Director Sebastian Meinecke. “I am excited to see what else we can innovate together by taking advantage of new materials and additive manufacturing.”

You can see the bicycle, and all its 3D printed components, at Oerlikon’s Booth E101, Hall 12.1.