3D Printing News Briefs, September 15, 2022: New Hires & Tool Steel & More

In today’s 3D Printing News Briefs, MakerVerse welcomes an experienced AM executive to its leadership team, and the LEHVOSS Group is expanding its facilities with a new compounding plant in Hamburg. A new distribution partnership brings Roboze closer to the DACH and Benelux regions. Finally, Velo3D has qualified M300 tool steel for its Sapphire 3D printers.

Ward Ripmeester Hired as MakerVerse COO

MakerVerse, a one-stop additive manufacturing platform for sourcing industrial-grade parts on-demand that launched earlier this year, has hired an experienced AM executive, Ward Ripmeester, as Chief Operations Officer. Previously, he was Director of Global Supply Chain at Shapeways, and with his decade of AM supply chain and operations experience, Ripmeester can help MakerVerse continue its growth. The company makes it possible for customers to upload design files and receive instant quotes for their parts, with a range of AM materials and technologies, and its European-only supply chain with over 700 3D printers enables fast turnaround and end-to-end fulfillment security.

“I’m excited to be part of what MakerVerse is building. I truly believe in the platform model in the on-demand manufacturing industry. MakerVerse is uniquely positioned to add value to customers by navigating the complexity of a highly segmented, fast-growing market,” Ripmeester said.

Lehvoss Group Expands Compounding Technical Center

LEHVOSS Group – New compounding plant for material development.

The LEHVOSS Group has been busy with major construction work at its innovation center, and announced that it’s now operating another compounding plant, this one at its Hamburg location, for the purposes of developing high-performance compounds. The twin-screw extruder at the high-temperature plant was developed specifically to fit requirements by KraussMaffei Extrusion GmbH, which provides high-performance systems along the whole value chain for manufacturing nearly all extruded plastic and rubber products. The plant is also equipped with other side extruders and dosing, in order to develop plastic compounds, concentrates, hotmelts, and additives, and specially designed screws for optimized melt preparation are also used there, to produce filled plastics.

“I’m proud to now have such a future-proof system with the latest technology in our technical center,” said Dr. Linda Trosse, Head of Process Engineering Development, Lehmann&Voss&Co. “This enables us to drive innovations even better and faster, and our customers receive samples and results in an even shorter time. The first customer projects and advance developments are already waiting to be implemented.”

Roboze Announces Distributor in DACH and Benelux Regions

Italian 3D printing company Roboze announced that ProductionToGo, a specialized 3D printer reseller, will help bring its industrial AM solutions to the DACH and Benelux regions as a distributor. Roboze specializes in metal replacement with super polymers and composite materials, such as PEEK and Carbon PA, and offers both the PRO Series and the Production Series. ProductionToGo has over 50 specialized staff in the 3D printing division, with four offices in Holland and Germany, so it will be able to help Roboze move further into Europe while also expanding its own portfolio of available AM solutions for the automotive, chemical, electrical, and mechanical industries.

“We are thrilled to have ProductionToGo aboard, but most of all we are very happy to have earned their trust,” said Giancarlo Scianatico, Roboze Business Developer for EMEA. “Everybody in Roboze believes that the union of our realities will provide great support to the manufacturing companies in the DACH and Benelux area to digitize their production processes, substituting obsolete manufacturing methods, producing components just in time and on demand with super polymers, consistently reducing costs and time.”

Velo3D Qualifies M300 Tool Steel for Sapphire Systems

A conformal cooled tooling insert of a working surface for high pressure die casting.

Metal AM technology company Velo3D (NYSE: VLD) announced that it has qualified M300 tool steel for use with its Sapphire family of 3D printers. The high-strength, ultra-low carbon alloy offers extremely high strength and hardness, which makes it perfect for the mission-critical parts in which Velo3D specializes. The company has also seen plenty of interest in this alloy from automotive manufacturers, which would use parts 3D printed in M300 for injection molding, high-pressure die cast inserts, and other tooling applications. Because Velo3D can print parts with high-quality surface finishes in complex, large-diameter internal cooling channels, its end-to-end solution is perfect for using M300 tool steel.

“By qualifying M300 tool steel for use in our printers, we’re able to service entirely new industries, like automotive and tooling, that can leverage Velo3D’s advanced capability to print high quality, large diameter internal channels for their applications. By manufacturing die cast inserts and other tooling components with our technology, we expect companies will be able to build stronger products, improve machining throughput, and decrease manufacturing costs,” stated Greg Brown, Velo3D VP of Technology.

You can see the first M300 tool steel parts printed on a Sapphire system at IMTS 2022 in Chicago this week, at Velo3D’s booth #433031.