3D Printing News Briefs, September 17, 2022: Autodesk Profiles, FDA Clearance & More

We’re starting with software in today’s 3D Printing News Briefs, as Autodesk has released 3D printing profiles for two of The Virtual Foundry’s filaments and Sigma Additive Solutions joined the Dyndrite Development Council. In business news, Additive Manufacturing Technologies (AMT) should report a £15m turnover for 2022, and Rooted Pots is one of the first brands to offer 3D printed products with a major retailer. Moving on to research, a team from an Italian university presents a 3D printed piezoelectric accelerometer, and the Indian Institute of Science is collaborating with CELLINK to establish a Center of Excellence for bioprinting research. Finally, the VA has received FDA clearance for a 3D printing solution that will help with veterans’ surgeries.

Autodesk Releases Two Filamet 3D Printing Profiles

The Virtual Foundry announced that Autodesk has released two new 3D printing profiles in its latest Fusion 360 update, one each for its Bronze and Copper Filamet materials. You can use these profiles with the 3D printer of your choice, and and a 0.6 mm hardened steel nozzle. In Fusion 360, click on the Print Settings Library, then select Virtual Foundry 1.75 mm Bronze or Copper from the list to access all the typical slicing features.

“Our work with Autodesk has inspired new applications for composite materials research,” said Bradley D. Woods, the Founder and CEO of The Virtual Foundry. “The Virtual Foundry is proud to be part of Autodesk’s efforts to bring Bound Metal/FFF Metal Printing further into the mainstream of Metal Additive Manufacturing solutions.”

Sigma Additive Solutions Joins Dyndrite Developer Council

At the International Manufacturing Technologies Show (IMTS) in Chicago last week, Dyndrite announced that the latest member of its Additive Manufacturing Developer Council (DDC) was Sigma Additive Solutions (NASDAQ: SASI), which provides in-process quality assurance (IPQA) software to the AM industry. Dyndrite developed a GPU-accelerated computation engine to create next-generation digital manufacturing hardware and software, and membership on its DDC allows vendors to collaborate on industry standards, gain early access to new technologies, and positively influence technology directions. By using platforms like Sigma’s, AM users can improve quality, increase throughput, and reduce costs, so the company’s spot on the council will hopefully lead to powerful new data tools for real-time, in-process AM inspection.

“We are pleased to be part of the Dyndrite Developer Council. Quality starts at part concept and links throughout the additive workflow.  Like our own company, Dyndrite shares a common commitment to building a backbone that works across industries and processes,” Sigma Additive Solutions President and CEO Jacob Brunsberg. “Together, both organizations, and especially the combination of our joint technology, can help accelerate the adoption and scalability of quality in additive manufacturing, providing a critical path for the acceleration of additive industrialization.”

AMT Ready to Report £15M in Annual Profits

(Image courtesy of AMT via Facebook)

UK 3D printing firm Additive Manufacturing Technologies (AMT), based in Sheffield, seems set to report a roughly £15 million global turnover for 2022 after attracting more than 300 blue-chip clients this year. Founded in 2017, the company raised additional funding in 2019 and 2021 from investors like Foresight Group and MericaAsset Management, which it’s used to invent and improve technology that automates post-processing of 3D printed objects. The company employs over 100 people at its HQ, and many others at production facilities and offices in Texas and Hungary, and is now poised to more than triple its revenues and achieve profitability.

“The promise that 3D printing could revolutionise the manufacturing process to deliver huge time and cost savings has been an exciting prospect for years. But it has only become a viable alternative to injection moulding and CNC machining very recently thanks to automated post-processing,” said Joseph Crabtree, the Founder and CEO of AMT.

3D Printed Afrocentric Planters Sold at Major Retailer

Rooted Pots designs and 3D prints Afrocentric planters in the shape of busts that pay tribute to Black hair, history, and culture in a unique way, through art, horticulture, and technology. Each pot is distinct and raises awareness of Black heritage, representing natural Black hair once a plant is placed inside. Even more exciting is that these beautiful planters might just be the first 3D printed products to be sold in a major retailer, specifically the home accessories brand HomeGoods, which I frequent on a pretty regular basis.

Each 3D printed planter in the handcrafted collection is a collaborative piece between the consumer and Rooted Pots’ founder Yinka Alade, an award-winning art director. Multiple sizes and colors are available so people can design planters that exhibit their cultural identity, created using durable and biodegradable PLA, which is less fragile than conventional ceramics and terracotta. Buyers can enhance each pot with nose rings, necklaces, and earrings to help accentuate their plant and expand artistic expression. There is also a DIY option, only sold online, that’s primed and ready for painting.

Researchers Create 3D Printed Piezoelectric Accelerometer

A team of researchers from the Politecnico di Milano published a paper demonstrating the feasibility of using hybrid AM technology to create what they call the first 3D printed piezoelectric (electricity resulting from pressure and latent heat) accelerometer. Electromechanical devices like accelerometers are often comprised of electric components with mechanically moveable parts, which 3D printing can achieve. In this study, the team combined stereolithography and inkjet 3D printing into a new hybrid technology to fabricate a fully 3D printed functional accelerometer that can give a piezoelectric signal readout. Photocurable THERMA DM500 resin and SLA printing was used for structural components, while inkjet printing was used to print the piezoelectric readout part by depositing a polyvinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene (PVDF-TrFE) piezoelectric layer and conductive silver electrodes (silver/P(VDF-TrFE)/silver) onto the surface of the SLA-printed device.

“The results achieved demonstrate that the proposed hybrid additive manufacturing technology is a very promising route for electro-mechanical sensors fabrication at the mesoscale,” the abstract states.

IISc & CELLINK Establishing Center of Excellence for Bioprinting

Image courtesy of CELLINK

Together, the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and 3D bioprinting firm CELLINK are establishing a Center of Excellence (CoE) focused on advancing research into bone, cartilage, cancer, and the heart through bioprinting. The two signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to formalize the agreement, and the new CoE will be located in the IISc’s Centre for BioSystems Science and Engineering (BSSE), where it will be home to several CELLINK bioprinters and act as a hub for research initiatives and training activities in order to ultimately improve health outcomes. The IISc is working to establish a post graduate medical school, which the CoE will help with, and the two will also conduct workshops to offer researchers the necessary skills to use bioprinting in their work.

“India has long been at the forefront of scientific discovery, and with the exceptional talent and deep-rooted passion to translate research from the benchtop to the clinic,” said CELLINK’s CEO Cecilia Edebo, continuing that “we are confident that this Centre of Excellence will make a lasting impact on the progress within research in the fields of heart, bone, cartilage and cancer.”

VA Receives FDA Clearance for 3D Printed Medical Device System

Staff Sgt. Anthony Brown uses software to digitally design a night guard on a digital teeth model. (Courtesy of Airman 1st Class Makensie Cooper/Air Force)

Finally, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced that it’s received FDA clearance on for a 3D printing medical device to assist in veterans’ surgeries. The OroMaxilloFacial Advanced Surgical Planning System combines both physical goods and software that will help surgeons prepare to reconstruct the face and jaw. Virtual and 3D printed models will help with pre-surgical planning, and while similar devices exist, this is supposedly the first instance where a hospital system designed, developed, and created this type of product while pursuing and attaining FDA clearance for it. The technology should be available to veterans in a couple of months.

Dr. Beth Ripley, a 3D printing advocate and Deputy Chief of the VA’s Office of Healthcare Innovation and Learning, said, “What’s unique and novel about what we’re doing here at the VA is instead of going out to try and find it from a third party, we’re bringing it into the house, into the hospital, right next to the patient and allowing the surgeons that know their patient best to be involved in that.”