The Stories We Didn’t Cover This Week — October 3, 2015

Some weeks our 3D printing news is focused on printable models, but this week there’s a much stronger focus on materials, hardware, and the business side of the industry. From the UK: MyMiniFactory announces a new board member from Royal Mail, Silvergate announces new colorful masterbatches, and 3D Systems offered its Inspired Minds education program at the TCT Show. Illinois-based 3D Platform has launched a series of new products — including its Workbench Series — and Sciaky, Inc. has recently displayed its EBAM technology products at both EuroMold and the TCT Show, which ended October 1st. And finally, there’s a new 3D laser scanner controlled by smartphones called the Eora.

MyMiniFactory Gets New Board Member

MyMiniFactory, which boasts a huge collection of 3D printable models, has announced Nick Pendleton, who is Royal Mail’s current director of Strategy and Innovations, has joined the board as a non-executive member. Pendleton has recently worked in the 3D printing space to help MyMiniFactory bring 3D printing to the public. With a 25-year track record in corporate venturing, management, and mergers and acquisitions, he is familiar with the start-up landscape making him a great asset to the MyMiniFactory team.

New Plastics from Silvergate for 3D Printing

In other news also from the UK, Silvergate, which is the “UK’s largest developer of colour, black, white and additive masterbatch” has announced that it has developed a new colorful range of PLA and ABS polymer masterbatches for 3D printing. These masterbatches use advanced ingredients like its Optiblo, which optimizes product performance and product efficiency during the manufacturing process. Other ingredients in the masterbatches include laser marking, and fragrant/antimicrobial additives.

3D Systems to Educate through Inspired Minds Program

Thanks to 3D Systems, about 300 high school students will gain exposure to 3D fabrication and printing through an innovative education program called Inspired Minds. This is the third year in a row for the day-long program, which took place in Birmingham, UK, from September 30-October 1. 3D Systems provides Sense 3D scanners and Cube desktop 3D printers to the program. The program takes place at TCT + Personalize, and it is packed with information for students and educators alike. Inspired Minds is a 3DS partnership with Rapid News, the TCT Show and Black County Atelier (BCA) that brings 21st digital technologies, programs and tools to students and schools all over the world, as 3D Systems remains a leader in 3D education by offering its 3DS’ Education Kits which include a “full ecosystem” of 3D scanners, printers, software and even Common-Core guided curriculum.

3D Platform Announces New Products

3D Platform, a leading manufacturer industrial class 3D printers, has recently announced a company name change (from 3DP  Unlimited), which we covered last week in looking at the new SurePrint Servo Technology. Now, additional products are being released by 3DP that allow both new and existing users to improve and upgrade performance. All 3DP products are designed through the Open Platform Advantage and backward compatibility philosophy, giving customers easy upgrade options to incorporate new components in the field. In addition to SurePrint Servo Technology, the new Vortex Cooling Fans work as attachments funneling the extruders cooling fan air flow to the extruded material — creating optimal conditions for layer-to-layer adhesion. Other products include a Baby-Stepping Function that allows for fine-tuning the extruder nozzle, and an android tablet feature and built-in web camera feature that are both intended to control a lengthy print job remotely. Also, 3DP has announced that in 2016 it will be releasing new 3D printing and additive manufacturing toolkit. The new Workbench Series described as a 3D printer platform, with a 1 x 1 x 0.5 m build area, will deliver precision prints down to a 70 micron layer resolution due to its “industrial strength mechatronics.”

Sciaky, Inc. to Highlight New EBAM Technology at TCT

Sciaky, Inc.‘s Electron Beam Additive Manufacturing (EBAM) was on display at Birmingham, UK’s TCT Show September 30-October 1, a swell as at last week’s EuroMold. Sciaky is known for its EBAM technology, which the company describes as “the most widely scalable metal 3D printing solution on the market (in terms of work envelope) for parts ranging from 203 mm (8 inches) to 5.79 meters (19 feet) in length.” EBAM is also the fastest deposition process in the metal 3D printing market, and has a dual wirefeed option. This allows you to make custom alloys by “combining two different metal alloys into a single melt pool.”

A $199 3D Laser Scanner for Smartphones is Here

Eora 3D, an Australian company, has just announced its new laser scanner for iPhones. This device is $199 and comes with all of the technological conveniences you might expect: you can set it up in a minute, download the free app for both iOS and Android, and before you know it you can be scanning things. A typical scan using the Eora takes no more than 5 minutes and takes up to 8 million points, according to the company website. Other features include the fact that is cylinder-shaped, and uses a green laser beam managed by a smartphone to photograph an object, capturing multiple images per second, while also tracking the laser. The Eora has a small Bluetooth-controlled turntable, which rotates and scans objects “up to as much as 200 mm of length.” It is apparently great for scanning “clay models and other organic shapes.” The company is confident that all of these unique features will make it a popular device, and they also plan to seek seed funding for the product and to launch a Kickstarter campaign soon.

Which of these stories were your favorite this week?  Let us know in the 3D Printing Stories We Missed forum thread on 3DPB.com.