3D printing news roundup: Xaar aiming to double revenue, Polar Cloud integrated into Autodesk Tinkercad, more

Jun 27, 2017 | By Benedict

In today’s 3D printing news roundup, UK inkjet tech company Xaar outlines growth plans for its 3D printing business, Polar Cloud gets integrated into Autodesk Tinkercad, and Additive Works joins the Altair Partner Alliance. Read on for more.

Xaar says Nottingham 3D printing facility could lead to doubled revenues by 2020

Back in March, we reported that Xaar, a UK inkjet tech company that has branched out into additive manufacturing, had acquired new premises in Nottingham, and was planning to use a high-speed sintering (HSS) 3D printing process to produce parts for a number of industries.

Now, with the company settled into its new location, Xaar says it expects to increase its annual revenue from £100 million ($128M) in 2016 to more than £200 million ($256M) by the year 2020.

“We've invested heavily in renovating the new premises and look forward to working with more businesses across the Midlands as we begin to establish ourselves in this new market,” said Neil Hopkinson, director of 3D printing at Xaar. “It’s really exciting to have a presence in Nottingham where many businesses are at the forefront of 3D printing practices.”

Xaar’s HSS 3D printing technology “uses inkjet printheads and infrared heathers to manufacture products layer by layer from polymer powder materials.” It is capable of producing objects at a much faster rate than other methods.

“High Speed Sintering works by depositing a fine layer of powder onto the surface of a powder bed,” Xaar explains. “An inkjet printhead then selectively prints an infrared (IR) absorbing fluid directly on to the powder surface. The entire surface is irradiated with IR energy, causing only the printed areas to melt/sinter; the unprinted areas remain as powder.”

Polar Cloud integrates into Autodesk Tinkercad

Polar 3D, an Ohio-based tech company, announced yesterday that its Polar Cloud 3D printing platform has been integrated into Autodesk Tinkercad, a free online CAD tool. The integration will purportedly allow the Tinkercad community to 3D print their designs directly from Tinkercad to the Polar Cloud from a web browser, without downloads or hardware. The feature will be available later in the summer, ready for the new school year.

Polar 3D says part of the reason for the move is its support for the GE Additive Education Program for primary and secondary schools. As part of the program, GE is providing participating schools with 3D printing equipment and materials compatible with the Polar Cloud.

“Providing students with a digital design and manufacturing experience is project-based learning at its finest and will help develop a pipeline of future talent in additive technologies," said Greg LaLonde, CEO of Polar 3D. “Our goal is for the Polar Cloud to make digital manufacturing universally accessible where anyone with a browser can learn, design, and 'make' regardless of their economic, political, or social condition. Thanks to GE and Autodesk, that goal is getting closer to becoming a reality.”

Challenger Center and New Matter select Scobee Education Center as 1st 3D printer recipient

Sticking with 3D printing in education for a moment, and the STEM-specializing Challenger Center has announced that the Scobee Education Center at San Antonio College in Texas has been chosen as the first “Challenger Learning Center" to receive five New Matter MOD-t 3D printers. The award is part of Challenger Center’s partnership with New Matter, a California-based 3D printer manufacturer.

The Scobee Education Center (pictured below) has reportedly implemented the 3D printers into its summer camp programs, including its “Cosmic Kids Camp,” where the printers will be used to help teach lessons about force and motion, as well as coding. The Center will also integrate the MOD-t 3D printers into other programs and lessons.

In late January, Challenger Center’s network of 43 Challenger Learning Centers submitted proposals describing how they would use New Matter MOD-t 3D printers for STEM education programming if chosen to receive such an award. Additional Centers chosen to receive the 3D printers will be announced “over the next several months.”

Maryland’s Harford Community College gets NSF funding for 3D printing careers program

Heck, let’s make it a hat-trick of education stories. The Business, Education, and Computing & Applied Technology Division of Maryland’s Harford Community College has been awarded a $200,000 grant for Advanced Technological Education (ATE) through the National Science Foundation. The money will be used to create an additive manufacturing career pathway for students.

The 3D printing program will involve not just Harford Community College, but also partners in the Harford County Public Schools, local industry, Aberdeen Proving Ground, and the Regional Additive Manufacturing Partnership of Maryland (RAMP MD). The program will be led by David Antol, Coordinator of Applied Technology at Harford Community College and an Engineering Technology faculty member since 2008.

The National Science Foundation says it receives approximately 40,000 proposals each year for research, education, and training projects, eventually funding around 11,000 of those proposals.

Additive Works joins Altair Partner Alliance

Back to business, and the Altair Partner Alliance (APA) yesterday announced the addition of Additive Works’ Amphyon—a modular, simulation-driven process software for powder bed-based, laser beam melting additive manufacturing processes—to its software offering.

Amphyon allows for automatic optimization of part orientation, and offers build-up process simulation and the adaption of process parameters in order to achieve a higher part quality and more process stability. The simulation software focuses on three main applications: helping designers learn how to deal with AM, helping researchers study process physics by numerical simulation, and helping optimize pre-processing and build data for production in a few steps.

“Amphyon’s innovative approach to 3D printing simulation provides an efficient and practical solution to benefit a wide range of industrial users involved with designing and printing complex metallic parts,” commented Subir Roy, Senior Director of Industry Solutions at Altair.

The Altair Partner Alliance is an extension of Altair’s HyperWorks Platform, bringing in external partners to join the subscription-based HyperWorks licensing model in which customers use floating licenses to access a broad suite of Altair-developed (and now third-party) software applications.

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