3D printing News Roundup: Boeing extends partnership with Dassault Systemes, GROW gets patent for 3D printing software solution, more

Jul 26, 2017 | By David

Here's another roundup of some recent 3D printing news, for those of you who might not be able to keep up with the pace of developments that have been happening in the 3D printing world. Stories include Boeing extending its partnership with Dassault Systemes to make use of its 3DExperience design platform, Rocket Craft Inc getting a contract from DARPA to build a rocket partly using 3D printing technology, and more besides.

Boeing extends partnership with Dassault Systemes to include use of its 3DExperience 3D design platform

Aviation giant Boeing has announced that its commercial partnership with Dassault Systemes will be extended. Dassault Systemes provides a variety of advanced industrial manufacturing solutions for the aerospace industry, most prominent of which is the 3DExperience design platform.

The 3DEXPERIENCE platform helps to reduce integration and support costs, improves productivity, and fosters new innovation. It is capable of not only simulating products and processes, but also finding and eliminating potential risks and quality issues before production. The platform has a single source of data across all applications, which will provide reliable and actionable real-time information and seamless communication throughout the entire enterprise and supply chain as well as across product generations. This digital continuity will improve data and analytics capabilities.

“Dassault Systèmes is proud to collaborate with Boeing as it embarks on another century of innovation with a partner it trusts. Boeing not only leads the way in its own industry, but influences the progress of all industries across modern society,” said Bernard Charlès, Vice Chairman and CEO, Dassault Systèmes. “We are at the turning point of the industrial era, where we are shattering another industry paradigm. The parallel exchange of data between virtual and real operations will transform the value-adding chain into a value creation chain. The entire 'extended' enterprise can continuously measure and control business processes for maximum efficiency and potential top line growth. This is ‘Business in the Age of Experience.’”

GROW gets patent for new 3D printing software solution

UK-based software developer GROW recently applied for a patent for its software solution, which allows a 3D design to be manufactured consistently, at a remote location, without the manufacturer interfering with the design. It will introduce a new level of security to distributed manufacturing.

With the GROW system, a 3D model and its machine process instructions are combined to create an additive design file, which contains all the information needed to manufacture the model. This additive design file is encrypted and can be transferred to the manufacturing location. Without allowing access to the design file, the build location is authorised and the model with its manufacture instructions are transmitted directly to the 3D printer, exactly as the designer intended.

For many years now, GROW has been committed to changing the way the additive manufacturing industry operates with its products. The company’s technology was initially developed inside Within Labs and has since been integrated with EOS and Arcam 3D printers. Part of Autodesk since 2014, Within Labs was originally set up to engineer design software and help progress the 3D printing market.

Rocket Craft Inc to use 3D printing technology in development of rocket engine for DARPA

DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) recently announced the award of a research contract to Rocket Crafters Inc. The company will be using the $542,600 award to build and test a rocket engine using its patented Direct-Digital Advanced Rocket Technology (D-DART). Over an eight-month period, Rocket Crafters aims to design, build, and test a 5,000 lbf peak thrust, throttle-capable hybrid rocket engine.

There are significant advantages of hybrid engines over more conventional solid and liquid chemical rockets. They can be throttled and restarted, unlike a solid rocket, and are less costly and faster to develop compared to liquid rocket engines due to their mechanical simplicity. They are also safer to handle than either solid or liquid rockets.

There have been difficulties with building hybrid rocket engines on a large scale in the past, due to unpredictable thrust and excessive vibration. Rocket Crafters believes its D-DART rocket engine solves those long-standing problems. Using 3D printing equipment, RCI prints fuel grains from proprietary high-energy polymer/additive formulas, which are designed to dually serve as the engine’s fuel source and combustion chamber. Currently, Rocket Crafters’ scientists and engineers are conducting a study to determine the optimum solid fuel formulation and oxidizer/fuel mixture to be used in the company’s future hybrid-rocket-powered products. This is being carried out with assistance from researchers at the Florida Institute of Technology.

Forecast 3D opens new 3D manufacturing center powered by 12 HP Jet Fusion 3D 4200 printers

Forecast 3D, one of the oldest and largest privately-held 3D printing service providers in the U.S., today announced the opening of a new 3D Manufacturing Center that makes full-run, large-scale production using HP’s groundbreaking Multi Jet Fusion 3D printing technology available for the first time.

Forecast 3D’s new 3D Manufacturing Center, a state-of-the-art, 21,000 square-foot facility opening today at its Carlsbad, California headquarters, is powered by 12 HP Jet Fusion 4200 3D printers that, for the first time, provide the capacity for full-run, high-volume production manufacturing using Multi Jet Fusion 3D printing. The combined speed of the Multi Jet Fusion 3D printers makes it possible to produce parts faster than traditional injection mold machines, and in many cases it’s also more cost-efficient.

The volume-install of HP 3D printing units greatly scales the production capability of 3D printing, previously limited to prototyping and small-batch production, to an end-to-end Multi Jet Fusion 3D printing solution that goes from design to prototyping to full production in one seamless, cost-effective process.

“We’ve been among the most ardent supporters of Multi Jet Fusion since it launched, and the positive feedback from our clients has been overwhelming,” said Corey Weber, Forecast 3D co-founder/CEO. “That’s why we’re so excited that our new 3D Manufacturing Center makes us the first company to offer clients a complete, one-stop HP 3D printing solution, allowing us to meet the growing demand for Multi Jet Fusion production and make 3D printing available to an even broader spectrum of companies.”

Previously, parts could be designed and prototyped using 3D printing technology, but large-scale production required switching to more traditional manufacturing processes like injection molding, which impose prohibitively high startup costs and frustratingly long lead times.

With the launch of its 3D Manufacturing Center, Forecast 3D now offers a full-process HP 3D printing and manufacturing solution capable of producing over 600,000 end-use production parts per week, further scaling the dramatic time/cost benefits of Multi Jet Fusion and taking 3D printing to an entirely new level.

Adds Weber, “MJF gives us the capability to print an incredible amount of high-quality, engineering-grade parts in a very short period of time, which has transformed the way we think about manufacturing. These 12 HP 3D printing units now allow us to handle all kinds of full-production schedules for any type of vertical, and do it with speed, cost-efficiency, and quality that’s just not possible anywhere else. Multi Jet Fusion is shaping the future of manufacturing, and we’re very proud to be a part of it.”

Dubai Electricity and Water Authority’s new R&D centre making use of 3D printing technology

The Dubai Electricity and Water Authority's (DEWA) Research & Development (R&D) Centre is currently being built at the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park. It should be ready for operations in 2020, and will cost around $136m when complete. The facility is being designed and built by independent contractor Reem Capital Contracting, in collaboration with consultancy firm Stantec International.

The center will be focused on disruptive technologies, and it is placing 3D printing high on its agenda. It will be making use of the technology to drive innovation and creativity, as well as to produce spare parts for its equipment, thus extending their lifetime. An unmanned aerial vehicles lab at the state-of-the-art facility was built primarily using 3D printing methods. The R&D Centre will be focused on four key areas of operation: production of electricity using solar energy, integration of smart grids, energy efficiency, and water.

According to Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, the managing director and chief executive of DEWA, said: "The R&D Centre will adopt a strategic perspective to keep abreast of scientific and research developments in the field of renewable energy, and will support the objectives of the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 to diversify energy sources and enhance energy efficiency."

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