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Bulletin
Consumer 3D spend to
remain low in medium-term
Whale, a manufacturer of
water and heating systems,
has slashed lead times for
the production of injection
mould tools for prototype
parts by up to 97% since
introducing Stratasys 3D
printing into its tooling
process.
The company is 3D printing
injection mould tools in less
than 24 hours using an
Objet350 Connex Multi-material
3D Printer, at a fraction of the
cost of producing metal tools.
Jim Sargent, in charge of 3D
Technical Services at Whale,
said: “Traditionally, our lead
times for metal tools were
somewhere between 4-5 weeks
and came with significant
production costs. As a result,
our R&D process was very time-
consuming and fundamentally
slowed down the launch of
new products. With our Objet
Connex 3D Printer, we are
now able to design our tools
during the day, 3D print them
overnight and test them the
next morning with a range of
end-product materials. The time
and cost savings associated
with this new tooling method
are significant.”
Whale managing director
Patrick Hurst said: “We have
already seen the technology
take months off of our product
development process and that
in turn minimises risk. In fact,
I estimate that we’ve shortened
our R&D process by up to 35%
with Stratasys 3D printing
solutions. That is on top of the
20% we’re already saving in
terms of our design work.”
Whale prints the injection
mould tools using Stratasys’
Digital ABS material, which has
the right level of toughness and
high temperature resistance for
low volume part production. It
also offers a Rapid Prototyping
Service to external customers,
including automotive and
aerospace industries,
producing 3D printed multi-
material parts and tools using
plastics such as polypropylene
and polypropylene glass-filled.
3D printing cuts R&D time by one third
Follow the leader
The first automated drone
designed to track and video
outdoor activities has been
created by Helico using Stratasys
3D printing technology. Aimed
at the consumer market, the
AirDog is a simple-to-use,
‘quad-copter’ that operates via
a wrist-worn tracking device.
Having set distance, speed
and height levels for AirDog to
follow, users can capture live
aerial video footage and still
photography of themselves on
AirDog’s integrated GoPro sports
camera. Helico expects AirDog to
prove popular with practitioners
of freestyle BMX, motocross
and skateboarding, as well as
water-sports such as surfing,
kite-surfing and wake-boarding.
Helico expects to launch AirDog
commercially at the end of
October, 2014.
Colour accuracy from Mcor IRIS
Mcor IRIS printers, the only line of paper-based 3D printers, have become the
first 3D printers to include an International Color Consortium (ICC) profile that
enables them to produce prints in industry-standard colours.
The Mcor ICC profile embedded within the latest version of Mcor SliceIT driver
software is calibrated to device-independent International Commission on Illumination
(CIE) colours, providing true what-you-see-is-what-you-get (WYSIWYG) output.
The profile for Mcor IRIS 3D printers has been included in the latest version of
Adobe Photoshop CC, enabling millions of Photoshop users to select Mcor IRIS from a
drop-down menu in the software and print directly to a locally connected device.
Mcor 3D printers are the only 3D printers to use ordinary business A4 and letter
paper as the build material, resulting in durable, stable and tactile models.
The combined market value of
consumer 3D Printer hardware
sales and material spend is
forecast to exceed the $1
billion mark by 2018, up from
just over $75 million this year,
according to forecasts by
Jupiter Research.
The new report,
Consumer
3D Printing & Scanning: Service
Models, Devices & Opportunities
2014-2018
, points out that
while 3D printer shipments are
currently at a relatively low level
and experiencing soft consumer
demand, things should change
in the medium-term as HP and
Epson enter the professional
market and an appropriate
ecosystem of software, apps
and materials develops for
the mass market.
Report author Nitin Bhas
said: “While there has been
an increase in awareness
of 3D printing, it is still, and
will continue to be, a niche
consumer technology. In order
for 3D printing successfully
to find a mainstream market
amongst consumers, it needs
to widen the applications
available that integrate
consumer lifestyle and drive a
number of applications beyond
professional printing.”
He argues that this can be
achieved through the creation
of an app or online portal for
connecting to the cloud and
enhancing the functionality of
the 3D printer via content, as
MakerBot is already doing with
its Thingiverse and
Digital Store.
