The Future is Now: Latest Trends in 3D Printing
A visit to the buzzing TCT Show 2017
The Show
We hopped on the train to Birmingham on Wednesday to take part in the annual TCT 3D Printing Show. The two and a half hour journey from London Euston was totally worth it to find the world’s leading 3D printing manufacturers, designers, and celebrities under one roof.
The show was the place to be to learn about the latest trend, news, and technology taking the industry by storm. Interspersed with large incumbent players like Stratasys and 3D Systems, smaller startups were breaking new ground in making 3D printing more versatile and affordable for home use. Perhaps the most exciting bit of 3D printing is its promise to turn ordinary homes, schools, and even hospitals into cutting edge mini-factories that produce the objects they need instantly and locally.
The Standouts
Although we could only graze the surface of all the amazing companies in one day (and even the three days over which the show was run would have probably not been enough), here are some companies and technologies that stood out.
3D Printers
Desktop Metal
This company, co-founded by the inventor of Binder Jetting Ely Sachs, seeks to fundamentally change metal 3D printing and bring it to the mass market. Their first desktop metal 3D printer was revealed at the show. It takes metal rods, rather than metal powder, as input and melts it at the nozzle to print, akin to plastic filament. Copper, bronze, and nickel printing are possible.
Carbon
A successful collaboration between Adidas and printer manufacturer Carbon led to the design of the futuristic Carbon shoe. The shoe was designed by Adidas using their extensive footwear use data and printed on Carbon printers using a process called DLS (Digital Light Synthesis). The Carbon M2 printers are famous for speed and able to print one sole in 30 minutes. According to staff reviews, the shoes are comfortable, lightweight, and very flexible, but not waterproof. It’s worth mentioning that only the lightly coloured sole layer is 3D printed. The top part of the shoe is cloth and the lowest layer is rubber. Interestingly, Carbon does not sell its printers, but rather lends them to companies using a subscription model of £50,000/year with an additional £10,000/year for the “Smart Part Washer”.
ZMorph
Truly a mini-factory on your desk, this machine can morph from 3D printer to CNC-machine to laser cutter/engraver to paste extruder, all depending on the toolhead you use. You can easily interchange the toolheads and build platforms in less than a minute, creating projects in plastic, wood, copper, and even chocolate. This is the most versatile printer we saw, and it’s a true workhorse (ZMorph VX, £3,327 for the full set). It uses Voxelizer software that has undergone a complete redesign to make it more user friendly. Voxelizer will be rolling out as a separate product in the future, adaptable for other machines.
Mcor
If you are looking for unique tech, Mcor ARKe is your machine. It is the only machine that 3D prints with paper, sticking layers of it together as it goes along. The process is called SDL (Selective Deposition Lamination), and it creates photorealistic colour with a full colour map. It was founded by two brothers at Trinity College, Dublin in a bid to use the most readily available printing material — paper. The finished models do absorb water, but they can also be sprayed to achieve a glossy finish.
BigRep
Based in Berlin, this company has made a statement with a gargantuan 1-cubic-meter print volume BigRep One printer, which can definitely be seen from afar. The amazing thing about taking existing layer-by-layer FDM technology and making it bigger? You can make use-ready products, like chairs, with only a button click.
3D Filaments
Polymaker
We were really impressed with the Polysher tool (£309) by Polymaker as it achieves a super glossy post-processing surface finish. The Polysher uses an isopropanol vapour chamber to gently remove layer lines as the model spins on a turntable. One downside is that it doesn’t work with PLA. The filament used is PVB, otherwise known as Polysmooth.
Ele filament
A UK-based filament manufacturer which sells under the name 3D Print Works produced an interesting non-toxic support filament that works better than PVA. Named Vanish, the filament is based on the same material used in dissolvable dishwasher packets. It cuts down the time needed to submerge a printed part in water and will dissolve even in cold water without causing water clouding.
3D Scanning
Nikon
High-precision scanning equipment made an appearance at Nikon’s stand. The amazing quality of the scanner arm takes metrology (the science of measurements!) to a new level. We saw how the handheld laser scanned a human skull in mere seconds and displayed it as a 3D model on Nikon’s special software. Any gaps in the model could be fixed simply by scanning that part again. Although pricey (in the thousands of pounds), the scanner looked really easy to use and handled challenging material like shiny surfaces (but not glass). They also displayed an Xray scanner, which reproduces the internal structure of an object, so you can make a digital model accurate both on the outside and inside.
Clever use case
Wind turbine
Among the lot of printers and filaments at the show, a portable wind turbine really stood out. Robert Dekan, founder of Produced3D based in Slovakia, designed and built it with the purpose of making sustainable energy accessible to all. “One person creating their own energy is only a small drop in the grand scheme of things. But thousands of small drops create a big impact on the environment, and I want to encourage more people to produce their own energy at home.” The DIY kit, which was launched at the show, includes a battery pack capable of storing 100W. It has a 12V output and a USB connector, so you can charge a device directly from the battery.
Conclusion
It was an exciting show full of new ideas and technologies. The speed at which this industry is moving is phenomenal, and we can’t wait to see what’s coming next for the world through 3D printing!
