3D Printing Structural, Durable and Certifiable Products in Hubs and Makerspaces

5/27/2016
3D printing structural, durable and certiable products in hubs and makerspaces. | Gaspard Bos | Pulse | LinkedIn
Home
Prole
My Network
Jobs
Search for people, jobs, companies, and more...
Advanced
Interests
Business Services
3D printing structural, durable and

certifiable products in hubs and
makerspaces.
Try Premium for free
Edit post
Published on May 5, 2016
Gaspard Bos
Entrepreneur in Sustainable Design
For all its possibilities the desktop 3D printer is still mostly used as a prototyping tool.
There are certain key industries in which nal products are manufactured with a 3D
printer, like medical, automotive and aerospace. The Space X rocket engine shows just
how impactfulthe technology can be.[1] The printers that are used in this case are of a
more industrial nature then the desktop 3D printers you can nd in a makerspace, and
accordingly also more expensive. But also the more affordable desktop 3D printers are
developing to the point that they can manufacture objects at good accuracy, speed and
with durable enough materials to be used in end-products instead of merely functional
prototypes.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/3d-printing-structural-durable-certiable-products-hubs-gaspard-bos
1/8
5/27/2016
viaPwc
AsurveyfromPWCin2014amongstmorethan100industrialmanufacturers
showshowtheyareusing3Dprinters.[2]
The people from Goprint3D have already highlighted a few desktop models that are
able of some interesting feats.[3] Higher print resolution(orlower layer height) and
innovative materials like ber reinforced lament (Markforged) are the ways forwards
that they highlight. We would like to add that a concern with FFF (fused lament
fabrication) desktop 3d printers remains calibration. If even one layer is printed
inaccurately the part is in danger of delaminating so we would like to see more reliable
low-cost machines as well. An SLA desktop printer like Formlabs suffers less
inaccuracies because it does not have a moving nozzle but it still prints in layers. A
more advanced technology like Carbons CLIP[4] that takes care of the layer (and
speed) problem has just reached the market but at 40k USD a year subscription falls just
out of range for the average makerspace. We think we can expect this one to eventually
also appear on the 3D Hubs platform as also SLS and Polyjet machines have become
available under the name 3D Hubs HD.[5] For these printing techniques 3D Hubs still
does not recommend their use as end-products because of their sensitivity to UV light.
Taulman Nylon lament[6] allows the printing of objects with superior mechanical
properties but also recommends adding a UV coating for outdoor use. Colorfab XT
Filament[7] can be used to create objects that are certied Food Safe and this
compliance test is a good step forward towards end-products for consumers.
Underwriters Laboratories (UL) for example is an institute that certies materials to be
used in 3D printers.[8]
2/8
5/27/2016
viaMarkforged
ThesteeringknucklesfromglassfiberreinforcedNylonprintedontheMarkOne
wereusedinaGoKartrace.
Certication for consumer products is denitely one of the things that is holding back
OEMs from adopting 3D printing in their supply chain. All consumer products need to
meet certain standards and have to be tested and approved at certain facilities to meet
the ISO/IEC norms for the relevant market and country. But if there is a will, there is a
way. Thats why the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration cleared GE Aviations 3dprinted fuel nozzle for a Boeing jet engine.[9] In aviation 3d printing has passed the test
even though certications and regulations are incredibly strict.
To get a desktop printed part certied more research into the printing process itself is
needed. In mass manufacturing, samples are taken from (e.g. injection-molded) batches
in order to test if they live up to the requirements. With 3D printing, producing an
additional unit at the same settings should yield the same results but this again depends
on the reliability of the printer. The way forward is to be able to predict the output of the
printing process, the properties that an object will have, based on the parameters set on
the machine, geometry, print path and material while verifying its calibration at every
print. A graduate student at TU Delft performed such a research project on Ultimaker
printers nding that printed products can get to 95% of the same properties as injectionmolded parts of the same material[10] but only 15% at the least optimal settings.
3/8
5/27/2016
viaMy3dmatter
Bars3dprintedinordertoperformtensilestrengthtests.
One of the products we xed for Endless Objects was an old Bugaboo Frog. The Frog
as well as the Gekko have been discontinued for some time but the second hand models
are still out there and being used beyond their warrantee. A lot of the components are
still functioning ne but especially the plastic parts that endure stresses and weather
have been fatiguing over time and could break at any moment. Bugaboo offers some
spare parts for the models they still make but not every part and not those of the old
models. Mostly very basic technical skill is needed to replace these kind of parts.
Something we cant expect from the average consumer but denitely something any
employee of a makerspace can take care of.
bugaboo frog - brake system xed with 3d printer
ApartoftheBugabooFrogbrakesystemthatwas3dprintedbyDymensional's
HUBandreplaced(alsoseeninheadlinepicture).
4/8
5/27/2016
viaQ-assets
It is important to notice that there is a shift in liability from when a person prints such a
part themselves (it is their own) or when they place an order to have it printed by
someone else (it depends what that person/company promises) but also when someone
else actively promotes these parts for repair and printed with a certain printing process.
In this last case we have the Bugaboo Repair Guy[11] who offers these parts. The
partwe printed was not available in his catalogue so we remodeled it ourselves.
Shapeways, who delivers the parts, does not at all guarantee that the 3d printed products
will be t for any purpose.[12] Point and case to the comments on this page. His page
should perhaps have the caveat print at your own risk or parts not (yet) tested to
specications.
We already discussed licensing in our rst blog and some recent issues on creating
copies or derivatives of other people's designs and selling 3d printed versions of these.
Remodeling and putting online these object derivatives does not breach copyright or
constitute forgery as long as theyre not claimed to be originals. Furthermore theres no
tracking who downloads them and prints them at a makerspace or hub. Once
makerspaces are equipped with desktop 3d printing machines that are able to print
5/8
5/27/2016
structurally functional and durable parts, give it a few more years, then as an OEM
youll have to play along. Or maybe government will intervene (like they did in Brazil
with Whatsapp) and we will see scenarios like the 1984-esque Printcrime[13]
unfolding.
Endless Objects is supported by the SIDN funds.
viaSidnfonds
[1] http://www.spacex.com/news/2014/07/31/spacex-launches-3d-printed-part-spacecreates-printed-engine-chamber-crewed
[2] http://www.pwc.com/us/en/technology-forecast/2014/3d-printing/features/future-3dprinting.html
[3] goprint3d.co.uk/blog/which-3d-printers-print-the-toughest-parts/
[4] http://recode.net/2016/04/02/companies-can-nally-get-their-hands-on-carbons-3dprinter-for-40000-a-year/
[5] https://www.3dhubs.com/hd
[6] http://www.taulman3d.com/index.html
[7] http://colorfabb.com/co-polyesters/colorfabb-xt
[8] http://industries.ul.com/additive-manufacturing/3d-printing-testing-certication
[9] http://www.gereports.com/post/116402870270/the-faa-cleared-the-rst-3d-printedpart-to-y/
[10] http://repository.tudelft.nl/view/ir/uuid%3A533d6158-2210-4640-85fbff5fa626d467/
6/8
5/27/2016
[11] http://www.shapeways.com/shops/bugabooparts
[12] http://www.shapeways.com/terms_and_conditions
[13] http://craphound.com/stories/2006/01/12/printcrime/
Tagged in: trend forecasting,compliance testing,3d printing
Gaspard Bos

6 posts
3comments
Recommended
Leave your thoughts here
3w
Ebami Tom
Owner Architect Panoptic
Dag Gaspard Bos zou ik de link naar dit artikel mogen ontvangen ? Dan zet ik hem op facebook met
jouw naam erbij als auteur
Unlike
Reply
You
3w
Gaspard Bos
Is goed. Je kan de link kopieren uit de URL balk van je browser.

Like
Reply
There is 1 other comment.Show more.
Don't miss more posts by Gaspard Bos
Future Memories: Sustainability of

Computing
The possibilities of 3d-printing in global

development: Prosthetics -
Time to make open-source a part of your

business strategy. Have no
Gaspard Bos on LinkedIn
Looking for more of the latest headlines on LinkedIn?

7/8
5/27/2016
Discover more stories
Help Center
About
Careers
LinkedIn Corporation 2016
Advertising
User Agreement
Talent Solutions
Privacy Policy
Sales Solutions
Ad Choices
Small Business
Community Guidelines
Mobile
Cookie Policy
Language
Upgrade Your Account
Copyright Policy
Send Feedback
8/8

3D Printing Structural, Durable and Certifiable Products in Hubs and Makerspaces

Hochgeladen von

Dokumentinformationen

Copyright

Verfügbare Formate

Dieses Dokument teilen

Dokument teilen oder einbetten

Freigabeoptionen

Stufen Sie dieses Dokument als nützlich ein?

Sind diese Inhalte unangemessen?

Copyright:

Verfügbare Formate

3D Printing Structural, Durable and Certifiable Products in Hubs and Makerspaces

Hochgeladen von

Copyright:

Verfügbare Formate

5/27/2016

Search for people, jobs, companies, and more...

3D printing structural, durable and

Try Premium for free

Published on May 5, 2016

Entrepreneur in Sustainable Design

bugaboo frog - brake system xed with 3d printer

Tagged in: trend forecasting,compliance testing,3d printing

Entrepreneur in Sustainable Design

Leave your thoughts here

Is goed. Je kan de link kopieren uit de URL balk van je browser.

There is 1 other comment.Show more.

Don't miss more posts by Gaspard Bos

Future Memories: Sustainability of

The possibilities of 3d-printing in global

Time to make open-source a part of your

Gaspard Bos on LinkedIn

Gaspard Bos on LinkedIn

Gaspard Bos on LinkedIn

Looking for more of the latest headlines on LinkedIn?

Discover more stories

LinkedIn Corporation 2016

Upgrade Your Account

Das könnte Ihnen auch gefallen