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AnonymousInactive3-D PRINTERS : PRESS A BUTTON AND MAKE ANYTHING
Two
decades ago, affordable laser and ink-jet printers fuelled the desktop
publishing revolution. More recently, three-dimensional “printing” has
spawned another revolution that promises to create new opportunities for
small businesses.“There are just so many applications for it. We are
literally just scratching the surface,” said Nino Caldarola, an
application specialist with the Winnipeg office of Imaginit
Technologies.Mr. Caldarola, 45, recently pushed the boundaries
of 3-D printing when, in his spare time, he led a team that created the
200 exterior parts for a full-size model of a turboprop aircraft engine.
That followed his creation a year earlier of a full-scale model
motorcycle, also from printed parts.How does it work? These “printers”
create three-dimensional objects by adding layer upon layer of material
until a certain size and shape are achieved, guided by a computer
program. The process is especially helpful in creating prototypes for
new products, which often have to be fashioned by hand.While Imaginit,
as a subsidiary of the multinational Rand Corp., is hardly a small
business, the technologies that Mr. Caldarola is exploiting could help
entrepreneurs establish job shops that would create prototypes for
inventors and designers.That sounds a lot like what 3D Prototype
Design Inc. of Toronto is already doing, says Annette Kalbhenn, sales
manager of the five-employee company.“We’re a rapid prototyping service
bureau,” Ms. Kalbhenn said, explaining that the expressions “3-D
printing” and “rapid prototyping” have in recent years become
interchangeable.In essence, these prototypes are built one layer at a
time without the need for tools or moulds, Ms. Kalbhenn said. Her
14-year-old company has printed such items as medical models of bones,
architectural models, air vents for cars, and even a two-metre replica
of a Hummer chassis.“A lot of times we don’t even know what we are
building and that’s okay with us. We don’t need to know,” Ms. Kalbhenn
said.Toy makers, including builders of World of Warcraft
figurines, are also using 3-D printing. So is TV personality Jay Leno,
who makes hard-to-find parts for his classic cars. Museums, jewellers
and the makers of medical prostheses are among the many other users of
3-D printing.While the technology is best-suited for making
one-of-a-kind prototypes, it can also be used for short-run
manufacturing. It’s a boon for inventors hesitant to spend upwards of
$100,000 on an injection mould before knowing how well their products
will be received. Ms. Kalbhenn’s company has done runs of 20 of an item
for as little as $265 for the batch, or a single, complex piece for as
much as $10,000.A CAD (computer aided design) program can design an
object from scratch, or it can be used to manipulate data from a laser
scan before sending instructions to the printer.The printers themselves
use various technologies. One, called SLS, deposits layers of nylon
powder, the thickness of two hairs, and then fuses them together with
heat from a laser to build the object. Once the process is completed,
the solid item is removed from the powder and any residual is blown off
with a blast of air.The parts for Mr. Caldarola’s faux aircraft
engine were created by Stratasys Technologies of Eden Prairie, Minn.
using refrigerator-sized models of its Dimension series of printers.
Those machines fuse together strands of material resembling the plastic
line of a weed whacker.“That gets fed into an element that heats it and
melts it,” Mr. Caldarola said. “And then as the machine moves, it
deposits that plastic the entire pathway and it builds it up layer by
layer.”More sophisticated 3-D printers can lay down multiple materials
and colours. By using a material that later dissolves, they can even
create items with moving parts.While high-end 3-D printers cost
$300,000, the prices of entry-level models are rapidly falling. For
example, 3D Printers Canada, a division of Proto3000 Inc. of Vaughan,
Ont., sells five models of Objet Geometries Ltd. printers. The prices
start at $24,900 for the Alaris30, which is about the size of a standard
office photocopier, said John Frangella, business manager of Proto3000
Inc. The Alaris30, which can fit on a desk or a dedicated stand, lays
down a single white plastic photopolymer. That makes it ideal for
creating simple items such as custom hearing aids.At the other end of
the spectrum, 3D Printers Canada sells Objet’s Connex500 for $230,000.
It can mix and match up to eight materials and print multiple designs
“all in one shot.”Mr. Frangella wasn’t at liberty to say how well these
machines are selling. However he did point out that Alaris30s have only
been available for eight months and “they are penetrating the market
because they are more affordable.”The Alaris30 isn’t even the cheapest
3-D printer. Cimetrix Solutions Inc. of Oshawa is advertising on its
website Dimension’s new uPrint personal 3-D printer for $14,900 (U.S.).Since
its introduction two years ago, 1,200 uPrint machines have been sold
worldwide, about 100 in Canada, said Cimextrix president James Janeteas.
The eight-employee company, founded in 1993, has about 600 clients
ranging from Fortune 500 companies to mom and pop operations.“They are
affordable, so more organizations are adopting it,” Mr. Janeteas said.
“These organizations typically would have gone out to service bureaus to
produce their models for them.”A sign of how inexpensive 3-D
printing might become can be found at MakerBot Industries, which sells a
Thing-O-Matic kit for $1,225. Such machines don’t make the accurate
prototypes demanded of business. Still, Mr. Janeteas expects to see
high-resolution 3-D printers selling for as little as $5,000 within
three or four years.“I wouldn’t be surprised that one day you’ll
probably see these retailing for $500 and everyone has them in their
house.” -
AuthorNovember 10, 2010 at 7:37 AM
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