Overview from Formnext 2015 3D Technology Exhibition

Hello!

This fall is very rich in additive technology exhibitions: first we witnessed the Euromold in October, which we wrote about not so long ago , when the large-scale 3D printing exhibition Fromnext 2015, which took place last week in Frankfurt , ended . We will talk about it in detail in this post.

Let's start with a review video:




So let's go!

1. The boom of SLS and DMLS It is

immediately evident that after the end of patents everyone went to SLS !
And not only 3D-shniki, but also companies whose business was previously connected with 2D and CNC, and we are not so much talking about selective laser sintering of plastics as metal.

We are witnessing a metal storm from such new vendors as:

TRUMPF
REALIZER
RENISHAW







All these vendors did not produce 3D printers before, but were somehow close to additive technologies.

Among the well-known 3D brands, the following can be distinguished:

SLM updated their SLM500HL , the oldest in the line , by equippingA four-laser 3D printer , making it essentially the fastest machine on the market at the moment.

It's funny that SLM took the concept of last year's Stratasys booth in the style of an airplane cabin, probably thereby wanting to emphasize the importance of the airline industry for its business.



Concept Laser and EOS introduced new machines that occupy an intermediate place in the line, modifying previous solutions.

Possibilities and some areas of application of metal 3D-printers :



















And new polyamide machines:





Result of printing with polyamide:





Another interesting SLS area is office powder machines like Sinterit- The guys from Poland, about which we will write in more detail in the following posts.

In addition, there is progress in the additional equipment for SLS.



This machine performs a full range of painting and drying for SLS prints and actually makes them finished.



2. The next vendor that I want to mention again is French Prodways , which in addition to the new industrial SLS machine (both metal and powder) has several interesting things in its portfolio:

Firstly, they have a very interesting DLP technology, in which the backlight parts in the working chamber, it allows you to seriously scale the growth of models on a large working chamber.



This applies to both large industrial prototypes and jewelry: Z accuracy up to 20 microns!



Secondly, the other day they actually bought a resin manufacturer for EnvisionTEC , which indicates the widespread use of materials for Prodways . They will be no worse than the well-proven EnvisionTEC polymers .
What this story will turn into EnvisionTEC - time will tell.

Thirdly, Prodways announced and showed a really working ceramic 3d printer.
Here you might have a question: who needs ceramics at all? We answer: to many, for example, insulating elements in aviation, the military industry, and even implants.





3. With a gallop across Europe,

Stratasys united all their daughters in one stand: Solidscape andMakerBot and after rebranding look pretty fresh.

In general, this is the only major vendor that does not go to SLS and firmly specializes in FDM and PolyJet in all manifestations.

A smartly designed booth covering a huge number of areas and proving that the Stratasys equipment portfolio is really serious.



















However, the quality of FDM printers is still not a priority for the brand, and here is proof of this:







Take, for example, the domestic Picaso 3D Pro 250 , whose print quality is really better



Speaking of Stsratasys , we cannot but mention their PolyJet color multimedia printing technology, which has no analogues.



The only news from the company was news about water-washable support for these machines.



The new EnvisoinTEC is the Vector 3SP, whose working chamber is almost 30% larger than the ULTRA 3SP and has a touchscreen.



The guys from Range Vision with their famous Russian-made scanners that we wrote about earlier conquer the European market.



At the exhibition, a new compact and faster turntable for the Smart 3d scanner was introduced , a prototype of which was printed on Picaso 3D Designer using FDM technology . Audi presented a huge booth, demonstrating the interest of the automotive industry in 3D metal printing.













VoxelJet showed their legendary machine with a huge area of ​​construction, by the way, they are the only ones who positioned their printers as the creators of molds for metal casting.





For some reason, Zortrax could not demonstrate the operation and samples of its new Inventure machine and cost only a demonstration of quietly standing, closed printers.

The novelty is interesting in that it has 2 material prints and most likely will have one nozzle. A kind of swing, similar to Picaso 3D Designer Pro 250 .







Expectations did not come true:
HP did not present anything new with Euromold.



3D Systems - also at zeros.
There were rumors that they will show a line of semi-professional equipment, but no, absolutely nothing new.


3D Scanning is also empty, with the exception of the new GOM Auto Meter .



Autodesk is a very boring and empty booth this year, of the new products - implant design software.



The igus concept seemed to me very interesting - a kind of DIY hypermarket.



A huge number of elements for collecting anything, including, of course, 3D printers.







We already managed to mention other vendors in our report from October Euromold .

More interesting printed objects:

































Summary:

The value of additive technologies is universally recognized: the market is growing, new vendors and large customers are appearing.

The end of patents for SLS and DMLS has opened up great opportunities for improving industrial and the appearance of more affordable office devices that can give serious detail at a reasonable price.

In my opinion, we can observe a decrease in “hype” around 3D-technologies and at the same time a qualitative increase in their capabilities. In addition, most importantly, an increase in the number of customers with real tasks, the solution of which is in 3D printing.

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