China in 3D - 3D printers are made here / Top 3D Shop Blog

At the end of March, we went to China, pursuing two main goals: visiting our main suppliers of 3D equipment located in Shanghai and its suburbs, as well as exploring a new direction in CNC machines and looking for direct suppliers and suppliers at CHCMT 2017.
From this notes you will learn about the first part of the trip - visit our suppliers of 3D equipment.

After one day of adaptation in a fairly comfortable and modern metropolis, which is now Shanghai, we went to the office of RAISE 3D. Their office is located in a new respectable array of buildings, not far from the center, but in this area there is already something elusively reminiscent of the industrial zone.

RAISE 3D

Having met with the sales director and completed the mutual presentation of our companies, we learned that RAISE is experiencing explosive sales growth - production is struggling to cope with shipments of more than 500 cars per month. Then we were invited to a showroom, where we were met by a respectable astronaut more than two meters high, as if hinting that large-format and stable printing is a visiting card of RAISE printers.



Here we became more familiar with the 2-extruder modification N2 Plus .



The two-material printing has small inclusions, but, for a simple design with two extruders, the result is not bad.



The question of the appropriateness of FDM-printing with a layer thickness of 50 μm or less, the time spent on it and the quality obtained, has always been controversial. However, all the printouts presented were of high quality and a smooth surface.













We came to the conclusion that RAISE 3D printers have a sufficient list of properties attractive to a wide range of users:

• Huge printable area: up to 305 x 305 x 610 mm
• High print quality, with a layer thickness of up to 10 microns
• Ability to print two materials
• Quality build and user-friendly touch screen
• Very affordable price

Then we went to the office of Mankati located already far from the center of Shanghai. We do not often sell their printers, but the announcement of the new model and the convenient location for us have clearly determined that it’s worth a peek.

Mankati

It was difficult to evaluate the company itself, which, as it turned out, is in the process of moving - in most rooms there is a corresponding mess. In the room where we were invited, there was an assembly shop where two workers were assembling the new E180 model :







Of the main advantages of Mankati E180 , listed on their website:

• Ethernet and WiFi connection
• Air filter to filter the air from the chamber (this is very true in China)
• Camera for monitoring the printing process
• Material feed sensor, for the possibility of refueling the bar
• High temperature of the hot end, table and camera: 350 ° C, 110 ° C and 60 ° C for working with engineering materials
• High print quality
• Rail guides

We were very interested in the possibility of printing with various materials, including PEEK, but the representative of Mankati, referring to the high cost of the material itself, could not show us any samples.

I was very guarded by the small screen, which had an inconvenient location, with even smaller letters on it, the button control on the side, and also the USB port, which is generally located on the rear panel - our engineers would clearly not be delighted with such a solution, since they have to repeatedly Print new files during the work day. Perhaps this way they encourage users to use Wi-Fi more often?





The next day we had to go to the neighboring city of Hangzhou, which is 200 km from Shanghai. We easily overcame this distance on one of the high-speed trains with speeds of up to 350 km / h, the network of lines of which exceeds its length in Europe and Japan combined.

Shining 3D

In Hangzhou, at the train station, we were met by Cyril Xia - Shining 3D manager responsible for sales in Russia. Together with him we went to their office, which is a large separate building. We didn’t rent the building itself, but so that you can imagine the scale, I offer several photos of the reception, as well as a relaxation room with a volleyball court and a huge terrace:











The building also has many spacious showrooms, separate rooms for developers of various equipment, sales departments and work areas of other employees.
After a hearty dinner from corporate chefs, we went on a tour of the office.



At first, we were shown the classes in which training seminars and practical classes for schoolchildren are held - this is how the company contributes to modern education and promotes 3D technologies in China.









In the classes there are a lot of beautiful figures of various superheroes and animals. I would like to catch a company using printers from other manufacturers, but all models were glued from parts that did not exceed the dimensions of the working chamber of their small Einstart-S .



Running a little ahead, I will show how all this is printed in their production:







A huge number of printers on large shelves and two engineers engaged in post-processing and removal of support. Of course, we are convinced that such a number of printers cannot be efficiently serviced by two people, but they definitely did not hear about problems with the print queue.

After the student classes, we went to a medical-themed showroom, which presents the capabilities of Shining 3D in this area, such as SLA printing of dental models and articulators, biocompatible surgical templates (materials from Somos and NextDent ), printing of metal crowns and surgical prostheses .









All this demonstrates the capabilities of a wide range of their professional equipment. Among the samples there are marketing models of Stratasys- It turned out that Shining 3D are their official dealer in China. This is quite logical, because the company does not manufacture inkjet printers similar to PolyJet or MJM, but is well versed in the sales and commissioning of such machines.

A subsidiary of the company is developing a bioprinter, which is sold only in the domestic market, at an estimated price of $ 70,000





The next room is the OptimScan scanner (Chinese name - OKIO).



The integration of the scanner with a robot manipulator from FANUC allows automated metrological control in production and significantly speeds up the process of scanning identical parts. To make sure that this is not just a decorative stand, we asked for a presentation and after 15-20 minutes of settings we saw the system in operation.



In the same hall, related to industrial production, there are examples of printing industrial 3D printers of the following technologies: SLA, SLS-Nylon, SLS-WAX / Sand and SLM.
The surface quality of the models, together with their large sizes, is very impressive. Shining3D has been providing 3D printing services in China. The choice of demonstration samples indicates an excellent understanding of the production tasks that their equipment is designed to solve at various enterprises.

SLA printing for prototyping and obtaining a perfectly smooth surface without post-processing:



Polyamide printing for rapid prototyping of models with complex geometry:



Lost wax models and sand molds for casting final metal products:







SLM is an expensive but justified printing of turbine blades and lightweight parts with a bionic design :







After visiting the showroom, we went to look at the cars themselves and their work.

iSLA-650 Pro(print area 650mm × 600mm × 400mm, layer thickness - up to 50μm).







SLM EP-M250 (Printing area 250mm * 250mm * 300mm, layer thickness - up to 20 microns).







EP-C3650 SLS Wax / Sand (Printing area 360mm * 360mm * 500mm, layer thickness - up to 0.08mm)







Not far from the office there is another large building in which the company plans to deploy another production of industrial machines. So far, only SLA printers are being assembled there, but the building has a large potential and can accommodate the production of their entire line of professional equipment.



In this form, cars are sent to customers:



Then we looked into the office of new developments, where we saw future innovations, such as the next model of the Shining Ein Scan Pro Plus hand scanner , whose predecessor, Ein Scan Pro , is already quite popular in Russia.







Some work was done there on a metrological scanner. How it works - can be seen in the video:



The prototype of the new cabinet dental printer - the only one of the Shining products, surprised at its high price. The estimated cost of this device is more than $ 10,000, while dentists around the world are already actively using FormLabs Form 2 for $ 5,000, and its competitors are constantly releasing new products, knocking down prices.





One of the most anticipated products for us was the intraoral (i.e., intraoral) dental scanner , which did a good job scanning the jaw model.



A 40-minute taxi ride in the same city is the manufacturer of very popular and purchased 3D printers - Wanhao.

Wanhao

At the entrance to the office, there was a parked wagon and printers were loaded directly into the container. This is not surprising, as we later found out, because this small but very efficient production ships more than six thousand 3D printers every month.



The office consists of several floors, on the first floor there is a warehouse for everything that is needed for assembly. On the second - the assembly of the most popular i3 Plus and i3 v2.1 . On the same floor they are tested and packaged.
On the third floor - the assembly of less massive Wanhao 4s , Wanhao 5s , Wanhao 6and new - Wanhao 7 DLP Printer .

We offer to see all this in the format of a video tour:

Assembly and equipment i3:



Assembly and equipment of other printers:



Warehouse:



You, like us, are probably interested in looking at Wanhao Duplicator 7 DLP printer printing examples .



Here are the printouts:







In a few weeks, we will receive a batch of these printers in stock and we will give a more detailed overview of their capabilities.

Now attention!

We only provide the readers of this review with the TopWanhao promotional code , according to which you can get a discount of 1000 rubles for this printer by pre-ordering from our managers.
The head and founder of Wanhao, Gary Chen, announced to us his ambitious plans to take first place in the number of sales of 3D printers in the world. Only XYZprinting remains on his way , which he intends to get ahead of this year.

In addition, he has a bright goal: to make 3D printing as accessible as possible, so that every student and beginner maker can use it.

Well, we wish him good luck in this!



Conclusions

China is actively developing 3D technology - it has nurtured quite a few popular brands in this area, well-known and in demand both in Russia and around the world.

Shining 3D company, for example, showing high professionalism and having solid investments, can very soon push out world leaders such as Stratasys and 3D-system. We hope that this will make industrial 3D printing mass-accessible to medium and even small businesses, that it will cease to be an exclusive, which is used only by the energy and aerospace industries.

An important point: If you are interested in the equipment mentioned, if you have questions or need some clarification, please contact our managers are always happy to help. See you in new publications.

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