See the Latest in 3D Printing & AM at Pacific Design & Manufacturing

3D printing (3DP) and additive manufacturing (AM) are a major focus of technical sessions, presentations, panel discussions, exhibits, and industry tours at this week's Pacific Design & Manufacturing Show and co-located events in Anaheim, Calif.

A one-day conference on Innovations in 3D Printing held Tuesday, Feb. 11, has six sessions throughout the day clustered into three groups: Preparing for the Revolution: 3D Printing in Design and Manufacturing; New Material Developments for 3D Printing; and Enabling Factors in the 3D Printing Revolution: Software, Hardware, and Legal Concerns. Presenters include speakers from industry, research firms, and universities. You can see the agenda for that conference-within-a-conference here.

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Exhibitors at the show include several industry movers & shakers we've written about in Design News, such as Stratasys (booth 3601), 3D Systems (booth 3511), EOS (booth 3409), Renishaw (booth 4449), and Proto Labs (booth 4049). Others include Airwolf 3D (booth 3960) and 3DP Unlimited (in PBC Linear's booth 4583), as well as Stratasys' new service bureau conglomerate, Stratasys Direct Manufacturing (booth 3514).

My contact at Stratasys says the booth will have a Fortus 450 as well as an Objet30 Prime printer, along with a variety of parts that portray design and manufacturing such as molds, a metal-forming tool, and a robot gripper. One thing I want to find out more about is what the company is doing in materials development. I'm also looking forward to finding out more about Stratasys Direct Manufacturing, one of the biggest commercial 3DP and AM service bureaus, housing most available AM technologies and materials in facilities around the world. It results from the company's purchase last year of Solid Concepts and Harvest Technologies, combining them with its existing service business, RedEye, to expand Stratasys' capabilities, capacity, and process expertise in direct manufacturing and end-use parts production.

When I meet with EOS, I want to ask about its agreement with MTU Aero Engines, one of Germany's leading manufacturers of engine components for military aircraft engine modules and industrial gas turbines. This recently announced strategic partnership will develop quality assurance measures for metal engine components using EOS' direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) AM process. It will help advance EOS' existing control and monitoring processes and further improve product quality in AM end-product manufacturing.

I'll also be visiting 3DP Unlimited, which will show off its new 3DP1000 (seen above), a large format 3D printer using fused filament technology (also called fused deposition modeling, or FDM). The company says it's selling this printer, with a print area of 1m x 1m x 0.5m (39 inch x 39 inch x 19 inch) and 70 micron layer resolution, for less than $20,000 (base platforms), which sounds to me like a breakthrough.

Proto Labs added AM capabilities to its offerings last year by buying FineLine Prototyping, a service bureau focused solely on AM. Before this acquisition, Proto Labs has concentrated on CNC machining and injection molding for its quick-turn manufacturing services. I want to find out how the addition has been working out for the company and its hundreds of thousands of customers.

Renishaw says it will be displaying its AM250 laser melting AM technology (shown above). It's the same machine that made the first-ever 3D-printed metal bike frame, for the MX6-EVO mountain bike designed by Empire Cycles. The titanium frame, and a seat post bracket, were made on the AM250, with a 250 mm x 250 mm x 300 mm build volume, saving 33% and 44%, respectively, in weight from the previous aluminum alloy versions.

Airwolf will exhibit several of its printers and demo its new high-definition printer with wireless technologies. This printer, the AW3D HD, has a build volume of 12 inch x 8 inch x 12 inch, 60-micron layer resolution, and prints several filaments including ABS, PLA, TPE, and plastic wood filaments. I'm hoping to see some 3D-printed wood samples.

Ann R. Thryft is senior technical editor, materials & assembly, for Design News. She's been writing about manufacturing- and electronics-related technologies for 25 years, covering manufacturing materials & processes, alternative energy, machine vision, and all kinds of communications.