CHANGE IS ADDITIVE—A 3D Printing News Series by Fathom

Auto Manufacturing Future

According to industry experts, worldwide emissions regulations are requiring automakers to deliver different engines and powertrains depending on country and region. Along with this increased mechanical variance, buyers are demanding choices in the number of doors, seats and interiors. Auto manufacturers claim additive manufacturing is becoming a valuable asset in meeting these demands that go beyond the capabilities of the typical assembly line manufacturing operation. According to one automotive supply chain manager, a reconfigurable plant where complexity and choice are the most important features, where locally empowered workers are free to solve their own problems, will challenge many fundamentals of today’s thinking / / Read More

FDA Clears 3D Printed Titanium Medical Implant for Use

Californian medical device company SI-BONE has announced FDA clearance and full U.S commercial launch of its 3D printed titanium implant, the iFuse-3D Implant. The innovative medical implant was made using a metal 3D printer. According to SI-BONE, the device is “the first-ever 3D-printed titanium implant for use in the SI joint.” The implant is designed to help patients who suffer from SI joint dysfunction. The porous structure of the 3D printed implant is expected to improve bone growth, regrowth and through growth

Disrupting the Construction Industry With 3D-Printing Robots

Silicon Valley-based entrepreneurs Chris Kelsey and Fernando De los Rios, founders of 3D printing robotic construction startup Cazza (covered previously in Change Is Additive) are nearing the opening of a Series A funding round, on the heels of recently closing their seed round at a $25 million valuation. According to the Kelsey, “Our technology will change the construction industry, as we are able to drastically cut labor and material costs and time.”

Cazza wants to automate as much of the construction process as possible, from laying down foundation and building walls to developing its own construction material. “We have set up facilities in the U.S. and Europe for manufacturing our different technologies,” says Kelsey.

UK May Offer Open Bionics 3D Printed Prostheses

The British National Health Service (NHS) may soon provide 3D printed prostheses to children—for free. The 3D printed devices, which are made by prosthetics company Open Bionics, will be the subject of a six-month clinical trial beginning this week. Open Bionics won a $127,000 award from the Small Business Research Initiatives program to fund the trial, which is being carried out by the North Bristol NHS hospital trust. It the trial is successful, the prosthetics company hopes it will be offered the chance to apply for a significantly larger grant to roll the product out across all NHS clinics / / Read More

Desktop Metal’s CTO on the Next Generation of Metal 3D Printing

“Our vision was that we would allow engineers to do something that they’ve never been able to do before: Design for additive, prototype in additive and then head to production in additive, said Jonah Myerberg, cofounder and chief technology officer of Desktop Metal. This has been the promise of AM, but there really hasn’t been a way for them to do it.”

Myerberg pointed out that the software on which the Desktop Metals technology relies is significantly different. “We’ve built our software from the ground up,” he said. “We slice and support the geometry based on all of our own algorithms. We also support the part in the furnace based upon the algorithms that we’ve created that know how the part is going to shrink. This is all geometry agnostic. You can take any geometry and the software needs to know how to support not only during printing, but in sintering” / / Read More

NBA Championship Trophy Pen Holder

In honor of Oaklands own Golden State Warriors winning the NBA Championship, here is an OBrien Trophy replica downloadable 3D print that can also hold all the pens on your desk. Fathom’s sizable contingent of Dubs fans have been all over these / / Download