Fraunhofer and Concept Laser Partner for Large-Scale Additive Manufacturing
Big business is looking into new ways of adapting additive manufacturing (AM) to improve not only the design process, but the production process as well. In the aerospace industry, Airbus and Aerosud are developing large scale AM facilities to produce major components of aircraft (such as entire wings). Now the automotive industry has invested in large-scale AM.
The Fraunhofer Institute of Laser Technology has partnered with Concept Laser to produce a large-scale AM system at the behest of Daimler. This is a story I’ve been following for a while, but details have been sparse. Euromold 2012 provided a few missing puzzle pieces, which I can now share with confidence. Continue reading
Geomagic Debuts Spark, Freeform 2013
Euromold 2012 has unleashed a veritable flood of information and new releases. In the past few days Rapid Ready has looked at new 3D printers, such as the Iris and the Objet1000. Today I’ll be shifting focus from additive manufacturing systems to the data that feeds them.
Geomagic has announced the forthcoming release of its 3D modeling software: Freeform 2013. The newest version of Freeform continues to leverage the company’s Phantom haptic feedback technology, which allows users to virtually sculpt new designs. Freeform 2013 adds subdivisional modeling, which is intended to add greater surface detail by, “applying a refinement scheme to polygon mesh surfaces.” Continue reading
EuroMold 2012 Gathers Momentum
Every year thousands of designers, engineers and manufacturers gather in Frankfurt, Germany for the EuroMold conference. Last year’s attendance tallied to nearly 60,000, including attendees from 97 different nations. With those numbers and the diversity of attendees, EuroMold is one of the premiere events around the world for manufacturing of every sort, including additive manufacturing (AM).
Any conference of this size is made up of multiple, smaller themes and events. Rapid Ready already covered the International Wohlers Conference, run, not coincidentally, by Wohlers Associates. That is only the tip of the iceberg for what is to be available for this year’s EuroMold. Continue reading
Annual International Wohlers Conference to be Held at Euromold 2012
If you ask most people in the additive manufacturing (AM) industry who they believe is the most recognizable expert in the field, they’ll probably tell you Terry Wohlers, president and founder of Wohlers Associates. Wohlers has appeared on television, radio and in multiple forms of print media, extolling the virtues and explaining the workings of AM.
Wohlers makes the conference rounds, showing up to speak at nearly every important AM event. For the last 14 years, Wohlers Associates has held its own international conference to discuss AM and rapid manufacturing. This year’s conference will be held on November 29 at Euromold 2012.
