Hey, what’s up everyone, this is not MKBHD,
but I thought a format like this would work
for reporting on a few really interesting
things that I found at Formnext.
I’ve been to way too many shows recently,
so I’ll keep this one brief - and I’ll
just have this one video with what I got to
see in the 23 hours I spent in Frankfurt.
And the first thing is this true 6-axis 3D
printer.
You’ve probably heard of “2.5D” vs “3D”
printing where there was a new slicer that
would follow the top contour of your models
- but this is a whole new story.
So what the folks at Free-D are doing is they’re
using a full 6-axis robot arm and that angles
and moves the print head so that it will actually
never print an overhang.
They’re both taking into account how each
area of your part would ideally be printed
and also what your printer can actually do
motion-wise and tries to create an “ideal”
toolpath from that.
Now of course, we’ve seen similar approaches
before with research projects and papers on
this very topic, but it looks like Free-D
are the first ones who are actually going
to have something they’ll be able to release
- and that hopefully, we’ll be able to use
one day.
They’re just a two-man team right now, and
one of the core challenges they found was
that it’s incredibly tricky to to adapt
this approach to different motion platforms.
If you think about it, a “classic” XYZ
3D printer never has to worry about whether
it’s crashing into one of the printed parts,
but with a setup that itself moves around
the part, that becomes an exercise in crash
avoidance and using the motion range of your
robot.
I think you can see why they chose to use
these tetris pieces to demonstrate the approach,
but they’re working on making this work
for more complex shapes, too.
Either way, they want this setup to be as
automated as possible.
Just like you don’t tell your slicer now
that this bit is a bridge, that bit is a perimeter
and so on, instead it’s one profile that
makes some more or less intelligent decision
on how to print separate areas, that’s exactly
what they want to achieve with a 6-axis setup,
too.
This part right here was actually just printed
what CNC machines would call 3 + 2 axis, where
you orient your part in a specific direction
with the machine, lock that position down
and then treat the job as a 2.5-axis operation,
but what Free-D should be is basically simultaneous
5-axis machining.
They’re not quite sure yet what exactly
their product is going to be, whether it’s
going to be a licensed software library or
whether they’ll be working with machine
manufacturers to help them build machines
that use this approach.
They definitely don’t want to become a machine
manufacturer themselves.
But since this is a big topic and one that
you can really nerd out about, I’ve of course
suggested that they at least open-source their
core library so that this entire community
can make use of and work on and help improve
the software.
Which would be really awesome!
If they do, I’m sure we’re going to see
tons of 3D printed robot arms printing 5-axis
parts.
So next up, a quick update on the Oneclickmetal,
“affordable” Laser Powder Bed Fusion machine,
that’s a 3D printer that prints solid metal
parts that need no post-processing to get
their full strength.
Unlike something like the BASF filament that
still need de-bindering and sintering steps
to even turn into somewhat solid metal, these
prints at most need some machining for functional
surfaces and they are basically as strong
as a cast or machined part.
Formnext was the big reveal for them and they’ve
finally announced the prices of their machines.
The MPrint printer itself is 54900€ and
the MPure cleaning and powder sieving station
is 21900€ if you want that.
Of course, that’s more expensive than an
Ender-3, but in the world of direct metal
printing, that’s a pretty dope deal.
The last time I had seen the final machine,
it was still just a blank stainless steel
box, and the prototypes were… well, prototypes,
but this now is the real deal and it does
look pretty.
Also, if you didn’t know, it runs a version
of Ocotprint, As far as I know, Gina is even
involved in this, so thumbs up for using and
supporting open source the proper way.
They also showed the final cartridge design
that you can use to supply powder to the machine,
but the same cartridges will also be used
to collect the overflow from printing, they’ll
serve as containers for moving powder to and
from the sieving and cleaning unit, I mean,
it feels really well thought out.
Okay, and the last thing I took a look at
is the BCN3D Epsilon.
There’s been a bit of a controversy about
what exactly that enclosure is they’ve got
around this machine.
Is it actively heated?
Is it passively heated?
Is it actively temperature controlled?
I mean, a big printer that is supposed to
handle higher-temp materials better have some
sort of temperature-controlled enclosure,
but every extra degree helps when you’re
trying to print a massive PETG or Nylon part.
So what BCN3D used here is just the heated
bed that ends up heating the enclosure, there’s
no separate heater element or anything, but
there is a fan in the back that will kick
in when the interior gets too hot.
As they’ve explained it, it looks like the
bed heats up the enclosure to about the right
temperature without any input anyways - with
the bed at ABS temperatures around 120°C,
the enclosure gets to about 60°C or so.
That’s kinda hot for electronics, so they’ve
moved the motor drivers and extruders out
the back, but they’re keeping the spools
inside the enclosure to keep the material
heated and dry.
That’s a smart move!
For the fan, they’ve got a HEPA and activated
carbon filter, the hotends are the same E3D-made
ones as in the Sigma series, it’s got WiFi,
you’ve got a 420x300x400mm build area, which
is a lot bigger than the Ultimaker S5, by
the way, but the Epsilon is also a bit more
expensive than the S5.
In either case, it’s always good to have
options, and BCN3D have actually finally managed
to become I guess what you’d call a proper
company because so far, the team that developed
the Sigma series really was just a handful
of people.
So yeah, Formnext was fun!
It was awesome meeting some of you in person,
and seeing the mix of industrial, consumer
and open-source developments right next to
each other and it looks like Formnext is trying
keep the show a mixed event - which I do like.
But, for just being there not even a day,
it way just way too big of an event.
There were 4 halls filled to the brim and
I probably only even walked through half of
it all.
So I hope you enjoyed that quick look at a
few things from the event, thanks for watching,
and I’ll see you in the next one!
