Envisiontec Launch the Aureus Modeller

As mentioned last week in my post from the Materialise Seminar Day, Envisiontec were due to drop a major machine launch this week.

Well, we can now exclusively announce that Envisiontec GmbH have launched their latest machine at the World Watch and Jewellery Show. Baselworld in Switzerland this week. The Aureus (which means golden in Latin) is a new high resolution desktop machine designed for the jewellery market. It will have the capability to produce between 25 and 50 rings a day which will address the needs of most small to medium sized jewellers.

Accuracy on this machine is improved to 43 microns and the build envelope is 60 x 45 x 100 mm - it will be priced at €35,000

I spoke to Martin Forth, Vice President of Sales about an hour ago direct from the Envisiontec booth at the show. Martin reports a fantastic response to the machine and estimates that several months worth of stock of the machine has sold in the first day and second morning of the show.

"We knew it would be well received. It represents a major breakthrough as it combines low acquisition costs with high quality but the response has been much better than we expected and we are having to quote lead times a little longer than we would normally such has been the reaction to the launch"

Nice to hear such positive noises and results.....

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Irish Eyes are Smiling...Mcor Technologies Stack Up More Awards

Sometimes good things come to good people, and it's absolutely fantastic to be able to report some good news. Hot on the heels of winning the Intertrade Ireland Seedcorn Emerging International Award last November Ardee based Mcor Technologies have done it again!

Earlier this month they picked up two awards at the Ulster Bank Business Achievers Awards, Mcor triumphed in the "One to Watch" category and also picked up the Overall award beating off competition from six other category winners. Not content with the rather splendid trophies that can be seen in the picture they then followed it up with an appearance on prime time network television in their native land the very next night. The Late Late Show on RTE is the No.1 rated show...how often can we say that RP&M technologies have made prime time, other than a fleeting glimpse in CSI!

Mcor Technologies launched their Matrix printer last year to quite a fanfare, making it's debut at TCT 2008 it has garnered a great deal of interest. The reasons are clear, the biggest barriers to many RP machine purchases are price and materials and the Matrix can shoot them both down, it uses paper and costs a lot less to run than most, if not every, machine on the market.

As with all start ups the key to really getting off the ground is to have a plan, and this is where Mcor score heavily. They have a marketing plan and resultant press coverage that will take some beating. They are already stepping outside of the usual engineering media routes and as a result have received coverage in media as wide reaching as the New Scientist and Irish Times along with a couple of slots on TV. They aren't afraid to try the unusual and the clever as those of you who attended TCT last year, particularly those who stayed in the HQ hotel will know.

As mentioned on this blog before, the more accessible platforms that emerge the sooner 3D printing, or whatever we are calling it this week, will be a mainstream technology and we can move towards the day when I cease to get incredulous looks when I explain what RP is and how it works. Mcor have a significant part to play in this process.

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Materialise Deliver the Latest from the RP&M World

So where do you go if you want to get the low down on all the latest RP&M technologies, and TCT Live isn't until October? Well you could have attended the Materialise organised event that took place today at the splendidly shiny and new International Digital Lab on the Warwick University Campus.

All of the major RP&M platform manufacturers had an opportunity to showcase their latest developments and by the look of the audience which included F1 Teams, FMCG giants and several service bureau the thirst for this knowledge needed quenching.

First up was 3D Systems with newly installed UK Manager Simon van der Crommert, as he rightly pointed out 25 minutes to cover the breadth of 3D's range is not really doing it justice but amongst the incremental developments across the ranges I did spot a the new ProJet 5000 with it's extended build platform which will be online this year along with the full launch (not announcement!) of the V-Flash, Simon did point out that the V-Flash is already online in hearing aid manufacture which should put the "vaporware" jibes to bed once and for all. A replacement technology for the Thermojet is also just around the corner.

Stuart Jackson of EOS updated us all on the ever improving EOS range, all EOS systems are continually being upgraded in terms of speed and the materials they can use and the clever bit is that if you own a P385, then it can be upgraded to a P390, so no issues with being gazumped by the next new piece of kit, assuming you have the need and the finance you can always have the latest version. Aside from a couple of new polymers, one akin to rubber, another with high ductility EOS have the new P800 machine designed to use PEEK high performance polymer which although launched at Euromold is still big news.

What else was on show? Well I got to have a look at the Dimension UPrint from Laser Lines, it looks as good up close as it does in the pictures, and apparently they are selling well already, no real surprise there, it's a good price and trusted technology...where's the downside?

MTT also presented the imminent arrival of the SLM125, full launch is a cautious 3 monthsaway with a SLM500 also in development, no date on a launch for this yet but with a build envelope of 500 x 500 x 500 there are sure to plenty of interested parties. HK Technologies had the very cool Alaris from Objet onsite, it's vying with the UPrint for belle of the office...I'm not sure that should matter but you don't want ugly in the your new, modern, metropolitan design studio do you?

Other honorable mentions go to the rather clever online quality control system on the Concept Laser machines which allows you to monitor everything from build speed to beam width from the comfort of your armchair at home and Envisiontec were excited but coy about something new, you might have to go to Basel next week to get that first hand, I have been assured that TCT will be able to break the news so make sure you add this feed to your RSS reader and you'll know before anyone else!

Huge thanks to the Materialise crew, Luke and Carl in particular, top effort chaps!

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Honesty is the Best Policy....Desktop Factory Latest

Bad communication or sometimes no communication at all is just about at the root of all customer dissatisfaction. The key of course is to face up to the issues, keep your customers aware of progress and above all be honest.

Not all companies in our sector always comply with these simple home truths! However one company is setting about things a little differently. Desktop Factory are disarmingly upfront and brutally clear about the challenges they face and the financial issues they have encountered in what can only be described as difficult trading conditions.

The latest newsletter from Desktop Factory CEO Cathy Lewis outlines the issues that this California based start up faces, technology issues would appear to have been surmountable, however financially there are some hurdles which are not helped by the current economic climate.

Now before we get into a discussion about how good the technology is lets be clear, it isn't a substitute for the latest offering from EOS, Stratasys or 3D Systems but it is a 3D printing technology aimed at breaking down the barriers that we all face in terms of technology adoption and that is a very worthwhile thing to support.

So if you have a spare $1 million lying around then there are a group of hard working and dedicated people in the Golden State who would be delighted to hear from you. However if your name isn't Branson or Gates dont hammer them for taking longer to get to market that originally planned, admire them for their transparency and hope they succeed, it's in all of our interests.

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TCT Live 2009 On Track for Success — 50% of Exhibition Space Reserved

An optimistic outlook for TCT Live 2009 has been ensured with a high demand from companies for exhibition space. With seven months still to go before the doors open, the floor space is already 50% allocated with many organisations taking the opportunity to increase their stand size for this year’s event.

Off the back of the highly successful 2008 edition it has been necessary to enlarge the total floor space to over 4000 square metres to accommodate bigger stands with more live working machinery than ever before.

The organiser, Rapid News Publications plc, is delighted to welcome back Headline Sponsors Huntsman Advanced Materials and EOS. Other companies who have already confirmed their presence at the 2009 event include: Concept Laser/ES Technology, Laser Lines/Stratasys, Objet Geometries, ProtoLabs, Z-Corporation, Ebalta, DSM Somos, Materialise, Envisiontec, Wenzel, Datron, Delcam, GOM UK, Exceltec, Inneo and FARO.

TCT Live focuses on business critical technologies for rapid product development and manufacturing. Adoption of these technologies is of vital importance for companies wishing to stay ahead of their competitors, reduce product development time, reduce cost and improve efficiency.

Exhibits cover the full spectrum of rapid prototyping and manufacturing machines and technologies. In addition, the exhibition brings together major players from the sectors of scanning and digitising, CAD/CAM/CAE software and materials sectors.

A focus on visitor experience and education for this years show sees the introduction of several new seminars including: Advanced Prototyping, RP&M in Architecture, CAD/CAM, and Inspection & Metrology. These will be accompanied by the previous years’ successful seminars RP&M Technology Introduction Sessions and Technology for Jewellery.

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MM Live Welcomes Return of Headline Sponsors for 2009

Rapid News Publications PLC, organiser of MM Live, is delighted to announce the return of its two Headline Sponsors — Rainford Precision Machines and SmalTec International — for the 2009 event being held at the Ricoh Arena, Coventry, 20-21 October 2009.

MM Live 2009 is the only UK event dedicated to Micro, Precision and Nano Manufacturing and the endorsement of UK-based Rainford Precision Machines and US-based SmalTec International underlines the importance of the show and its featured technologies for the micro and precision manufacturing sectors.

Arthur Turner, Managing Director of Rainford Precision Machines, commented on the company’s return to the show in 2009, “Having sponsored the MM Live 2008 show it was a very simple decision to both re-book the stand space for 2009 and agree to sponsor the show. I felt the effort put in by the MM Live team to promote the show and make the exhibition days useful both to exhibitors and visitors certainly paid off. The interest shown and the commitment by all the customers who attended the exhibition I thought was tremendous and shows the need for a focused exhibition in our industry to develop the market place further.”

Jerry Mraz, President of SmalTec International said, “SmalTec International has always been dedicated to promoting the micro-manufacturing industry and we like to support and sponsor events that have the same dedication to our industry. Our products are well received worldwide and Europe is a market that has embraced micro manufacturing. Last year’s MM Live event demonstrated the need to maintain focus on the UK and EU and to continue support growth of the small technology industry.”

Mark Blezard, Director of Sales for MM Live concluded, “It is a great pleasure to welcome both headline sponsors back for the second MM Live. Both companies took a leap of faith supporting a new show but clearly it worked for them, and we look forward to working with Rainford Precision Machines and SmalTec International as we go forward and double the size of MM Live in 2009.”

Visitor registration for the 2009 event is now open and can be completed quickly and easily at www.micro-show.com.

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TCT Live & MM Live Visitor Registration Now Open

It is with great pleasure that the organisers of TCT Live and MM Live, Rapid News Publications plc, announce that visitor registration for the 2009 events is officially open. More than 3000 visitors attended the shows during the 2008 editions, prompting the organisers to open registration even earlier for visitors’ convenience. Situated once again at the Ricoh Arena, Coventry, from 20th –21st October 2009, entrance to TCT Live and MM Live is completely free of charge.

Registration can be completed quickly and easily at www.tctshow.com and www.micro-show.com

TCT Live and MM Live have been specially coordinated to bring together the latest developments in a wide range of technologies and will give visitors the opportunity to source the very latest solutions and innovations for design, development and manufacturing.

Free of charge seminar sessions will take place on both days of the show, these seminars will be held in purpose-built theatres within the exhibition halls and will cover topics such as: An Introduction to RPD&RM Technologies; Advanced Prototyping; Technology for the Jewellery Industry; RP&M in Architecture; Inspection & Metrology; and CAD/CAM.

Alongside the industry leading exhibitions and free seminars will be two world-class conferences. TCT Live will stage the Additive Manufacturing Conference, which will take an in-depth look at the true issues businesses face in adopting this technology. In the MM Live hall, the Micro Manufacturing Technology Conference will host expert papers covering all of the key technologies and techniques employed in making and verifying precision micro components

TCT Live and MM Live are dedicated to the very latest in design and manufacturing technologies. By offering a blend of live technical experience coupled with a huge range of live education seminars — TCT Live and MM Live are breaking the mould for engineering and manufacturing events.

Current exhibitor lists can be found on the respective websites along with further details about the shows and features.

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TCT Live 2009 - Dedicated to Visitor Experience & Visitor Education

The year 2009 looks set to be especially exciting for the TCT Conference & Exhibition. Building on the success of previous editions, the organisers, Rapid News Publications plc, has re-branded the show TCT Live 2009. The aim is to continue to ensure the event offers more attractions for more visitors than ever before in a focussed interactive environment. The re-brand to TCT Live will also bring the show in line with its co-located event MM Live — the micro, precision and nano manufacturing event.

Held once again at the Ricoh Arena, Coventry, 20-21 October, TCT Live focuses on business critical technologies for rapid product development and manufacturing. Adoption of these technologies is of critical importance for companies wishing to stay ahead of their competitors, reduce product development time, reduce cost and improve efficiency.

The “Live” aspect of both events is essential to this success. In both the product development and micro manufacturing worlds…seeing is believing! By creating an interactive forum for the visitor, TCT Live is breaking the mould for engineering events — offering a blend of live technical experience coupled with a huge range of live educational seminars. This powerful combination will ensure that both shows are an essential part of any engineering and manufacturing organisation’s calendar.

Exhibits cover the vast range of Rapid Prototyping and Rapid Manufacturing machines and technologies giving visitors the perfect opportunity to compare, contrast and experience machines in an interactive working environment. The exhibition also brings together major players from the sectors of Inspection, Scanning and Digitizing, CAD/CAM/CAE Software and Materials all of who showcase their latest offerings.

TCT Live is proud to be the leading product development and manufacturing show dedicated to both Visitor Experience and Visitor Education.

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The Next Generation of Virtual Interaction from Worldviz and Virtalis

This is a rather cool story. Comes to us by way of Virtalis who resell Worldviz in the UK. Worldviz is a leading US based VR player and recently they have improved the functionality of their Vizard software by launching Live Characters, a feature that allows real-time virtual interaction.

Vizard is a 3D toolkit enabling the creation of interactive content. With its avatars known as Complete Characters and Soldiers, the new software plug-in enables full human presence for both first person and third person view points. Vizard was designed for rapid prototyping and lets the user choose between two scripting levels. Users with no programming experience can create interactive 3D content and instantly interface with a broad range of hardware devices via the simple scripting language, Python. Programming experts can utilise a C++ interface in the Enterprise Version of the software.

Live Characters allows users to interact with a virtual Vizard environment and the system accurately mimics their movements in real time via motion capture. Observers can view the avatar's movements both in the virtual world and those of the user, thanks to a split screen

David Heesom, course leader for the University of Wolverhampton's Architectural Visualisation degree and recent Vizard convert, explained: “Our students love these avatars. They can have fun with them and even populate their designs with virtual versions of themselves and their contemporaries. We bought 20 licences plus additional light versions which allow the students to work in Vizard on their own PCs at home. This means they can develop their work on PCs and then display it to others on our 3D projection system.”

Wolverhampton's Architectural Visualisation course is the first in the world offering this specialised discipline. It grew out of its previous course in VR Design in 2006 when the University noted that many graduates of this course were being snapped up for careers in construction, architecture and planning. The University therefore decided that the time had come to design a course devoted entirely to architectural visualisation.

“Originally, we approached Virtalis to buy a different software package”, commented David, “but after listening to our requirements they felt Vizard would give us the best results. I am glad we had their impartial advice, as our students, for whom the programming isn't the ultimate aim, are able to achieve great results and tackle real-time VR modelling.”

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Stratasys Rebrand FDM as FORTUS 3D Production Systems

Fresh from delivering the UPrint, which has to be one of the coolest looking desktop machines ever made Stratasys continue to forge ahead with the announcement that their FDM technology range will be rebranded as FORTUS 3D Production Systems.

Previously the range has been informally called the FDM Group or the High-End Systems line. Stratasys says that the growing market strength of this group of machines has been the catalyst for this change.

The interesting thing about this rebrand is that Stratasys seem to have moved away a little from Direct Digital Manufacturing (DDM), a phrase they have done much to articulate over the last few years, and in contrast to other players in the market have removed "Manufacturing" from their straplines and marketing for this product range almost completely.

The FORTUS machines are firmly positioned as 3D Production Systems....how long till the rest of the industry catches up?

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