GE Aviation to grow better fuel nozzles using 3D Printing

GE Aviation working with Sigma Labs are advancing quality processes in the Additive Manufacturing of jet engine components such as fuel nozzles. 

A 3D Printed jet engine fuel nozzle can be 25 percent lighter and as much as five times more durable than the current nozzle made from 20 different parts, say GE. The nozzle can, for example, better resist carbon deposits and coking. 

The new "in-process inspection" technology can collect all the (big)data from production sensors and analyze the stability of the Direct Metal Laser Sintering (a.k.a. melting) "3D Printing" machines. The video tells the story:

By 2020, GE Aviation will "produce more than 100,000 additive manufactured components for the LEAP and GE9X engines, in development for Boeing's new 777X plane. GE will install 19 additive manufactured fuel nozzles on every LEAP engine, which has amassed more than 4,500 orders."

Rumor of MakerBot up for sale / acquisition

There are rumors of MakerBot being up to sale or acquisition. Huh? They only got started!

Very difficult to know what to make of this story at this stage:

http://mashable.com/2013/06/06/makerbot-acquisition-talks/

MakerBot Industries grew out of the RepRap community ... open source hardware and software for plastic (ABS, PLA) Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM).  This is the simplest form of 3D printing .... in essence squirting a suitable thermoplastic out of a tiny nozzle to build up an object in thin layers.

Founders and 'RepRap' prototypes

MakerBot have commercialised the FDM process in a range of low cost 3D printers for the  'Maker' community. They also sell to some corporates who use the low cost of the printers (roughly the same as a high end laptop) to experiment with the approach. NASA has apparently bought a few tens of these printers.

Due to its roots in open source, and the easy replication of the commodity technology, a hundred (literally) other start ups have brought 'similar' devices to market. (See the list left of this page).  Most of these FDM start ups are one or two man band companies. MakerBot is considerably larger and has been the most successful in commercializing the technology. However, there are valid competitors. Two examples are Ultimaker and the Cube series of FDM printers from additive manufacturing giant 3D Systems.

3D Printing No Impact on Amazon says Jeff Bezos

At a shareholder meeting, Jeff Bezos CEO of Amazon was asked about the impact of 3D Printing on his business model. He replied:

Inside one Amazon warehouse

"I think the answer to that is, not anytime soon ... That's far, far in the future ... You can't build interesting objects with limited materials .... Even incredibly simple objects like a toaster have dozens of materials."

Bezos thinks that 3D Printing is super interesting, but for prototyping not mass production.

Is he right?

Amazon sells and ships complete 'end user' products? What about 'end use' components in the supply chain of those companies for which Amazon is the retail distribution front end?

It will be decades (or more) before 3D Printing has any measurable impact on Amazon's distribution model.  Over those same decades the extent to which AM is contributing to the production of end use components within those products is both a complex question and a subject of debate.

The real impact of 3D Printing is likely to be the creation of entirely new product categories, including 3D Printers themselves, and not the replacement of traditional manufacturing.

You'll know when 3D Printing is making a significant impact on manufacturing. It will be when Jeff Bezos works out how he can start to assemble and manufacture, and not just to ship. Until then, expect Amazon to sell 3D Printers and 3D Printer Supplies just as Plastic Filament. And that's precisely what they have started to do.

Amazon has opened a product category for Additive Manufacturing within their Industrial and Scientific products space.

To understand the scale of Amazon's business view images of Amazon warehouses around the world.

Makie Dolls are cute but David Cameron is dead wrong

As part of the GREAT Britain / Innovation is GREAT campaign, London-based MakieLab was invited to present its 3D Printed Makie toys to attendees at a recent showcase in NYC, including HRH Prince Harry and PM David Cameron. 

MakieLab was the only UK tech company invited by the Prime Minister's office. If true, that is a disgrace. 

How sad. Makie Dolls are cute, but they and similar 3D Printed trinkets will NOT kick-start a UK 'Third Industrial Revolution'. 

As Harvard economist Ricardo Hausmann said about the impact of 3D Printing (Additive Manufacturing) on the US economy....  "You Must Make the New Machines". Unfortunately, the UK does not.

MakieLab, like all UK companies, buy their 3D Printers from overseas, typically the USA, Germany and soon .... China!

David Cameron needs to think about why this is, and not tout toy dolls made on 3D Printers. 

The same mistake is made when the UK Prime Minister over-states the significance of London Tech City, comparing it to Silicon Valley. The same mistake was made decades ago when the UK over-stated the significance of its 'New Media' sector .... largely a floss of Web site development running on IT infrastructure NOT made in the UK. 

David Cameron makes the same mistake when he talks up UK's "leading position" in Wind Farms, stating that he is "proud that Britain has played a leading role at the forefront of this green energy revolution." 

Who is telling him this? The truth is different. 

Non-UK manufacturers, and non-UK operators, are behind virtually every UK-based wind farm - on or off shore. The UK is rapidly becoming (has become) dependent on other nations for their wind power technology, products, equipment, installation and maintenance services. 

And this will be the fate for UK Additive Manufacturing unless something changes. So as you read the following paragraphs about Wind Farm technology, think about 3D Printing if you care about a UK Industrial Revival. 

----

UK Wind Farm Analogy:

Wikipedia is a reliable source of information on UK Wind Farms. It tells us that the units installed are provided by the following companies:

Vestas - Denmark

RE Power - German

Siemens - Denmark

It also lists the owner/operators as:

DONG Energy - Denmark

Vattenfall - Sweden

RWE - Germany

E.ON UK, a subsidiary of E.ON AG, Germany

While it is true that Centrica has interests in one UK wind farm and SEE another, that is the extent of the UK leadership. Starkly: the UK does not make wind turbines, does not install them does not operate them. The UK is a humble user of other nations wind power products and services. In this regard the UK is dependent on those nations for the technologies and know-how.  

Wikipedia also publishes a list of wind turbine manufacturers. The UK is not listed among the Top 10. Only one UK manufacturer is mentioned and they supply a small specialized unit with a very unusual design. Those units are hardly suitable for the installation and operation of a large wind farm. And the patent on them was created by a French aeronautical engineer. 

Just as with Wind Farms, the UK Prime Minister needs to look to the truth and be authentic about UK technological capability. To print a Makie Doll is one thing. To make the 3D Printer upon which it is printed is quite another.  And just as Silicon Valley R&D is not the same as London Tech City R&D. 

For a new UK Industrial Revolution, what the UK desperately needs is not claims of leadership, but actual leadership. And leadership always requires facing the facts. David Cameron should be brave enough to tell it how it is and then do something about it, if he really does believe in Wind Power and 3D Printing as a new source of wealth for the UK Economy.

The Liberator, an all Plastic 3D Printed Gun has been fired

Following our Analysis of the Aims of Defense Distributed the group have successfully fired an all plastic 3D printed pistol, the Liberator.

Message from Cody Wilson to 3D Printing News and Trends "Fantastic. This is the first piece I've seen that nails the whole endeavor. And I was beginning to think we had created a riddle..."
 -- Cody Wilson, Defense Distributed

Thanks Cody!

Postscript:

According to media reports, some time before May 10th, the US State Department has written to the gun's designer, Defense Distributed, saying that publishing such designs, which enable anyone with a 3D printer to produce their own plastic gun, could breach arms-control regulations.

"The order, however, comes after the blueprints were downloaded more than 100,000 times, and cannot prevent their further redistribution by others who have already downloaded them."

"The Office of Defense Trade Controls Compliance told Defense Distributed founder Cody Wilson to ensure the designs be "removed from public access". It said he must prove he had not broken laws on shipping weapons overseas by putting the files online and letting people outside the US download them."

Cody's response to this is:

"DEFCAD files are being removed from public access at the request of the US Department of Defense Trade Controls. Until further notice, the United States government claims control of the information."

Now go back and read the Analysis of the Aims of Defense Distributed