With AMAA: Aerospace, Space & Defense returning to place mission-critical additive manufacturing applications under the spotlight, our pre-event series returns to focus on speakers from across the sector examining where 3D printing is moving from design freedom into functional hardware. Among them is Ryan Watkins, a Research Engineer specializing in mechanics at NASA Jet Propulsion…
Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa) researchers are using Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing to repair fatigue cracks in bridges and steel structures, printing customized metal reinforcements directly onto damaged components rather than replacing them entirely. The process, known as WAAM, works by feeding a welding wire through a robotic arm that deposits…
UC Santa Barbara has secured $1.15 million from the National Science Foundation to acquire a nanoscale 3D printing system based on two-photon photolithography (2PP), technology that moves additive manufacturing beyond flat layering into true three-dimensional structures at resolutions down to 10 nanometers. The grant, led by electrical and computer engineering professor Galan Moody alongside four…
SHINING 3D Dental, dental division of Chinese company SHINING 3D, officially brought the Ceramix-Nano to market on June 18, stepping into the growing race for compact, clinic-ready ceramic printers with a device that sits on a countertop and delivers permanent restorations before a patient leaves the chair. The machine produces crowns, veneers, inlays, onlays, and…
Israel-based Massivit has unveiled RapidWings, a global network of local, on-demand sovereign production facilities designed to overcome composite manufacturing bottlenecks in defense. Already operational in Israel, the network is now actively recruiting certified manufacturers in the US and Europe. “Defense is a necessity worldwide. By cutting manufacturing times, RapidWings’ proprietary technology could save defense and…
Queen’s University Canada engineering students have spent three years developing a mechanical, electronics-free 3D printed prosthetic for above-elbow amputees, filling a design gap that left migrants on the Thailand-Myanmar border without options. Biomedical computing student Emese Elkind has led a Queen’s engineering team working with the Burma Children Medical Fund (BCMF), an NGO near the…
Aerospace’s most rigorous supplier audit program spent 35 years perfecting its understanding of conventional manufacturing processes, and now applies the same scrutiny to additive manufacturing. Our series on additive manufacturing in aerospace continues with Richard Freeman, Principal Staff Engineer at the Performance Review Institute (PRI), which administers the Nadcap program. Freeman, who spent over a…
When a warship cannot leave port because a decades-old part no longer exists anywhere in the supply chain, the daily cost to the taxpayer is in millions. The UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) has spent £6.25M on Project Tampa (including up to £5M with industry), a four-spiral defense additive manufacturing program designed to address obsolescence…
The UK’s Submarine Delivery Group, part of the Defence Nuclear Enterprise, has moved additive manufacturing from experimental tool to frontline maintenance capability, deploying on-site 3D printing workshops at HM Naval Base Clyde and establishing a dedicated team to reduce the supply chain delays that keep submarines alongside longer than necessary. The SDG Additive Manufacturing team,…
The Defense Logistics Agency Weapons Support Product Test Center in Columbus, Ohio has integrated additive manufacturing into its quality assurance operations, reducing fixture production times from months to hours and freeing up staff capacity in the process. The facility tests around 3,000 items per year across its electronics and mechanical labs, with a 30-day window…
Montreal-based lighting manufacturer Eureka, part of the Acuity Brands portfolio, has introduced the River Luminaire series, a collection of 13 decorative lighting fixtures. For the first time, Eureka has incorporated large-format additive manufacturing (LFAM) into its product lineup, partnering with Florida-based Haddy to realize shapes and textures that traditional manufacturing simply cannot achieve. The collection…
Chicago-based 3D printing quality assurance software developer Phase3D, has closed a $2.9 million funding round. Quest Venture Partners led the raise, with participation from Trinity Capital, Kinisis Ventures, Leroy Street Capital Partners, Asimov Ventures, and others. The round was oversubscribed. Proceeds will fund scaled manufacturing of Fringe Inspection, the company’s structured-light heightmap sensor, along with…
3D printing software developer 3YOURMIND and Phillips Corporation Federal Division are participating in a distributed manufacturing experiment organized by the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) as part of the biennial Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) military exercise, running from June 24 to July 31 around the Hawaiian Islands. The experiment, conducted through the NPS Consortium for…
Australian 3D printer manufacturer AML3D has commissioned two large-scale ARCEMY X metal additive manufacturing (AM) systems at Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS), finalizing an initial approximately AU$4.5 million (approx. US$3.2 million) order. NNS is a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII), which builds nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and submarines for the U.S. Navy. On completion, NNS will…
ExOne has launched the S-Print Pro, a sand binder jetting (BJT) system designed for smaller foundries and pattern shops that have historically been priced out of industrial additive manufacturing (AM). The machine fits in under 12 m² of floor space and is positioned as the company’s affordable entry point for production-grade sand 3D printing. The…
CECIMO, the European Association of Manufacturing Technologies, has officially unveiled AM-Europe, a dedicated continental platform designed to consolidate and amplify the additive manufacturing (AM) sector’s presence across Europe. The initiative marks a deliberate structural shift, transforming CECIMO’s longstanding but internally-focused AM activities into an outward-facing, inclusive ecosystem with a distinct European identity. Rather than a…
Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder, working alongside scientists from Columbia University, have identified a surprising solution to one of additive manufacturing’s more unconventional frontiers: getting natural earthen materials like clay and sand to behave reliably inside a 3D printer. The answer, it turns out, has long been sitting in the ice cream aisle.…
Continuous Composites (CCI) has secured a multi-year contract with the U.S. Army DEVCOM Aviation and Missile Center (AvMC) to apply its proprietary CF3D technology to the development of components for current and future missile platforms. The effort is being executed in collaboration with the U.S. Army’s Manufacturing Technology (ManTech) program and coordinated through America Makes,…
Shenzhen-based desktop 3D printer manufacturer Bambu Lab has introduced PLA Pure, a new filament developed for consumer 3D printing environments where safety, air quality and material traceability are priorities. The launch is positioned as a response to growing demand for cleaner, more transparent materials as desktop printers become increasingly common in homes, shared spaces and…
US-based propulsion manufacturer Beehive Industries has signed an agreement to buy 30 EOS M4 ONYX metal 3D printers for $50 million. The systems will be installed at the company’s Colorado and Tennessee facilities over the next 12 months, raising Beehive’s total fleet of EOS metal 3D printers to 50. That capacity is meant to support…
