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Graham Tromans educated and entertained a full house (plus aisle lingerers) on the morning of the first day
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Busy times on the 3D Systems stand with much interest about the Cube 3D printer
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No show would be complete without a selection of intricate balls
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Graham Tromans educated and entertained a full house (plus aisle lingerers) on the morning of the first day
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Laser Prototypes drew crowds to their stand with a stunning model of the Chateau de Chambord in the Loire Valley.
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Areion, the first fully operational race car with a stereolithography body was exhibited by Materialise — I want one, please
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One of the most eye-catching exhibits came from PropShop — the partially-printed DB5 from a famous film series...
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Renishaw showed their range of kit, including AM, metrology and vacuum casting solutions
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Another intricate sphere, this time made real in metal
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This was the quietest the UltiMaker stand looked all show!
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Batman (obviously) was the centre of attention on the Global TCT (no relation) stand, printed by voxeljet
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Intricate full-colour Zprint
You can often tell how a show is going to go within the first tentative hours. Will the weather scupper the plans of those relying on the motorway or rail networks? Will all the speakers make it on time? Have all the exhibitors turned up? Have I worn the correct shoes for the occasion…
TCT Live 2012 started exceptionally well, quelling the inevitable (if inevitably baseless) nerves of the organisers and exhibitors in equal measure. In fact, it is perhaps the best first morning of a show that I can remember in terms of visitor numbers but also visitors' immediate interaction on the stands. It usually takes and hour or two for even the seasoned show attendee to get into their stride and make it from the aisles to the stands. Not this time though, there was obviously business to be done!
My time at the show is spent in a blur of chairing sessions, pre-arranged meetings and fulfilling the clause in my contract that states ‘the employee may be required, from time to time, to undertake other activities within the normal course of the employers business’ — in other words the hauling, lugging, schlepping and mauling of large objects. This usually leaves me with but a few precious hours in which to actually ‘do’ the show.
From the tech-brief sessions I chaired I can conclude that interest in the full gamut of technologies, both metals and non-metals remains high. There were no real game-changing announcement from the lectern this year — nearly everything had been covered in pre-show press — but it was clear that machine producers are trying harder than ever to differentiate themselves in a very competitive marketplace.
For me the metals Tech Briefing sessions provided the best examples of how AM is coming of age. In the three-hour session attendees heard about the new state of the art in powder bed systems (laser- and EBM-based) from Arcam, Concept Laser, EOS, Renishaw and SLM Solutions; inkjet printing for metal parts from ExOne; and EBM welding-based AM from Sciaky. Three hours well spent if you're a newbie or just want refreshing.
The keynote speakers Todd Grimm and Phill Dickens both drew big crowds, as did Graham Tromans’ annual intro to AM during which Graham asked how many of the amassed crowd had been to TCT Live before — the answer, four, was startling. It proves for one thing that the show is pulling in new people and that they’re keen to learn about the technologies.
Out into the aisles and the Personalize Pavilion immediately drew in some of the largest crowds, with the Makerbot, Electrobloom, MiiCraft, Ultimaker, Sculpteo and Leapfrog aisle packed with enthusiastic attendees from the minute the doors opened. In fact, we had to wait until the show had closed on the last day to speak to most of these exhibitors!
At the other end of the spectrum the representatives I spoke to from the manufacturing-focussed companies had also had a good show, and commented that the level of knowledge from attendees was noticeably rising year on year.
If you visited the show I would love to hear from you for the full review which will appear in the print and iPad editions next month.
