Stereolithography
At formnext powered by tct 2017, after years of competing technologies flirting with our attention, 3D printing's top dog bit back.
Invented by Chuck Hull of 3D Systems in 1984, stereolithography is still seen by many as the gold standard for additive manufacturing but in recent times it has gone through something of a dry spell.
In the last decade, away from the desktop, the perception was 3D Systems still had a monopoly on industrial SLA, but little had been done to improve the process significantly; speed hadn't increased significantly, prices haven't fallen, materials choice hadn't overly widened.
While that is indeed true of the west, in China things are immeasurably different. UnionTech has been innovating in the stereolithography space since the turn of the millennium and has quietly been becoming the number one stereolithography system manufacturer in 3D printing's fastest growing market.
UnionTech PILOT 250
Affordable, reliable systems with an open material platform helped UnionTech develop a loyal customer base in China. When a company corners such a significant chunk of one market, it's only a matter of time before expansion happens. Europe's first look at the technology came at TCT Show 2016, and in October last year, the Shanghai company opened a subsidiary in Houston, Texas and in Frankfurt, Germany.
Sitting down with Peter Hansford, Director EMEA at Shanghai Union Technology at the company's large stand at formnext, it's easy to see how UnionTech has proliferated. With a host of launches from stand C14 UnionTech's stated aim is to widen commercial usage of stereolithography with affordable systems that don't require an expert technician to make function.
As well as the PILOT series of two machines Pete - an experienced head in this industry - sees its soon-to-be-launched PolyDevs software as key to broader adoption. While many customers and potential customers may already have Materialise Magics software that they can use with the PILOT series, PolyDevs. PolyDevs will be an affordable solution that allows importing and exporting CAD data, repairing files, performing mesh editing, generating support structures and preparing slice data for the Pilot equipment.
According to Pete, the trifecta of affordable machinery, easy-to-use software, and an open materials platform (UnionTech also announced a new SOMOS partnership at the show) are highly desirable to a customer-base baying for advances in stereolithography.
Toyota Motorsport is an example of a company, steeped in stereolithography, making the switch to UnionTech. One imagines that UnionTech's open materials platform and Toyota's much-publicised relationship with SOMOS as a beta material testers, played a large part in the decision to change up 3D printing systems.
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Exhibit at the UK's definitive and most influential 3D printing and additive manufacturing event, TCT 3Sixty.
UnionTech is not the only company here at 3D printing mecca to showcase a new industrial stereolithography; ZRapid has a fleet of new machinery; RPS has its NEO800 on display on partner LSS Laser Sinter Service's booth; after launching an EMEA HQ in Stuttgart earlier this year, Shining 3D is showing its professional iSLA-350 machine.
Another new player in the resin-based production world is RAPLAS - a German-based, British ran the company with a burgeoning reputation. A meeting with Martin Forth, CEO of RAPLAS revealed that its target market was not the mainstay of stereolithography, prototyping, but the world of production.
Parts on the RAPLAS build platform
Parts both small and large, made for the movie Kingsman 2, on the RAPLAS build platform.
One of RAPLAS' USPs is a laser scanning system that delivers a dual spot from 80 μm up to 1.2 mm, meaning the machine can do very fine detailed parts and large parts on the same platform without having to refocus or recalibrate.
So impressive was the system and parts on display at formnext, Martin told TCT he was having to stay an extra day to deliver that very one to a customer in Germany.
It would be remiss of any blog on advancements in stereolithography not to mention the company that started it all. Here at formnext, 3D Systems is showing the first commercial configuration of its Figure 4 technology.
Could it be just as competitors to its SLA throne are circling, 3D Systems has pulled a rabbit out of the hat? Time will tell.
