MakerBot launches Method Carbon Fiber 3D printers

CEO Nadav Goshen and VP of Product Development Johan-Till Broer talk to TCT about the launch.

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MakerBot has announced the launch of two Method Carbon Fiber platforms as it bids to make composite 3D printing ‘more accessible to more users than ever before.’

It represents the third and fourth additions to the company’s Method line of 3D printing systems, which was first announced in late 2018 with the standard platform and expanded in 2019 with the Method X. This latest development sees the launch of the Method Carbon Fiber and the Method X Carbon Fiber, available to order immediately for $4,999 and $6,499 respectively.

Designed to enable engineers to print stronger and more accurate parts, with manufacturing aids, jigs and fixtures, and end-use production components being touted as suitable application areas, the Method Carbon Fiber systems are built off much of the same architecture as its fellow Method platforms. The Method Carbon Fiber, for instance, utilises a heated build chamber up to 60°C and PVA soluble support material, while the Method X Carbon Fiber benefits from a heated build chamber up to 110°C, the ability to use Stratasys’ SR-30 soluble support and will therefore also be able to process a wider range of composite materials.

When we launched the Method platform a year and a half ago, we set a new route for MakerBot. The Carbon Fiber edition of Method is another step forward.

The difference between the standard Method machines and the Carbon Fiber editions is the new Composite Extruder. This extruder consists of hardened metal drive gears, a metal filament switch and an interchangeable hardened steel nozzle, while also being able to process MakerBot’s new Nylon Carbon Fiber material and all materials supported by the Method and Method X. Additionally, the Composite Extruder is compatible with those two machines, meaning existing users are able to acquire the new capabilities for $349.

MakerBot’s new Nylon Carbon Fiber material is said to be an ideal lightweight alternative to metal for structural components, such as vehicular brackets and inspection gauges, manufacturing tools like robotic end affecters, under-hood applications and tooling parts, providing reduced costs, lighter weight and other efficiencies. It has been optimised to deliver high strength and heat resistance, with a tensile strength of 110 MPA, tensile modulus of 7600 MPA and a heat deflection temperature of 184°C, while the Method's dry-sealed filament bays help to keep the moisture-sensitive material dry to ensure quality and reliability. 

The company will be looking to leverage its materials partner network to offer more composite materials in the future. In addition to MakerBot's Nylon Carbon Fiber filament, the company has already made PETG Carbon Fiber (Method and Method X) and ABS Carbon Fiber (just Method X) materials available to its customers via its materials programme. 

Shipping of the MakerBot Method Carbon Fiber, the Composite Extruder and the Nylon Carbon Fiber material are expected to commence next month.

Q&A: MakerBot CEO Nadav Goshen and VP of Product Development Johan-Till Broer speak to TCT about the company’s latest launch

The Method product line was launched 18 months ago as MakerBot looked to move beyond its supply of prototyping and educational tools, and become a vendor of 3D printing equipment that could be leveraged for tooling components and end-use parts in small volumes.

Through the last year and a half, MakerBot not only released the Method X, with its ability to print in a chamber heated up to 110°C, but also partnered with half a dozen materials suppliers and launched the Experimental Extruder to process the more advanced grades that the likes of BASF, LEHVOSS, Mitsubishi Chemical and KIMYA would provide access to. This latest development, the launch of composite 3D printing capabilities, is an extension of the company's industrial focus.

Speaking to TCT, MakerBot CEO Nadav Goshen and VP of Product Development Johan-Till Broer discussed the thinking behind the new products, potential applications of the Carbon Fiber machines and its materials roadmap.

TCT: Can you explain MakerBot’s motivation to launch the Method Carbon Fiber printer?

Nadav Goshen (NG): We look at this as a platform play to really challenge the way 3D printing is being accessed on the wider end of the market. When we launched the Method platform a year and a half ago, we set a path, a new route for MakerBot, going up the industrial side. The Carbon Fiber edition of Method is another step forward.

Johan-Till Broer (JTB): We really designed Method as an industrial platform that is modular so that our customers have a very capable, industrial platform, but maximum flexibility in terms of the materials and the openness of the platform. You have the reliability in the print precision from the industrial printer, but then the openness of the desktop world in terms of the materials that are available. Another important aspect is the all these materials are backwards compatible, even the Nylon Carbon Fiber, so all of our customers that have a Method or Method X can also print with these materials. We talked about this last time, how the engineers are using 3D printing for one neat application and then they are expanding and showing what this new technology is capable of inside of their company.

TCT: Can you touch on the characteristics of the new Nylon Carbon Fiber material and the Composite Extruder?

JTB: I think that the Nylon Carbon Fiber really unlocks additional applications, especially when it comes to end use parts because of the properties of the material. You're looking at about twice the strength of ABS, you're looking at 100°C higher heat deflection temperature. Those mechanical and thermal properties really unlock additional applications in manufacturing. When you look at end effectors, CNC work holdings, applications where you need that extra strength, where maybe in in the past you were using metal parts, you sometimes now can use Nylon carbon fibre to replace that.

NG: With the Nylon Carbon Fiber material, it is a more abrasive material so in our lifetime testing we saw that there was a little bit more wear on certain parts of the extruder than we see with other materials, so we upgraded the gears [on the Composite Extruder] - we now have hardened gears that can withstand those abrasive materials better. We also replaced the filament detection switch which was made out of plastic before and now it's a metal switch. And then lastly, we also carried over the design from the Labs Experimental Extruder, we can very easily replace the nozzles and that has two benefits. First of all, it can further extend the life of your extruder because if you see any wear, you can very simply replaced the nozzle, but also it offers us the ability to offer additional nozzle types when we add additional materials. So again, it's all about the flexibility that we offer.

JTB: I think one other benefit of offering the Method Carbon Fiber editions is that we really see most customers have a lead application. That's the reason why they purchase the printer and that's also the reason why they get the printer purchase approved. They go, maybe through their boss, and say, ‘I want to print these jigs and fixtures.’ ‘Okay, what kind of material do you need for that?’ ‘We need nylon carbon fibre for that because it's a very strong material - that's the only material that we can use.’ Then they're looking for a printer that can print nylon carbon fibre and they buy a Method. We have these additions that we offer and that provides them the best experience that they can expect. But at the same time, they still get the full flexibility of the platform. So later on, if they say I need a flexible material, I need ABS or I need PC ABS, because they want to try something new, they still have that flexibility and not locking themselves into a platform that can only print two or three materials. They get that optimised experience out of the box with the right extruder with the right tuning and then they can expand from there.

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TCT: On the subject of applications, what kinds of parts do you expect your customers will use these new composite 3D printing capabilities for?

JTB: I think that jigs and fixtures, tools, and [robotic] end effectors, those are the main applications that we see on the manufacturing side, and that goes all the way from smaller aerospace suppliers that need to make very specialised parts and therefore needs different tools or fixtures for that up to like a big car manufacturer that is changing their production line. And really, we see the broad spectrum among our customers for that. For Method, because of the price to performance that we offer, we also do sell a lot to small businesses, so we've also seen interest from companies that make smaller production runs of certain parts. For example, drone parts - we work with a company that produces customised drone parts and they sell them. In that case, this material is very beneficial because anything related to aerospace, you want to keep the weight low, and you want something that still has very high strength and also high stiffness.

NG: With the COVID-19 outbreak and the wake-up call that happened, we see many small organisation that are now trying to reconsider their supply chain and I think this carbon fibre option at that price point is opening new possibilities for them.

TCT: Do the applications mentioned above include metal replacement parts?

NG: I can't disclose the name of the manufacturer, but we are in touch with a very large one and they made a case study specifically for jigs and fixtures, trying to 3D print [what are typically] aluminium parts. And the cost saving and the time to part that they're achieving is tremendous. I think specifically on the manufacturing line, the ability to replace traditional jigs and fixtures with a 3D printed one is really a game changer.

JTB: Yeah, oftentimes, many parts are basically over specced, or metal is over specced for a lot of parts, right? The problem is that you need something that's stronger than regular plastic. The regular plastic like ABS may not be strong enough and then the only alternative is a metal. The Nylon Carbon Fiber falls in between and oftentimes that's good enough for that application. I think that's really where we see this material solving a lot of the issues.

TCT: With this launch, you’re entering an increasingly competitive market – what do you make of the competition in the composite 3D printing arena and what would you say makes your product different?

NG: I think the main difference is the platform capabilities and the heated chamber. I think at that price point, I don't think there is any other printer out there that offers composite 3D printing availability in a heated chamber. And what that gives is the Z strength, which is the weakest part of the carbon fibre parts, is enforced within the heated chamber. The second is the support; we're providing SR-30 support on the Method X and PVA on the Method which then gives you unlimited geometry. I think at that price point, none of the [competition] provides such an option.

JTB: The increased competition to me just speaks to the demand that's there in the marketplace; there is a very significant interest in that material, for good reason because of the performance that it can provide. But then to Nadav's point, in terms of the platform, we're very different from all of these desktop printers that are still using the desktop architecture and that don't quite have the same performance. I would say that the second differentiator also is the flexibility of our platform that we mentioned in the beginning. So the Nylon Carbon Fiber is not the only material you can print. You can still print a lot of the other materials, you can print it a real ABS that is a grade very similar to injection moulding, right? We can print what we recently introduced, PC ABS and PC ABS flame retardant, and then you can go to MakerBot Labs and print flexible materials. I think that versatility combined with the industrial nature of the platform is what really makes Method unique.

TCT: Can you touch on the materials roadmap for the Method Carbon Fiber systems?

JTB: When we tune materials that are MakerBot materials for the platform, it's a much longer process, a lot of time and effort goes into that. And that's why we try to focus those materials on the major categories. So, in this instance, Nylon Carbon Fiber being the most popular out of the composite materials. But we also know that oftentimes, the more specialised versions of these materials are needed, so that's something that we're looking at to fulfil with MakerBot Labs. And we're working very closely right now with these suppliers to qualify new materials. So Polymaker, for example, is working on some of their more specialised polycarbonate materials; these are also materials that can benefit from the heated chamber because they have even higher warpage than ABS. That's one area that we're looking at. But it could also be in the future more specialised composite materials as well.

NG: I think we'll have we have good surprises in the future. We're looking, like we did with carbon fibre, at demand in the market. Can we really change the price performance equation? I think you will hear from us soon about specific leaps forward. We know that we have a very capable platform and now with the Method and with our partnership with material providers, there are really, really interesting things that we're cooking in our kitchen.

TCT: I wanted to ask about one material in particular, since BASF is one of the materials partners you mention and you are releasing an advanced extruder, will the Ultrafuse 316L metal filament now be available to Method users?

NG: Let’s say… we can’t comment.

JTB: I can say it’s something we’re definitely looking into.

NG: To give you some kind of soundbite, the platform is capable of that.

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