3D Printing a Major Theme of SXSW
AUSTIN, Texas -- The 27th edition of South by Southwest kicked off Friday with a bold prediction that desktop 3D printing will unleash a new industrial revolution guided by "creative explorers." Inventing or replicating everyday objects in three dimensions using laser beams and molten plastic is a major theme of the interactive segment of the 10-day SXSW festival that also celebrates independent film and music. Delivering the opening talk, Makerbot co-founder and CEO Bre Pettis unveiled his Brooklyn-based start-up's latest shoebox-sized desktop 3D copier that will carry a $2,200 pricetag when it goes on sale this fall.
read moreThe First 3D Printed Polymer Implant to Receive FDA Approval
Oxford Performance Materials (OPM), member of the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute and producer of biomedical raw materials and devices, has just received FDA approval for its OsteoFab™ Patient Specific Cranial Device (OPSCD), making it the first 3D-printed polymer implant to pass the standards of the FDA, the US’s Food and Drug Administration.
read moreOsteoFab™ Patient Specific Cranial Device Receives 510(k) Approval
Oxford Performance Materials (OPM) is pleased to announce it has received FDA 510(k) clearance for the OsteoFab™ Patient Specific Cranial Device (OPSCD). “OsteoFab” is OPM’s brand for Additively Manufactured medical and implant parts produced from PEKK polymer. With OPM’s Additive Manufacturing process (also called “3D Printing”), implants are “grown” layer by layer directly from a digital CAD file without the aid of tooling and with few practical limits on what can be produced. As such, the OsteoFab™ technology is ideal for one‐of implants specifically shaped to each patient’s anatomy. One very desirable use of patient specific implants and the indication for the OPSCD is cranial implants to replace bony voids in the skull due to trauma or disease. FDA clearance of this device marks the first approval for an additively manufactured polymer implant.
read moreMOLDERS GO ‘RAPID’ FOR PROTOTYPING AND MANUFACTURING
Three forward-thinking custom molders have taken steps to streamline their manufacturing, expand new product development, and add to their customer base—and all in a more cost-effective manner than ever before. What’s their secret? These three have invested in a category of technology commonly called “rapid prototyping” (RP) and also coming to be known as “additive manufacturing” (AM) because it can be used for short-run manufacturing of production parts. By going in-house with this technology, these molders exemplify what may become a new way of doing business for many others in the future.
read moreAre You Prepared for the Next Generation of Manufacturing?
Since the downturn of 2008, the U.S. manufacturing economy has been making stellar yet uncharacteristic improvements. Significant changes and transformations have taken place that has set the stage for a next generation of manufacturing. Much of this next generation technology is centered on the rapid growth of products themselves as well as the manufacturing fabrication of those products.
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