The global 3D bioprinting market — currently valued at $965 million — is expected to grow at a CAGR of nearly 20% up to the mid 2020s, driven by increased healthcare demands, but also to overcome the supply bottlenecks and ethical issues associated with organ donation and tissue repair. Bioprinting also caters for the increased demand for customized patient-specific healthcare solutions, a trend that is only likely to accelerate moving forward.

FELIXprinters has established itself as a key player in the supply of mid-priced highly accurate industrial additive manufacturing (AM) machines, and has been independently assessed as the only credible rival to Ultimaker in terms of quality and cost-effectiveness in industrial AM*. The company’s reputation is built upon the Pro 3, Pro L, and Pro XL platforms, which are used throughout an array of industry sectors for challenging AM production applications.

The FELIX BIOprinter has been developed on the chassis of the established FELIXprinters product line, meaning that at its heart is the tried and tested technology that has already been serving manufacturers for years. The printer is characterized by key features that are specifically designed for medical, scientific, and research applications, including syringe cooling, print bed cooling and heating, a dual head system, easy syringe positioning (ergonomic access to the machine supports researchers in their work), and automatic bed levelling.

Wilgo Feliksdal, Co-Founder of FELIXprinters says, “The BIOprinter has been designed to be the ultimate bio research instrument in a cost-effective package. It has been developed alongside the brightest minds in the bioprinting sector, and we partnered with training4crm and the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), and received funding from the European Union Horizon 2020 Programme to develop the BIOprinter. Uniquely, the BIOprinter combines dual sterilizable printheads which have a modular design for easy changeovers, and separate heads are available to print different bio-inks at the same time. This integrates different material properties into a single scaffold structure.”

The BIOprinter has automatic bed levelling through the use of a unique probing systems which results in a perfect first layer, which means a quality end result. The BIOprinter also retracts with a highly precise motor for better dosage or materials and more accurate material flow versus alternative air pressure systems.

Feliksdal continues, “The BIOprinter consists of an adaptable and flexible ecosystem to ensure that it can meet a wide range of researchers’ needs without generating unnecessary costs. One major advantage is the source control system which enables the user to use standard slicing software and make changes themselves if needed. Also, syringes are not restricted to expensive brand-specific or in-house produced products that essentially drive up operating costs. The machine instead has been designed to use a standard 5ml syringe, and standardized petri dishes and culture plates, so there are no limitations on auxiliary parts and materials.

Users of the BIOprinter benefit from the fact that print heads are easy to sterilize, which eliminates the likelihood of contamination. The BIOprinter is hand-made in the Netherlands, and has undergone testing for 24 hours before being issued with CE certification. The machine is WIFI and LAN enabled, comes with a one-year warranty, and lifetime customer support.

The FELIX BIO is appropriate for all types of bio-printing research, and is equipped with strong motors that can extrude a range of different viscosity of materials. In addition, the BIOprinter has been designed to be easily upgradeable, which means that the lifecycle of the machine can be extended without compromising quality, reliability, and productivity.

* Toon Meynen, Trideus, Belgium, 2019.

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FELIXprinters had working examples of its range of industrially-oriented additive manufacturing (AM) platforms, and reinforced its position as perhaps the key supplier of industry’s most affordable, accurate, repeatable, easy-to-use, and upgradeable AM platforms.

Front and centre on the booth at Formnext were the company’s Pro L and Pro XL larger build envelope machines which were independently reviewed in 2019 as being the only commercially available AM platforms that can rival the industry-standard Ultimaker machines. The machines were both working at the show, and visitors were shown an impressive array of complex industrial builds for which the FELIX technology platforms are ideally suited.

The Pro L and Pro XL machines are respected throughout industry due to their strength, robustness, and quality of build, and today can be seen to out-perform alternatives in all important areas and for an array of exacting industrial applications. FELIXprinters’ AM platforms are synonymous with exceptional quality, and all shipped platforms are subject to a stringent 24-hour quality test before delivery to its customers.

A real show-stopper at Formnext, however, was the newly introduced FELIX BIO platform that was for the first time available for pre-order for shipping at the beginning of 2020.

Co-owner Wilgo Feliksdal says, “The FELIX BIO printer is based on the same chassis as the whole FELIXprinters product line, and is characterized by key features that are specifically designed for medical, scientific, and research applications, including syringe cooling, print bed cooling and heating, a dual head system, easy syringe positioning (ergonomic access to the machine supports researchers in their work), and automatic bed levelling.”

At the heart of the FELIX BIO is the source control system which enables the user to use standard slicing software and make changes themselves if needed. Syringes are not restricted to expensive brand-specific or in-house produced products that essentially drive up operating costs. The machine instead has been designed to use a standard 5ml syringe, and standardized petri dishes and culture plates, so there are no limitations on auxiliary parts and materials.

The FELIX BIO has some unique characteristics which include retraction capability, impossible on alternative air pressure systems. This is vital for optimized dosage of materials and accurate material flow. The FELIX BIO is also designed so that the print heads are easily sterilizable, and they are also modular units that can be changed easily. In addition, the FELIX BIO has a unique probing system which results in a perfect first layer the foundation of precise and accurate printing results.

Guillaume Feliksdal, co-owner sums up by saying, “Being present at events such as Formnext is vital for us. Not only does it provide us with an obvious opportunity to demonstrate our machines and prove their accuracy and robustness in industrial applications, but it also means we can discuss specific applications with our customers. This is central to everything that we do at FELIX. We do not sell AM boxes, we sell AM solutions, and central to everything that we do is to supply solutions that are ideally suited to customer requirements. As such, we are unique in the lower cost high accuracy area of 3D printing in offering truly customized solutions. This plays to the disquiet that everyone understands that many vendors are purely motivated by hitting sales targets rather than providing optimized customer solutions.”

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FELIXprinters (Booth A66, Hall 12.1) has successfully established itself as a leading supplier of industrial AM machines that are characterised by their accuracy, ease-of-use, reliability, and repeatability. The company’s culture of innovation and advancement ensures that not only are its AM platforms providing exceptional builds, but they are doing so at a cost that is sensitive to customer demand, opening up the industrial use of AM as a production technology to a huge section of industry previously under-served. The company is truly hitting the sweet spot between value and quality.

Wilgo Feliksdal, co-owner at FELIXprinters comments, “Formnext comes at an exciting time for FELIX as we get significant industry uptake of our recently introduced Pro L & XL larger build area 3D printers. An independent review of our XL platform recently concluded that this was the only industrial large build area AM platform that matched Ultimaker in terms of build quality within its class. This is obviously hugely gratifying for us to receive this independent endorsement, and details and the review will be available on our booth in Frankfurt.”

The Pro L and XL machines (which will be working on FELIXprinters booth at Formnext) can be easily installed within a manufacturing setting, and both can be transported through a normal office door opening (900 mm).  The Pro L and XL come with a range of automated and intelligent features that remove many of the tedious and time-consuming hurdles often associated with AM, and speeding up the overall process. A stand-out example of this is the design of the dual nozzle. When the dual extruders are printing together they are at different print levels, avoiding any collisions and minimizing print failure. Moreover, if one nozzle is idle, it is automatically rotated out of the way so that there is no interference with the printed part, again avoiding damage to the print (and print failure).

FELIXprinters is unique in the AM sector for the extent of the relationships that it encourages with its customers. The company believes that for customers to get the best from their use of 3D printing, they need to work as a strategic partner and advisor, ensuring that the use of the technology is optimised for each individual application. This relationship with the customer also extends into the nature of the AM platforms that the company produces, with FELIXprinters often developing tailor-made advanced 3D printing solutions bespoke to specific customer applications.

A key development, and one for which details will be available at Formnext (in advance of an imminent commercial launch) is the FELIX BIO 3D printer. FELIXprinters has worked alongside the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) to ensure that it is leading the way in the development of practical 3D bio-printing solutions, balancing both form and function.

Wilgo Feliksdal continues, “We are delighted to be at the advanced development stage of our printing solution for biomedical applications, and attendees at Formnext will be able to come and discuss the technology with our team of experts. The FELIX BIO 3D printer is designed to simplify the printing process by guiding the user through every step. It also gives users numerous options and a great deal of control, with the ability to print with a wide range of biomaterials that mimic the native environment of each specific type of cell. Users can optimize the process for heart tissue, skin, cartilage, bone, etc., thanks to special features such as exchangeable print heads that offer multiple options for heating and cooling according to the needs of the material.”

Attendees are invited to come to Hall 12.1 booth A66 at Formnext to see all the company’s machines in action, and to handle the parts that the FELIX range of machines can produce in order to assess first hand the exceptional quality and accuracy that can be attained. In addition, the company invites attendees to bring details of specific applications to the booth that our team of on-site experts can discuss with you to advise of the FELIX AM platform that will best fit your requirements.

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Technology advances are a fact of life – new developments and capability improvements for any hardware systems can make previous iterations seem slow and ineffective compared with the latest generation. This is as true for 3D printers as it is for other hardware, whether that is your mobile phone, computer or any other digital manufacturing platforms.

Even a cursory exploration of the history of 3D printers since the late 1980s can be used to back up this point and illustrate the increasingly fast evolution of 3D printing hardware, particularly over the last decade since the advent of desktop 3D printers. Thus today, new 3D printers can quickly become redundant as the technology develops. As a result, it is not uncommon for 3D printing hardware to lapse into minimal or non-use as their functionality deteriorates by comparison or does not meet the increasing demands put on them.

Within a business setting, numerous questions can arise when this phenomenon is identified.

For users that have already invested in 3D printing technology, questions posed can include:

• Do we need to invest in better hardware to meet our needs?
• What do we do with the existing hardware?

There are numerous options to this latter question of course, including disposal. Or, the seemingly most common resolution — leave it to gather dust in a corner of the workshop or laboratory.

From the former question, other questions can arise, such as: is it even wise to buy a new printer that can meet our needs? A replacement next generation 3D printer will likely be x times more expensive, and how long will it last if the technology continues to improve?

For users looking at investing in 3D printer hardware for the first time, the questions are different, but nonetheless come with associated risk:

• Is it worth investing in hardware that will quickly become redundant?
• When is the right time to invest, IF we do go ahead?

These questions can often be significant factors in organisations delaying or putting off altogether any investment into in-house 3D printers, and the benefits that they CAN bring to their business. This is because they identify that the risk is too great and there are no good options that mitigate the risk.

There is one clear option that offers a complete solution to all of these questions for organisations that do utilise (or want to utilise) 3D printing to benefit their business operations. This is to invest in truly upgradable systems that will continue to meet their evolving demands and requirements, without having to invest large amounts of capital in completely new 3D printing systems as the technology progresses.

The ability to upgrade has been at the heart of the FELIXprinters’ ethos since the company’s inception.

The early FELIXprinters systems can still be upgraded to the latest specs, which is more cost-efficient than investing in a new 3D printer.

Indeed, a significant USP of FELIXprinters is the precise design and engineering that has gone into the development of the full FELIX 3D printer range. From the earliest concept of FELIXprinters, the intent was — and still is — to create products that are fit for purpose and that are upgradable. To this end, every single FELIX 3D printer undergoes precise and extensive engineering to ensure that not a single bolt, screw or tube is unnecessary. Every single component in a FELIX 3D printer has a specific purpose and each system is developed to ensure that investment in a FELIX system brings longevity for the user. This is achieved through the ability to upgrade and extend the life-cycle of the 3D printer itself without compromising on quality, reliability or productivity.

This approach has multiple positive advantages, including providing true value for customers of FELIXprinters who can rest assured that their 3D printer(s) will never become obsolete and can always be quickly and easily upgraded to the latest specifications with minimal further investment. Moreover, FELIXprinters actively advocates this approach within its own business model in terms of its sustainability as well as providing more sustainable options for its clients.

FELIXprinters offers a wide variety of upgradesfor the entire range of its 3D printers. From individual components that can improve the original system in line with the users’ specific requirements through to full platform upgrades provided as a service.

So for FELIXprinters users that invested in a first generation 3D printer from 2011, the company has ensured that it is as easy for them to upgrade to any subsequent generation of 3D printer, in line with their needs, as it is for new customers with the latest generation of 3D printer.

This means that FELIXprinters users can upgrade any particular new features of advanced generations to their original system, including, but not limited to the dual head extruder, the heated, self-calibrating build plate, the touchscreen and built-in webcam etc. This modular approach means that FELIXprinters users can control the levels of functionality of their 3D printers in line with their own specific requirements — and, pertinently, their budgets.

More pertinently, FELIXprinters also offers a full upgrade service that enables customers to benefit from the most recent full system upgrades with a no-nonsense business approach to ensure full customer satisfaction.

For example, FELIXprinters customers operating any of the TEC systems or FELIX Pro 1 or 2+ 3D printers can quickly and cost-effectively upgrade to the latest version. In this way, customers can gain all the advantages of the latest system at a fraction of the cost of investing in a new 3D printer, including, but not limited to increased performance, improved print quality and detailing, faster dual head printing, more reliable bed levelling, improved reliability and overall easier maintenance.

The Pro 3 upgrade is fully inclusive and includes full replacement of the following sub-assemblies:

• Extruder assembly, including new blowers and hot-ends.
• Y-stage, including new levelling system
• Bed assembly, including new flexplate and optimized bed heater and kapton sticker
• New filament roll holder including accessory
• Updated firmware
• Bearings and belts if applicable
• X-axis idler pulley
• New style bed cable assembly.

The full upgrade service by FELIXprinters also includes the 3D printer being completely checked with a maintenance overhaul, followed bya full 24 hour test print.

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FELIXprinters is a family-run business with Wilgo (father) and Guillaume (son) Feliksdal working side by side as co-founders and directors of the company. Guests were welcomed to the facility in Ijsselstein by the team ahead of an introductory address from Wilgo. Subsequently, Guillaume went on to offer an historical overview of the company, and explain FELIXprinters’ mission and vision, including its current activities and future goals.

The origins of the company date back to 2007, Guillaume explained, when as a young graduate, he undertook a project that he believed would benefit from 3D printing — the development of a humanoid robot. Attempting to use any 3D printer that was accessible to him, however, proved frustrating in terms of the quality of output and the reliability of the system. He went on to solve some of these issues for himself and FELIXprinters was born in 2010, when he established the company with Wilgo and the team has continued to grow.

The core FELIX team operates out of the Netherlands facility and is dedicated to R&D, technology development, production, assembly and after sales activities. The company also develops key, specific partnerships for sales, marketing and other activities. FELIXprinters works with a global network of more than 40 resellers. Guillaume highlighted the mission of FELIXprinters specifically to operate as “a technology supplier, strategic partner and guide for unlocking the potential of 3D printing applications — large or small.” He also specified the core values of the company: innovation and attention to detail, quality in production and output, and the reliability of this output in terms of operation and repeatability. Values that run through the entire operation and drive the delivery of the mission The dignified passion from the father and son team was unmistakable and really hit home.

On the day, FELIXprinters also announced that it has added another valuable service for supporting European customers with the introduction of an installation service. This includes the delivery of the 3D printer(s) to any destination in The Netherlands or Belgium (with plans to roll it out across mainland Europe); installation of the hardware and software, performing test prints and training to ensure the printer is fully functional at optimum quality.

Even as Guillaume (with occasional interjections from his dad) explained FELIXprinters’ transition over the last 12 months to focus on more industrial applications — evident through the current 3D printer models in production (Tec 4 / Pro 3 / Pro L and Pro XL) — he was categorical in his insistence that the USPs of the company remain unchanged, specifically that modularity, through the ongoing ability to upgrade any FELIX 3D printers remains in the company’s DNA. Here he cited customers that are still using FELIX 1.5 3D printers (introduced 6-7 years ago) successfully, with upgrades, and the company still provides the same level of service and spare parts.

Another capability of FELIXprinters that Guillaume highlighted during his presentation is the development of customised 3D printing platforms and complete solutions. Although the current projects that the team are working on with key partners are still sensitive in nature, Guillaume was able to comment, in generic terms, on the sectors where they are developing custom platforms, namely for biotech, academic research and food applications. The latter in particular has reached critical mass and has been extended to include 10 more fully automated platforms in the coming months. Moreover, the success of this project is informing FELIXprinters’ activities in other sectors and the IP that has been developed can be rolled out into other areas.

The audience was then introduced to the new large 3D printing platforms that FELIXprinters has developed and now officially launched — the L and the XL. These two new platforms open up new opportunities for larger industrial parts in a range of industries. Parts off the two large platforms were scattered around the office and factory, a visual representation of their capabilities. During the tour of the factory, more of the large machines were seen in operation, unmanned and untroubled. Others were obviously in production across the factory floor, alongside the production lines for the more familiar, desktop sized Pro 3 and Tec 4. Wilgo hosted the tour with his passion and knowledge shining through as he provided detailed insight into the FELIXprinters operations.

Guillaume announced that an upgraded Tec platform – the 4.5 — would be available by the end of this year, indicating that while the company is now industrially focused, its heritage continues to inform its evolution.

This successful event continues to receive exceptional and positive feedback from attendees; and members of the press that were unable to attend are welcome to get in touch to arrange one on one interviews with either Guillaume or Wilgo.

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On the one hand, there is a community of users that employ entry level, often relatively inaccurate printers for a range of applications, usually associated with hobbies. The extensive time consumed attempting to  get these printers to work anywhere close to consistently — and their high print fail rate — is off-set by the low purchase cost.  On the other hand, there is an established and growing base of users employing AM as a true industrial manufacturing tool. This latter community often requires high-end, expensive and often difficult to use AM platforms to produce the high quality AM parts that industry demands with repeatability and reliability.

The struggle continues for AM to truly find its feet in a production setting. For sure, there is uptake, there are successes across numerous industrial sectors, but the real opportunities that exist for AM are not to replace traditional manufacturing processes such as injection molding and machining, but instead to be incorporated with and work alongside these traditional processes in an efficient and innovative way. They need to complement and integrate seamlessly into existing product development and manufacturing processes.

Within this context, there is a vast constituency of potential AM users that see a compelling reason to use AM for some manufacturing applications (typically low to medium runs), but cannot contemplate the level of capital expenditure required to get them in-house, and are often put off by the apparent complicated nature of the technology. Add to this the requirements for skills, training and the well-documented shortages of professionals in these areas, and the status quo is often viewed favourably.

This constituency of potential AM users are also poorly served by the entry-level AM platforms that are available at a price that they can afford, these being the machines more usually associated with the maker community, and characterized by low price, lack of reliability, poor print output ,high failure rates, and time-consuming operation.

It is specifically because of this gap between supply of lower cost, reliable and accurate 3D printers and the demandfrom across industry that FELIXprinters has just undergone a radical reorientation of its business model, with a dedicated proposition to service the latent demand for AM from vast swathes of industry.

Throughout its history, FELIXprinters has achieved a strong reputation for developing and delivering robust, reliable and accurate machines, servicing a growing client base with solutions that are far in excess of their requirements in terms of accuracy at a price that is comparable with inferior alternatives.

With the drive towards the adoption of AM for industry and manufacturing applications, FELIXprinters has logically leveraged this reputation and made an intelligent and concerted move to provide industrial AM solutions, at a price that makes them accessible to many industrial customers hitherto unserviced, and with an emphasis on true workflow integration and ease-of-use.

The Relaunch

Back at the beginning of 2018, FELIXprinters began to work on an adaptation of its business model. FELIXprinters — while understanding that there would always be an active and significant demand from makers and education facilities for entry level cost machines — was aware that the future for growth existed in providing production high quality 3D printing solutions for the manufacturing supply chain.

FELIXprinters recongnised that there is a fundamental issue with pursuing the maker and education markets alone. For makers, and indeed for many education facilities, the over-riding factor when making a purchasing decision is cost. Reliability, accuracy and robustness come a distant second to the fact that the cheapest platform is often the preferred platform.

This means that to an extent there is a race to the bottom, and the focus is on selling as many low cost relatively inaccurate solutions as possible, with margins squeezed tighter and tighter.

Leveraging the superior quality, accuracy, and ease-of-use of its AM platforms, FELIXprinters realized that there was an opportunity to make an intelligent move to industrial applications. Perhaps uniquely at this stage, the company reached out to numerous industrial sectors and listened to what their real requirements were. They listened and responded, and find themselves now in an optimal position to service industrial clients.

Customer Feedback

FELIXprinter’s first move to an overtly industrial AM platform came with the introduction of its Pro series of 3D printers. The latest and most advanced model in this series is the recently launched Pro 3. This is to be followed in the coming weeks by the next new AM platforms the L and XL which introduce a series of platforms with larger build volumes.

They key behind these machines lies in what the market told FELIXprinters. What they required, and where the gap in the market existed, was for a reasonably priced but above all easy-to-use, intuitive, accurate tool that could be used at every stage of the product development cycle. FELIXprinters was effectively challenged to come up with solutions that optimized the price/performance ratio.

The company is characterized by — and has a reputation built on — precision technology, and all the maker, education, and now the industrial AM platforms benefit from robust and high quality in-house construction in their headquarters near Amsterdam.

The AM Platform Range

The FELIXprinters industrial AM machines vary in cost from approximately €3000 to €15,000 depending on the build envelope required, and therefore present robust manufacturing solutions at an affordable price point. The full range of the company’s industrial AM machines are backed up by an array of ancillary products and services and pro-active post-sale “partnership” which is expected when companies adopt AM for manufacturing applications. All of this is in response to the feedback from industry that focused heavily on ease of integration of AM platforms into their product development and manufacturing processes.

As with every industry where new disruptive technology providers are jostling for position, there are numerous claims made that in some instances are difficult to justify or back up. This is helpful to no-one, and in the end is detrimental to the entire sector as manufacturers end up with sub-optimal solutions and lose faith in the power of AM to stimulate innovation and make accurate and often complex parts repeatably.

FELIXprinters has made a move against such “smoke blowing” and only makes claims that are demonstrably accurate and provable. Through a lot of investment in terms of time and effort, the company can back up its claims, and from the ground up has built machines required by customers. Where others may tell customers what they want to hear, FELXprinters was told by customers what they wanted, and are successfully developing and delivering the solutions.

So saying, FELIXprinters industrial AM platforms come loaded with automated and intelligent features to maximize productivity and efficiency. Intelligent printing is key!

Functionality is included in the company’s industrial AM platforms that removes many of the tiresome and time-consuming aspects that characterize many other AM platforms. This is achieved through the incorporation of automated motorized calibration, a highly innovative quick–swap print-head solution, extremely fast rotation of print-heads in the dual head configuration; and a dedicated flexplate, supplied as standard to easily and quickly remove printed parts.

In addition, the company’s industrial AM platforms all offer extremely quick heat-up and cool-down print heads, meaning that the dual head print times are reduced by a factor of 2. Overall temperature control has been significantly improved on the Pro 3 and the L and XL platforms which together with optimal object cooling with dual high power blowers, results in more consistent extrusion of filament and consequently more accurate print results.

The industrial AM platforms also feature new touchscreen modules, with integrated print-server. These are small and powerful octacore computers, which makes the user’s life easier by providing a smooth and intuitive user interface, real time remote webcam monitoring, multi-user control via a web interface, print file management, WiFi and Ethernet connectivity, the ability to render g-codes, and the ability to create a time lapse of the print.

With all these features aimed precisely at the articulated industry demand for robust, accurate, and easy-to-use intuitive industrial AM platforms, the focus from FELIXprinters is 100% on the seamless integration of their AM machines into existing industrial workflows. This overcomes a common obstacle to the incorporation of AM in many manufacturing facilities, as they perceive that they will cause upheaval and disturb existing and successful product development and manufacturing processes.

It is only through understanding this by undertaking extensive market research that FELIXprinters has been successful in its transition to incorporate industrial AM platforms into its existing maker- and education- targeted machine portfolio. Internally at the company there is an obsessive focus on AM platforms that produce optimized print results repeatably. When coupled with the use of best-in-class components that make FELIXprinter’s AM platforms robust and reliable, it becomes easier to see why the company is now establishing itself as a successful player in the market for industrial AM machines for manufacturing applications.

Summary

As many industrial sectors have shifted their manufacturing workflow to incorporate additive manufacturing, FELIXprinters has repositioned itself and its portfolio to serve the changing needs of industry. This has been achieved through careful attention to detail, listening to what customers say, and developing products and features to meet their needs. The Pro 3 and soon to be launched L and XL platforms meets these expectations and more.

Words: Aad Janszen

About the Author:

After studying electronic and econometrics, Aad Janszen began his career in 1979 developing software in the company Janszen Microsystems, which later became JMS Automatisering BV, and finally after many mergers and acquisition, DutchICT BV. From 2012, DutchICT Group was an all-round IT service provider in the mid market segment, and was one of the leading players in the area of IT, automation and other related services in the Netherlands. DutchICT has now been acquired by Avantage Groep B.V.

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Based in the UK, RotaScan offers a wide range of engineering services for myriad industrial sectors including aerospace, instrumentation & control, power generation, automation, inspection and medical devices. A core competency of RotaScan is the use of a range of product development and manufacturing tools combined with decades of expertise to deliver successful projects for its clients.

As an independent company that originally was formed to fulfill contracts to the Ministry of Defence and ‘Blue Sky’ research, RotaScan was founded by Jonathan Sullivan, who leads project focused teams that offer a diverse range of skills & capabilities aimed at supporting clients with product development, research, prototyping, testing, diagnostics and pre-production activities. As a result, RotaScan has been involved with many projects from start to finish, but has also been commissioned to apply its expertise when difficulties arise in projects, which they invariably do, in order to find solutions and provide effective short-term support. And, the company is good at it, which has resulted in RotaScan establishing a stellar reputation in this area.

The spectrum of services that RotaScan offers includes, but is not limited to, 3D design & solid modelling, mechanical design, Fluid Dynamics, simulation, failure analysis, competitive testing, prototyping, light CNC machining, traditional turning / milling, laser cutting, engraving, marking, and of course 3D printing.

Jonathan Sullivan, who leads RotaScan from the front, qualified with degrees in Mechanical Engineering and also Electronics & Systems, has worked across the World with some fascinating companies large and small. For many years he gained experience and insight into many industrial sectors working for a range of Super Industrials, including Renishaw, De La Rue and QinetiQ (previously DERA), in the UK. Additionally, providing consultancy to Oxford, Cambridge and Naples (Italy) Universities, the Ministry of Defence (UK) and the Department of Defense (USA).

He was able to gain a wealth of experience along the way as new technologies emerged for developing new products and was a seasoned designer on 3D CAD systems for over 20 years. Jonathan has specialised in the field of Agile design philosophy, to very quickly progress concepts, to models, to real commercial products.  Without a lot of fuss, cost and delays.

3D Printing Essential for RotaScan

For RotaScan 3D printing is a ‘must have’ tool for its fast and efficient prototyping capabilities. Prototyping, today, remains the largest industrial application of 3D printing technology, and has proved invaluable for RotaScan in this regard.

As Jonathan explained: “The ability to transfer 3D designs to a physical 3D print is so powerful.  We have shown parts to customers that were originally 6 months away and looking at £5M further investment, traditionally to find out what the result was!  We modelled the parts in days and designed test rig options way before costly decisions are set in stone.”

Product development — and all the disciplines that it incorporates — for high value, critical projects typically incur high costs with a raft of risks. Thus, getting the development of parts and components right and fit for purpose as soon as possible in the product development process goes a long way to mitigate these issues and, according to Jonathan, reliable 3D printing is a key enabler for this in his business.

FELIXprinters Meets the Need – Fast AND Reliable

Six years ago, RotaScan purchased its first FELIX 3D printer, and it has been a steady and reliable workhorse since. Jonathan describes it as “a go-to tool for working models” Of course, RotaScan operates in the real world, and the company’s workshop utilises a range of other tools as well, but for fast prototypes for physical assessment and testing, it is a fundamental tool. Moreover, the FELIX 3D printer is vital to RotaScan in terms of saving time and money to prove a concept and demonstrate it in the real world through its reliability and ability to cope with ‘difficult’ prints where the machine choice makes all the difference.

Jonathan relates: “The complexity of many of our projects is a great fit for 3D printing, and the FELIX 3D printer meets our needs. We choose our tools very carefully and when we were looking at purchasing a 3D printer for the first time, it was like walking in to candy shop — there are so many to choose from! I made the decisions and went beneath the surface — as well as considering the total machine build. The FELIXprinters have a rigid, Aluminium structure, which many other systems in the same category do not have. Also, when I inspected the FELIX products more closely, it’s obvious that they have been designed very carefully by smart engineers for discerning professional customers and if you are a high-end hobbyist, you will not be disappointed.”

He continued: “Mechanically, FELIXprinters have considered the full architecture of the system, so that dynamic loads are as light as possible, which is in contrast to cross-gantry machines where one axis carries another axis, multiplying errors and sacrificing performance.

It is undoubtedly a quality machine.  We bought this machine as ‘try’ in a kit form.  Not only was it quite enjoyable, it was very instructive. How does additive manufacturing work?  It changes the mindset.  The FELIX printer was the best investment in technology we have ever made.”

“We did study the whole market in this product space. There were some good-looking machines, but without exception, they all did not have the vital components, rigid frame, precision linear guides and superb smart design like optical limit switches, replacement printables, high duty steppers and more”

Another key positive for Jonathan was the reliability of the machine, fitted with an E3D full Metal print head: “I can honestly say, with sensible maintenance, it has never jammed or let me down.  Running prints for over 24 hours doesn’t worry me.  It is extremely satisfying to see your machine working whilst you take care of other business.”

The FELIX Philosophy

He puts this down to the philosophy and operational expertise of FELIX as a company. “As an organisation they are very clean thinking and straightforward, at least that’s my experience. And as I said, they are obviously engineers that understand the operating expectations and performance requirements out in the field. The mechanical auto-levelling of the recent PRO Series system, for example — it’s just so intuitively right, particularly when compared with the standard software levelling of other machines which just bend geometry. The construction is solid and reliable – which is a fundamental requirement. And the 3D printer is not confused — everything is constructed for optimal performance and reliability. And over the years (since I’ve operated our first machine) the progression and evolution of the machines has been progressive and impressive.”

Even weighing up the fact that the FELIX 3D printers are not competing on capital costs in the familiar ‘race to to bottom’ in the desktop 3D printer space, Jonathan was totally unphased: “They’re not the cheapest machines out there, certainly, but they are the best value for money I have come across, investing twice because a purchase decision was wrong, is not an option for us. Also, the support team are fantastic – with fast responses and good, real information. They really know what they’re talking about.”

RotaScan has just acquired a second machine, this time dual head in the Pro Series, from FELIXprinters. According to Jonathan: “We’ve held off from dual head printing until now because of many of the issues raised by running two heads that actually work together.  FELIXprinters have designed firmware and the mechanics from the beginning, all neatly integrated in to a coherent system.

Earlier, I was not confident that the whole process could work seamlessly.  But the combination of Simplyfy3D and FELIXprinters’ innovative solution to this has convinced me — again, it just makes sense, with the automated shift for the printhead that is not being used. With all automatic calibration tools too, it’s just the right way to do it. It is an excellent product and we are very pleased to offer our capabilities using this machine.  We’ve just secured a new design contract for a Human Medical Implant product.  Our customer requested that we produce Proof of Concept (POC) examples on the Felix Pro2 after I showed off some demo parts we had prepared”

The new FELIX Pro 2 will be consistently utilized at RotaScan to support its service offerings for Design, Workshop and Lab.  The FELIX machines are an important platform in our set of capabilities.

The post RotaScan Utilizes the Impressive Capabilities of FELIXprinters for its Industrial Engineering Services appeared first on FELIXprinters.

Five years ago, Chris’ life changed. After contracting an eye infection, he was left partially sighted. A mark of the man, Chris chose to see this as a new beginning and to find new opportunities. One opportunity that came his way was the time to discover his talent for design when a friend offered him access to a 3D CAD software package, which he taught himself, and consequently found 3D printing. From there, Chris has only gone from strength to strength, building a business around his new passion and knowledge. Easton3D offers a 3D design and 3D printing service centre and operates as an independent reseller for FELIXprinters in the UK.

You selected a FELIX 3D printer as a user originally, can you tell us why that was?

Absolutely! When I decided to buy my first 3D printer I had done a lot of research into the technology itself and I knew what I wanted it for — I had found a way that I could carry on making things and with my background in production engineering, reliability and quality were high priorities. There was a lot of hype around about 3D printing at the time, and I wanted to see some of the different machines for myself and started looking around. I saw quite a few in action, I had recommendations for all the usual suspects but when I looked closer there were issues with them that I just wasn’t prepared to deal with, usually in terms of reliability and failed prints.

Then I found FELIXprinters and I really liked the look of them. The company’s history and ethos is built on quality machines, using only high quality components that print reliably. The features of the 3D printers and the print size are also a lot better than comparable machines, and the demonstrations I saw backed that up. Since investing in my first FELIX, I know that my initial instincts were right. I now have four of them running.

You later became a reseller in the UK for FELIXprinters — was this based on similar instincts?

Yes, it was. From using the FELIX 3 (my first machine), I built up a relationship with the team in the Netherlands — their service and response times were superb. Plus, their philosophy as a company is one of constant improvement and consistently offering new upgrades to the hardware and software — without having to invest in a new machine every time. FELIX is constantly evolving and they take their customers along with them. I met the guys in person in 2016 when I signed up to acquire my first Pro Series FELIXprinter and by 2017 I had become a reseller, because I totally believe in their vision and what they are trying to do with their 3D printers.

They might not get some of the coverage that the bigger players in this market get, but their machines really do deserve to. There are a lot of desktop 3D printing machinhttps://www.felixprinters.com/productses out there getting a lot of attention, but in reality many of them are just run of the mill machines that perform adequately, but with a lot of issues and downtime, and also quite a few of them run on closed ecosystems, which I really don’t like.

FELIXprinters offer something different – the hardware is solid quality and the aftersales service is brilliant, plus the upgrades. It all adds up to something more.

Can you tell us more about the services you offer?

Easton3D provides a design and 3D printing service, we run four machines now:  we still have one original FELIX Tec 3, this is a standard workhorse that is still running reliably and consistently after almost five years, with just a couple of drive belts replaced due to wear and tear. We’ve got two FELIX Tec 3.1 series, one of which has been upgraded to a Tec 4, and a FELIX Pro 2 (upgraded from a Pro 1) as standard. All of the FELIX machines (except the Pro, which is the latest addition), have printed more than 37 km of filament with no issues. That’s the reliability I was looking for — and it’s not a common feature of most desktop 3D printers. I know this from my own experience and from talking to users of other machines.

The FELIX Pro, was, I think the first platform to introduce the retractable nozzle feature for smoother dual head printing, and they were also one of the first companies to introduce automated bed levelling (rather than just off-setting the firmware – which is still common). These might seem like small things – but they really make the running of the machines so much better and easier. The FELIX team understand this and make it happen.

What sort of applications do you provide as a 3D printing service?

Easton 3D provides a range of services, we do some industrial prototyping but we have developed a reputation and skill set for producing a lot of cosplay props and gaming weapon replicas. The demands for realism and working features are increasing – surface finish is really important, and the types of features I am talking about include triggers and moveable components of the props. This requires precision production, which we are able to meet with our 3D printing capabilities. It is so much easier than moulding techniques, but it does demand high quality prints that the FELIX printers are able to produce. It’s definitely a win – win for us. 3D printing offers so many different opportunities, particularly as the materials are coming along and getting better and better.

What sort of materials do you run on your 3D printers?

It really depends on the application. FELIXprinters’ machines do run an open materials approach, but in line with their hardware philosophy, they also develop and produce their own high quality filaments. It shows in the prints and how the machines perform — with consistent reliability. The thing is, if I want to use different materials, I can, but the FELIX materials as they increase in type and performance, are our first choice these days. We get a lot of very positive feedback on our prints, which is great, but it all comes down to the quality. Lots of people ask what machine we used, and what material. I’m more than happy to tell them.

Personally I think the quality that comes out of the FELIXprinters is 100% down to the quality that goes into the machine — it’s the build quality that FELIX insists on and the quality of the components that they use. Yes, it pushes the price up a bit, but you get what you pay for. And when it comes to reliability and consistency — actually, you can’t put a price on that, in my opinion.

The post FELIXprinters Interview: Chris Easton appeared first on FELIXprinters.