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 ironed out a niche for itself as the provider of industry’s most affordable, accurate, repeatable, easy-to-use, and upgradeble AM platforms, and comes to this year’s Formnext with a lot to show and a lot to discuss with attendees.

Building on its recent success at the TCT Exhibition in October, the FELIX booth continues the theme of “Going Dutch”, which will be obvious to visitors as they will see a moving windmill, mini-clogs, and iconic coloured tulips all created in FELIXprinter’s machines. The company is extremely proud of its Dutch heritage, and underpinning every platform that it sells is the fact that it is hand-made in Holland, and exemplifies the characteristic quality of Dutch engineering in general.

Guillaume Feliksdal, co-founder of FELIX says, “While we are having a bit of fun with the ‘Going Dutch’ theme, visitors to our booth will see that our machines are serious industrially focussed AM solutions, and there will be a number of parts on display that show how well adapted our technologies are to complex industrial applications. Everything about FELIX rotates around quality, and we have strict quality controls in house that ensure that once a printer is delivered it works perfectly from the get go. For example, each machine passes a stringent 24 hour quality test at our HQ before it is boxed and released, and we pride ourselves on the fact that all our platforms out perfiom any similarly priced alternatives in terms of robustness, accuracy and repeatability, all of this down to our absolute focus on quality”.

FELIXprinters has an impressive array of AM platforms, and front and centre at Formnext will be the Pro L and Pro XL larger build envelope machines that have been making quite a stir in recent months, and which have been independently reviewed as being the only commercially available AM platforms that can rival the industry-standard Ultimaker machines.

Co-founder Wilgo Feliksdal continues, “We will have a Pro XL working on the booth, so visitors will be able to see the superior nature of the machine, and the impressively sized 144 litre build space. The Pro L and XL machines are extremely versatile, appropriate for numerous industrial end-use applications, and they are synonymous with strength, robustness, and quality of build. We feel that once manufacturers see this machine in action they will be re-assured that against any alternative, the Pro L and XL measure up extremely well, and out-perform any alternatives in all important areas.”

Also on the booth, FELIXprinters will be showcasing the soon to be released FELIX BIO printer. For the first time at Formnext it will be available for pre-order, with a 1-2 month lead time for delivery, and will be available from stock from the beginning of 2020.

The FELIX BIO printer 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. The BIO printer has already been used at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) to print optical waveguides to trigger optogenetically modified dopaminergic neural stem cells.

Guillaume Feliksdal says, “The printer has a flexible, adaptable ecosystem that will meet the wide range of researchers’ needs. One major advantage 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 auxillary parts and materials.”

The FELIX BIO has retraction capability, which is not possible with alternative air pressure systems, even when it is required to control liquid flow. The FELIX BIO can retract with a highly precise motor, which also allows for better dosage of materials and more accurate material flow.

Wilgo Feliksdal continues, “We have followed strict sterilization protocols when designing the FELIX BIO, and users will benefit from the fact that print heads are easy to sterilize, which eliminates the likelihood of contamination. Print heads are also modular units that can be easily changed, and separate heads are available as accessories for quick change over to different materials. The FELIX BIO also has a unique probing system, which results in a perfect first layer, which in turn leads to accurate printing results. The bed levelling system is not dependent on which nozzle is used because the probing is done with the nozzle being used actually against the print surface.

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. It will be showcased alongside the company’s Tec 4, Pro 3 Touch, and Pro L and XL machines at Formnext.

Why not visit the FELIXprinters booth, and discuss with our expert team the ways in which the company works with its customers to ensure best-fit solutions for specific industrial applications.

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FELIXprinters is today recognised as a prominent AM platform developer, and is finding significant elbow room in the sector as its reputation for affordable high quality AM solutions becomes more and more widely accepted across all relevant industry sectors.

Guillaume Feliksdal, Co-Founder at FELIXprinters says, “Formnext in our eyes is by far the most influential show for industrial users of AM for production applications. As such we are excited to attend this year, prominent on our booth being the larger build envelope machines, the Pro L and XL, specifically designed for exacting industrial production projects. We are also profiling our move into the bio printing arena at Formnext, which is based on years of R&D that has now yielded a commercially viable AM technology — the FELIX BIO 3D printer. And finally, we are looking forward to Formnext as a place where we can showcase our ability to tailor-make AM platforms for specific customer demands. As a company, we are unique in the way that we work with our customers, with the ability to custom build AM platforms that are application-specific to ensure optimum output and results for manufacturers that come from an array of industry sectors.”

The FELIX Pro L and XL machines will dominate the FELIXprinters booth at Formnext, due to their scale. They have been developed with greatly increased build volumes over the existing family of Pro machines. The Pro L can build parts up to 300 x 400 x 400 mm or 11.8” x 15.75” x 15.75”, while the Pro XL has a build chamber of600 x 400 x 600 mm or 23.62″ x 15.75″ x 23.62″. To ensure the quality and reliability upon which FELIXprinters has built its reputation, both of these larger systems incorporate highly engineered print chambers, which incorporate an enclosed warm zone and a cold zone. The warm zone supports consistent temperature control during the build, which is particularly important when printing materials with a high shrinkage factor, such as ABS, carbon fiber or Nylon. In contrast, the cool zone is where the electronics are housed, to prevent overheating and subsequent machine/build failure.

Wilgo Feliksdal, Co-Founder at FELIXprinters continued: “The new Pro L and XL systems come with our specific engineering expertise built in to them, as demanded by our customers. This includes a range of automated and intelligent features that remove many of the tedious and time-consuming hurdles often associated with additive manufacturing and speeding up the overall process. For example, 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. Then, if one nozzle is idle, it is automatically rotated out of the way so that there is no interference with the printed part. This avoids damage to the part being printed, and hugely reduces (if not negates) print failure, which is one of the most frustrating issues 3D printer users tell us they face.”

“We are extremely proud of the quality of all our AM machines, and were delighted when our technology was independently assessed recently, and received some amazing results. The test was conducted by Belgian-based company Trideus, which concluded that our Pro XL machine was the first large volume printer that delivers the same quality and detail as Ultimaker. Trideus reported that this was the first time that they had tested a machine of this size that achieved that. As you can imagine, this sort of feedback is extremely gratifying, and places us in a great position to attract serious commercial specifiers at Formnext.”

FELIXprinters is really keen to work with interested parties in a unique way at Formnext. Attendees are invited to bring details of specific applications to the booth that FELIX’s team of on-site experts can discuss to advise of the FELIX AM platform that will best fit specific requirements, or discuss customized soltions.

Guillaume Feliksdal continues, “By asking companies to challenge us with specific applications, we not only position ourselves as being able to accommodate a large and diverse range of production applications, but also promote the relationship that we insist on with our customers. When it comes to the use of AM as a manufacturing and production technology, we see ourselves as a strategic partner, here to guide, and ensure the best fit and most economical use of AM for specific customer needs. We do not just sell machines off the shelf and leave buyers to figure out the rest for themselves. We ensure a level of pre- and post-sales engagement that gives companies that work with us the confidence that they are getting the best return for their investment. In addition, our machines are all upgradeable, which means that platforms grow with the needs each company has over time, without the costly necessity to buy new machines.”

Come to see FELIXprinters at Formnext, and discover the numerous AM options that are available at the sweet spot between value and quality.

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FELIXprinters holds a strong position in the 3D printing /additive manufacturing sector, providing a range of industrially-oriented 3D printing platforms characterized by competitive accuracy, ease-of-use, and a range of build envelopes to accommodate numerous applications. However, with all the high-end features demanded when 3D printing is used as a manufacturing technology, FELIXprinters technology platforms are relatively low cost, and open up the possibility for companies to invest and bring 3D printing in-house rather than outsourcing.

In August, the largest build envelope machine in the FELIXprnters range — the Pro XL — was rigorously tested and independently assessed by Toon Meynen of full AM service provider company Trideus in Belgium. The results of the independent test reinforce the now widely held industry view that FELIXprinters is a serious and established high profile player when it comes to providing OEMs with industrial AM solutions.

Trideus recognized some of the key and unique aspects of the FELIX Pro XL, namely that it is constructed using aluminium extrusions making the bed very thin for a machine of its size (maximum build envelope: 600 x 400 x 600 mm), and the fact that the print surface is equipped with a removable flexible plate which makes removing any printed object “child’s play.”

Figure 1. The FELIX Pro XL flexible plate makes removing and printed part “childs play” according to independent analysis from Trideus.

Trideus also highlighted that the Pro XL comes with a large touchscreen, control via ethernet and WIFI, dual nozzle direct drive extruders with excellent part/filament cooling, solid moving mechanisms, fast bed-and print-head warming, USP power loss recovery, and it operates virtually silently (< 45dB) thanks to the modern electronics at its heart.

Here is a summary of Trideus’s findings:

• The user has the choice of using a web interface or the LCD screen on printer. Both are very clear and intuitive.
• Bed and nozzle calibration can be done via the interface and is easy to follow step-by-step.
• There is a Simplify license included with the purchase of the printer.
• FELIX support is excellent and every mail is answered quickly. Its location in the Netherlands is ideal for fast support both geographically and because of the ability to converse in multiple languages.

Trideus undertook a series of independent tests on the FELIX Pro XL machine.

The first was an “overall print quality test” benchmarking the FELIX Pro XL against the Ultimaker S5 machine. This test printed using PLA, a 200°C nozzle and a 45°C bed, 3DLAC adhesion, and a layer height of 0.2 mm.

Figures 2a,b, & c. Results of the Trideus “overall print quality” test, with FELIX parts on the left in each image and Ultimaker S5 parts on the right.

Trideus concluded that the cube, benchy, and polytower parts used in this test when printed on the FELIX Pro XL exhibited “high quality surface finish and details, overhangs and bridges were almost perfect, and when compared with the Ultimaker S5 parts, there was absolutely no difference between them.

Next, Trideus undertook a “multi-material print” test, using PLA and TPU95, again with a a 200°C nozzle and a 45°C bed and 3DLAC adhesion. Trideus recognized that this print was a “real challenge”, a 60 hour print using two differet materials. However, they concluded that “the print was extemely successful, and both materials had a neat surface finish.”

Figure 3.Results of the Trideus “multi-material print” test.

Next, Trideus undertook a “big object” testwith a 200°C nozzle and a 45°C bed, 3DLAC adhesion, and a chamber tempertaure of 0°C. Using the FELIX Pro XL, Trideus found that the rim was completed in 100 hours of printing, and the surface quality was described as “excellent”. In addition, Trideus reported that “the support material was easy to remove. To remove the print from the building plate is really great, you bend the steel sheet and everything comes off easily with that characteristic sound, really a pleasure to work with.  It took 20 minutes to remove the support material from the FELIXprinters rim. In comparison, to remove the support material from the BigRep rim, took 2 hours.”

Figure 4. Results of the Trideus “big print” test.

Finally, Trideus undertook a “print with PETG material” test, using Polymaker Polylite PETG, a 235°C nozzle and a 80°C bed, 3DLAC and Brim adhesion, and a chamber tempertaure of 0°C. Trideus stated that the FELIX Pro XL printed the PETG “very well” and they stated that they were “very satisfied with the overhangs and details on the model.”

Figure 5. Results of the Trideus print with PETG material” test.

In general Trideus concluded that the FELIX Pro XL is a “high quality printer that is very versatile,” and benefits from its “automatic calibration, flexible build plate, large construction surface,” and the fact that it allows users to “print two materials with full confidence.”

Trideus did note that the accompanying documentation that comes with the FELIX Pro XL needed improvements, and that the power rescue mode was less than intuitive to use. The report, however, stated that “FELIXprinters is aware of these improvement areas and is working to deliver improved guides and videos to assist users with, for example, powerloss recovery.  A series of instructional videos are busy being produced.”

The summary of the Trideus report is categoric in its praise for the FELIX Pro XL, and from an independent perspectve reinforces the general view that is building throughout industry today that FELIXprinters are a force to be reckoned with when looking to source sensitively costed but highly accurate and repeatable AM platforms. The report concludes, “This is the first large volume printer that delivers the same quality and detail as Ultimaker. This is the first time that we’ve tested a machine of this size that achieved that. Printing multiple materials is no problem for the this machine. The whole process of slicing, printing and finishing was very easy to do.“

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‘Going Dutch’ will be the theme at stand E50, where FELIXprinters will exhibit alongside customer and partner S-CAN 3D. Attendees will be able to see for themselves FELIXprinters’ Pro series of 3D printers, including the recently introduced Pro L & XL larger build volume solutions, all of which are easily upgradable, meaning that they will continue to meet evolving demands and requirements without the need for additional large scale capital investment.

In addition, FELIX will be unveiling its customizable 3D printing solution for biomedical applications, an area in which the company has invested considerable resources to launch a viable option for an array of bio-printing applications.

The theme of the FELIX booth at TCT will be “Going Dutch”, reflecting the company’s heritage in the Netherlands and its culture of quality and innovation. Visitors to the booth can take home 3D printed mini-clogs or a coloured 3D printed tulip, can help themselves to a typical Dutch “stroopwafel”, and will see the impressive 3D printed FELIX windmill.

FELIXprinters is respected throughout industry for providing top-end, robust, reliable, easy-to-use, and competitively priced additive manufacturing (AM) solutions for industrial applications, and sets itself apart from other technology providers by the extent of the relationship that it encourages with its customers. FELIX 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.

FELIX recently introduced the Pro 3 platform which has been developed to integrate seamlessly into industrial workflows, whether that is in an office, a workshop, lab or factory environment. The priority with the Pro 3 is to deliver a 3D printer that produces optimized print results — every time!

Guillaume Feliksdal, Founder and Director at FELIXprinters says, “Our team at FELIXprinters all have technical engineering backgrounds, so we know that “quality in” equals “quality out”! We have sourced extremely high-quality components to ensure that the Pro series of printers are both robust and reliable – and these are the cornerstone of the FELIX Pro 3 and we are looking forward to discussing the possibilities with visitors at TCT in the UK.”

The Pro L and Pro XL have been designed specifically to be easily portable — at installation or within a manufacturing setting. Both can be easily transported through a normal office door opening (900 mm).

These 3D printers come with a range of automated and intelligent features that remove many of the tedious and time-consuming hurdles often associated with additive manufacturing 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).

An exciting “first” at the TCT show will be details of the FELIX 3D printing solution for biomedical applications. 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. The dual extrusion FELIX bioprinter is capable of producing heterogeneous tissues.

FELIXprinters is adept at developing tailor-made advanced 3D printing solutions bespoke to specific applications, the company encouraging the formation of strategic partnerships with clients and other technology suppliers to further advance innovations in 3D printing. Attendees at TCT 2019 are invited to discuss any tailor-made solutions that they feel would benefit their projects with our team of expert 3D printing innovators.

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IJsselstein, The Netherlands & Attleborough, UK: FELIXprinters will be present at this year’s TCT Show, taking place 24 –26 September at the NEC, Birmingham, UK, to highlight its latest professional 3D printing solutions for industrial users in engineering and manufacturing environments. FELIXprinters will support its UK partner S-CAN 3D on Stand E50, within Hall 3 where show visitors and press will be able to view FELIXprinters’ Pro series of 3D printers, including the largest and most recent addition to the family, the Pro XL platform.

S-CAN 3Dis a professional 3D scanning, CMM inspection, and precision manufacturing service provider working with industrial clients across a wide range of industries and geographies. Specialising in 3D scanning for reverse engineering services, S-CAN 3D has also developed its own successful product range, which includes RetroSport (billet aluminium performance parts for classic Minis) and S-FIX (accessories for precision measuring equipment) and is itself, a prolific user of FELIXprinters industrial 3D printing solutions.

Since it was founded in 2012, S-CAN 3D has invested in a broad range of equipment to facilitate its commercial activities and 3D printing capabilities are a fundamental pillar of its capabilities. To this end, the company uses FELIXprinters AM platforms for fully functional prototype iterations, creating casting moulds and masters, and the direct production of jigs.

Across the three days of the TCT Show, FELIXprinters and S-CAN 3D will showcase the flexibility of FELIX 3D printing systems for the entire product development process, including tooling and direct manufacturing.

Going beyond just a direct sales pitch, this partnership approach demonstrates the mutual benefits to both FELIXprinters and S-CAN 3D in terms of two-way support and maximising the potential of the FELIX 3D printers for wide-reaching applications and how it is possible to make industrial 3D printing more accessible. The engineering expertise from both companies directly complement each other and personnel from FELIXprinters and S-CAN 3D will be on hand during TCT Show to discuss the technology and how it can be flexibly applied in a wide range of industrial and design environments.

FELIXprinters will also use the TCT Show to introduce its advanced, and customizable 3D bio-printing platform for the first time.

We look forward to welcoming visitors to stand E50, in Hall 3 of the NEC in Birmingham in September and some engaging conversations. Members of the press are also very welcome to the stand or to pre-book interviews with FELIXprinters and/or S-CAN.

/ENDS/

Contact FELIXprinters:

Wilgo Feliksdal

T: +31 30 303 1387

wfeliksdal@felixprinters.com

https://www.felixprinters.com

About FELIXprinters

FELIXprinters is headquartered in IJsselstein, the Netherlands, and was established in 2010, since when it has established itself as one of only a very few 3D printing technology suppliers that has an understanding of the requirements of the market for 3D printers.

FELIXprinters provides top-end, robust, reliable, and competitively priced 3D printing solutions for industry users.

Beyond the optimisation of its industrial range of printers, however, FELIXprinters has extensive engineering and R&D capabilities, which it is able to utilize to provide specific services in the development of tailor made, customised 3D printing platforms — working in partnership to produce new and innovative solutions.

Contact S-CAN 3D:

James Senior

T: +44 1953 798089

E:james@s-can.co.uk

W:www.s-can.co.uk

About S-CAN 3D Limited

Founded in 2012, S-CAN is the 3D scanning arm of an already well established manufacturing and retail company (DSN Classics Ltd) and was established to meet growing internal requirements for 3D scanning.

The S-CAN brand has matured into an engineering service bureau, specializing in reverse engineering and re-manufacturing cast and machined components, but it is rare to find a project that falls outside our capability or something which we have not had previous experience with. S-CAN 3D has professional facilities that incorporate more than 6000 square feet of workshops and inspection rooms in South Norfolk, just off the A11.

The S-CAN 3D team offers expertise and experience for all design and manufacturing disciplines. Previous experience includes having worked for supercar manufacturers and in the demanding sector ofFormula 1. Today, S-CAN work with and is trusted by car manufacturers, tier 1 suppliers, foundries, airlines, historical preservation trusts as well as many private individuals.

Our speciality is in reverse engineering and re-manufacturing cast and machined components, but it is rare to find a project which falls outside our capability or something which we have not had previous experience with.

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FELIXprinters is established as one of Europe’s leading manufacturers of highly accurate, reliable, easy-to-use, and price sensitive industrial AM machines. As many industrial sectors have shifted their manufacturing workflow to incorporate AM, FELIXprinters has positioned itself and its portfolio to serve the changing needs of industry. This is achieved through careful attention to detail, listening to what customers say is important to them, and developing products and features to meet their needs. The company’s Pro 3 & Tec 4 series of AM platforms — and the newly introduced Pro L and XL models (with larger build envelopes) — have cemented FELIXprinters’ position in the industrial use of AM, and has opened up an array of options for manufacturers previously unavailable.

Customer & Partner

A customer of FELIXprinters is S-CAN 3D Ltd, based in Attleborough, United Kingdom offering a 3D scanning, CMM inspection, and precision manufacturing bureau service for international customers. The company specialises in 3D scanning for reverse engineering, but also has its own product range which include RetroSport (billet aluminium performance parts for classic Minis) and S-FIX (accessories for precision measuring equipment).

S-CAN 3D was founded in 2012, and over the last number of years has invested in a large arsenal of equipment to be able to take a customer’s component, reverse engineer it, and then re-manufacture it. The company uses FELIXprinters AM platforms for prototyping, creating casting moulds and masters, and manufacturing jigs.

James Senior, MD at S-CAN 3D says, “We have found FELIXprinters AM platforms to be very easy to use. You can be up and running within a few minutes of getting them out of the box. We run all of our printers through Simplify3D software so you load the profile, pick a material and you are ready to go. In-house we now have the first machine we bought from FELIX back in 2015 (the Pro 1), and a Tec 4.1, a Pro 3 and the new Pro XL. Our first Pro printer has paid for itself 10 times over.”

FELIXprinters has a range of machines that are aimed at industrial prototyping and production applications, key among these being the Pro 3 and Tec 4 machines and the more recently introduced Pro L and XL platforms.

The Pro 3 & Tec 4 machines are supplied with automated and intelligent features to maximize productivity and efficiency. The importance placed on intelligent 3D printing is really at the heart of these machines, with functionality that removes many of the time-consuming hurdles that characterize many 3D printers. To this end, Pro 3 & Tec 4 machines are characterised by automated motorized calibration; an innovative quick-swap print-head solution; extremely fast rotation of print-heads in the dual head configuration (less than 10 seconds); and a dedicated flexplate, supplied as standard to easily and quickly remove printed parts.  Moreover, the Pro AM systems also offer extremely quick heat-up and cool-down of the print heads, meaning that the dual head print times are reduced by a factor of 2.

Scaling Up

The more recently introduced Pro L and Pro XL machines cater for FELIX customers that want bigger build envelopes but without compromising on quality. Delivering on this was not just a case of scaling up the architecture of the Pro 3D printers. With the Pro L and XL, FELIX has used all of its experience in precision engineering to develop what it believes is an offering to the market that demonstrates te company’s commitment to robust and reliable 3D printers. These bigger machines can fit seamlessly into any workshop, lab or factory environment because they can fit through a standard doorway, to make the logistics of installation quick and simple too. The Pro L and XL have build envelopes up to 144 liters.

Senior discusses S-CAN 3D’s use of the FELIX 3D printers. “The Pro printers have been our workhorses for the last few years. The original Pro 1 has over 400 days of continuous build time logged on it. 
We were interested in the Pro XL from when it was announced, and we certainly haven’t been disappointed with it since it has been installed. It’s averaged over 20 hours per day run time since we have got it, making everything from show display pieces to casting patterns. We’ve done week long and maximum build area builds so I can only really talk positively about our experience with it so far.”

Senior continues, “Internally, S-CAN 3D use FELIX 3D printers for prototyping designs. We might do five or more different concept designs of a particular part or component, as it’s much easier to visualise a part when it’s in your hand. 
We are putting a lot of work through the newly purchased XL printer and it’s opening up things which we wouldn’t have been able to do before (at least to the same quality and size), so things are very encouraging.
We have found FELIX machines to be very repeatable which is our most fundamental requirement for any application, and we also haven’t noticed any accuracy degradation over time.”

It is specifically because of the gap between supply of lower cost, reliable and accurate 3D printers and the demand from companies such as S-CAN for affordable industrial platforms that FELIXprinters has developed it Pro series and L & XL machines. 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 but at a price that is comparable with inferior alternatives.

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As such, from the end of 2018, FELIXprinters has launched the Pro 3, L, and XL platforms for industrial production applications.

The Pro 3 was developed to integrate seamlessly into industrial workflows, whether that is in an office, a workshop, laboratory, or factory environment. The priority was to deliver a 3D printer that produces optimized print results repeatably. This is what customers told FELIXprinters was most frustrating for them in their day-to-day operations with 3D printing, and these are the issues the company set out to address with the Pro 3.

FELIXprinters L & XL platforms have been developed with greatly increased build volumes, up to 144 Litres (the Pro L can build parts up to 300 x 400 x 400 mm or 11.8” x 15.75” x 15.75”; while the Pro XL has a build chamber of600 x 400 x 600 mm or 23.62″ x 15.75″ x 23.62″).

To ensure the quality and reliability upon which FELIXprinters has built its reputation, both of these larger systems incorporate highly engineered print chambers, which incorporate an enclosed warm zone and a cold zone. The warm zone supports consistent temperature control during the build, which is particularly important when printing materials with a high shrinkage factor, such as ABS, carbon fiber or Nylon. In contrast, the cool zone is where the electronics are housed, to prevent overheating and subsequent machine/build failure.

With these industrial production AM platforms, FELIXprinters has introduced affordable solutions (€3000 – €15,000) to manufacturers that at the moment have to rely on injection moulding, with all this implies in terms of expense and lack of agility. FELIXprinters AM platforms provide a cost-effective production process with shorter design-to market times for low to medium volumes than injection moulding.

Injection moulding is still the go-to technology for high volume plastic part production, but it is characterized by significant up-front capital investment in tooling, which is also time-consuming, and difficult and expensive to adapt.

3D printing requires no tooling and is agile which facilitates quick production turnaround, but for high volume runs does have a prohibitively high cost per part. The key is an AM technology that makes the manufacture of short – medium volume applications viable, and it is here that FELXprinters has focused its attention.

Through the use of FELIXprinters’ industrial production AM platforms, manufacturers can produce high-quality parts repeatably in a range of thermoplastics and other innovative materials. An additional advantage exists through the use of 3D printing for production, and that is that part cost is not connected with part complexity. As soon as complexity is introduced to an injection moulded part, the requirement is for more and more expensive mould tools, which leads to an exponential increase in costs.

Beyond non-costly part complexity, FELIXprinters’ AM platforms for production also facilitate nearly unlimited geometric freedom, exhibit very low to zero iteration costs, and have low downtime in the production cycle.

Conversely, injection moulding makes design iterations costly, and beyond the high cost of upfront tooling which increases with increased part complexity, means that production is restricted to the location of the production tooling. As FELIXprinters’ AM platforms — in common with all 3D printing technologies — manufacture direct from 3D CAD files, the location of manufacture is much more flexible.

Also, as AM is a digital process, it can be stopped and started again at no cost, meaning that production volumes can be exactly aligned with demand day to day, week to week, month to month. With injection moulding, once the production process is initiated, it needs to fulfill the full run immediately to remain economic, which therefore necessitates the need for warehousing which itself increases the cost per part.

Through the use of FELIXprinters’ Pro 3, L, and XL AM platforms, OEM’s have a highly reliable, cost-effective, and easy-to-use production technology to that in some short to medium volume applications can rival injection moulding. Manufacturers can benefit from the fact that through the use of additive manufacturing, rapid prototyping and design complexity-without-penalty are accessible, and now also the usual issues that prevent manufacturers from using AM in production (namely cost and speed) have been addressed.

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The discipline of Additive Manufacturing (AM) is regularly cited as being “disruptive” to traditional manufacturing processes. Indeed there are existing AM production applications today across various vertical sectors that support this position, where optimised components and parts that would be either impossible or economically unviable to produce using traditional methodologies, have been made using AM technologies.

However, uptake of AM processes for production applications is still relatively low. The reasons for this include high capital and running costs; high consumable costs; inconsistent material properties which are a significant prohibitor for critical components; and, often, a failure to understand when and how to apply AM to maximize its benefits.

These general considerations must be appreciated by any company as they commercialise a technology or service in this space, and must inform the positioning of the company, the technology, and the solutions that it provides at every step to ensure optimal commercial uptake. In essence they present the backdrop against which all of FELIXprinters’ activities have been framed.

FELIXprinters’ has adopted a pragmatic view of the market for additive manufacturing. It works with its customers to define the business need for the use of 3D printing for production applications, but it does so from the perspective of a company that has listened to industry feedback, and has reacted, especially to the need for production quality AM platforms, but at a price point that is not prohibitive.

It is clear to see that 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 as being favourable.

This constituency of potential AM users are also poorly served by the conventional 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 supplyof lower cost, reliable and accurate 3D printers and the demandfrom across industry that FELIXprinters has successfully launched an array of 3D printing platforms (the Pro series, and L & XL machines) precisely focussed 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 less functionalalternatives.

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 Pro Series and L & XL Machines

The FELIXprinters industrial AM machines vary in cost from approximately €2000 to €13,000 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.

The FELIX Pro Series offers a range of smart, durable and upgradable 3D printer options that perfectly combines an intuitive work flow with professional quality parts within any office, studio, or factory environment. Importantly, and distinctly, all Pro series 3D printers from FELIXprinters come with a unique service and support partnership that sets FELIXprinters apart.

The FELIX Pro Series provide professional quality, reliable, and highly functioning 3D printer solutions for product development and engineering applications, the design of the 3D printers being both aesthetic and functional.

The award winning Pro series of 3D printers are seen by industrial end-users to be both dependable and upgradable, and come with high level service and support guarantees.

The FELIX Pro L and XL 3D printers have been developed with greatly increased build volumes, up to 144 Litres (the Pro L can build parts up to 300 x 400 x 400 mm or 11.8” x 15.75” x 15.75”; while the Pro XL has a build chamber of600 x 400 x 600 mm or 23.62″ x 15.75″ x 23.62″). To ensure the quality and reliability upon which FELIXprinters has built its reputation, both of these larger systems incorporate highly engineered print chambers, which incorporate an enclosed warm zone and a cold zone. The warm zone supports consistent temperature control during the build, which is particularly important when printing materials with a high shrinkage factor, such as ABS, carbon fiber or Nylon. In contrast, the cool zone is where the electronics are housed, to prevent overheating and subsequent machine/build failure.

With the scale up, however, both the Pro L and Pro XL have also been designed specifically to be easily portable — at installation or within a manufacturing setting. Both can be easily transported through a normal office door opening (900 mm).

The new Pro L and XL system also come with a range of other automated and intelligent features that remove many of the tedious and time-consuming hurdles often associated with additive manufacturing 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).

Summary

FELIXprinters has responded directly to one of the biggest barriers to adoption of additive manufacturing for manufacturing applications, namely the inability or unwillingness of companies to expend the capital assumed necessary to achieve the accuracy and reliability required when manufacturing end-use products.

Without compromising quality, accuracy, versatility, or speed, through its Pro Series of machines and the recently introduced L & XL machines, industry has access to competitively priced industrial additive manufacturing platforms that can now be used in-house and allows numerous manufacturers the ability to benefit from the use of 3D printing as a production tool.

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