Arch Graphic is a 3D printing service company based in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. Founded in 2010, the company specializes in 3D printing architectural modelsand models for interior design, but has evolved over the last decade to offer its clients a full range of prototype and small volume production services. The foundation of the company’s service offering is based on high quality models provided at competitive prices.

To enable this core company principle of high quality with accessible prices, Arch Graphichas partnered with FELIXprinters as its key 3D printing technology supplier since 2015, when the company invested in the FELIX Pro 1 system. The quality and reliability of the machine quickly became apparent and the company has continued to build its 3D printer capacity based on FELIX Pro systems.

3DP & Architecture

Architects have long used physical 3D scale models of their building designs to visually convey their vision. However, traditional scale models were often painstakingly built by hand, using fragile materials, such as paper and cardboard, that were barely fit for purpose, particularly in humid weather conditions such as those in the UAE region. It is not surprising, then, that the advent of 3D printing found a natural home within the architectural sector or that the demand for Arch Graphic’s services in the UAE was high. Architectural models and 3D printing are a natural fit.

Indeed, this is an application area that evolved quickly, particularly as the technology matured, for producing stronger and more accurate demonstration models of an architect’s vision. In this regard, 3D printing offers a relatively fast, easy and economically viable method of producing detailed models directly from 3D CAD, BIM or other digital data that architects use. Many successful architectural firms, now commonly use 3D printing as a critical part of their workflow for increased innovation and improved communication. This latter point is a particularly critical factor for Arch Graphic as architectural design models help communicate ideas to clients, planners and stakeholders more widely.

Since its inception, the goal of Arch Graphic has been to grow its Architectural Practice by providing its clients with stunning 3D printed visual models, custom designed components, with the ability to offer fast design iterations as required. To this end, the company has successfully built its 3D Print Hub in UAE supplying clients with architectural models that not only reduce the overall process time compared with handmade models, but also offer a precise finish and superior quality, with options for safe lighting systems that can avoid heating.

Arch Graphic also offers a comprehensive model making service for interior designers, making it a one-stop-service. Here too, the benefits of 3D printing can be maximized in reducing the time and expense of producing 3D models that often require highly delicate details.

Arch Graphic has continued to build its brand through the talent and vision of its leadership, including distinguished architects Alaa Younis and Rula Kaddoura, who have worked at the state level producing superior performance 3D printed architectural scaled models for a range of prestigious projects.

Arch Graphic & FELIXprinters

In 2015 Arch Graphic was searching for a distinctive 3D printer that would meet its demanding requirements as the company continued to grow in size and reputation across the UAE. Its introduction to FELIXprinters at this time proved to be the beginning of an ongoing partnership that has been mutually beneficial. According to Alaa Younis: “The investment into the first, wonderful Felix Pro 1 was a revelation. It was exactly what we needed. Working with Wilgo [Feliksdal], who worked closely with us through installation and growth, was also a key reason for us selecting FELIXprinters as a technology partner. The introduction of the FELIX Pro systems have certainly contributed to Arch Graphic becoming distinguished in the creation of architectural models produced by 3D printing in the United Arab Emirates and the GCC as well. We have completed many 3D printed projects at the local and regional level using our Pro Series 3D printers from FELIX.”

One of the earlier 3D printing projects that Arch Graphic undertook on its FELIX Pro 3D printers at this level was the first scaled model of a new mosque that was to be built in the UAE, which was designed by the Arch Graphic team. The FELIX printers were essential to this model, in terms of the precise details involved and the quality output. The project also involved some manual assembly of the 3D printed parts — a total of 755 individual  pieces were printed and assembled to produce the completed model with overall dimensions of 85 x 85 X 75 cm.

Younis states that: “The accuracy and precision of the FELIX 3D printers ensured that we were able to assemble the parts of the model easily and without errors to get the end result painlessly. At first we were surprised, but quickly appreciated the capabilities of the system we were using, and the model was a huge success whereby we received many positive responses from government authorities and non-governmental companies in the UAE as a result. It’s also why we invested in more FELIX 3D printers.”

The individual pieces were produced in different colours of PLA material, to reflect the full intent of the original digital design that proposed a building that provides harmony with the surrounding area and is harmonious with that natural environment of the UAE. As such the building design, as illustrated perfectly by the physical model, is symmetrical in nature. This is all the more impressive, considering that Younis and his team printed all of the parts, utilizing just under 6 Kg of material, without the need for supports, thereby minimizing any post processing steps and wasted material. The project was completed in two weeks.

Working in Partnership

Over the last five years, FELIXprinters has become a critically important partner for Arch Graphic. Younis explains: “The FELIX team provide us with ongoing technical assistance — both directly concerning the hardware with rapid and exceptional support and also for application development to enable us to maximize the potential of the 3D printers. This was a kind of strong friendship and a strong partnership between Arch Graphic and Felix.”

He continued:“I believe our choice of FELIXprinters has been the main reason for our success with 3D printing scale architectural models and why we have been able to offer excellence to our many clients in the local market. The capabilities of the FELIX Pro systems and are partnership with the FELIX team keeps us at the forefront in our sector and region.”

Expansion & Growth

Having quickly realized the benefits that the Pro 1 offered the business in terms of the high quality, reliable and cost-effective prints, Arch Graphic rapidly added another FELIX Pro system to the company’s portfolio. Continually evolving and adding new capabilities, today Arch Graphic is distinct through its ‘unconventional’ stereoscopic service, which combines 3D printing highly detailed models, with hand finishing skills to create miniature buildings. At the other end of the scale Arch Graphic is able to produce large scale models in new ways, combining many parts into one and incorporating highly complex internal structures.

Today, the 3D printing services offered by Arch Graphic and powered by FELIX Pro 3D printing systems, is, according to Younis: “the main engine of our work.” The company’s profile and number of projects is expanding week on week, to keep pace with the urban development in the United Arab Emirates. This is also supported by the recognition of the importance of the technical field of 3D printing by the Government of Dubai.

Arch Graphic is determined to keep building on its reputation and develop new projects in the short and long term across the UAE, and fundamental to this is the continued strong partnership with FELIXprinters.

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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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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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Over the last 12-18 months, FELIXprinters has undergone a transition as a business with an intentional repositioning towards industrial 3D printing. The visible result of this is the introduction of the new Pro Series platforms, which include the Pro 3 and the Pro L/XL. This family of machines incorporate all of the latest engineering know-how and expertise from the FELIXprinters team, all with engineering backgrounds that have listened to what their industrial clients have been telling them about the pain points often experienced with 3D printing.

Time and again, the feedback came through — reliability, consistent accuracy, ease of use and a good return on investment through a reasonable price | performance ratio were the factors in the 3D printing equation that industrial users want and need to perform their daily tasks.

There is no denying that companies considering 3D printing as a manufacturing tool are confronted with a dizzying array of choices and voices, particularly when it comes to desktop 3D printers, like the FELIX Pro 3. Many of them saying the same thing, along the lines of “Our 3D printer offers the accuracy / reliability / ease of use that you are looking for.”

Some of them do live up to the rhetoric, but many, particularly those at the lower end of the pricing scale, do not.Thus, once the 3D printer is put to work the lack of reliability, poor print output, high failure rates, and time-consuming operation become obvious and create frustration from the time and effort required to make the system function — even at a basic level. Within an industrial environment this is just not good enough.

Throughout its history, FELIXprinters has achieved a strong reputation for developing and delivering robust, reliable and accurate 3D printers, at a price that is comparable with less functionalalternatives. The company is aware that these words may sound the same as other 3D printing companies out there, so here we explain what we mean by reliability, consistent accuracy, ease of use and accessible pricing with particular reference to the FELIX Pro 3 platform, part of the Pro family. Furthermore, we will provide insight into how we achieve this and go on to back up our words through our post-sales service and lifetime upgrade options.

Reliability & Consistent Accuracy

The FELIXprinters Pro 3 builds on the previous generations of the system with new, novel features engineered from the ground up. The Pro 3 was the first FELIX platform to incorporate an innovative dual head printing system. It has been built from the ground up to enable a significant improvement in print quality as well as consistent accuracy. This claim can largely be attributed to sensors located in the printing head for filament flow detection. If a problem, such as filament running out or a clogged nozzle, arises the print is stopped immediately, the issue is raised and a failed print is avoided. This saves valuable time and prevents wasted filament.

Other key features of the Pro 3 that contribute to its reliability include the optimized extruder heater, which reduces dual head printing time by 50%. Moreover, print repeatability, that can be relied upon, is improved through achieving temperature stability in the heater blocks. This is coupled with a dual radial blower which provides three times more cooling power that is distributed homogenously and enables the extruder plastic to cool down faster and more evenly. This produces accurately defined print details, including overhangs.

When we say reliable, we mean reliable and invite you to challenge us.

Ease of Use

Right out of the box, the FELIX Pro 3 3D printer is straightforward and can be ready to print within minutes. We have tested this over and over – with our team and with users. Again there are a number of feature details, specifically built into the platform by the FELIX team, that ensure the 3D printing experience with the FELIX Pro 3 is pain free.

This starts even before the first layer is printed with the Pro 3’s automatic and motorized calibration capability, enabled by the innovative probe sensor integrated in the print-head and motorized bed. A high quality print starts with a properly calibrated machine, which requires:

• accurate measurement between the printhead and the print surface
• a properly aligned print surface
• correct height difference between print-head nozzles when using the dual head
• correct distance between nozzles in the XY plane when using the dual head.

By automating the calibration process, users can save up to an hour compared with manual tweaking of the machine, to achieve much greater productivity and much less frustration.

Another key feature of the FELIX Pro 3 is the proprietary QuickSwap printheads. The design of the printheads on the Pro 3 mean that users can literally swap out a printhead in 20 seconds or less. It has genuinely never been so simple, but it makes a huge difference to productivity, simplifies and speeds up maintenance, and provides users with the ability to switch materials quickly and easily and use different size nozzles as required, without having the change the set-up of the machine.

The FELIX Pro 3 also comes with a Flex plate as standard. This saves users time — at least 2-3 minutes per print — which adds up. The Flex plate also prevents damage when removing the printed object

The Pro 3 Touch is also supplied with an intuitive and easy to use touchscreen, which also allows multi-users, that can connect directly to print-file management capabilities and print-server.

Accessibility

The accessibility of the FELIX Pro 3 is two-fold, firstly through its ease of use, as described in the section above, making 3D printing accessible to engineering and manufacturing professionals that may not be experienced with 3D printing. However, the second way the FELIX Pro 3 is accessible for companies engaging with 3D printing is through its excellent price performance ratio, which provides superb return on investment (ROI).

The perception of 3D printing for industrial applications often involves high capital and running costs as well as high consumable costs.FELIXprinters has logically leveraged its capabilities and made an intelligent and concerted move to provide industrial AM solutions, at a price that makes them much more accessible to many industrial customers for a range of product development, engineering and manufacturing applications.

The Pro 3 has been designed and manufactured by FELIXprinters to offer the highest possible price / performance ratio in its class, and is available under €3000.  The emphasis is onexcellence in the build to ensure quality output — a system developed by engineers for engineers.

The Pro series, including the Pro 3, are a serious industrial tool that dependable and upgradable. These are just words, but we can back them up with high level service and support guarantees, and invite you to challenge us on any of the points in this article.

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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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One of FELIXprinters’ customers is Recair B.V., which produces air-to-air heat exchangers from thin thermoformed sheets. These heat exchangers are used in residential ventilation units and provide heat recovery of up to 90%.Key to the success of the company is the optimization of these heat exchangers through the adaptation of the thermoformed shape.

Recair uses additive manufacturing / 3D printing as a rapid prototyping technology, with some of the company’s developments (such as measurement setups) being subject to incremental upgrades during development. The company uses 3D printing to get visibility of a prototype quickly and inexpensively, and to allow the fixing of design issues before costly tooling and manufacturing processes are initiated.

Initially, Recair outsourced all of its 3D printing requirements to subcontract agencies. The company did consider purchasing an industrial printer for in-house use, but postponed this decision due to the significant (€10-20,000) capital investment required to meet its quality needs. At this time, the volume of parts did not justify the expenditure.  However, the demand for higher volumes of 3D printed parts increased and the company required multiple prints such that the in-house ownership of a 3D printer became economically favourable. At this point Recair approached FELIXprinters.

Stein Hendriks, R&D Engineer at Recair commented: ”There are a number of alternative additive manufacturing options available to manufacturers, but not all machines are the same. Supplier selection is key to success, as the AM platform that you choose has to perform to the levels required for your specific applications. Recair ultimately chose FELIXprinters’ Pro 3 industrial 3D printing platform, which we use to fully optimise our designs without having to expend significant time and money. With a large amount of designs in development, the cost of prototyping using milling, injection moulding or thermoforming is extremely costly and time consuming.”

“We like to be able to get our hands on numerous prototypes early in the design-to-manufacturing cycle as this gives us a much better idea of the optimal nature of a design for end-use applications. We pick up design errors and flaws in the prototype, which can be overlooked in a 3D CAD render, and which are extremely expensive to correct once tooling has been cut and manufacturing initiated. We chose FELIXprinters as our preferred supplier for a number or reasons, including the dual extrusion functionality inherent in the platform, and the ability to switch to a stainless steel nozzle for carbon reinforced printing. The larger size of the build plate and layer resolution was also a key factor in choosing FELIXprinters’ 3D printing solutions, as was its ease-of-use, and low failure rates,” Hendriks concludes.

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 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, a proactive post-sale “partnership” which is expected when companies adopt AM for industrial applications and an excellent warranty that belies the quality and reliability of the hardware. Indeed, FELIXprinters take the concept of partnership further than any other AM technology suppliers, and offer a service which allows for the manufacture of bespoke tailor-made AM platforms for specific customer applications as well as off-the-shelf solutions.

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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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