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The NXE400 3D printer is the size of a fridge and up to 20 times more productive than competing machines (Nexa 3D)
3D printing is set to change the way we make everything – from residential homes to artificial bone implants. No longer reserved for prototypes and models, 3D printing – technically known as additive manufacturing – is now precise enough for dentistry, durable enough for car parts, and on course to disrupt the entire manufacturing industry.
In America, where dentists are turning to digital technology to provide better services for patients, refrigerator-sized machines created by Israeli startup Nexa3D print dental retainers, night guards and other accessories that used to require multiple molds of patients’ teeth and hours of lab work. The new method is faster and often results in better-fitting products.
How BMW Group is Accelerating the Industrialization of 3D Printing
Image Credit: asharkyu/Shutterstock.com
The BMW Group is stepping up the systematic integration of additive manufacturing – commonly referred to as 3D printing – to employ the technology for industrial-level vehicle development and production.
At the company’s Additive Manufacturing Campus in Munich, Germany, precision plastic and metal components are constructed from computer-based 3D scans that are “printed upwards” layer-upon-layer until products are formed.
BMW says the most significant advantage of additive manufacturing is the degree of flexibility provided when building components with complex structures. High-quality vehicle parts with complex forms and structures that would otherwise be virtually impossible to produce using conventional tools can be manufactured quickly and easily using computer algorithms.
Here s How BMW Is 3D-Printing Metal and Plastic Parts
Laser-beam melting metal parts shows promise for old and new cars alike, but is it ready to go mainstream?
Additive Manufacturing Campus near Munich features 50 metal & polymer printers.
High cost of Laser Beam Melting means low-volume parts manufacture for now.
3D printing was certainly enjoying a moment about a decade ago as the first consumer-friendly printers hit the market, with some predicting they would quickly become as common in homes as inkjet printers a generation ago. Those predictions were scaled back a bit over the past decade as 3D printing, present for some time in design schools and company-owned prototyping studios, evolved over time but did not quite become as common a household item as had been predicted. After all, there are only so many plastic spoons and coat hangers a home needs. But it