Currently there is a lot of talk about 3D printing everywhere, on television, in newspapers, and on various discordant blogs, but how many mechanical companies have installed this technology and are they reaping the benefits?
According to data reported by the online magazine 3D printing, high-end 3D printers costing over 100 thousand dollars make up 70% of the hardware market global income, thanks to the 26% increase in delivery of 3D printers for metal.
I know what you are thinking: how can your company benefit from the extraordinary powers of a 3D printer? How can you increase your income and speed up your production with additive systems, without risking to spend X thousand € on a machine which will then turn out to be a flop?
Before answering this question let me refresh your memory about the benefits you could obtain by using a 3D printer in your production chain:
- Speed up your production: you could produce complex components or impossible geometrics in one single phase, saving working days and production costs. Ford has gone from producing 500,000 pieces in 4 months to only 4 days. You could work less and earn more, carving out time to dedicate to expanding your company or to your hobbies and family.
Your competitors and friends will ask themselves how you can always be on the golf course while running such a successful company!
- You could save up to 96% on production costs: how much could you really save? Nobody will ever be able to tell you precisely, because it depends on your type of production and your printed components; if you really want to know how much you will save with a 3D printer read this article to the end.
In the meantime let’s see why a 3D printer will make you save money and time: the fewer steps and the less material you use so less will be the costs on the company balance sheet, which at the end of the year will eat through your bank account like an acid.
Going back to the example of Ford: in reducing time of production of its 500,000 by months, explains Paul Susalla, manager in charge of Ford’s rapid manufacturing, the company has saved 497,000 dollars. Yes, undoubtedly, to produce 500,000 components in 3D, Ford only spends 3,000 dollars.
Now do you understand why there is so much talk about 3D printing and why you cannot ignore this technology any longer?
- Customize your production with reduced costs in a short time.
The American company Pearl, exploits the easy and speedy customizing powers of additive systems to produce personalized jewellery! Imagine being able to satisfy your customers with customized components which match all their needs. There are machines which need components with particular shapes and dimensions,which, with a 3D printer, you could produce in a short time, avoiding all the thousands of steps which you have to go through with traditional methods. Being able to differ from your competitors, thanks to your quick service and the customization of your components, you will win the battle on the market and within a year become the dominating company in your sector, just like Coca Cola in the soft drinks sector.
- Impossible geometrics will no longer be a mirage in the desert!
Print pieces with an internal cooling system, or a tube with another component inside or circular shapes and non-linear trajectories: these will all be components you could print in one single step, without problems of production costs.
You will be able to produce components which now you only dream of, and beat all those companies who are still using traditional methods and which could never compete with your innovative and super fast production.
- You will have lightweight and resistant components, perfect for flying in space.
Thanks to topology optimization, a geometric calculation which positions the material only in strategic points during the printing process, your components will be solid and resistant enough to support any mechanical stress, but they will also be lightweight and adaptable to any kinematic machinery; thanks to this ace up your sleeve, you will surpass your competitors, who, instead, cannot produce lightweight and resistant components in such a short time.
Do you want to be among the companies which invest in 3D and which can win hands down and prevail over their rivals?
Unluckily nothing is so ideal and if you are skeptical and are thinking “where is the rip-off because this is too good, too easy and incredible to be true?” you are right because:
Here are the hidden problems behind the sensational magic of 3D metal printing
Before throwing yourself head first into this future super technology and getting emotional about the benefits you could obtain, it is worthwhile reading what I am about to tell you.
It isn’t enough to use a 3D metal printer in your production chain to produce faster at low costs and surpass your competitors; there are some considerations to take into account.
First of all you cannot buy any 3D printer, but one which is suitable for your type of production, like a glove has to fit a hand.
Why?
Because by using any 3D metal printer, even if it is the most popular on the market, you could come across such big problems, which could blow up all the work, which you, your father and perhaps even your grandfather dedicated their life to.
Stop! Do not invest even a cent on a 3D printer before reading about the problems you described in the lines below.
I am referring only to 3D metal printers because they are the ones which you need to print mechanical components.
To sinter, that is melt metal powders at a high temperature, 3D metal printers need a gas which eliminates the explosive effect of some metals, like aluminum or titanium.
In short: if you don’t want your operators to blow up during the printing process, you cannot do without these precious, but unluckily, dangerous gases.
The gases used in 3D metal printers are:
- Argon (the most commonly used as we can see from the Report of Air Products Techonologies Solutions).
- Nitrogen
- Hydrogen
- Helium
What producers of 3D printers probably won’t tell you is that Argon is a killer more ruthless than Jack the Ripper, and silently kills its victims in a few seconds.
Unfortunately when there is a leak of Argon gas, above all in enclosed spaces such as the printing room, there are no protective spatial suits that can save your life, and rarely can anyone save themselves from its mortal touch.
Argon is a gas that displaces oxygen in the air and suffocates its victims in a few seconds.
The best precaution against the lethal attacks of Argon, according to the association Assogastecnici and EIGA, the European Association of Industrial Gases is not to use it, or limit its use as much as possible.
The problem is that all the 3D metal printers you find on the market (with only one exception, of which I will speak shortly) are multiple material, that is they print in various metals, from steel to titanium.
You may think that having a 3D printer gives you the freedom to print with any metal powder that is suitable for you, but the very fact that it is general will cause you endless problems, such as the mandatory use of the killer Argon, which is used to print aluminum and titanium.
A multiple material 3D printer will force you to print using Argon and risking the lives of your operators
and not only that …
Argon is an expensive gas because of its many positive attributes (except for its dark side as a serial suffocator).
Our atmosphere contains 78% nitrogen and while nitrogen is free, thanks to a generator which takes this gas from the air, Argon costs, on average, 0,90 euro per normal litre. It may seem peanuts to you while reading this article, but when you have to use it to print, you will soon realize that it is as costly as gold.
Being a dangerous gas, it must be transported in suitable canisters, which follow very Italian burocratic regulations: complex and muddled.
Perhaps you may speed up your production with a 3D printer, but the other hidden unexpected developments, like the management and precautions of dealing with Argon, of which nobody will tell you, will slow you down.
The other big problem of having a multiple material 3D printer is the purity of your components.
Imagine what it means for a food or cosmetic packaging company, to risk contamination of its Inox components, with titanium or aluminum… it could put the lives of consumers in danger, even perhaps your own and that of your family, who use those containers and saucepans every day to cook and preserve foodstuffs.
In fact, the problem of contamination among powders is relevant to all mechanical companies, because if your 3D printer has not been cleaned in depth between the printing cycles, you will produce impure components, with little resistance, which will break up under the slightest bit of strain.
You may think you have printed a pure component for one of your machines which then breaks immediately, stopping your production for entire days. You would lose tons of money and be so furious as to cause unbearable headaches.
Despite all the problems which a 3D printer could create, the benefits you obtain are concrete, even if neither Service nor salesmen of standard 3D printers around the world will ever give you the proof.
That is why with my 3D4STEEL team, as well as designing the first 3D printer for steel only (therefore a Specialized printer) about which Tom’s Hardware has written an article, I have created the only system in the world, 3D4YOU, which will allow you to:
Try out a 3D printer for steel only, without even buying it, carrying out real tests on YOUR production
The icing on the cake is that those personalized tests on your machines, will concretely show you:
1) how much it will really cost you on an economic and financial level to print your components in 3D. this is the answer that all entrepreneurs who have invested in 3D wanted to know: while they have spent 100 thousand euro to buy a 3D printer, you could have this answer practically FREE;
2) how much time it will take you to print YOUR components with a 3D printer, so that you will really know if it is more worthwhile to use traditional methods and stay as you are or whether to take additive systems into consideration, if not today, at least in the future;
3) you will have a super guarantee which will allow you to have all your money back if the customized course 3D4YOU is not satisfactory or for any other reason. This parachute is called ZERO RISK GUARANTEE.
4)and much more: technical assistance, specific training…
Unluckily 3D4YOU is not for everyon:
if you are not interested in producing steel components
if you are a gambler, you like taking risks and prefer to trust promises and blindly spend your money in a risky investment
if you are not concerned about safety on the workplace
if you are consertive and think that even by continuing to use traditional methods you can survive all the same, and since you are not interested in earning more
then you have read an article which has anyway increased your knowledge of additive manufacturing.
If however, you really want to try and speed up your production, see how much you can save and how yu can lead your company to success with a 3D printer, the only solution is to click on this link or on the red to have more information.
Relax, you won’t have to read reams of boring information in technobabble, but there is a video which in a few minutes will clear up all your doubts in a simple way.
P.S. beware however! At the end of the video you will find a timer which will indicate how many places are still available.
Since 3D4YOU is unique in the world, it gives you a must have opportunity with a guarantee which will save you from taking a gamble on risky investments, there is much demand to access the course.
The assistance you will receive is personal and very detailed, therefore my team of expert technicians can only assist 4 companies a month. Come and take your place.
