3DPOD: Insight from 3D Printing Pros

We’re very proud to have made it to 100 podcast episodes. We’re grateful to you for being there for this journey. In this episode, we look back at the past 100 shows, discuss who we’ve spoken to, and what we’ve learned. We really hope that we can do 100 more!

Along with his fellow researchers at Carnegie Melon University, Adam Feinberg developed what is known as FRESH bioprinting technology. We discuss how and why FRESH is important. We also get to talk about Adam’s company, FluidForm, which is commercializing FRESH, but perhaps not in the most obvious way. The episode covers how FluidForm is doing the heavy lifting to commercialize its bioprinting techniques as it works towards scalable bioprinting technologies. All in all, an eye opening podcast.

Brent Stucker has been involved with 3D printing for a long time now and has had an outsized impact on our industry. In this episode of the 3DPOD, we cover a wide range of issues and opportunities in additive manufacturing (AM). All the while, Brent is crystal clear and candid about what AM needs, as well as the history of the 3D printing industry so far. We talk about Brent’s days as a researcher, which generates some good tips for listeners. We also discuss his segue into entrepreneurship and his current role at 3D Systems. I love speaking with Brent and learning from him and hope that you do as well!

Joseph Flynn is an academic who, along with a group of colleagues, created Gen3D, a surprisingly easy-to-use software package that allows users to create complex lattices and manifolds. I love Gen3D and the firm’s free training. In our conversation, it is more than apparent that the Gen3D team is very different from the average software firm. We really loved talking to Joseph, who gave us deep explanation of TPMS surfaces and much else besides. Super nice episode and we really hope that you think so, too.

Steve Deak haș a long and deep experience with additive manufacturing. He ran one of the first machines at GE in 1993 and later brought 3D printing to Hasbro. He worked for resin supplier Huntsman, one of the earliest service bureaus in the world, manufactured composites, and ended up at GE again to usher in the conglomerate’s end use parts for aviation. Besides this, he’s been very active in the Additive Manufacturing Users Group. Steve has a wealth of experience and brought so much learning and sharing to the 3D printing community that we just know you’re going to enjoy this one.

Founder of 3D-Squared Andrew Allshorn began as a model maker before running one of the first stereolithography (SLA) machines in the U.K. He’s an inventive problem-solver who has tackled a lot of challenges in his many years in additive manufacturing. He’s worked extensively in SLA, but also hacks his own fused deposition machines and has worked for years in metalizing polymer parts. We could have probably done six podcasts with Andrew’s stories and experience in consulting for 3D-Squared, his work at the Additive Manufacturing Users Group and much much more. We loved doing this and hope that you learn from Andrew just like we did.

Hyperganic is a stealthy startup that wants to replace how things are currently designed and made. The company aims to disrupt CAD with a very different design paradigm using artificial intelligence and generative design. Heading up the firm is experienced entrepreneur Lin Kayser. Lin explains what Hyperganic wants to do and how it wants to do it. What follows is a fascinating look into how a company seven years in the making wants to tackle the new 3D printed world. By being procedural and letting engineers code to design parts, the company can make a real impact. If they can then define the properties of every part at the voxel level, then they could really shape how the future will be made.

Ted Sorom, CEO and co-founder of Mantle, is looking to revolutionize metal 3D printing. Mantle has a paste extrusion method that features a post-machining step to mill unfinished parts and achieve better results. The paste is unique in that results in parts that harder than green components made using metal binder jet, which are likely to collapse under their own weight. Mantle’s parts can then be machined, making them ideally suited for end use. Less finishing, less post-processing, fewer supports, better surface quality, and lower costs could be a result. Rather than present its technology as the end-all-be-all of all metal 3D printing, Mantle is, for now, targeting tooling alone. This tight focus accelerates the firm’s go-to market. This was really an interesting chat and we hope that you enjoy it.

James DeMuth was a researcher committed to solving some very big problems and creating new technologies at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. He opted to become an entrepreneur because of Seurat, a startup with a potentially very disruptive 3D printing technology. Seurat offer a novel metal 3D printing method that scales and significantly reduces the costs of laser powder bed fusion parts. James goes into detail about this hereto unknown technology. We also ask him about his go-to-market, which is also novel. Super exciting podcast which we hope you like.

Dr. Jenny Chen is a neuroradiologist. On top of that, she’s also the founder of 3DHEALS, a network of healthcare practitioners who are collectively learning about 3D printing. Through local meetups, events, and lectures, 3DHEALS allows the medical community to grapple with the challenges that additive manufacturing brings. We talk broadly with Jenny about the challenges and benefits in medicine that 3D printing presents. What opportunities are there? What are the roadblocks? Jenny clearly lays out the medical 3D printing landscape for us all.

Authentise is the developer of a manufacturing execution system (MES) software package that helps businesses manage their 3D printing fleets. With Authentise, you can track your prints and batches, as well as trace materials and machine settings. If you want to optimize your manufacturing and reduce errors, an MES is a crucial bit of kit. If you’re making products to specific standards or with a high regulatory burden, then MES software will help you get the traceability that you need for your quality control. We have a wide-ranging talk with the personable Andre Wegner, Authentise CEO. A really great pod, especially for those who are in manufacturing.

Conflux is one of the 3D printing startups that I’m the most excited about. With $6 million in recent funding, the company is using its own methods, designs, and expertise to 3D print heat exchangers. Speaking to Conflux CEO Michael Fuller, we learn that the company now wants to advance the manufacturing of heat exchangers before industrializing it. He hopes to make heat exchangers that can outperform conventional counterparts by a significant margin. Lower mass, higher performance with costs that are manageable could see Conflux enter into a great many markets in heat management. Starting in automotive racing applications, the company has so far proven out its technology widely. I really love heat exchangers as a 3D printing application and it was great to learn more about them. It was also interesting to see Michael Fuller’s vision on starting and running his business.

Fabric8Labs is a startup that has turned to lithography and chip manufacturing processes to develop a unique 3D printing technology. Their method uses thin film and electroplating to produce very fine parts from copper. The team is very ambitious. We speak to CEO Jeff Herman and Director of Product Ian Winfield about their prospects. This is a startup that wants to grow big and its team thinks that their technology will give them enormous potential. We discuss funding, applications, and how to work with clients, and much more in this episode.

Danish AM Hub is a national 3D printing group that organizes a large meet-up with the goal of educating and aiding its members in all things 3D printing. Several places in the world are trying to do something similar to become the Silicon Valley of 3D printing. I really think that Denmark is doing this correctly. The Hub is very professional and has succeeded in uniting a lot of the additive manufacturing (AM) efforts in that country. We talk to CEO Frank Rosengreen Lorenzen about how the Hub does this. We also end up in a long conversation about sustainability and how to develop AM. We hope that you enjoy this conversation!

Senior vice president of Strategic Growth at Stratasys, Pat Carey talks to us about the company’s new product portfolio. What does it mean for partners and customers that the company now has many technologies and not just two? And how did they manage to train all of their people on stereolithography, digital light processing and selective absorption fusion (SAF)? What does SAF mean anyway? What can it really change in manufacturing? Pat also discusses Stratasys’s vertical and applications focus. We get a look into the company’s strategy and where it is headed.

Upon the heels of a third-place win for Alpine F1’s Fernando Alonso at the Formula One Qatar Grand Prix, we’ve published this podcast episode with Pat Warner, Advanced Digital Manufacturing Manager for the Alpine F1 Team. Pat is a true 3D printing pioneer. He started as a machinist and was lucky that his local village of Enstone in England had an F1 team in it. Pat got to play with one of the first 3D printers in the U.K. and use it for wind tunnel models and features on cars. He developed materials, developed new methodologies, and worked to the technically demanding tune of the pied piper that is Formula 1. Pat tells us a lot about why F1 teams use additive and what they use it for. He talks to us about the circus that is Formula 1 and how 3D printing helps teams win. Pat’s simply lovely and we really enjoyed this episode. We hope that you do as well.

Mahendran Reddy is the Business Development Director for NAMIC. NAMIC is Singapore’s 3D printing promotion and coordination organization. I think it’s a remarkably effective one at that. We spoke to him to find out how Singapore was going about promoting the city state for 3D printing. What support can I have when I come to Singapore as an entrepreneur? Why is Singapore a good place to set up my Asian headquarters? What startups are already there? These are some of the things we discussed, we hope that you enjoy listening!

Frank Piller is one of the leading voices in mass customisation. He’s a Professor at RWTH Aachen University and has written and done a lot of research into mass customisation. He’s the co-author of Leading Mass Customization and Personalization: How to profit from customization in e-commerce and beyond which you can download for free here. He’s also one of the researchers behind “Surviving on the long tail: An empirical investigation of business model elements for mass customization” and has an introduction to mass customisation here. I’ve been following Frank’s work for over a decade because he does a lot of interesting research and is clear and concise in communicating it as well. So I was really looking forward to having Frank on the 3DPod and he didn’t disappoint. We have an engaging and lively discussion about mass customisation, what it means, the different types of mass customisation and more. Frank talks us through some best practices and candidly gives us examples of best practices, good implementations and failed ones. Max and I really loved the conversation and we hope that you do too.    

Dr. Jason Jones was an AM researcher on a project that expanded in scope and got very complicated. Miraculously it resulted in a company called Hybrid Manufacturing Technologies. This firm makes print heads and equipment that turns CNC machines into DED machines. The company’s machines are used to make parts, repair parts and add new material to older parts. They also have inspection heads to enable parts to be build right and checked the first time. I really think that Hybrid is an amazing combination of Additive and CNC and criminally underused. Jason gave us a wonderful tour of his companies advantages and the specific advantages of 3D printing and subtractive manufacturing in one machine. Really worth your time!

Xometry (Nasdaq: XMTR) is a fast growing and, now, publicly-traded marketplace for manufacturing services. We talk to CEO Randy Altschuler, who came from finance to build and grow companies. What exactly is the role of Xometry? How does it aim to grow and scale up even more? What markets is it expanding into? How does it ensure that good manufacturing partners make parts well? How does it control for quality and determine price? How is it expanding and what applications and technologies is it looking to next? We talk about the company’s strategy and how the business has managed to grow. I really think that there is a lot of insight here in growing and scaling a company. I especially enjoyed Randy’s focus on performing every single day rather than milestones as a key to unlocking continued growth. It will be very interesting to see how the competitive landscape in 3D printing and manufacturing services evolves. This is a great listen for anyone involved in that business.

In this episode of the 3DPOD, we talk to Mandaná “Mandy” Moshiri, Technology Manager at the LEGO Group. Far from the maddening crowds, the hype, and the promises of 3D printing, she and her colleagues are using additive at the famous toy block-maker. What technologies does LEGO use? What future additive processes is Mandy excited about? What is holding 3D printing back and what are its advantages? Mandy details how LEGO is using it for mold tooling and conformal cooling molds. How do you innovate with 3D printing at a firm? What kinds of applications and research are worth pursuing? And how “normal” is AM at LEGO? We get a very clear and honest picture from Mandy as to her field and how she’s applying it at her employer. I really liked her directness, skepticism, and straightforward way of using and discussing 3D printing. I think this is a must-listen for those of you implementing 3D printing at large companies or in industry.

Steve Grundahl started Midwest Prototyping in the very early days of 3D printing. On this episode of the 3DPOD, he tells us about how he got financing, how he grew his business. what technologies and applications he relied on, and how he kept growing. Steve also tells us why he opted to sell his firm now and how the future of Midwest Prototyping under the umbrella of Prototek will look. As well as sharing his entrepreneurial journey, Steve imparts a lot of wisdom. There are anecdotes, but ones that you can really learn from. We had a blast once again with this episode and know that you will find it to be valuable, as well.

A 3D printing double unicorn, Formlabs is one of the most talked about and followed startups out there. The firm pioneered desktop stereolithography and the professional desktop segment and now has released an entry level powder bed fusion machine, as well. We speak to founder and CEO Max Lobovsky about the early days of Formlabs. How did the company get funding? Well, it started with an overheard story and a tweet. Max goes on to talk about why Formlabs made some of the choices it did and how it came to grow. He discusses the company’s future and how it will continue to grow, as well. We also discuss SPACs, IPOs and more. Really great discussion! Max will also take part in the SmarTech – Stifel AM Investment Strategies 2021 summit on September 9, 2021, where he will be able to shed more light on overall market and his company’s role in it. Register for free here.

Luis Baldez is Senior Manager of Market Development for HP, but he’s also the Executive Director of the 3MF Consortium. 3MF is trying to get the 3D printing industry to ditch the much maligned STL file format for something better. The team wants to establish .3MF as a new standard to get more accurate files that can convey more information. If we want to produce colorful or gradient parts, or multiple materials in a single part, then we will need better ways of describing them. STL also doesn’t work well for super complex lattices and other new geometries. So, Luis and his team are going to try to help us transition. But, how to do this? Who is 3MF? And what are they doing? These are all topics that you can learn from our podcast.

MeaTech 3D (NasdaqCM: MITC) is the Israeli startup rocket ship that is aiming to commercialize and industrialize 3D printed meat. Ethical meat uses fewer resources, less water, less land and creates many fewer emissions than regular meat does. But can this development actually work at scale? How much will it cost? And how do you make 3D printed meat? We look into the future and at the possible disruption that 3D printed meat may bring together with co-founder Omri Schanin.

Jochen Loock has trained over 1000 professionals in Additive Manufacturing through the Additive Academy at Fraunhofer Research Institution for Additive Manufacturing Technologies (IAPT). He now performs business development with automotive companies for the prestigious German research institute. Jochen has been instrumental in several groundbreaking 3D printing projects for end-use automotive components. He has helped car companies adopt 3D printing and industrialize it for parts that could be on your next car. Our conversation with Jochen was, therefore, fueled by experiences and knowledge gleaned not only from academia but also from the frontlines of 3D printing in manufacturing. We hope that you’ll like this episode!

Carlos Zwikker has long been involved with AM. He was a great influence on Shapeways when it started and has advised many other firms, as well. Previously at Electrolux and Philips, Carlos now deploys his expertise and talents at AM-FLOW. AM-FLOW is a company that uses machine vision and machine learning to automate 3D printing. AM-FLOW’s solutions automatically detect and identify parts so they can be routed, compared, picked and put in the right boxes. Together with its partners, the firm wants to help drastically reduce the costs of 3D printing by automating part handling and more. We had a fun conversation with Carlos that made us think a lot, not only about AM-FLOW, but also about 3D printing in general and its fortunes and future.

Julien Cohen worked for Stratasys Direct and Eaton in Application Development before joining 3DEO. He takes us through what application engineering is and how it helps customers. We also have a lively discussion about the relative merits of various technologies and approaches. Additionally, he explains 3DEO’s unique binder jetting technology and how the company is using it for serial production in 3D printing. We talk about future scenarios in manufacturing and what will power the 3D printing. A lovely conversation and we hope that you enjoy it as well.

Jason Fullmer is the COO of Formlabs. We spoke to him about the company’s global supply chain, including sourcing, interruptions, reverse logistics, shipping, quality assurance, quality management and many more topics. Operations and supply chain are super important to businesses, but we often overlook this importance and focus on the more obvious sides of a businesses, such as their marketing or strategies. A good idea is nothing without execution and excellence in operations. We hope that a look at some aspects of supply chain and quality will make this a handy and interesting talk for you.

Gordon Styles is a true 3D printing pioneer. He bought a stereolithography machine very early and built the UK’s biggest service bureau off of it. After selling said business, he moved to China to start Star Rapid, a leading 3D printing and low-volume manufacturing service. Gordon tells about the very early days of the 3D printing industry. He also discusses entrepreneurship, building a business, marketing, doing business in China, 3D printing, CNC and many other subjects. Gordon is very frank and has a lot of really sage advice, as well as some war stories. We really liked talking to Gordon and hope that you enjoy listening to him, as well.

Nadav Goshen is the CEO of MakerBot. He talks to us about how the firm has developed from a scrappy startup to a part of Stratasys, including Makerbot’s identity and role. We discuss the education market, the business of catering to engineers, and Makerbot’s offering. We also get into manufacturing with clusters of desktop 3D printers and the future of 3D printing. Nadav explains what his vision is for the future and if the consumer 3D printing revolution will happen after all. We really liked speaking with Nadav and hope that you’ll like listening.

Cory Doctorow is a sci-fi author who is passionate about privacy, digital rights, makers, internet freedom, copyright and, also, 3D printing. In this talk, although we do get the distinct feeling that Cory is now mega-passionate about internet rights and less so about our industry, Cory gives us good tips on how to foster collaborative, open learning communities and make sure that open stays open. We also get a zoomed in and zoomed out view of the future and the battle for online rights. We really felt like we could have listened to Cory for hours and really hope that you enjoy this talk.

Kenneth Jiang’s The Spaghetti Detective uses machine learning and vision to analyze your FDM prints. Relying on Octoprint, the tool looks at your 3D printer to determine whether or not it is printing spaghetti. We manage to belatedly ask Kenneth what causes spaghetti, but most of the podcast is us brainstorming with Kenneth about all of the types of things his tool can do. Machine learning and machine vision will play an important part in 3D printing, but we have very few actual practical working examples. This is one of those few and we find out all about it, as well as Kenneth’s own story, in this podcast.  

Olaf Diegel is a professor at the University of Auckland who specializes in all aspects of design for additive manufacturing (DfAM). He also 3D prints guitars, other instruments, and eyeballs to try to fool Apple’s facial recognition software. Olaf’s lab sometimes builds heat exchangers along with all sorts of other parts. We have a conversation with him mostly about DfAM, including the software toolchain, AMF, nTopology, Fusion360, and more. We had a fun but valuable conversation with Olaf and hope that you enjoy it as well.

This time on the 3DPOD, we get to chat with Major Travis Tubbs of the U.S. Space Force. Surprisingly, a lot of the conversation was about plants, but we also discussed satellites, farming from space, farming in space, terraforming planets, 3D scanning plants, and a lot more. We were also super curious about the brand new U.S. Space Force. We asked questions about what it’s like working there and being part of such a new service. Due to Major Tubbs’s extensive research, we get to bounce all over the place speaking to him about topics relevant to 3D printing. The result of this is a fun and informative conversation about many things that you may not expect to think about.

Clement Moreau founded Sculpteo and led the 3D print service for ten years before selling it to BASF. In this episode, we follow his journey, discuss what made Sculpteo successful, and how the company changed along with its market. We hear of an initial consumer focus that was replaced by one focusing on European businesses. Now, as a part of BASF, how will Sculpteo fair? And what is Sculpteo’s role in BASF’s 3D printing expansion? Clement is open and direct and tells us about finding investors, growth, and focus. This is a really great story for entrepreneurs and those operating in the service bureau space!

In this episode, Max and I fall all over ourselves to ask questions of Douglas Hofmann, Principal Scientist at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). We also listen intently as Doug explains the ins and outs of bulk metallic glasses (aka “amorphous metals”) and why one would use these materials. With high wear and chemical resistance amorphous metals can be used for gearboxes that do not require lubrication, handy if you’re on Mars and the nearest Jiffy Lube is 319 million kilometers away. We also get to understand a bit more about what it is that JPL does and how it uses 3D printing to make parts for its vehicles and projects. Max and I could scarcely contain our excitement with this episode and we hope that you enjoy it also. By the way, to learn more about how 3D printing is used for space programs, check out 3DPrint.com’s Space Zone.

I’m unabashedly a Domin fanboy. The UK-based company makes high-performance hydraulic valves in Poland using powder bed fusion. These optimized products are high value and outperform traditionally manufactured systems in many metrics. It seems that the valve world is ripe for digitization and may forever be changed via 3D printing. Domin CEO Marcus Pont shimmers with ambition and has a lot of wise and insightful things to say on this podcast. We cover numerous subjects and I think that there are deep insights to be had in how to engineer for value and how to make breakthrough end-use parts. I was on a kind of hazy 3D printing high when this episode ended—give it a listen.

Byron Kennedy is the CEO of SPEE3D, an Australian firm that develops cold spray metal 3D printing. After a successful exit in powertrain components, he and his business partner Steven Camilleri were exploring 3D printing and new technologies. They found an existing 30-year-old technology, cold spray, and decided to make it additive. The result is a machine capable of producing 30 tonnes of metal parts a year at extremely low-cost points per part. Byron talks us through the technology and applications. He speaks of opportunities in marine and defense with large, low-cost components that are out of bounds for most of the rest of our industry. The boys down under have really turned the cold spray process on its head, but have also upended the economics of 3D printing. Byron gives us a lot of engineering insight related to how the process was designed and how they’re finding applications for their technology. It was a real eye-opener for Max and me and really let us think much much bigger about additive than we did before.

This episode is a blast, as we descend into the mayhem that was the early days of MolyWorks. A team that tries to make a gas atomizer on a founder’s lawn inside a shipping container and survives is a lucky one indeed. And now, years later, Chris Eonta’s company is more mature and shipping its Greyhound containerized atomization facilities worldwide. These can turn scrap into low-cost, high-performance metal powders for powder bed fusion. You can also use them to recycle scrap or to turn failed prints and supports into new powder. I really feel that Molyworks is overlooked and think that they could have a profound impact on making 3D printing more sustainable and moving it into austere areas. We hope you enjoy this episode.

Jeff Mize is a veteran entrepreneur who sold his firm NAVTEQ to Nokia for $8.1 billion and his Climate Corporation to Monsanto for $1.1 billion. He now heads up PostProcess Technologies. There, Jeff wants to help 3D printed goods become a reality through a number of post-processing solutions. With a variety of technologies with exciting names, Post Process helps remove SLA supports, de-powder SLS builds, and surface finish parts. We talked about Jeff’s goals for the company and how he sees the industry grow and change. I think that both Max and I learned a lot from Jeff and hope that you will as well.

Technical ceramics keep on working when a lot of other materials fail. If a part needs to be in a very hot or very chemically abrasive environment, or if you need incredibly high abrasion resistance, then technical ceramics will continue to work where polymers and metals would have long since failed. In a lot of applications, they’re lighter, as well, and have great properties for very specific uses. But, of all the materials, technical ceramics are the bastard stepchildren of the materials world. Misunderstood and unloved they are underutilized. One person who wishes to change this is Guillaume de Calan of Nanoe. Nanoe makes ceramic filaments for desktop machines and a number of other ceramics besides. Max and I were charmed by Guillaume’s deep knowledge of ceramics and the way he qualifies everything he says and is very realistic. We talk with Guillaume about sintering, binder jet, the use of desktop 3D printers for print ceramic parts, and many of the issues, as well as opportunities, with ceramics as well. At the end of it all, I think that this 3DPOD can really help you learn a lot more about ceramic materials and processes that could help you solve your problems.

Brent Wright is a prosthetist and orthotist who uses 3D printing to help people regain function in their lives. Max and I both found talking to him to be super inspiring. Brent works for EastPoint Prosthetics & LifeNabled, as well as Additive America. In this wide-ranging conversation, we talk about HP Multi Jet Fusion, prosthetics sockets, wear, posterior cruciate ligaments, VarioShore TPU 3D printing filament, how to make an orthotic, and how to become a prosthetist. Needless to say, Max and I were both taken by the extremely motivating and wonderful work that Brent does. It’s also a 3D printing application that makes useful parts that are very valuable to patients. Check out the training, prosthetics, and work that Brent does here. $70 gets someone a knee.

Pia Harlaß is the Head of Global Marketing & Corporate Communications for DyeMansion, a leading post-finishing company that offers machines that can depowder, create a uniform surface texture, and then color powder bed fusion parts. Now expanding beyond sintered components, the company is a key enabler in turning parts into products. I’m following the post-processing industry very closely because they’re a bellwether for our overall health. Anyone can buy a printer to liven up their innovation lab, but only those doing manufacturing will invest in post-processing equipment. Since so much of the cost of a 3D printed part is in labor, any gains made by DyeMansion and its peers will mean savings for all of us and more manufacturing opportunities. Between the promises of manufacturing with 3D printing stands a wall of costs and this wall is being brought down by DyeMansion and others. We really loved hearing from Pia about just how different the brash upstart DyeMansion is and how it has been to work at the company. We hope you’ll like this episode, as well!

Ethan Escowitz, whom we interviewed here, co-founded Arris, which hopes to revolutionize the world of composites. By combining molding and 3D printing, his company’s innovative technology can make parts with good surface finish almost automatically. It can also lay down continuous fiber in different compositions or concentrations across the part. This allows the company to reinforce parts or change properties of the part at certain areas, for example, modifying radio frequency properties or altering torsion in a determined way. The company hopes that it can play a role in drones, sports gear, cars, consumer electronics, and beyond. Arris is a really exciting startup with a lot of potential and we really enjoyed speaking with Ethan about the possibilities.

For the past several months, Jürgen von Hollen has been the CEO of Ultimaker. He comes from Cobot leader Universal Robotics and was previously in leading roles at several different filtration and industrial firms. von Hollen is a consummate strategist and professional, but will he expand the business while staying true to Ultimaker’s roots? What is his vision on segmenting, approaching, and selling into this market? What does he hope to achieve in the coming years? What role will resellers and partners play in the Ultimaker ecosystem? Learn the answers to all of these questions and get a feel for Ultimaker’s new chief on the 3DPOD.

Today, Max and I got to chat to Benny Buller, CEO of VELO3D. His company is shaking up the metal powder bed fusion market and Benny lets us in on the company’s strategy, how VELO3D’s technology works, and his vision on running and growing a business. Benny tells us about how he got to where he is today, as well. Benny also discloses that he wants VELO3D to be a public company. While he did not comment on the current rumors that he is in talks to merge with Barry Sternlicht’s Jaws Spitfire Acquisition Corp to get listed, we have reached out to VELO3D for a comment about the potential SPAC meger. He believes in direct communication and honesty. He additionally discusses the company’s focus on relatively few part families and industries. The firm wants to reach customers that could potentially buy many machines from it. This kind of thinking is very different from other players in the market and I love this approach to the industry. It’s a refreshing podcast with a lot of insight, especially for those who wish to grow their own businesses.

Sumeet Jain is the Senior Director of 3D Printing Worldwide for Arkema. Previously Sumeet headed up Sartomer, the company’s DLP and SLA resin brand, for seven years. Sumeet discusses with us how they make custom resins for applications and customers. Now, he’s also responsible for their sintering powders, including the bio-based Rilsan polyamide 11, Kepstan PEKK, and Kynar PVDF, among other materials. We discuss Arkema’s approach to the industry, its go-to-market strategy, and how 3D printing fits into the overall Arkema picture. We also talk about the materials themselves, such as PEKK and PVDF, as well as the company’s PMMA for FDM, which us initially perplexing for us. We really loved having Sumeet on the 3DPOD and enjoyed his clear explanations and open approach to 3D printing. We hope you do to.

After studying at Loughborough and MIT he worked on making snowboard components for Burton, Mike Vasquez started 3Degrees. There, he’s not only a 3D printing consultant but also has his own podcast. So, as a first for us, we’re doing a collab where you and the 3Degrees audience will be able to listen to our joint show. Ignore the MIT degrees and the vast knowledge, as well as Mike’s silky smooth voice, please, and stick to our program! Max and I again enjoyed this discussion and Mike’s vision on materials, polymers, and when and where 3D printing is useful. Mike is focusing on enabling small-to-medium businesses to tackle additive head-on in implementation and production. This is a super valuable area for him to leverage his knowledge. He has also launched Trace, an application to help companies track and implement quality management systems for additive.

I’m a huge nScrypt fan and love the firm’s technologies. The way they’ve defined their “line in a tool” approach to additive is really inspiring to me. With nScrypt machines, you can print electronics, polymers, micro dispense, mill and aerosol jet, all in one machine. The company is the only one that is working on combining bioprinting and electronics and is far ahead of anyone else in electronics 3D printing, as well. At the same time it leads in high-tech, rugged printers that can be used in austere environments and has worked on printers for use on board the International Space Station. I love the capabilities of nScrypt’s machines and think that they are criminally unknown. Talking with the CEO of nScrypt, Ken Church, was a blast. We discussed bioprinting from a realistic standpoint, as well as electronics 3D printing and the future of our industry. Ken’s a straight shooter and is as knowledgeable as he is opinionated, so you’ll learn a lot from him, I’m sure. We also surprisingly talked a while about the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), with nScrypt having been partially funded by them. Unsurprisingly, Max and I had a little to say about that, as well. This would be a great episode to give a listen to, especially if you’re thinking of applying for DARPA funding or have something that could help them. But, if you just want to be completely jazzed out about our technology and the possibilities, well then you should listen, too.