3DPOD: Insight from 3D Printing Pros – Details, episodes & analysis

Danny Piper, of NewCap Partners, helps companies with mergers and acquisitions, financial analysis, and more, particularly in the additive manufacturing sector. As an analyst and sparring partner for the industry, Danny is known for being insightful, forthright, and bold. As you can learn from his podcast, Printing Money, he’s unafraid to share unpopular opinions that may make you uncomfortable but will push you to think critically and make the right decisions. In this episode of the 3DPOD, we discuss current issues surrounding funding, exits, growth, consolidation, and the market as a whole. We really enjoyed this discussion and hope you will too.

Sam O´Leary worked in making aftermarket components and reverse engineering before joining GE Power and GE Additive. Subsequently he went to SLM Solutions. He was there for a real resurgence of the company with SLM releasing ever larger models culminating with the large-format,12-laser NXG XII powder bed fusion 3D printer. Then the firm was sold to Nikon, to form Nikon SLM Solutions. Sam talks to us about the laser wars, about ever larger printers, strategy and how to run a business well. His focus on doing simple things right, driving the right innovations with and for customers, and executing has paid off handsomely for the firm. We talk as well about the future of additive and what will get us there.

Charles Bibas worked in the barcode industry for many years, until he discovered a method that could revolutionize 3D printing. With a small team, he created a better optics package for 3D printing. Rather than going for a salvo, Charles’s company Tecnica uses a Lens Free Optical Scanner (LFOS or Ogon) to obtain better results for selective laser sintering (SLS). A labor of love for Charles, Tecnica still had a go-to-market strategy. We talk to him about his plans to take this product to market.

When Daghan Cam founded AI Build, the firm’s technology was a made up of a single 3D printer attached to a robotic arm for large scale polymer parts. The team did an about face and now focuses on developing the software that controls robotic arm 3D printers, including polymer, composites, concrete and metal. Makers of wire arc additive manufacturing, extrusion, and construction systems are all talking to AI Build now to create their software. With a recent injection of $3.2 million in funding, AI Build is a very exciting company and Daghan tells us its story so far.

Duann Scott is an industrial-designer-turned-business-development specialist who has worked for such illustrious firms as Shapeways, Autodesk, and nTopology. In our interview with him, he talks fluidly about his vision for the 3D printing software market and what is impeding additive manufacturing (AM) from moving forward. Duann is a firm believer in design for additive, working as an educator of these skills and assisting startups through his Bits to Atoms consultancy. Come hear what he has to say about software for a 3D printed world.

Raymond Weitekamp’s research at the California Institute of Technology was the basis for a new way to 3D print resin. Now, Weitekamp’s trying to commercialize the technology via a startup called polySpectra. Using existing vat polymerization machines, the company can release unique 3D printing materials with functional properties that can withstand real-world conditions.

Rather than sell a machine and resin together, or partner with a single vendor, polySpectra is trying to sell its materials to the emerging “open materials” space, in which customers can use machines with the materials of their choice. Raymond’s path is one that will help others in producing more end-use parts with vat polymerization. Will this startup enable the creation of new disruptive parts that will shape the future of 3D printing?

Melissa Snover got started 3D printing candy, but she saw a more meaningful opportunity in 3D printing customized vitamins. Now, you can go to the Nourish3D website, take a quiz, and get your customized vitamin gummies. The idea is that everyone, at every moment, could require a different set of nutrients. Nourish3D has developed its printers in-house to be able to make custom vitamin concoctions to order. I love this idea, the opportunity and Melissa’s entrepreneurial zeal and I really hope that you’ll enjoy this episode!

Manufacturing consultant Ivan Madera went to California knowing no one there and little about additive manufacturing. Now, his company, Morf3D, 3D prints aerospace and defense parts to the highest tolerances. Picking up investments from EOS, Boeing, and Nikon, the company makes parts that power rockets and satellites. Ivan’s ambitions stretch further still. He wants his company to partner with others to make production cells that can lead to a more industrialized form of manufacturing with 3D printing. We talk about what got Ivan to where he is now and where he wants to be in the future. We hope that you really enjoy this episode!

MakerVerse is a Europe-based 3D printing service platform with global ambitions. The company aims to be the place where your orders for all 3D printing technologies come together and get fulfilled by vetted partners. Focused more on manufacturers than individuals, MakerVerse aims to be different than existing 3D printing services. The company is also different because it was founded by Siemens Energy, Zeiss, and other investors. In this episode, we hear from Marcus about the company’s vision, goals, and ambitions. There is currently consolidation in 3D printing services, with American startups, SPACs, and traditional players fighting for relevance, as well as scale. What will be the role of MakerVerse’s in this? We’ve yet to see, but, in this podcast, Markus makes a compelling case for his firm.

John Wilczynski is the Executive Director of America Makes. Established a decade ago, America Makes performs research coordination, workforce training and education, standards development, and more for the additive manufacturing industry. John tells us about the progress that the organization has made and the projects that they are involved in. We get a look at some of the technological challenges that America Makes is trying to solve and others that don’t fit into its purview. We also get to see just how you can bring an industry together.

You can learn more about America Makes initiatives and many of its member companies’ initiatives too, at the MMX Conference in Youngstown, OH (Aug. 16-18, 2022).