0:00 - intro
Today we have Desktop Metal making a massive acquisition, the Czinger 3D Printed Car smashing lap records in Northern California, ICON printing the world’s largest 3D printed building and more! Right here on Vision Miner 3D Printing News!
0:14 - Desktop Metal Acquires ExOne
Starting off with some investment news, we’ve got Desktop Metal acquiring ExOne! They’re buying out all their issued and outstanding stocks for an estimated $575 million. As you might recall, Desktop Metal has seemingly been acquiring everything left and right in 2021 from DLP printer manufacturer EnvisionTEC, powder AM solutions company Aerosint, Adaptive3D, and now, one of the best Metal 3D Printing companies out there, ExOne.
Desktop Metal and ExOne have been understandably butting heads for several years now, since both companies offer industrial binder jetting, metal printing solutions. With this merger, both companies expect to combine their expertise -- ExOne with metals and ceramics, and Desktop Metal with their Single Pass System. The merger is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2021 -- what do you think? Is Desktop Metal really headed to the top?
2:25 - Czinger Sets Lap Record
US automaker Czinger set the new production lap record around Laguna Seca with their 21C hypercar. Czinger was born out of Divergent3D, with the goal of demonstrating how 3D printing will revolutionize car manufacturing.
The lap record was attempted and set on July 21, 2021 with Joel Miller at the wheel, using a set of road tires, specifically Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2R tires, not slicks. The Czinger 21C ran around the “Dry Lagoon” in 1:25:44, a full two seconds faster than the previous record holder, the McLaren Senna. The 21C is powered by a new 2.88L V8 that runs on a range of fuels, like carbon recycled methanol and other e-fuels. It’s also got two electric motors in the front, giving it a total of 1250 horsepower giving it the magical 1:1 power to weight ratio! All this results in a 0-60 time of 1.9 seconds, a quarter mile time of 8.1 seconds and a theoretical top speed of 281 mph. Yeah, that’s pretty fast.
4:30 - ICON Prints Largest 3D Printed Building
At 3,800 square feet, it’s officially the largest 3D printed structure in North America. Designed in conjunction with the Texas Military Department, this new structure is located at the Camp Swift training center in Bastrop, Texas. They’ve created training barracks large enough to house 72 soldiers, and they’ll start using it this fall.
The training barracks were 3D printed using ICON’s Vulcan construction technology and were designed by Logan Architecture, with structural engineering by Fort Structures. ICON keeps dipping its toes into military projects, as you might remember the vehicle hide structure they created for the Marine Corps last year.
Part of the reason the Military has been so interested in ICON printers is their speed -- they build quickly -- it only takes a matter of days to erect an entire structure that would often take weeks or months with traditional methods. This is particularly exciting for the battlefield -- as they gain ground, structures can be built in record time, with comparatively little effort.
6:09 - ICON x NASA
On top of this, they also got in with the space agencies -- they’ve been awarded a subcontract from NASA to deliver a 3D printed habitat, known as Mars Dune Alpha, at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. The 1,700 square-foot structure will simulate a realistic Mars habitat to support long-duration, exploration-class space missions.
CHAPEA is a sequence of three one-year Mars surface mission simulations at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, and they’re using these structures to discover risk and resource trades to support crew health and performance for future missions to Mars. Future habitats have the potential to be 3D printed to eliminate the need for launching large quantities of building materials on multiple flights, which would be extremely cost-prohibitive.
ICON also got more funding from NASA to launch “Project Olympus”, beginning research and development for construction on the Moon. So as they say… “To the moon!”
8:19 - Question of the Day
Anyway, what was your favorite story today? Leave it in the comment sections down below!
At Vision Miner, we specialize in Functional 3D printing, especially high-performance plastics like PEEK, ULTEM, PPSU, PPS, CFPA, and more. If you're interested in using functional 3D printing and materials in your business, feel free to reach out, and we can help you make the right choice for your application.
Call 833-774-6863 or email contact@visionminer.com, and we're here to help!
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