Episodes

Mathematician Elissa Ross is a member of MESH Consultants, which commercializes mathematical solutions for practical industry problems. METAFOLD is a MESH spinout that aims to rid us of our meshes and STLs by allowing users to create intricate and lightweight lattices and other complex structures. We loved talking to Elissa and finding out how researchers can come out of left field to solve some fundamental issues that our industry has. METAFOLD is also interesting because it has a go to market ...

CEO of Electroninks Brett Walker shares a roller coaster of an entrepreneur story on the 3DPOD. His company made it big early on. However, disappointment set in early. Yet, the company managed to build itself a new foundation. We talk to Brett about 3D printed inks, conductive ink, and the elusive 3D printing of circuits. We also discuss Electoninks´ Kickstarter and their development as a firm. Great episode especially if you´d like to delve into 3D printed electronics and circuits.

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 ...

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 thin...

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 an...

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 w...

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 let...

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 suppo...

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, w...

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 o...

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 q...

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 t...

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 ...

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 do...

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....

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 mate...

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 ho...

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 ...

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 comb...

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 lo...

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 innova...

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 t...