Episodes

Hunma Khan founded Astro Mechanical Testing Lab to create a testing and qualification lab specific to Additive Manufacturing. Her customers are most of the notable firms in New Space, defense and government that work in 3D printing. That kind of success did not come overnight though. Humna spent years at SpaceX, NASA JPL and at the US Air Force. In this episode of the 3DPOD, Humna tells us of her journey in 3D printing and space technology. It´s a fascinating tale and we hope you enjoy it as wel...

Ian Yang is the founder of Gantri, a startup which uses desktop 3D printers to make lamps. We love Gantri because it deploys 3D printing for consumer products and is one of very few firms to do so. Gantri is pushing our technology into your living room and bedroom. So, how does the company manage to do that? We follow the company’s path, software, and design sensibility. We look at how they use 3D printers that you may have at home and tried to make their own. Ian tells us why they manufacture i...

Frank Herzog, alongside his wife, commercialized Concept Laser. The firm was later sold to GE to become the core of GE Additive, and Frank stuck around to build out GE’s operations in Lichtenfels. Later, Frank and Co. started an R&D center, a seed capital fund and a Venture Capital firm all united under the HZG Group. Frank tells us his extraordinary tale of family and entrepreneurship. We learn of his principles and what he thinks make companies successful. We could have easily spoken with Fran...

Meld is one of the most exciting metal 3D printing startups out there. Its additive friction stir deposition is a solid-state process that can print very large metal parts that no other technology can without the use of a chamber. On this episode of the 3DPOD, we have a veteran guest returning. Tim Bell, Chief Operating Officer at MELD Manufacturing Corporation, returns to us to explain the technology and the company. We talk about the possibilities and the applications, including making gradien...

Ben Schrauwen was a Professor of Machine Learning who also had a few startups under his belt when joined Autodesk and worked on the CAD giant’s 3D printing software. He then started Oqton, a software firm later sold to 3D Systems. In this episode of the 3DPOD, Ben goes into depth with us to explain machine learning, AI and the opportunities there. I really enjoyed his explanations of machine learning and what it is and isn’t. He then goes on to talk about Oqton and the future of 3D printing.

Scott Volk has deep experience in additive and, over the decades, he’s stood at the forefront of polymer and metal implementations, working for such firms as Incodema3D and GPI Prototype. Upon leaving Keselowski Advanced Manufacturing, where he served as Vice President of Business Development & Strategy, in 2022, Scott’s a free agent via his own firm, Advanced Additive Innovations Inc. Now, he can speak freely and he does so extensively in this episode of the 3DPOD. We get a well-informed, no-ho...

Martin Eichenhofer took his research from ETH Zurich and turned it into an exciting startup, 9T Labs, which hopes to make its two step carbon fiber 3D printing technique suitable for large-scale volume production of programmable carbon fiber components. Carbon fiber and other CFRP parts could replace metal, make elements lighter, and represent a new method for altering the form factor of many objects today. Bikes, drones, and consumer electronics could be just some of the areas impacted. In this...

Matt Smith started his firm TCPoly while he was a researcher at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He parlayed this small business into manufacturing filament that is thermally, but not electrically conductive conductive. With a thermal conductivity of 6 W/m-K, TCPoly filament can be used to create structures with properties that other parts simply cannot have. TCPoly has expanded to manufacturer panels that could help keep large buildings cool. Matt’s story is one that really illustrates how...

As Head of Business Development, Marketing and Sales, Ole von Seelen has been helping trinckle 3D grow in the 3D printing space for years now. Starting out as a package for managing online services, the firm expanded to become a productivity software until pivoting again to become a customization software vendor. Now armed with investment from the HZG Group, it wants to accelerate its growth into making mass customization and personalization easy for anyone to do. On this episode of the 3DPOD, w...

Samantha Snabes, co-founder of re:3D, is extremely humble, but as we dive into her story in this episode of the 3DPOD, we learn just how exciting, fascinating and fun her life has truly been. It is a story of high-speed entrepreneurship for good. Max and I are swept away by her story and that of re:3D, which has brought a family of large- and medium-format 3D printers to life. re:3D’s Gigabot systems have good intentions but are also being used in serious applications at NASA, Lockheed Martin a...

David Moodie is a New Zealand-based product designer who took a tumble down the 3D printing rabbit hole. After meeting the world’s nicest venture capital fund, a fanciful client project morphed into a startup, dubbed Foundry Lab. The firm’s metal casting technology is a potentially very exciting one. Speeding up the die casting process is something of which others have steered clear. By creating a unique technology meant to accelerate die casting, the company does not have to grab a lot of marke...

Slant 3D CEO Gabe Bentz only wanted to design and market 3D printed parts, but found existing service bureaus too expensive. So, he made a pivot and Slant 3D deployed the world’s largest 3D printer farm. The company now uses desktop 3D printers to make products at scale. This is a potentially very disruptive strategy for the additive manufacturing industry. In this episode of the 3DPOD, Gabe talks us through what Slant does and how it aims to grow.

In this episode of the 3DPOD, we speak to Dr. Steven Kurtz, director of the Implant Research Center at Drexel University’s School of Biomedical Engineering, Science, and Health Systems and also acts as an implant consultant. We have a great conversation about the PAEK family of high-performance polymers, including PEKK and PEEK, for use in the body. Dr. Kurtz also discusses the opportunities for Ultra-High-Molecular-Weight Polyethylene (UHMWPE) which is still a nascent material for additive manu...

Coming from the world of gaming, Lars Brubaker started MatterHackers to take part in the 3D printing revolution. Due to his background, he has good war stories: trying to find filament when no one was selling it, except a single individual in New Zealand, or seeking out customer service on some of the first consumer 3D printers. Lars also tells us about building companies: what kind of values, metrics, and strategies you have to do in order to be successful. By being close to your customers and ...

Fergal Coulter, a postdoctoral research fellow at ETH Zurich, is one of the most interesting scientists working in 3D printing today. His work spans from 3D printing on balloon shapes to heart valves, electro active actuators, prosthesis, 3D printing bacteria and much more. You can check out his research on his website and his YouTube channel. Now, Fergal is working on an eight-axis 3D printer which he is to release open source to the world. This is an astounding project and could help the world...

Bob Markley, Executive Vice President at additive manufacturing provider ADDMAN Group, has had an eventful journey in 3D printing. In this episode of the 3DPOD, he discusses the route to starting a 3D printing service with one machine and trying to grow it. Now, he’s a part of the fast-expanding ADDMAN empire. What does it take to run a service today? Where are the opportunities and what should a 3D printing service do? What will happen with consolidation in 3D printing? Bob tells us very candid...

Maxi Strixner has worked in engineering positions and leading firms such as EOS, AMCM, AP Works and now The Exploration Company. We talk to him about designing for additive, engineering for additive and what it takes to be an engineer in additive manufacturing. We also discuss new space, aviation, racing cars, automotive, generative design, optimization and much much more. Really exciting look at what it takes to engineer for success in Additive.

In this week’s episode of the 3DPOD, we have Paul Gradl, a principal engineer in the Combustion Devices Design and Development Branch at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. This is an episode that we’ve been looking forward to for months. We wanted to have Paul on because he wrote and cowrote a couple of papers which we love, including “Metal additive manufacturing in aerospace: A review.” It’s simply fantastic, providing a great overview of what is going on in metal 3D printing in the aerospace ...

Prior to establishing precision metal 3D printing firm Holo, Inc., Arian Aghababaie founded a firm dedicated to building a digital light processing (DLP) 3D printer. That startup was quickly acquired by Autodesk, leading to the CAD software giant’s Spark/Ember 3D printer, a DLP machine that was widely used. Later on, he spun out the printer technology to form Holo, which uses what I refer to as “slurry stereolithography” to produce finely detailed metal parts as a service. Holo is trying to indu...

Andrew Cunningham is an additive manufacturing (AM) process engineer at General Motors (GM). He candidly tells us about how GM is using 3D printing across the organization. We get some tidbits on everything from prototyping to tooling to racing. He also talks about the company’s new $300,000 CELESTIQ vehicle, which will feature a variety of AM technologies by the firm to make over 100 3D printed metal and polymer parts.

Tim Bell started off as a machinist, working a lot of jobs in engineering, program management, and more before going to Siemens Digital Industries, where he is now Additive Manufacturing Business Manager. On the 3DPOD, he speaks to us about digital twins, digital thread, and contextualizes these broader manufacturing trends. Tim also discusses the opportunities in additive and manufacturing going forward. How does Siemens work with companies to help them adopt 3D printing? What are some of the p...

On this episode of the 3DPOD, Tim Berry, Head of Manufacturing at Launcher, takes us through what you need to be an engineer working in new space today. He discusses how Launcher uses 3D printing to make components for propulsion and other spacecraft systems. You’ll be blown away just how extensive the startup’s 3D printing activity is. You’ll also be quite surprised by what copper they use. This is a must-listen if you’re interested in the new space race.

Before serving in his current role as Technology Director of America Makes, Brandon Ribic worked at Los Alamos and Rolls Royce. In this episode of the 3DPOD, Brandon takes us through what America Makes is up to, how to spread additive around the U.S., and what is holding back the 3D printing industry. From training to capacity building, we’re told what could and does help. Great conversation that has a lot to offer, particularly for listeners who want to move additive from the sketch pad to prod...

Sascha Wenzler, Vice President of Formnext, is with us on the 3DPOD again. He’s now in a much more relaxed frame of mind, now that we have a complete trade show taking place with significant visitors and exhibitors and free from pandemic fears. We talk to Sascha about the trends at Formnext 2022, what kind of stands we will be seeing, what companies are doing to promote themselves, and what kinds of activities will be taking place. Sascha also discusses the types of lectures, courses, and presen...