One of the big companies at EuroMold 2013 is Groupe Gorgé. Right now this French engineering business is presenting its first “Prodways” 3D printers. CEO Raphaël Gorgé acquired 88 percent of 3D printer maker Phidias Technologies in May, and then renamed it Prodways. Under this name, Gorgé is now releasing four 3D printers, such as the K20 Producer and the M350 Height Control.
Image: K20 Producer, Prodways.
Because of these new printers, we wanted to speak with the French business man. His company has created the so-called Movinglight® technology, and claims to revolutionize the field of 3D printing, so we really became interested in what he has to tell. Well, Gorgé thinks 3D printing can take us to infinity and beyond and it’s hard to find some-one who’s more enthusiastic about 3D printing than the Groupe Gorgé CEO. Below you can read our full interview.
Groupe Gorgé is at EuroMold now. What can visitors expect from your presentation?
RG: “We are present at Euromold all the week to introduce our technology and our range of 3D Printers, available in 2014. Every Prodways’ 3D producer uses our proprietary MOVINGLight®. Four machines are presented: the M350, the M350 Height Control, the K20 and the D35 producers. On our stand Hall 11 0E28, you can see our M350 Producer, designed to produce large parts of diagonals greater than 1 meter and up to 550 mm high, as well as smaller parts in large quantities, at speeds as yet unseen. We present also the K20 Producer, specifically designed for composite parts, due to its unique processing capacity of very highly viscous materials (pasty textures). Combining throughput, resolution and precision, we really think that K20 is the industrial solution for manufacturing composite parts, particularly ceramic and metal, by 3D printing. The D35 Producer presents the highest degree of precision in all 3 dimensions (horizontal and vertical), exactly right for intricate, precise and durable dental applications as well as biomedical in general.”
Could you explain us how the Movinglight® technology works and how it will revolutionize the field of 3D printing?
RG: “The Movinglight® technology is based on the association of a moving DLP and the latest generation of high power LED (365nm LED). We are the first 3D Printer manufacturer to introduce a moving DLP head allowing the projection of the image to cure as the head moves. Moving a DLP over a large build area allows the individual images to be small, hence much more focused and more precise than if they covered the whole platform and did not move. This way, the high resolution is active everywhere. The advantages in resolution, homogeneity, and overall efficiency are absolutely unique: our largest machines achieve more than half a billion pixels per layer, at no extra cost in manufacturing cost or build speed. The DLP can supporty UV light at wavelength of 365nm rather than the near-visible 385-405nm, and using high power LED increases the speed of the polymerization reaction so layers can be built much faster. It also provides a better match with a wider range of photoinitiators used for the polymerization reaction of high-performance materials.”
“This technology will revolutionize the field of 3D printing because it is the only one in the world that answers simultaneously the two major market’s key expectations: on the one side, very high quality of the parts produced in terms of resolution, precision and premium materials, even on large parts, – an unparalleled perfection level in the market to date- on the other side production profitability in terms of speed, productivity and reductions in production costs. These two major advantages bring a major competitive advantage to our industrial clients, including the biomedical field.”
Image: D35 Producer, Prodways.
You also claim Prodways could lead to biomedical and industrial advantages. Could you give us your most important examples of such advances due to this system?
RG: “In the biomedical field, the most important application is currently the production of dental models. Our machines perform very well in this demanding application in both production speed and quality, especially the imperative of precision, thanks to our Height Control system. Themechanical design of several of our 3D Printers allows for highly accurate control of the parts’ stereogeometry and their native speed (moving DLP), accelerated by the presence of two luminous heads (LED), results in high production throughput, while maintaining very high quality. This means a very low cost price per part, satisfying the most stringent demands for profitability. To be precise, we can produce 220 full‐scale models in 8h30. In the industrial field, we are the only ones to propose a robust proven solution to manufacture technical ceramic parts.”
Image: M350 Producer, Prodways.
Where do you think 3D printing will lead us to in about 10 years?
RG: “To infinity and beyond! More seriously, everyone is talking about this “Industrial revolution” brought by 3D Printing. We agree this view, but even if it is nice to dream, we prefer to place ourselves above all in today’s reality. Challenges to provide efficient and reliable machines both from the point of view of very high quality of the part produced and profitability of the production process are of great complexity. The machines we present at Euromold meet these challenges right now. Exciting challenges we face now lie in the field of materials. We wish to propose in the near future new couples systems / materials that will make true what everyone is dreaming today… but above all we want to work where are the real needs of our industrial clients, thanks to our scalable technology and attentive listening to these needs.”
Do you think every home will soon have a 3D printer?
RG: “Certainly I hope so.”
EuroMold 2013 continues until December 6th and takes place in Frankfurt, Germany.