Review (sort of) of the TCT show at the nec birmingham 30th sep - 2nd october

[curious aardvark]

Having gone to the tct show for the first time last year - I was keen to see what the changes in the industry were this year.

We got there about 11am and were kicked out at 17:00 when it closed.
According to my mate I didn't stop talking for the whole 6 hours.
I'll have to take his word for it, I was too busy chatting to notice ;-)

Last year we left at 15:00 and went round another of the exhibitions that was on at the same time.

This year I could probably have easily spent another couple of hours at the tct show alone and we didn't get to any of the other shows at all.

It was just amazing to see how much has changed in the industry in 12 months.
last year - no flexible filaments - this year I collected samples from three different manufacturers, along with numerous other weird and wonderful filament types.

Lots more sla and resin based machines this year and some incredibly detailed prints. Also a couple of multipurpose interchangeable head printers.
I'm not sure who the target markets are, as I believe most of the new printers are priced outside of home use, and a lot of small companies are still wary of the technology. But we'll see.

And no I didn't take any pictures (too busy talking), and I didn't get names of the people at the 3dp unlimited stand.
One of whom gave me a long and comprehensive tour of simplify3d - the software they use on the big printer 1m x1m x0.5m - and one of the things I was keen to find at the show as it's the only other software that's fully compatible with my flashforge.
It's always good to have an unbiased opinion by someone who uses the software on a daily basis.

And very grateful to her I am :-) (sorry - but if you look in the tct 2014 buyers guide, she's the one looking sad, holding the normal sized print, next to the happy woman holding the giant print - thanks, it really was much appreciated) .
Just need to ask a couple questions on the simplify3d forum and I'll probably be buying a copy.
Some of the things it can do are pretty impressive.

I met Janan Thomson, the marketing representative for ninjaflex and had a great chat with her, that might lead to some interesting things in the future :-)
Also great chat with Hang Qu at polymakr, who not only loaded me down with a lot of 15m samples of his filaments but promised to send me some of their new flexible, pealable support filament.

Then there was the really interesting chat with the Matter & Form 3d scanner people. That's an impressive piece of kit and I wasn't aware just how much the price had dropped or that they now had uk based distributors.
I'm trying to convince Christina to let me buy one of the demo models at the end of the show on thursday. Well it's less luggage to take back to the states with her and the nec is only 20 minutes drive from my house :-)
If I can't talk her into it - I'll probably buy one anyway.

On top of that, I've got some not wood-wood type filament (think that was polymakr again) some new pla-type biodegradable filament by biome3d - promised I'd let the woman who developed it know what i think.

And quite a large coil of something or other from the colorfabb people (pet, I think). HE cut it off so quick I'm not entirely sure what he gave me. Alas they didn't have any samples of the copper and bronze filaments in 1.75mm. But no doubt if they'd had any, they'd have given me some. They did have sample prints in the filament and they were extremely impressive. So I suspect I'll be buying the filament in the near future for sure.
And again, great guys.

Kudos also to the guys at ICE and 3dfilaprint - both of whom also loaded me down with filament samples.
Interesting times ahead :-)

The other thing that struck me about this years show - and I know it was only the first day - but there weren't many people there. Probably why people were happy to spend so much time talking to me - I think they were bored out of their skulls.

On top of that, the 3dpunlimited people - helluva printer and really really nice people - gave me their 'secret' to keeping prints stuck to a giant printbed for multi day long prints.
I'm going to try it out before telling you what it is - I'm still not entirely convinced they weren't winding us up - it's so off the wall, that I'm damned if I'm going to repeat it in public until I know it's not a trick played on the englishmen :-)

On the commercial side - Mcor have massively improved the feel, quality and detail of their full colour paper based 3d printers. Last year the prints looked and felt like papermache - and I wasn't at all impressed.
This year I was extremely impressed.
I think they've started dipping the finished prints in resin. But the finished prints not only looked better but they felt more like a plastic and less like paper mache. And matched any of the more expensive full colour machines for appearence and texture. They also seemed to have more detail in the prints.
Last year, I couldn't really see the process as a mainstream contender. This year they've completely changed my mind.
Massive improvements all round.

There were also a lot of big commercial full colour multi material machines about. Again - new in the last 12 months.
The objet sample we blagged last year was a soft white material that's gradually gone hard and brittle over the 12 months. This year multi texture, full colour and the starting beast is only £120,000 (only lol)

There was also the long and fascinating chat we had with the chap from a company whose name I have to say I can't remember - I'll ask dave tomorrow, he had a load of ilterature from them.
They not only could print metals even to use for repairing existing parts, even to a single piece of metal one half of which was magnetic one half wasn't.
But they could also print electrical circuits. The demo at the show was a working led circuit printed on an egg - yes an actual hollowed out hens egg. And not just wire circuits they printed with electronic components for full electronic devices.
Just amazing technology.
And again really great guys. WE must have been at their stand for well over half an hour.

Then there was the chat with 3d hubs guy. Looks like I can meet their quality criteria and the idea of being paid to print things for people, definitely appeals to me. And they don't have anybody in my area.

And then there was the nectar printer. Okay I admit, I still find their approach to be patronising and annoying, but I have to admit the machine itself is quite an impressive looking beast.
It's a big delta in a smart looking enclosure with a touch activated motorised door. There wasn't anything being printed nor any print samples that I can recall. The retail price will be around £3000. With kickstarter models around £2300.
So it's not aimed at the home market. But at schools, colleges and small businesses.
It's got a hexagonal print bed and the total thing stands about 4 and a half feet high. The arms are double armature and the whole thing looks like a quality beast. Everything else is hidden.
It would have been good to see one actually printing, but that aside, I was suitably impressed.
OH and it's a dual head printer - unusual on a delta.

I think I left a couple of people with ideas that should make them money (possibly very serious money in one case) and left with plenty new ideas myself.

The cleverest thing for future fdm printers I saw, was someone who was using a directdrive print head but with the motor on the frame (pruse i3 I think) and connected to the extruder head with a very lightweight and flexible drive shaft.
Gave you all the control of a direct drive extruder with the lightweight of a bowden setup.
This could easily be adapted for a lightweight dual or single head for a delta printer.
There really are some ingenious people around.

All in all A fantastic day and a lot of follow up for the future.
I'm hoping I'll be popping back in briefly on thursday for a second hand 3d scanner - but if not, well nothing ventured, nothing gained :-)

Updates as I test the various filaments I collected.

But just a brilliant day all round.