President’s Report
Gary Rabinovitz
President
Mid-July to late August is normally a bit of a slow time for the AMUG board. This year, not so much. I have several very important updates for you.
First, I would like to personally thank Brad Palumbo (Phoenix Analysis & Design Technologies) who held the position of AMUG secretary. Due to an unforeseen workload, Brad had to step down from his AMUG board position. I would now like to welcome Brad’s replacement as secretary of AMUG, Mark Abshire, our past vice president. Mark brings a wealth of experience and consistency to the board. Wanting to continue to make AMUG a success, Brad has offered his services onsite at the 2013 AMUG Conference in any capacity that is needed.
The second change, which you will be seeing very shortly, is the decision of the board to use a new registration company, RegOnline. This was one of our weaknesses at last year’s event, and we vowed to make the whole registration process easier. After reviewing many alternatives, we feel that we have done this with RegOnline. We expect registration to go live the first week of September.
I spoke in my July newsletter article about the 2013 AMUG Conference being more inclusive of education and training and how that can be achieved with the help of our users, OEMs and exhibitors. A call for presenters will be going out very soon, so please don’t wait for a call from me or another AMUG board member. Step up and offer your services now. It will be a very rewarding experience.
For those of you attending TCT Live this year, stop by the AMUG stand. We’d like to meet you, say “Hello,” and pass on updated conference materials.
Best Regards,
Gary Rabinovitz
AMUG President
president@am-ug.com
Our Mission: Additive Manufacturing Users Group (AMUG) educates and advances the uses and applications of additive manufacturing technologies.
AMUG launches new social media sites! Connect with the Additive Manufacturing community, stay up-to-date, and give us a follow on Twitter (@AdditiveMFGUG), on Facebook (www.facebook.com/additivemanufacturingusersgroup) and on LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com/groups/Additive-Manufacturing-Users-Group-AMUG-448958)
Vice President’s Report
Mark Barfoot
Vice President
LinkedIn Group
I am privileged to have been asked to manage the AMUG LinkedIn group. The AMUG board’s desire for the AMUG LinkedIn group is to have a place where AMUG members can find answers to key issues and problems they are experiencing. How is it different from other LinkedIn groups?
- It is a tightly moderated group so that you don’t have to sift through endless posts that pitch products and services in order to find the information you desire. We keep the focus on technical issues. We’ll only post services that are new to the industry, specific to our group and presented in a factual manner (not an adjective-laden sales pitch). All questionable topics are reviewed by the board before being posted to the group.
- The group’s primary goal is to allow AMUG users to connect between our annual conferences so that you don’t have to wait to find the answer to your questions. We want to extend the value of the conference: provide AM users information and answers that assist, guide and inform.
- The AMUG board will use the group to post details about the upcoming conference and solicit input on topics or seminars you desire to have as part of our agenda.
We have almost 200 members so far, and the numbers are growing strong. If you haven’t checked it out yet, please sign up for the group. We also encourage you to invite any of your fellow additive manufacturing users to join.
Take some time to check out our posts or add one of your own. The group will only be as good as the members make it — informed responses to questions and useful posts of good topics.
Some recent topics have been:
- 18K gold: experience in making gold jewelry?
- Inner surface roughness: how to smooth it out?
- Objet build history: how to extract?
- SLA: help with low laser power error
- .3ds and .obj: how to translate to .igs or .stl?
If anyone has any questions, concerns or ideas for improvements, feel free to contact me or any other member of your AMUG board.
Regards,
Mark Barfoot
vicepresident@am-ug.com
TCT Launches Personalize 
Few, if any, can dispute that 3D printing is an exciting and growing technology area that has hit the headlines across many channels in the last 12 months. As always, this increase in awareness has also resulted in a confusing array of sources providing some wildly inaccurate and
misleading information, particularly for the maker and the consumer.So where can you go to get real and reliable information? The short answer is: Personalize.
Personalize was launched recently by the publishers of the TCT portfolio of products. Personalize is a welcome addition that is dedicated to individual makers and consumers engaging with — or looking to engage with — 3D printing in a personal way.
Part of the TCT Live 2012 (September 25-26, 2012, Birmingham, UK) experience will be an extension of www.prsnlz.me The Personalize Pavilion will bring together the 3D printing and personal manufacturing communities for two days and provide a dedicated hub for visitors to come to grips with the reality of 3D printing.
The aim is to demonstrate a wide variety of entry-level 3D printers for do-it-yourself makers all in one place, as well as some of the most creative and well-informed consumer facing brands that are utilizing 3D printing for their business models.
Sponsor News – Stratasys
Engineering a Difference
Stratasys has launched a campaign called “Engineering a Difference.” The goal is to show how engineers, designers and teachers use our 3D printers to help them change the world. The first entry is “Magic Arms,” a video story about how two brilliant engineers and a Stratasys 3D Printer helped a little girl lift her arms and hug despite a condition that left her arm muscles undeveloped.
Researchers Tariq Rahman and Whitney Sample, featured in the video, are 3D printing heroes (read the full story). Additional stories feature NASA scientists building the Mars Rover and an engineer using a 3D-printed device to bring electricity to remote parts of Africa.
Let us know how you’re changing the world with 3D printing at: http://www.facebook.com/stratasys.
Sponsor News – Objet
SIGGRAPH 2012
SIGGRAPH is the place to be for amazing interactive and computer graphics technologies. The cool factor and gee-whiz factor are through the roof. Yet, Objet managed to stand out amongst the crowd. In the local Fox News report, Objet’s 3D printers opened the segment (watch it here).
Joining Objet’s lineup of 3D printers and parts were Jason Lopes (Legacy Effects) and his stunning Hulk and John Carter characters from the recently completed movie projects, Marvel: The Avengers and John Carter.
Lopes gave show-goers a behind-the-scenes look at how Objet 3D printing technology is used in the design and prototyping of characters for recent Hollywood films. “Objet’s technology has allowed us to bring creativity and imagination to life in ways we never thought possible,” Lopes said. “Anything we can think up, Objet 3D printers can prototype in a matter of hours.”
The Sorovetz Report
Tom Sorovetz
Event Manager
Participation and Activities
Eight months and counting until the 2013 AMUG Conference and Exhibition in Jacksonville, Florida. I am super excited — we are poised to have a great conference with over 400 attendees. The 2012 Conference was the beginning of our success in expanding the AMUG community, and I believe that it gave us a glimpse of the great things to come. I am reaching out to each of you to help promote the Conference and Expo by inviting users and vendors to participate. With your involvement, the 2013 Conference will be bigger, better and even more successful.
In our LinkedIn group, I asked if there is interest in me setting up spouse/guest activities during the day while we are in session. Instead of going their own separate ways, I’d like to offer group activities that have the AMUG social flair and panache. To date, there have been no responses, so if you are interested, please visit the official AMUG LinkedIn group and post a note.
If you arrive in Jacksonville early, there are a plethora of activities: golf, fishing, shopping, fine dining and beachgoing. If you’re looking for something out of the ordinary, consider a short trip to the nation’s oldest city, St. Augustine, which is about 40 minutes from the hotel. If you are a baseball fan, then you might want to take in a Jacksonville Suns (affiliated with the Florida Marlins) game. For football fans, the Gator Bowl and the Jacksonville Jaguars stadiums are also nearby. When the 2013 Jacksonville special events calendar becomes available, I will publish the activities that will be taking place during our stay.
Have a great month,
Thomas A. Sorovetz
eventmanager@am-ug.com
