President’s Report
Mark Barfoot
President
Your AMUG Board just completed a busy three days in Jacksonville, Florida, planning the upcoming conference. They were very long days with discussions sometimes lasting late into the night, but it resulted in a lot of our details being ironed out. I want to highlight a few key items for you.
- The board reviewed and made some minor updates to our bylaws. That sparked discussions about the objectives of AMUG and the role that the conference plays. From the discussion, we clarified that the conference is the primary vehicle for pursuit of our mission: AMUG educates and advances the uses and applications of additive manufacturing technologies. We agreed that AMUG can achieve this through presentations, hands-on workshops and networking opportunities. Throughout the year, we continue to promote networking and information sharing through LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.
- We are going to be opening up registration in a few weeks (beginning of September), and we are expecting record attendance this year. So please make sure you book your conference registration and hotel reservation early. There will be more space than we had last year, but it helps us a lot with our planning if we can get an early idea of the number that will be attending.
- We spent a lot of time with the hotel designing a layout of the facility to give you a great experience. For those interested in exhibiting or sponsoring, see our vice president’s report for details related to the AMUGexpo.
- We are planning on continuing the tracks approach next year. We went through your suggestions of topics and are sure that there will be lots that will interest you. We are hoping to categorize the presentations as beginner, intermediate or advanced to further help you with your session selection. For sure there will be metals, aerospace, medical and individual technology tracks plus others that are still being finalized. We are also working on a business track to help provide you with business assistance that may be needed (e.g., securing financing, understanding patents, planning installations of new equipment and how to become certified for ISO, AS, FDA, FAA and UL).
- The technical competitions will have a slight modification. In addition to our two categories judged by DINO award winners – advanced concepts and advanced finishing – we will also be adding a “people’s choice” award that will be chosen by ballots from everyone at the conference. Another change is that entries will only be accepted for a single category (e.g., advanced concepts or advanced finishing). Prizes are still being finalized, but one of them will be free conference attendance the following year.
- Your board had a fun “chef’s table night” where we tasted, in one sitting, most of the lunch selections for the entire conference. Tom Sorovetz, event manager, arranged this nine-course meal, which started out fun but became work as we were served the last of the selections. But I am happy to report that the food, as always, was great! At the end of the meal, the chef said to us, “If you go away hungry after the conference, you should seek medical help as you may have a tapeworm or some other sort of disorder.” 🙂
The board is really excited about the conference and things are coming together nicely. If you have joined us in previous years, we are looking forward to having you back. Make sure you tell others how much you enjoy this users group. If you haven’t attended before, block out the dates in your calendar now; you won’t want to miss it. Attendees frequently tell us that they learn more in the first day at this conference than they do all week at others.
See you in Jacksonville!
Mark Barfoot
President
president@am-ug.com
Our Mission: Additive Manufacturing Users Group (AMUG) educates and advances the uses and applications of additive manufacturing technologies.
Vice President’s Report
Steve Deak
Vice President
This past week, the AMUG board met in Jacksonville for the strategy meeting where we put together the plan for the AMUGexpo at the Hyatt Jacksonville Riverfront. We have just a few more details to finalize before opening AMUGexpo registration. But when we do, exhibitors and sponsors will be able to select their level of participation and their booth location…ALL ONLINE!
Please be on the lookout for further information that will come when the registration goes live. You will be able to reserve a booth on a first-come, first-served basis, so make sure you act fast in securing your space at the 2015 AMUGexpo. This means you must be ready to select and pay for your sponsorship, demo suite or expo booth on the spot to lock in your space.
Considering the size of the conference and the venue’s floor plan, the 2015 AMUGexpo will have limited space and may not accommodate everyone interested in exhibiting. Please make sure to consider your level of participation now in order to be ready when sign-ups go LIVE! Contact one of the vice presidents, Dana Foster or Steve Deak, at vicepresident@am-ug.com for more information on the 2015 AMUGexpo!
Best regards,
Steve Deak
Sponsor News – Stratasys
Trek Chases Perfection With Multi-Material Prototypes
The engineers and designers at Trek Bicycle in Waterloo, Wisconsin, are obsessed with creating the perfect ride. Utilizing 3D printing technology, their innovations have included a proprietary carbon-fiber manufacturing method that produces record-breaking, lightweight frames, and an ultra-aerodynamic airfoil, the mere shape of which can provide not only extremely low drag, but even negative drag, or thrust.
Trek’s prototyping lab was among the first to adopt the Objet®500 Connex3™, an advanced color multi-material 3D printer that runs on PolyJet technology. Trek began to create prototypes that have the look and feel of production parts, with more material options and more uptime than ever before. The system has the capability to print color parts with clear, tinted and flexible components all in one job.
“It’s important for our prototype parts to look and feel like production parts. In order to make the best bikes here at Trek, we need the best tools. And Connex3 is the best tool for the job,” says Mike Zeigle, manager of Trek’s prototype development group.
Watch the video and read the full case study here.
RAPID Canada
AMUG will be at the RAPID Canada Conference & Exposition in Mississauga, Ontario (located on the outskirts of Toronto). The event runs September 23rd and 24th and will be held in the International Centre. Although RAPID has been running for more than two decades, this is its debut in Canada.
RAPID Canada is running in conjunction with the Advance Manufacturing Expo, which provides a platform for decision makers, production and quality engineers to interact with the latest technology and gain a competitive edge by applying high-productivity solutions to enhance manufacturing performance.
Manufacturing Aerospace Components with Laser-Based 3D Printing
ENGINEERING.com
A combustion chamber’s cost and delivery schedule used to be limited by the manufacturing techniques available and the numbers of steps involved. Now, the flexibility of 3D printing makes it possible to create these chambers in a fast, one-step process. Using Selective Laser Melting (SLM), counterintuitive designs to improve combustion efficiency can be more readily built and bench-tested, potentially using customized or exotic powders.
Read the whole story on ENGINEERING.com.
More news from ENGINEERING.com:
The Sorovetz Report
The AMUG Board just returned from three packed days in Jacksonville (over 16 hours per day) preparing for our 2015 conference/AMUGexpo and building our three- and five-year plans. I have to say that I am absolutely amazed at the passion the officers and advisors have for making the event successful. As stated earlier, we averaged 16 hours per day, including Saturday, discussing 2015 and beyond. I don’t know many people that would give up their weekend, endure those long hours and happily invest time throughout the year as a volunteer. Witnessing that commitment makes me feel honored to be on this board.
NOTICE: Due to an oversight on my part, the room rate on the registration website was incorrect, the rate should be $137.00 per night not the $137.00 shown (my error), and I am working with the Hyatt to correct this error. For those who have already registered at the $137.00 rate, I apologize and please note that you will be receiving an updated confirmation showing the correct rate. Please DO NOT contact the Hyatt and complain; this was my error, not theirs, and I hope everyone understands. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me at EventManager@am-ug.com.
As of Saturday, August 18, there are over 500 total room nights from 100 guest registrations. The total guaranteed room block at the $137.00 rate is 2,500, so we are at one-fifth of the guarantee, and it is only August. So please book your hotel early to avoid any issues.
See you in sunny Jacksonville,
Thomas A. Sorovetz
Event Manager
