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ClearVision, Stratasys present 3D printing
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LAS VEGAS – ClearVision Optical hosted a panel discussion on the potential of 3D printing in the optical industry here at Vision Expo West.
According to panel member Bruce Bradshaw, director of marketing for Stratasys, a 3D printing company, the technology has existed since 1988.
“The heritage of 3D printing is in product development,” he said.
Panel member and ClearVision Optical President David Friedfeld said, “We’re looking at this to reduce the design phase that normally takes weeks or months. Now we can digitally scan glasses, put them through the printer, have a part made in 30 minutes and decide if that’s what we want. It reduces the design phase from 8 weeks to 1 day.”
A part can also be sent electronically to an overseas manufacturer, he said.
“You don’t need to be an engineer or designer to use this,” Friedfeld added. “It’s a stimulus for creativity and innovation within a company.”
A Replicator 2 unit, by MakerBot, was displayed at the event. Bradshaw said the unit costs $2,200.
“It works like a weed whacker,” he said. “You feed filament into a head that nearly liquefies it.”
Bradshaw said the technology is already being used in the automotive, aeronautic and medical industries, for small-run parts.
He noted the industry has “a long way to go on materials development.”
Rubber and metal have been printed, Bradshaw said.
“Six hundred artificial hips have been printed,” he said. “A doctor at the University of Pittsburgh is printing human tissue. There’s lots of opportunity.
“Subtractive manufacturing is where you start with a block of material and take some away to end up with a finished product design,” Bradshaw explained. “This is additive manufacturing, where you add layers to grow a part.”
“It would be challenging for eye wear companies to manage thousands of pieces of inventory,” Friedfeld said. “With this, you could do very short runs of customized eye wear.”
He said he sees opticians, optometrists and ophthalmologists participating and collaborating on personalized eye wear.
Bradshaw said he envisions the technology being used to mass produce glasses, but it needs to advance.
He noted that 3D printing is a “disruptive industry,” like iTunes and Napster are for music.
“There will need to be regulations,” he said. “But we won’t move backwards.”