I modelled the star’s core as an icosahedron, a polyhedron with 20 equilateral triangular faces. Each triangular face had a hole from which “ray” emerged. I modelled the ray as a lofted surface transitioning from a circular hole to a star profile. The ray had a threaded base so that it could screw into its hole in the core. The rays were designed so that they could slot into each other for easy storage after the Christmas season. The top triangular face didn’t have a ray. Instead, its hole was used to insert a bulb into the core of the star. If you take away the electrical fittings, the entire star was 3D printed. Even the threaded adapters used to secure the rays to the core were 3D printed.

Today I hung up the star to test it.

Maybe this year I should take part in our village’s Christmas Star competition. However, the rules state that the star should be handmade and not bought from a store. Well, although this star isn’t bought from a store, technically, it isn’t handmade. It’s made by a 3D printer. 

No need to spend time and money developing expensive tooling. Directly 3D print the eggshell mold and inject the material of your choice into it. Create same day prototypes or produce a short to medium batch of end use production parts in days instead of weeks.

During the 3D Systems training program, a couple of SMEs (Marathi Sankaralingam from Government ITI Pettai and Ramarajan L from Government ITI Kadayanallur) decided to put their newfound knowledge to use. A gas regulator key had gone missing which was impeding the usage of the Yashkawa industrial robotics system installed at the ITI.

So they designed a key by taking the necessary measurements and printed it using the Pro-BLK 10 material on the Figure 4 Standalone 3D printer. Pro-BLK 10 offers excellent strength and is used to 3D print end-use production parts.

Today the honourable Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Shri Yogi Adityanath, addressed the audience at the MOU signing ceremony between Tata Technologies and the Government of Uttar Pradesh. As per the MOU, Tata Technologies will upgrade 150 Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) across Uttar Pradesh into technology hubs by deploying technologies like 3D printing, CNC machining, robotics, IoT, etc. along with teaching staff and curriculum as a turnkey project.

During his speech, the honourable Chief Minister mentioned an incident at an airport where he met a group of young men from Uttar Pradesh flying out to another country first to get trained in advanced manufacturing technologies after which they hoped to find jobs there. For decades Uttar Pradesh has been a labour-exporting state. The lack of manpower skilled in advanced manufacturing technologies discourages Indian and foreign companies from making it a preferred choice to expand their manufacturing operations.

The project costing Rs 5,473 crore ($67 million) entails an investment of Rs 4,283 crore ($52 million) by Tata Technologies led industry consortium and Rs 1,190 crore ($15 million) by the Uttar Pradesh state government. 3D Systems is honoured to be the Additive Manufacturing technology partner of Tata Technologies for this project.

The recently inaugurated Additive Manufacturing Hub printed parts of the robot on its Figure 4 Standalone 3D printer. Today members of Lego Goa visited the Additive Manufacturing Hub to learn more about 3D printing and explain their project to the honourable minister of Information Technology, Rohan Khaunte, who later presented them with the 3D printed parts of their robot, in the presence of Officer on Special Duty Neville Noronha.

Currently, the Additive Manufacturing Hub has a Figure 4 Standalone 3D printer and can offer companies and start-ups in Goa prototyping and small to medium batch production services. Companies can greatly reduce the time they take to get products to market, reduce inventory, make quick design changes and completely eliminate the need for expensive tooling using end-use production parts printed by the Figure 4 Standalone.

To support the Indian government’s “Make in India” initiative, there is a strong and urgent need to expose ITI students to advanced manufacturing techniques such as Additive Manufacturing. One of the main reasons the Figure 4 Standalone was chosen for the ITI upgradation was its ability to quickly mass produce intricate end-use production parts and use Additive Manufacturing as a replacement for injection molding where it made sense. This way the expensive and time-consuming tooling process can be skipped altogether. Why spend lakhs of rupees and waste weeks of time machining a mold when you can directly 3D print end-use production parts using the Figure 4 Standalone? ITI students in Karnataka have started learning and appreciating the advantages of Additive Manufacturing. But that is just half the story. The other half is putting theory into practice by working on real-world industry projects.

As part of our ongoing support of this initiative 3D Systems and Matrix Moon enable interaction between the ITIs and local industry so that the students can put their learning to real use. This serves two purposes. Firstly, the students get hands-on experience manufacturing real-world products instead of merely completing exercises in the courseware. Secondly, the local industry gets exposed to the latest manufacturing techniques like Additive Manufacturing, builds the confidence to adopt these technologies and eventually hire from a ready pool of skilled talent in their vicinity.

An example of this is the ongoing collaboration between Primex Plastics in Peenya, Bengaluru, and Government ITI Peenya. Founded in 1991, Primex Plastics offers high-quality precision molded engineering components for automotive, electrical, white goods, furniture and machines. While they were aware of 3D printing as a prototyping tool, they didn’t know that the technology had advanced to a point where it had started competing with injection molding. Upon learning that the ITI in Peenya was equipped with a Figure 4 Standalone, Chandan BK, manager tool room and new product development at Primex Plastics, was eager to explore a new way of manufacturing. The ITI students under the guidance of the ITI staff got to work and printed a few prototypes. Chandan was quite impressed with the output. The part quality and surface finish of the 3D printed parts were as good as injection molded parts that he was used to. The component was actually a set of two parts that snap fit into each other. The snap-fit worked perfectly.

While Chandan’s team conducts extensive testing of the prototypes, the ITI students started working on a production plan for mass production. They prepared a stacked build of 180 parts in 3D Sprint, the part preparation software that comes with the Figure 4 Standalone. They optimized the stacked build for maximum throughput and minimum material wastage.

ITI Peenya is now ready to mass-produce end-use production parts for Primex Plastics and other companies in and around Bengaluru.

“Previously industry offered internships to ITI students as part of their curriculum to give them exposure and hands-on experience in real-world projects. But with the ITI upgradation in Karnataka, I think the industry will also get a chance to learn from ITIs about new manufacturing technologies like Additive Manufacturing. I didn’t know that toolless production of end-use plastic components was possible until I saw these 3D printed parts. I’m eager to see how Primex Plastics can leverage Additive Manufacturing and the availability of skilled manpower at ITI Peenya to get our products to market cheaper and faster.” – Chandan BK, Manager Tool Room and New Product Development at Primex Plastics.

The third-year Polytechnic students have started undertaking projects that use advanced technologies like 3D printing. Today I got pictures from the Tata Technologies project manager at CIIT Jammu of one such project involving a jet engine modelled by the students in 3D and printed on our Figure 4 Standalone 3D printer.

I’m told the students are also working on developing an electric load carrier that can lift 400 kgs. There is an ongoing drone project as well. I plan to pay another visit to Jammu and Baramulla soon and spend some more time with the students there. Of all the education-related projects I’ve been involved in, this one is really close to my heart due to its location.

On 5th August 2019, the central government took the bold and historic step of abrogating Article 370. There were many who predicted doom, gloom, chaos and bloodshed in the Kashmir valley as a result of this step. While incidents of terrorism have greatly reduced, we are yet to see complete normalcy. In fact, when I was returning from Baramulla to Srinagar, there was a terror incident on the highway a few minutes before my car passed by. But I firmly believe that as long as the administration works with companies like Tata Technologies to bring new technologies, infrastructure and facilities to Jammu & Kashmir, the people will feel less alienated. They will see, feel and experience the progress that the rest of the country is experiencing. They will slowly come to realize that they are an inalienable part of a vibrant country that has opened its arms to them. This will take time. But it will happen. Jai Hind.