Monday, June 10, 2024

Apple’s Next Big Thing is Super-Fast Plastic, Metal and Ceramic Powder Deposition 3D Printers and User-Friendly A.I.-assisted CAD/CAM/CAE/FEA software -- Stratasys and CATIA should be worried big time!

---

Since Monday, June 10, 2024 is the first day of the Apple WWDC (Worldwide Developer Conference), my “Inside Sources” have suddenly become very, very specific as to significant and very pointed details on Apple’s “Next Big Thing”.

I have been made aware of some highly-specific details on the newest items within Apple’s Research and Development pipeline and this includes super-fast plastic resin 3D printing, powdered metal 3D printing and powdered ceramic 3D printing machines plus user-friendly and A.I.-assisted 3D CAD (Computer Aided Design), CAM (Computer Aided Machining), CAE (Computer Aided Engineering) and FEA (Finite Element Analysis) software that Apple has been actively working on since 2013 and has recently accelerated development as of 2021. The first Apple patents on 3D printing technology were filed in 2013, 2015 and 2018.

There are current prototypes of Apple printers deeply hidden within Apple headquarters which have been printing various consumer-oriented and industrial test items such as 3D printed Apple-logoed running shoes seen worn by Apple engineers and both large and small fantasy/science fiction figurines and props also seen within Apple engineer workspaces and an entirely-printed-in-3D-metal fully-working V8 race car engine!

My sources have now “confirmed” very specific volumetric maximum print size descriptions assigned to a set of printers to be sold by Apple and my sources have also “confirmed” various print speeds along with introductory materials used for said 3D printers which will be the fastest seen yet of their types.

There is a new 3D print-head technology designed in-house by Apple that is applicable to plastic resin, metal powder and ceramic powder internally codenamed “JetStream” which has a very fine plastic, metal and ceramic powder that is jetted through fine-tipped nozzles that instantly melt/vaporize micro-droplets onto high-resolution computer-controlled 3D-XYZ coordinates on a rotating table via pulsed laser technology that deposits said micro-particle-sized plastic, metal or ceramic powder onto the table layer-by-layer using MULTIPLE PRINT HEADS which increase print speeds many-fold over other technologies. My sources have said that Apple has perfected state-of-the-art multi-head multi-colour plastic resin printing and multi-head metal and ceramic powder printing systems that have insane print speeds over competing products.

The below items are the following types and volumetric print sizes seen at Apple headquarters which will be targeted at specific audiences:

a) 200 mm by 200 mm by 200 mm print-sizes plastic and metal powder 3D printers for home/small office/educational users

b) 400 mm by 400 mm by 400 mm print-sizes plastic and metal powder

3D printers for small-business/office-oriented/commercial warehouse 3D printing

c) 800 mm by 800 mm by 800 mm print-sizes plastic and metal powder 3D printers for industrial/commercial scale fast 3D printing

d) 1500 mm by 1500 mm by 1500 mm print-sizes plastic and metal plastic and metal powder 3D printers for industrial/commercial scale fast 3D printing

The 200 mm and 400 mm 3D multi-colour plastic-resin 3D printers will be introduced and sold first and the larger plastic powder and the metal and ceramic powder 3D printers in all sizes will be introduced/sold at later dates.

I have been told the very specific print speeds that will apply to all the plastic resin printers which are 90 cubic millimetres per second sustained across the initial plastic powder types of PLA (Polylactic Acid), ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene), PETG (Polyethylene Terephthalate Glycol), TPU (Thermoplastic Polyurethane) and Nylon. Other plastic powder types will be made available at later dates.

It is interesting to note that the 800 mm and 1.5 metre box-sized 3D printers are aimed at larger industrial-scale 3D printer sizes which means Apple is directly targeting the major industrial-level 3D printer manufacturers of the world such as Stratasys, MakerGear, SPEE3D and MarkForged! Apple looks to overtake them all right on their home turfs!

Part 2 Below:

Part 2:

The very small size of the nano-ball-sized powders which are super-heated and melted by multiple print-threads also allow very high resolution which has been noted to be down to 50 microns (0.05 mm) at the 90 cubic millimetres per second print rates which is an ASTOUNDING achievement! This high resolution creates smooth-surface parts with no visible layer lines. The multi-head/multi-color 3D plastic printers will have the initially available colors of Black, White, Red, Green, Blue, Yellow, Cyan, Magenta, Purple, Orange, Brown, Light Gray, Medium Gray, Dark Gray with other formulation colors to be introduced later. This allows for many colors to be embedded and/or mixed into a given plastic end-product.

The Aluminum powders for the 3D metal printers will be 1060, 3003, 6061 and 7075-series Aluminum powders specially created for fast printing using pulsed laser heating and fast-jetted micro-droplet deposition. Additional Aluminum powder grades such as 5000 and 8000 series will be added later. The Tool Steel grades introduced initially will be A7, D2 and S1 Tool Steels while the Stainless Steel grades will be 303, 316L and 440C series. These metal grades are the most common types used for high-wear and tough parts and they are the most adaptable for fast 3D powder printing. The Copper Powder grades will be B1 and Yellow Brass used for electrical conductivity and for artistic works. The ceramic composite powders will be Silicon Dioxide (Quartz glass), Aluminum Oxide (Alumina), Zirconium Oxide (Zirconia) and Silicon Carbide. Tungsten Carbide ceramic powder and Titanium Alloy powders will be added later.

Print speeds for the multi-head 3D metal and ceramic printers will be up to 5000 cubic centimetres per hour which is insanely fast! And I was told that speed increases for all the plastic, metal and ceramic powder printers can be improved via downloadable BIOS updates for any current and new printing material formulations.

It was conveyed to me that current negotiations between Apple and various metal and plastic powder OEM suppliers are currently undergoing with companies such as Alcoa and Rio-Tinto-Alcan for the Aluminum powders and then Kyocera, AGC and 3M for the ceramics. Stainless Steels will be from Germany, Norway, USA and India plus Copper and Brass powders from USA, Australia and Japan.

There are multiple print heads within each metal powder printer that are each designed for specifically Aluminum, Copper, Carbon Steel, Stainless Steel and Ceramic powders so that mixed-metal and mixed ceramic powder prints can be facilitated at the same fast printing speeds! I should note that it was not specified how the print heads will be cooled to ensure longevity nor was it conveyed to me the specific means to anneal, cool and/or create thermodynamic stability in the final metal and ceramic powder prints. I was told however, that final metal and ceramic prints were suitable for artistic works, tool-making, automotive, marine and aerospace applications with toughness, longevity, anti-corrosion resistance and thermal stability of plastic, metal and ceramic powder prints being primary development milestones in Apple’s 3D printing strategy. 3D printer cleaning and maintenance strategies were not disclosed to me other than most printing options will be one-button ease-of-use oriented!

In terms of software and supporting hardware, Apple bought a 3rd party CAD/CAM/CAE/FEA application many years ago which has been re-developed in-house for ease-of-use and will have added A.I.-assistant-based design engineering and 3D print optimization so that final prints are made optimally for each end-use application. It was told to me that this new application will have CATIA-level built-in design, modelling and simulation abilities along with Apple App Store and Final Cut Pro ease-of-use so that home-based and small business users can get up to speed quickly on the 3D printing revolution.

One copy of the integrated design and printing software will be included with each 3D plastic and metal printer. Additional software copies for group-based CAD/CAM/CAE/FEA collaboration will be sold at the phenomenally inexpensive price of $799 USD! There will an introductory line of pre-made free plus paid and encrypted 3D models in metal, plastic and ceramic that can be downloaded from the 3D prints section of the Apple App Store. All plastic, metal and ceramic powder supplies will also be ordered online for delivery to customer sites at competitive prices.

There is also a long-rumored set of Apple-branded full-frame and medium-format-size CMOS sensor 2D/3D cameras at 8K video resolutions and above recording at 16-bits per RGB colour channel and Alpha/Depth channel bit-widths which have interchangeable single-lens and stereoscopic lenses along with built-in frame-by-frame LIDAR/SONAR/RADAR depth scan metadata recording (in mm, cm, and km measurements) that will be used for fast 3D scanning of real world objects and environments used within AR/VR production AND for 3D printing purposes. The rumored OEM supplier is SIGMA of Japan for the camera body and all its Apple-branded prime/zoom lenses!

The rumored price points for the 3D printers is as follows:

Apple plastic powder 3D printers will be introduced and sold first:

1) 200 mm by 200 mm by 200 mm multi-colour-head plastic powder 3D printer ($1995 USD)

2) 400 mm by 400 mm by 400 mm multi-colour-head plastic powder 3D printer ($3995 USD)

3) 800 mm by 800 mm by 800 mm multi-colour-head plastic powder 3D printer ($7995 USD)

4) 1500 mm by 1500 mm by 1500 mm multi-colour-head plastic powder 3D printer ($19,995 USD)

The above are SIGNIFICANT price-reductions on fast 3D printers that can do 90 cubic millimetres per second when compared to other comparably-sized plastic 3D printers!

Metal Powder and Ceramic Powder printers will be coming one year later after the 3D plastic printers:

1) 200 mm by 200 mm by 200 mm multi-head metal and ceramic powder 3D printer ($4995 USD)

2) 400 mm by 400 mm by 400 mm multi-head metal and ceramic powder 3D printer ($9995 USD)

3) 800 mm by 800 mm by 800 mm multi-head metal and ceramic powder 3D printer ($24,995 USD)

4) 1500 mm by 1500 mm by 1500 mm multi-head metal and ceramic powder 3D printer ($49,995 USD)

These will be the most expensive products introduced by Apple yet BUT the actual costs when compared to current 3D printing systems is significantly cheaper and will be much faster printing due to recent Apple innovations in 16-head and 64-head pulsed-laser-based super-heated micro-droplet plastic, metal and ceramic powder deposition technology! The consumable prices were not disclosed to me other than saying that they would be competitive and will have a very affordable initial introduction price upon upon initial printer sale. (i.e. a big box of consumables is included with initial 3D printer purchase!)

The current estimate made internally by Apple itself of its anticipated 3D plastic and metal printing marketshare is a likely $200 Billion USD per year rising to $450 Billion per year when Apple-branded 3D printers and consumables for multi-color plastic and extended product line metal and ceramic powder sales are fully accounted for by home/office and commercial/industrial users!

In terms of a timeline, it could be as soon as this late year 2024 that some sort pre-announcement is made by Apple. My internal sources say that 3rd quarter 2025 is a possible official introduction date for the first two Apple-branded plastic powder super-fast 3D printers.

Yup! Them Apple 3D printers is Coming Sooner Rather Than Later!

V

Where's Part 3?