DyeMansion - ic! berlin
The eyewear industry is an opportune market for 3D technologies. Big names like Materialise have already tapped into its potential from using 3D printing to create avant garde designs, to 3D scanning for perfect fit personalisation. Now, according to information by Munich-based DyeMansion, an estimated 600,000 eyewear frames will be produced this year, and the additive manufacturing solutions provider believes that’s just the beginning.
Back in 2015, when DyeMansion achieved its first promising results from its industrial colouring post-processing solution designed to deliver vibrant colour for powder-based AM plastics, one of its first prospective customers was German eyewear manufacturer, ic! berlin, a specialist in handcrafted, screw-free fames.
“Their feedback was very important for us and meeting their requirements was one of our main drivers in developing our colouring process further,” Felix Ewald, DyeMansion, CEO told TCT Magazine. “This example is the perfect proof that additive manufacturing is finally able to go into the consumer market.”
DyeMansion's post-processing systems.
Seeing the value of 3D printing for cost-efficient low volume products, ic! berlin began designing and developing a collection of frames to be manufactured with SLS in its own polyamide “plotic” 3D printable powder, along with “plotic hybrid” frames combining its signature stainless still material. Using DyeMansion’s Powershot S system, standard white prints go through a “shot peening” process with a special blasting medium to produce a smooth surface finish. Then using its industrial DM60 colouring system, the parts are submerged into a liquid featuring a dye which penetrates the raw material through a chemical reaction under pressure and heat. Using this technique, DyeMansion says it is able to deliver nearly every Pantone colour and has even developed four unique shades for ic! berlin’s collection.
“Our colour technology and our solutions for surface treatment enabled ic! berlin to finally offer 3D printed frames that meet their requirements in terms of quality and aesthetic,” Ewald explained. “When it comes to 3D printing, many people think that this means rough surfaces or rather cheap looking parts. Our technology shows that we pushed 3D printing to a stage where it stands for high quality and an exceptional wearing experience.”
Sebastian Busse
3D printed polyamide "Metropolis" frames finished with DyeMansion blasting and dyeing systems.
Quality control is a big deal for ic! berlin. In fact, the company is so confident in its products that every frame it produces, comes with the phone number of company founder and CEO, Ralf Anderl, engraved onto them. So the stakes were, understandably, incredibly high.
“DyeMansion offers the ideal package for finishing our polyamide frames,” Julika Zobel, Head of Design of ic! berlin explained. “Their services include surface finishing, colouring in almost every shade and a functional surface seal against sunlight and water. Additionally, their systems allow a very reproducible accuracy of colours and fantastic surface results for a fair price.”
DyeMansion has a solid history in supplying to the consumer products market, having began as a service provider for additive manufactured mobile phone accessories under the name, Trindo. Early on, the team realised the colour on its accessories, particularly phone cases, was wearing away in customers’ pockets, and so they began developing their own dyeing solution for powder-based AM plastic parts. This caught the attention of EOS-founder Dr. Hans Langer who invested in the company to help with the scaling of its DM60 automated dyeing solution four years ago, and DyeMansion has since teamed with consumer 3D printing giant, Shapeways to develop a beta program for surface finishing strong and flexible parts. Now the team believes that the eyewear industry offers the first true consumer product application for 3D printing at scale.
“Of course, right now there’s a hype around 3D printed frames but we believe that additive manufacturing will have a sustainable impact on the eyewear industry,” Ewald added, citing reduced production and prototyping cycles, reduced warehousing and mass customisation as some of the key areas where the eyewear industry will see the biggest impact.
He continued: “The eyewear application shows impressively that the time has come to produce additive manufactured consumer products in high volumes. Even if the production costs for the raw parts are still very high today, that will definitely change in the future. With lower production costs and our industrial solutions for colouring and surface finishing these parts, applications like eyewear or midsoles will definitely increase.”
