"Let’s build a really rad 3D printer that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. We want it to be accurate down to a tenth of a millimetre, versatile, and designed for small and medium-sized enterprises.”
That was the vision back in 2008 when two young students—Frederik Tjellesen and Anders Hartmann—sat brainstorming ideas for their mechanical engineering examination project at DTU. As they couldn’t find a decent 3D printer for anything less than a king’s ransom, they thought they might have spotted a gap in the market. They were right.
With the start-up Blueprinter that they founded in 2009, the two entrepreneurs are now ready for their first product launch on a developing global market: a professional quality 3D with a price tag of just DKK 135,000, which is a long, long way short of what other models on the market today cost.
High precision
The printer is fitted with an innovative technology which allows the printing of high-precision physical models on the basis of a computer drawing of a hearing aid or specialist tool, for example. Professional companies can then use these models as prototypes before starting to manufacture the finished product. The entrepreneurs have now registered a European patent on the technology and are ready to push the big red button from their new premises in Copenhagen, where they employ 16 people.
""Let’s build a really rad 3D printer that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. We want it to be accurate down to a tenth of a millimetre, versatile, and designed for small and medium-sized enterprises. "
Frederik Tjellesen and Anders hartmann, Blueprinter
“We’ve reached the finish line as regards developing the basic technology. We have a highly reliable printer that we’ve started to sell. So it’s now time to join the big league,” says Frederik Tjellesen.
Looking back over the entire development process, the two entrepreneurs highlight several milestones. They made their first breakthrough while working on their exam project, when they had a close look at the technology used in 3D printers and stumbled over something called ‘thermal print heads’—the kind used in receipt printers at supermarket checkouts. They bought a cheap printer, took it apart, removed the print head, dusted it with plastic powder and ‘tricked’ it into thinking it was printing on paper. What came out was a small string of melted plastic, so they thought “OK ... we might be onto something here!”
Tapped into funding
At the same time, the two DTU students (at that time) investigated whether the technology was patented, and financed their own innovation survey at the Danish Patent and Trademark Office. They completed the basic structure of their 3D printer and then spent nine months trying to raise funding for the project.
It was not until a year later that they met with success, receiving an injection of venture capital from SEED Capital. This was a huge milestone.
“One of the biggest challenges in starting a new business is that you have to ‘wear so many different hats’. We were developing the software, electronics, mechanical parts and powder ourselves, and also had to conduct the market analyses. We could perhaps have outsourced some of the things we didn’t know as much about, but that would have been difficult because we didn’t have a lot of money,” relates Anders Hartmann.
Today, the feature that differentiates Blueprinter from other 3D printers is precisely that it uses the thermal print head, which, by accurately heating plastic powder, builds up a model layer by layer as a ‘powder cake’. This is a technique that the entrepreneurs themselves term Selective Heat Sintring (SHS). The technology makes it possible to achieve a high level of precision, accurate repeatability and geometric independence. As there are no issues with overhangs and cavities, the printer is ideal for printing prototypes in any geometric shape.
Saves both time and money
Blueprinter is attracting a lot of attention. The 3D printer is already being sold to engineering companies, product manufacturers, universities and architects’ colleges that have experience with 3D printing. Companies can use Blueprinter to do 3D printing in-house, rather than having to outsource this production. This naturally saves both time and money.
One of the customers is Oticon, one of the world’s leading suppliers of hearing aids. When Oticon is developing new hearing aid solutions, the company creates a range of different prototypes to assess how well the design suits the wiring and assembly.
The prototypes normally consist of up to ten different parts, which are often scaled up to make it easier to discuss the placement of the wires and the assembly process. The prototypes are also used for teaching purposes.
Promotes innovation
Previously, Oticon had its prototypes printed by an external supplier using laser-based technology. With Blueprinter, however, Oticon can now generate prototypes itself. This means the company can keep the entire design process in-house and print prototypes at a fraction of the price.
“We’ve been using Blueprinter since November 2013 and we are delighted with the production. We’ve printed both complete hearing aids and individual components for fitting in larger solutions,” says Lars Lund Jørgensen, Task Manager at Oticon.
Anders Hartmann highlights the fact that 3D prints quickly provide a clear idea of what works—and what doesn’t. This can be difficult to determine by looking at a computer drawing. 3D prints clearly indicate whether a button is in the right place, for example, and whether it is possible to open up the model with a screwdriver. Moreover, you can take the prototype with you to meetings, visualize the product and make appropriate adjustments before launching full-scale production.
“3D printing promotes innovation. It allows you to give free rein to your creativity because it’s easy to test crazy ideas and print them five or six times without going over budget. It also means that you can get your prototype into production more quickly. You’re not constrained by the limits of ordinary preparation,” adds Frederik Tjellesen.
The future is looking bright for the two entrepreneurs. They hope that Blueprinter can become a key player and a well-known brand on the global market targeted at small and medium-sized enterprises. In Europe at first. And then in the Middle East and Asia.
“It’s been fun—but hard work, too. Of course, there are all kinds of ups and downs along the way, but right now we’re enjoying the ups. It’s great to work with something you’re proud of. And if anyone asks—yes, we’d do it all again,” concludes Anders Hartmann.
Article from DYNAMO no. 38, DTU's quarterly magazine .
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- Get a good auditor. Use one who was recommended by a friend.
- Find a partner. This means you can take turns in doing things that make your head spin. Choose a partner with a different skill set to yours.
- Check the idea. Use Google and patent databases such as Espacenet to find out whether anyone else has had the same idea.
- Take on someone to handle the administrative side. This will let you concentrate on the actual development work while someone takes care of market analyses, fund raising, etc. Pay people with ownership shares if money is tight.
- Believe in it.
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