Offering Integrated Recycling
Technology for 3D Printing
I
n the past few years, 3D printing
has matured beyond its initial
hype cycle. While there isn’t
going to be a 3D printer in every home
any time soon, 3D printing has started
to appear in small and medium
businesses, classrooms and labs,
around the world. When you consider
the “use case potential”, this makes
sense – there isn't much you can 3D
print for your home, but rapid
prototyping, STEAM education,
architecture, product design, and many
other fields have real use cases for 3D
printing right now. However, as 3D
printing is often used for rapid
prototyping or one-of production, a
significant amount of waste can be
created – enters ReDeTec to the rescue
with its recycling solutions for 3D
printing.
To solve the wastage issues and the
higher costs associated with 3D
printing, ReDeTec has developed a
technology that recycles the 3D printer
waste back into filament for FDM 3D
printing. This is known as ProtoCycler,
which eliminates all printer wastes,
reduces printing costs by over 80%,
and allows full-fledged control over the
color and material used in 3D printing.
44
A Leader who Experienced Joy of 3D
Printing before People Heard of it
Dennon Oosterman, CEO of
ReDeTec is one of the very few people,
who has been lucky enough to
experience the uniqueness and joy of
3D printing before most of the people
even heard of the technology.
However, while experiencing 3D
printing, he also came across how
much it costs and how quickly the
obsolete and nearly useless prototypes
start filling trash cans, which
eventually led to the foundation of
ReDeTec. Dennon’s prior experience in
two other start-ups and a brief stint in
Venture Capital have helped him and
other Co-founders to guide the
business since the time of its inception.
However, thanks to the healthy dosage
of technical know-how in the funding
team and brilliant support network of
advisors on the business side helped
the company reach where it is today.
Dennon is an engineering graduate
from The University of British
Columbia, he loves to make stuff in his
free time- which can be anything from
wooden boats, to vintage guitar
amplifier, or even beer. According to
Dennon, making something by himself
is more satisfying and affordable than
buying off the shelf, which even allows
to get the desired thing.
Rising above the Challenges to
Achieve their Vision
Since its very inception, ReDeTec has
had a very tumultuous journey to reach
where it stands today. From cash flow
gaps in manufacturing to the almost
torturous process of safety
certification; to last minute experiment
failures or shipping logistics and
fulfillment; the list of challenges they
had to face goes on.
A recurring theme among all of their
obstacles and struggles has been the
fact that no one had ever done or
attempted this before in the 3D
industry. Their vision of recycling
plastic with consumer appliance was
something unheard of before and to
implement the same with 3D printing
further complicated the process.
ReDeTec had to invest a lot of effort in
R&D and even in-house production, as
no one else in the industry was able to
produce their envisioned technologies
at their price point.
| August 2017 |