Print Parts Collaborates with PostProcess on NYC COVID Contract
September 8, 2020 –Manhattan-based Additive Manufacturing service Print Parts Inc. collaborated with PostProcess to rapidly scale efforts used in the production of 3D printed nasopharyngeal (NP) swabs for New York City’s COVID-19 Test Kits. At the peak of the pandemic, Print Parts began working with NYC to scale up production of NP swabs for the emergency supply of COVID test kits.
3D Printed Nasopharyngeal (NP) Swabs
Print Parts opened an ISO 13485 compliant production lab in Manhattan and put together a dedicated supply chain to produce over one million Nasopharyngeal (NP) swabs for COVID test kits. In order to rapidly scale production and meet the demand for NYC, Print Parts implemented the PostProcess™ DEMI™ Resin Removal solution.
Print Parts expanded its in-house printing capabilities with the purchase of eight medical-grade Envision One cDLM 3D printers from EnvisionTEC. Using a more common rinse method with isopropyl alcohol (IPA) for resin removal, it would have taken over 20 minutes to clean each batch of swabs. The software-controlled DEMI solution allowed Print Parts to process multiple batches of swabs, completely hands-free, in a single 90-second submersion with a quick IPA rinse afterward. This helped Print Parts reduce the entire resin removal process time by 5x and simplify their post-printing workflow.
The DEMI utilizes PostProcess’s recently patented Submersed Vortex Cavitation (SVC) technology to rapidly remove excess resin while adjusting fluid flow in real-time, ensuring consistency, and preventing part damage. The DEMI operates together with proprietary chemical detergents, which can last 6 times longer than IPA before requiring a change-out and hold a higher flashpoint. Without the automated post-printing offered by the DEMI, Print Parts would not have been able to realize the 100,000 NP swabs per week production goal to help make testing widely available in New York City.
Print Parts founder Robert Haleluk said, “Pivoting our production business from low-to-mid volume parts for aerospace, defense and industrial manufacturing to a high volume medical device under extremely tight deadlines was a huge challenge, we couldn’t have done it without the PostProcess DEMI. Working with PostProcess allowed us to move faster and deliver over 1 million NP swabs to NYC, which helped our city fight COVID during these challenging times.”
About Print Parts:
Print Parts Inc. offers advanced manufacturing solutions using additive manufacturing. Headquartered in Manhattan, NY, Print Parts operates in the heart of New York City, and online at PrintParts.com, with a mission to help more customers print parts on demand at a fraction of the cost. The company’s manufacturing services include prototyping and production of industrial-grade parts for end-use applications using a wide range of additive technologies and materials.
About PostProcess Technologies:
PostProcess Technologies is the only provider of automated and intelligent post-printing solutions for 3D printed parts. Headquartered in Buffalo, NY, USA, with international operations in Sophia-Antipolis, France, PostProcess removes the bottleneck in the third step of 3D printing – post-printing – through patent-pending software, hardware, and chemistry technologies. The company’s solutions automate industrial 3D printing’s most common post-printing processes with a software-based approach, including support, resin, and powder removal, as well as surface finishing, resulting in “customer-ready” 3D printed parts. Additionally, as an innovator of software-based 3D post-printing, PostProcess solutions will enable the full digitization of AM through the post-print step for the Industry 4.0 factory floor. The PostProcess portfolio has been proven across all major industrial 3D printing technologies and is in use daily in every imaginable manufacturing sector.