[Editor's Note] L Corporation is a 3D printing company that specializes in various 3D printing and material distribution, as well as 3D printing output services, platforms, and 3D printing training. L Corporation recently announced that it is actively expanding the production of custom parts while developing national shooting team equipment using 3D printing. This means that parts are produced according to the individual's hand size and shape, and it is expected that this will lead to the activation of custom parts production not only in shooting but also in other fields in the future. Accordingly, this magazine arranged an interview with Lim Jun-hwan, CEO of El Corporation, to learn about the production of customized 3D printing products, El Corporation's main products, and future management strategies.

■ Please introduce El Corporation.

El Corporation, which started out as a 3D printer distributor, now handles and has the capabilities to handle all 3D printing-related businesses, including education, startups, printing services, and platform businesses.

I understand that you are currently developing equipment for the national shooting team, applying 3D printing technology to produce customized parts. Could you please explain the project details and expected benefits?

In reality, since the athletes of the Korea Practical Shooting Federation use the same guns in world and regional competitions, there is a great need for customized parts.

The biggest difference is that since the guns they use are standardized, there are people with different hand sizes, big and small, long and short fingers, so we are preparing parts that increase the grip and help players maintain a stable posture when shooting, targeting the federation players.

There will be an international tournament next year, and Korea has been seeded seven times. Accordingly, we are producing custom products for seven players.

■ Please explain the Formlabs equipment.

The equipment we mainly distribute is the 'Form 3' equipment shown here, and we have been distributing Formlabs equipment for 7 years.

Since this equipment is a bit small in size, many customers were disappointed, so the equipment that was released in November of last year is called 'Form 3L'.

In the case of 'Form 3L', the size is about 5 times larger than 'Form 3', and it is a new equipment that can produce 30cm X 30cm X 30cm, which is the size handled by other existing industrial equipment.

The biggest difference is that you can start operating it right away by simply adding 2 kg of the small cartridge type material shown here.

This has the advantage of being easy to replace materials and being able to use various materials in one device.

In the case of existing equipment, if the material was replaced once, it would take about 60 to 70 kg of material for it to operate when the same size was used, but with the release of 'Form 3L', it only requires about 2 kg to operate, so all the shortcomings in material replacement and size have been resolved, and it is becoming an extremely popular item.

The biggest difference is that the price is about 1/3 to 1/4 cheaper than before, so we are focusing on this equipment instead of other equipment.

The biggest difference from the existing SLA is that there is a process of stacking layers one by one and then stacking them layer by layer through tilting or movement, but in the case of 'Form 3' or 'Form 3L', a function called LFS is used to do the tilting process, that is. The surface quality has also improved significantly because the pressure applied each time you go up a floor has been minimized.

As the overall surface quality has improved, the parts that were a bit disappointing in the larger sizes have been improved, so customer satisfaction can be seen as very high.

I mentioned earlier that there are a variety of materials that can be used. There are a total of 16 types of materials that can be used, and among them, there are dental materials that can be used for medical purposes, and biomaterials that can come into contact with skin tissue or mucous membranes, so they can be printed, and they are used not only in dentistry but also in hospitals.

As a practical example, the swabs in the coronavirus diagnostic kit have been used in the US and Singapore, and similar cases have been purchased and are being tested in Korea.

And since it is difficult to change materials in large equipment, if only one type of ABS series is used, there are materials such as 'Form 3' or 'Form 3L' from Formlabs that are capable of high-speed printing, and there are materials with various characteristics such as much better rigidity than ABS, better heat resistance, or high chemical resistance, so you can use them by replacing them according to the parts you want to make.

This allows it to be applied to a wider range of applications.

■ Please also explain the SLS method 'Fuse 1'

The new Formlabs device, which we are also distributing and which was launched globally in August of this year, is called the 'Fuse 1'.

This equipment uses powder materials rather than liquid materials, so it overcomes the limitations of existing printers, such as support structures and limitations in outputting complex shapes, by using the surrounding powder support. You can pull it out without worry.

The biggest difference is that most printers cannot stack continuously on the Z-axis, but this powder equipment can be placed freely within a height of 30 cm and can be printed without any problem, so it can be seen as the most specialized equipment for small-quantity customized production.

Since its launch in August, the equipment has been sold as it comes in, and most of the people who purchased it have done so to continuously produce small quantities of items.

Although it can be used in the mock-up field, many customers want to purchase it because it is more specialized for mass production of small quantities.

In the case of this equipment, there is a main equipment called 'Fuse 1' and an auxiliary equipment called 'Shift', which unpacks the parts completed by the main equipment.

This equipment can remove the powder and process the remaining powder so that it can be reused, which was a disadvantage of existing SLS equipment, such as powder flying during the unpacking process or the need for a separate location and wearing a lot of protective gear due to environmental pollution. Since there is a cover and the powder is filtered through the filter at the back, it can minimize environmental pollution and powder flying.

It is an advanced equipment that can be used much more conveniently in indoor spaces as it can perform the process of mixing the powder again, called partial mixing, and preparing it for extraction, all in one equipment.

■ I would like to hear about the future outlook for 3D printing and El Corporation's strategy.

The domestic 3D printing industry currently generally refers to universities and institutions as major buyers.

On the other hand, weFrom Lee's perspective, corporations, startups, and entrepreneurs made the most purchases in 2021, with electronics companies producing mockups or small parts for actual use, and design, being the biggest source of demand.

Contrary to the overall statistics, our clientele consisted of more companies.

In terms of data, metal equipment and SLA equipment are at the top of the search rankings and purchase cases are increasing significantly.

In the case of metal equipment, it is not easy to access because it is expensive, so we also handle and distribute metal equipment, but in terms of proportion, it is not that large.

In terms of quantity, semi-industrial equipment is being sold more, and what they did before was simple mockups, like the speaker you see here, but as powder equipment comes out and liquid equipment improves in performance, there are many cases where they are purchased with the production of finished products in mind.

Next year, we plan to focus on presenting related cases and targeting related markets.

■ Finally, please say a word to the readers.

It's been several decades since printers were introduced and developed in Korea, and 6-7 years since they became active, but I don't think we know how much printers have developed.

Initially, we were very interested, but at the time, our capabilities were limited. There were also equipment limitations.

Now, it has developed a lot and there are many different materials available, so even if you have used it before, if you contact us again, we have designers and more equipment, so I think we can try a variety of things.

In that case, please contact us at any time and we will respond.