Cadalyst - January/February 2009 - (Page 20) cadalystlabsreport 3D Model Improves Security at WVU Tech CAD and design professors Bill Javins and Jim King of the Community and Technical College at West Virginia University Institute of Technology were thrilled when the state capitol police asked them to build a tabletop model of the Charleston campus for securityplanning purposes. The professors were planning a traditional tabletop model made of foam core, balsa wood, and illustration board when they caught wind of 3D printing technology. One thing led to another, and soon they had a grant to purchase a Dimension 3D printer. Initially, King and Javins anticipated using the printer to complete the more complicated capitol buildings. “As we got into the process, we found that modeling other minor details was much faster than making them out of balsa or illustration board, and they looked so much better in many cases,” said King. The two professors and a small team of students completed the final 4’ x 4’ model six months after the 3D printer arrived. Capitol police have saved hours of event preparation using the model instead of examining the campus on foot. The model is also a popular attraction and is available for public viewing in the state capitol’s Center for Culture and History. Read the full story at www.cadalyst.com/3DPapps. Buildings as well as trees and statues comprise the 3D-printed model of WVU Tech. For civil projects, 3D printing offers a way to produce the target site’s ground conditions as a scale model. To cover a large area, the user may need to print the geospatial data stored in GIS formats in smaller sections and manually assemble them into a single piece; therefore, for such projects, printers with larger build areas offer an advantage. For converting GIS files into 3D printable files, machine maker Z Corp. recommends exporting the file in VRML format. In mechanical and industrial design, especially in the production of consumer goods, product developers often use 3D-printed prototypes to study the design options available. More recently, because of the increased integration of finite-element analysis (FEA) software in mechanical CAD packages, it has become possible to output the color-coded analysis results using 3D printers. For these applications, machines with color printing ability should be considered. For prototyping medical equipment, some manufacturers prefer to create transparent prototypes, even if the shipping product is designed to be manufactured in opaque materials. The transparent prototype allows engineers to examine the liquid flow inside the chambers and, if necessary, correct the geometry before mass production. This practice is especially useful for manufacturing artificial heart valves, automatic glucose delivery devices, and similar products. Manufacturers involved in producing rubber-based products, such as shoes, may prefer machines that can print models in flexible materials, as the texture and tension of the printed prototypes will better mimic the final product. Methods 3D Systems www.3dsystems.com Precision CAD/CAM Services www.cadcam4u.com CADspan www.cadspan.com QuickParts.com www.quickparts.com Desktop Factory www.desktopfactory.com RedEye On Demand www.redeyeondemand.com Dimension Printing www.dimensionprinting.com Shapeways www.shapeways.com LGM www.lgmmodel.com Stephanie Wood Design www.stephaniewooddesign.co.uk Materialise www.materialise.be Stratasys www.stratasys.com MIT’s Three Dimensional Printing http://web.mit.edu/tdp/www Wohlers Associates http://wohlersassociates.com Xardas www.xardas.com My3DServices.com http://my3dservices.com Z Corp. www.zcorp.com Objet Geometries www.objet.com Because SLA employs photocurable resins, machines using this process tend to produce models that are slightly brittle. By contrast, the SLS machines use polymer powders, resulting in models with thermoplastic properties and surfaces with powdery texture. Many consider SLA to be a better process for producing fine, smooth parts with intricate details. But more often, SLA parts need support structures. In some rare cases, the removal of the support structure may leave behind marks that compromise the dimension of the part. FDM uses rigid ABS plastics, producing parts similar to the thermoplastic SLS parts. Materialise, a Belgium-based prototyping firm, noted, FDM is “less appropriate for parts with living hinges,” but “more appropriate for large, flat parts . . . with fewer small details,” compared with the SLS process. Stratasys uses eight unique thermoplastics materials in its equipment. 3D printing derived from ink-jet technology uses ink-jet nozzles to create models in layers, with a liquid binder to seal them in place. The process uses a liquid agent instead of a laser, as in SLS. This method is generally considered more affordable and quicker compared with others. www.cadalyst.com cadalyst January/February 2009 20 http://www.cadalyst.com/3DPapps http://www.3dsystems.com http://www.cadcam4u.com http://www.QuickParts.com http://www.cadspan.com http://www.quickparts.com http://www.desktopfactory.com http://www.redeyeondemand.com http://www.dimensionprinting.com http://www.shapeways.com http://www.lgmmodel.com http://www.stephaniewooddesign.co.uk http://www.materialise.be http://www.stratasys.com http://wohlersassociates.com http://web.mit.edu/tdp/www http://www.My3DServices.com http://www.xardas.com http://my3dservices.com http://www.zcorp.com http://www.objet.com http://www.cadalyst.com
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