Cadalyst - January/February 2009 - (Page 23) cadalystlabsreport companies now strive — especially in designing desktop prototypes but also end-use parts. The company has been asked to produce, among other things, a set of air ducts for machines — to minimize or prevent user exposure to toxins and heat. They also have introduced disposable, a light aircraft manufacturer and a series of syringe storage recyclable materials. units for a doctor. “All current Stratasys systems use thermoplastic materiThese 3D printed parts and products are intended for als,” explained Hiemenz, so printed parts can be recycled by daily use, not as prototypes. Joe Hiemenz, Stratasys public industrial recycling firms that process plastic scrap. “Comrelations manager, pointed out, “Although rapid manufacpared with subtractive manufacturing, such as machining, turing (RM) is the original term, the Society of Mechanithe additive RP process uses, for the most part, just the cal Engineers uses the term direct digital manufacturing volume of materials needed to form the shape, so you have (DDM)” to describe this application. virtually no waste,” Hiemenz added. For high-volume parts numbering in the thousands, traJoe Tiltlow, director of product management at Z Corp., ditional manufacturing methods — tooling, machining, and said, “Beginning with the Z450, down to the latest ZPrinter injection molding — remain the preferred options. But RM can produce certain parts with complex geometry, negative 650, we use a technology that automatically recaptures the unused powder. Ninety-nine percent of that unused angles, and undercuts that present challenges for traditional methods. Because the typical turnaround time for RM powder gets put back into the machine for future builds. That’s a tremendous cost savings for the user. Several years is two to five days, it’s ideal for making a few dozen alpha ago, we used heaters to cure the parts. We realized the and beta units to test a product’s form, fit, and function or noise and the heat weren’t suitable for office environment, a few hundreds parts to launch a new product while waitso we’ve moved away from it. Our current technology uses ing for tooling setup. heat only near the end of the build cycle.” In April 2006, roughly six months after its launch, RedEye On Demand began offering a flexible, rubber-like photopolymer material known as FullCure Tango. “Tango Workhorses and Ponies is expected to be of interest to manufacturers of products “Using additive fabrication machines to create end-use with pliable features, such as tires, toys, shoes, gaskets, key- parts requires high performance, meaning larger build pads, overmolding, and flexible automobile trim components,” announced the company. 3D-Printed Bike Rack Hits Streets of NYC With the introduction of its Overnight Build service in Francis Bitonti, principal with the design firm FADarchitecture, used 3D printing to create June 2007, RedEye On Demand what he calls an alien-looking bike rack for a contest sponsored by the New York City Department of Transportation. The began providing next-day shipcontest aimed to raise the ment for orders placed before profile of cycling in the city 4 A.M. Eastern time. Several and address riders’ concerns months later, in November about bike security. 2007, RedEye On Demand The rack design is based added Ready Part, a premium on modular pieces and service for producing parts freeform geometry. “A lot with mold-quality smooth of what I do comes out finishes. “The Ready Part techof writing small computer nology also prepares models programs that generate forms,” Bitonti said. “This and parts for painting, plating, form is disconnected but and postfinishing processes,” continuous at the same according to the company. Office and Earth Friendly Objet Geometries describes its new Alaris30 as being “ideally suited for an office environment.” Dimension, a division of Stratasys, usually describes its product line as “a fast, officefriendly, low-cost alternative.” The ubiquitous term office friendly indicates the RP machine developers’ recognition that standard RP materials require careful handling. Many time, operating as a modular system that produces many variations.” Bitonti had planned to mill the rack, but the design would have required Francis Bitonti’s 3D-printed bike rack is in use on the streets of 200 parts. “It would have New York City. been nearly impossible to fabricate with traditional milling. 3D printing was the most cost-efficient and precise way to manufacture these parts,” he said. He called on RedEye On Demand, a business unit of 3D printer manufacturer Stratasys, which printed the components using FDM (fused-deposition modeling). Only 18 parts were needed, and the 3D printer tackled the large build with ease, creating components from a glossy plastic. Parts were painted an automotive deep red-orange. Two finished models were created. One is in use on the streets of New York. The other is on display at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. Read the full story at www.cadalyst.com/3DPapps. January/February 2009 cadalyst www.cadalyst.com 23 http://www.cadalyst.com/3DPapps http://www.cadalyst.com
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