HP Unveils 4 Lower-Cost Jet Fusion 3D Printers
HP Inc. recently revealed the next evolution of its 3D printing business with the unveiling of four new Jet Fusion 3D printer models that will feature the same technology of the original models, but with a smaller footprint and lower cost to reach a broader set of customers. The expanded Jet Fusion lineup will include models that can print full-color objects as well as models that just do black-and-white. Capabilities include printing at high speeds—up to 52 parts in 15 hours. Pricing will start in the $50,000 range and will reach into the $100,000 range. That's in comparison to the existing Multi Jet Fusion models, which are priced in the $300,000 range. "We're expanding the portfolio. You can see we're putting a lot in place. [3D printing] is a market that's growing at a 30 percent CAGR, and we're actually accelerating the market with our entry," said Stephen Nigro, president of HP's 3D printing business, in an interview with CRN. "We see this taking off into the 2020-plus timeframe — closer to 2020 than 2025." The ultimate vision, he said, is "changing how the world designs and manufactures." Along with the lower pricing, the new Jet Fusion 3D printers differ from the original [...]
Metal 3D Printing for Injection Molding
Built-Rite Tool & Die, a Cimquest customer, is a mold-making and design firm based in Lancaster, MA. The company makes precision molds for use in a range of injection molding techniques. The Desktop Metal Studio System has been tested by Built-Rite for the manufacture of several components of the Studio System metal 3D printer. These included a “flipper arm” used in the Studio System to “eject the bound metal or interface media rods into the extruder where they are heated and deposited onto the build plate, shaping a green part.” Ron Caron, General Manager at Built-Rite, commented that “Molds must be built to withstand very high pressures. The printed inserts that we prototyped for Desktop Metal were able to pass the first round of tests and successfully molded several parts. In the beginning, we immediately saw some of the advantages of using metal printed components in our molds.” According to Caron using 3D printing allows the inserts to be produced in a quicker time, given that production could be brought in-house. Also, it was possible to design cooling channels in a new way. One benefit here was a weight saving and subsequent reduction in operator fatigue. The injection mold insert. Photo via Built-Rite. [...]
Form 2 3D Printer
Let’s take a fresh look at the Form2 3D printer from our friends over at Formlabs. Stereolithography, more commonly known as SLA, is a 3D printing technology that originated in the early 1980's. With SLA, a liquid photopolymer is converted into solid material layer by layer when exposed to a highly concentrated light source, such as a laser or projector, in a process known as photopolymerization. The result is a three-dimensional solid part that is water-tight with a smooth surface finish and fine details. Due to the high resolution, layer lines are less noticeable than parts fabricated with extrusion-based printers. While SLA fits well into a variety of applications, large-scale industrial systems are expensive to own and operate making them barriers to wide-use adoption. In 2011, Formlabs introduced industrial quality SLA to the desktop. With high-resolution, capabilities and materials previously limited to larger systems, Formlabs made SLA more affordable and accessible. Starting at $3,499 the Form2 is the third-generation 3D printer from Formlabs. It has a considerable build volume for its size with a layer resolution as low as 25 microns. One of the most exciting things about the Form2 is the impressive materials library. With a dozen materials and more to be [...]
Using SolidWorks DimXpert for Final Inspection
SOLIDWORKS and Control X work really well together in the 3D part inspection world. SOLIDWORKS is one of the leading CAD tools in today’s design and manufacturing world. One of its advantages is that it offers you the opportunity to create a 3D annotated model. This can include things such as explicitly-specified dimensions, tolerances, 3D GD&T, surface texture symbols, finish requirements, and so on. This 3D annotated model is then used to manufacture the part, as well as provides the needed criteria to inspect the part. A part can contain anywhere from several dozen annotations, to several hundred! Wouldn’t it be great to repurpose these annotations, and import them directly into the inspection software, as opposed to recreating all of them one by one? Well, one of the inspection softwares that have this ability is Geomagic Control X. The first step is to add all of the 3D annotations directly to your 3D model. This is a pretty simple process in CAD. Once this is complete, you can open up Geomgagic Control X and use the PMI Wizard to import the 3D annotated model. All of the explicit dimensions and GD&T information will come through with no errors. The last step would be to [...]
SolidWorks 2018 Tab and Slot
There’s a new feature in SolidWorks 2018 called Tab and Slot that helps you to create a design to interlock two parts, whether in the context of an assembly or multiple bodies. Rather than doing it the traditional way, with several sketches and features, you can now use this new feature in SolidWorks 2018 to get it done much easier. In the image above, we have a box and a lid which we want to interlock with intermittent tabs and slots. To access the new feature that will assist you with this, you go to Insert > Sheet Metal > Tab and Slot. Just as a note, although this new feature is found in the Sheet Metal menus, it can just as well be used in not sheet-metal applications. In the Property Manager, start by selecting an edge for the tabs and corresponding face for the slots. Then, under Spacing, you can set the spacing and number of instances. Under Tabs, set the length, thickness, height, and edge type. Last, you can set any clearances or offsets that you need for the design to be functional. The preview show above signifies that you parameters were input correctly. Click OK and you have an [...]
HP Accelerates the Path to Industrial 3D Manufacturing
HP Jet Fusion 32 4200 printers 3D printing is one of the most disruptive technologies of our time, spearheading a new 4th Industrial Revolution that will radically change the way we conceive, design, produce, distribute, and consume pretty much everything. But until now, 3D printing hasn’t been a viable means of large-scale industrial manufacturing (think big factories) because of prohibitively expensive production costs and limited technology. In order to realize HP’s vision of digitally transforming the $12 trillion global manufacturing industry, the economics of 3D printing needed to be completely rewritten. Recently, HP announced that it has smashed that economic barrier and paved the way for cost-effective, industrial-scale 3D manufacturing with the new Jet Fusion 3D 4210 Printing Solution. The new solution increases production volume for HP Jet Fusion 3D printers by enabling continuous operation, greater overall system efficiency, and the ability handle larger quantities of 3D printing materials, while significantly lowering production costs with reduced pricing on HP’s 3D materials and shared service contracts. When put together with HP’s industry-leading Multi Jet Fusion technology, those enhancements double the existing “break-even point” at which 3D printing remains cost-effective to an unprecedented 110,000 parts, and drastically reduces the cost-per-part, up to 65% [...]