Desktop Metal Studio Solution
Additive Manufacturing of metals originated in the early 1990's through a process known as direct metal laser sintering. This process uses laser toolpaths to weld powdered metals into three dimensional parts. While effective, the technology has major barriers to entry due to the volatile nature of metal powders. These powders are reactive and can cause fires, requiring significant investments in infrastructure, including explosion proof rooms, respirators, and not to mention highly specialized operators. All of these requirements result in a high startup cost that can discourages widespread adoption of the technology. With the Desktop Metal Studio Solution, many of these traditional obstacles are eliminated. The solution is the first office-friendly metal printer and it is similar to the safest, most widely used 3D printing process, FDM. Let's explore the process: To begin, a digital model is prepared. The file is sent to the machine and the printer extrudes rods that have metal powder bound within wax and plastic in a process called Bound Metal Deposition or BMD. The resultant part is known as the "green part". In the next phase, the part is submerged in a solution to remove wax from the bound material. It is then placed in a microwave-enhanced furnace, which [...]
HP Multi Jet Fusion – Transformative 3D Printing Technology
HP brings decades of experience in 2D printing and materials science to the 3D printing market. With the development and release of this platform, they seek to address the demands for increased speed, throughput, and productivity in additive manufacturing. The HP Jet Fusion 4200 is made up of the printer, build unit, and processing station. To begin, HP material cartridges are first inserted into the processing station. The station performs an automated mixing process, and the materials are loaded into the 3D Build Unit. The build unit is now ready to be placed into the printer. In the printing stage, a layer of material powder is first spread across the build area. In one continuous pass, fusing and detailing agents are applied, along with energy to further fuse the layers. The build area then moves down a layer and the loop is repeated until the parts are complete. Upon completion of this stage, the build unit is removed and placed in the processing station to cool. A second build unit can then be inserted back into the printer for the next build. The HP Multi Jet Fusion has a closed loop thermal control system, which measures hundreds of points on the material bed. [...]
Using SolidWorks PMI for Final Inspection
Let’s discuss two pieces of software that work really well together in the 3D part inspection world: SolidWorks, and Control X. 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 software packages 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 Geomagic Control X, and use the PMI Wizard to import the 3D annotated model. All of the explicit dimensions and GD&T information come through just [...]
Cimquest Now a Reseller of HP Multi Jet Fusion Technology
Cimquest has announced an agreement with HP Inc. to sell and support HP Jet Fusion 3D printersin the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast territories, encompassing the state of Virginia all the way through Maine. “I am excited to combine Cimquest’s award winning customer service with HP’s award-winning 3D printing platform. Our 19 years of 3D printing and 28 years of subtractive manufacturing (Mastercam) experience coupled with HP’s true high volume production technology provides a unique solution to the market. No single manufacturing process stands alone and with our expertise with many manufacturing processes, Cimquest is well suited to support our customers’ selection and implementation of 3D printing.” Says Rob Hassold - Founder/CEO of Cimquest, Inc. The HP Jet Fusion 3D 4200 solution offers an end-to-end platform for prototyping and production based on HP’s Multi Jet Fusion technology. This solution lowers the barriers of entry to additive manufacturing by providing faster build speeds, high-quality functional parts, and breakthrough economics. The HP Jet Fusion 3D 4200 machine operates through a unique Multi-Agent printing process, offering dimensional accuracy, fine aesthetics, and superior mechanical properties. Parts can currently be printed in High Reusability PA 12, but many new materials will be available down the line through HP’s Open Materials [...]
Re-engineering Engineering with ANSYS
Additive manufacturing is the poster child of the engineering world right now. There are other posts on the web and on the ANSYS blog talking about this and what the opportunities are that it brings. But we need to talk about the changes that must be made to the whole product development process. It’s pretty well understood that product development is pretty well down the path to shift away from a time when simulation was used to figure out why something broke. Simulation is more routinely being used up front in the design process to develop products that are, more often, right the first time. Simulation Driven Product Development process We call this Simulation Driven Product Development. It’s a great strategy and means that the engineering simulation and design are brought closer together. You can try different loadings and designs to make sure that by the time you do go to test, you’re very confident in your design. Building and testing are very expensive and time-consuming so any improvements in this process generally mean big savings. With additive manufacturing, the whole engineering process gets a few more steps which actually add a lot more complexity. I won’t cover all of them [...]
AME Exhibitor Spotlight – Verisurf
Verisurf Software provides complete software and hardware solutions for computer-aided inspection, tool building, and reverse engineering to manufacturers around the world. The Verisurf Inspection Suite tackles any inspection challenge head-on. It offers a unique, CAD-based architecture that can read all file formats, interoperate with any common mobile or stationary CMM (including arms, trackers, and scanner systems) and has the best reporting capabilities of any application on the market. The suite integrates beautiful, color images highlighting any deviation between measured parts and the nominal CAD model. And full Windows compliance assures that the Verisurf Inspection Suite is easy to learn and deploy. Verisurf’s Automated Inspection Suite sets a new standard for ease-of-use when authoring automated inspection programs for CMMs. Using the suite’s intuitive graphical interface, just point and click on the model features you want to include in your inspection plan. Operators have full control over every possible parameter of probe motion; can easily drag, drop, and group inspection steps and even preview CMM and probe kinematics before running the plan on a CMM. Already have a CMM? With Verisurf’s optional Universal CMM software, you can program and drive just about any brand of CMM without the expense of a controller or probe [...]