New Metal 3D Printing Process
Bound Metal Deposition Uses MIM to Create New Metal 3D Printing Process by Dave Macfie and Shawn Spinneweber, Cimquest The advent of metal 3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, has promised to dramatically change the way products are made. The benefits are: the reduction or elimination of up-front tooling and increased complexity due to the removal of conventional manufacturing constraints which lead to shorter lead times, part consolidation, and weight reduction. Today, metals represent one of the fastest growing segments in 3D printing globally. Shipments of metal 3D printers increased by 51% in 2015, compared to 2014, and they continued to climb in 2016. Various research firms project additive manufacturing will be a $20B industry by 2020. (Source: Wohler’s Report 2016). While global metal manufacturing is estimated to be a $1 trillion industry. In spite of this growth, metal 3D printing options have not been accessible for the majority of manufacturers due to their cost and operational complexity. In addition, most technologies have relied on slow, laser-based processes that demand high levels of manual labor such as removal of metal supports with CNC. Handling the metal powder also poses health and safety issues which require a larger investment in equipment and facilities. [...]
3D Printing for Low Volume Production
Companies in certain industries sometimes require customized end-use parts, used to either replace older parts or improve upon infrastructure. While necessary, the cost and time barriers associated with one-off parts can cause for engineering teams to postpone or even eliminate projects altogether. Siemans Mobility based in Germany develops technology for vehicles and infrastructure for transport machines. The unique needs of their customer base demands innovation in low run manufacturing. One of their customers, The SWU Verkehr, provides transport services across 10 trains in the city of Ulm. The SWU decided to rework an existing armrest for the driver seat of a city train. This modification included the addition of three extra buttons for the control system, a design requested by many of their train operators. While something like this seems fairly straightforward, the part is traditionally made from glass fibre plastics with injection molding, welding, and milling. Through these methods, Siemens would be limited to only taking orders above 10 parts, because anything lower would be cost prohibitive. Excess parts would be stored until they were used or became too outdated to use. With this growing demand for one-off parts, Siemens saw the opportunity to innovate with 3D printing. This justified the nearly [...]
FDM Thermoform Tooling: What It Is and Why It Works
A kitting tray 3D printed using thermoformed plastics. There’s a good chance you interact with multiple thermoformed products on a daily basis, whether that be in your grocery store, your car, or probably even your fridge. But what does it mean if something is thermoformed? Thermoforming is a conventional plastics forming process where heat is used to bring a sheet of plastic to its sagging point, or when it becomes pliable. The heat source is removed and the plastic sheet is positioned onto a mold. A vacuum is then drawn through the mold and the sheet conforms to the surface of that mold. Thermoformed products are prevalent throughout manufacturing industries; including medical, outdoor/recreational equipment, automotive and aerospace. Typical products most commonly seen are trays, various housing components, wind deflectors, tubs, and most frequently — packaging. Using conventional methods, creating the tools for thermoforming can be a long, grueling process. Often these tools, especially if outsourced can take anywhere from 6-14 weeks depending on tool complexity and CNC capacity. This timeline is unattractive when you only need tooling for a short production run or a prototype tool. Typically, short-run, prototype and bridge tooling are made of a lower-cost tooling board. These materials [...]
Additive Manufacturing Changes How We Think About Design
As 3D printing has become more and more mainstream, the traditional resource and skills barriers for manufacturing are all but vanishing. This trend is changing the very face of design. For the first time, producing complex products is no more difficult, expensive, or time-consuming than making simpler objects. 3D printing a block with holes, notches, and rounded edges is as approachable as printing a solid block once was. The 3D printers give designers unprecedented control over the shape and composition of matter. High-end 3D printers can combine multiple materials into arbitrary patterns at a high resolution, leading to the ability to create geometry with fidelity and complexity never before seen. Traditionally, making more complex objects required a heavy investment in time, equipment, energy, and labor. Now, the cost of adding an additional design feature is reduced, potentially triggering nothing short of a manufacturing revolution similar to the first industrial revolution triggered when the cost of power was similarly diminished. And as 3D printing evolves, these products can be produced quickly and produced in bulk. The Factory of the Future is Here Now Manufacturers are finding applications for additive manufacturing that go beyond experimentation—and that instead are relevant, practical, and profitable. According to a [...]
Additive Manufacturing Will Change How We Think About Design
As 3D printing has become more and more mainstream, the traditional resource and skills barriers for manufacturing are all but vanishing. This trend is changing the very face of design. For the first time, producing complex products is no more difficult, expensive, or time consuming than making simpler objects. 3D printing a block with holes, notches, and rounded edges is as approachable as printing a solid block once was. The 3D printers give designers unprecedented control over the shape and composition of matter. High-end 3D printers can combine multiple materials into arbitrary patterns at a high resolution, leading to the ability to create geometry with fidelity and complexity never before seen. Traditionally, making more complex objects required a heavy investment in time, equipment, energy, and labor. Now, the cost of adding an additional design feature is reduced, potentially triggering nothing short of a manufacturing revolution similar to the first industrial revolution triggered when the cost of power was similarly diminished. And as 3D printing evolves, these products can be produced quickly and produced in bulk. The Factory of the Future is Here Now Manufacturers are finding applications for additive manufacturing that go beyond experimentation—and that instead are relevant, practical, and profitable. According to [...]
SOLIDWORKS 2017 Mate Controller
There is a great new enhancement in SOLIDWORKS 2017 that improves the Mate Controller tool. One of the benefits in creating assembly designs in CAD is the ability to simulate component motion. In CAD, you are able to define 3D motion constraints called Mates so that the part interaction resembles real-world motion – whether you want to simulate a robot, a lift mechanism, or even a bionic arm. However, creating animations when a series of specific positions are involved is no easy task. Usually, you would have to create a configuration for each specific position, and then toggle them to create the animation. The new Mate Controller tool in SOLIDWORKS 2017can can you achieve this in an efficient manner. The original Mate Controller tool was introduced in SOLIDWORKS 2016 and allowed you to show and save the positions of assembly components at various mate values and degrees of freedom without using configurations for each position. The Mate Controller then allows you to create simple animations between those positions, and save them out as .avi files. Various mate types are supported when utilizing this tool, such as angle, distance, limit, slot and width mates. SOLIDWORKS 2017 took it a step further. You can now [...]