Stratasys at the Paris Air Show
As additive manufacturing continues to take off within the aerospace sector, the 51st Paris Air Show (held on June 15-21) gave Stratasys the opportunity to explain to visitors how the technology is proving such a game changer for aerospace manufacturers and suppliers. From enabling companies to produce lighter weight flight parts and explore more complex design geometries to increasing supply chain efficiency, Stratasys additive manufacturing is helping to push the envelope in aerospace. At more than 100 years old, the event is the longest-running and largest aerospace trade show in the world and welcomes what certainly seemed like the entire aviation industry through its doors. The busy Stratasys stand, including an aircraft cabin interior with 3D printed parts, at the Paris Air Show 2015. With such an important and captivated audience of aerospace manufacturers and engineers in attendance, Stratasys is capitalizing on the opportunity to bolster relationships with its existing aerospace customers, while initiating relations with a number of new ones. The Stratasys stand is hosting a steady flow of traffic with live 3D printing of aerospace parts, as well as an array of 3D printed aerospace models which represent a broad range of applications that can be improved with additive manufacturing. [...]
3D Print and Easily Clean Fine, Intricate Parts
Now you can easily 3D print and clean intricate parts with the Objet Eden260VS. Matching the Objet Eden260V in size and performance, the Objet Eden260VS also gives you the option to 3D print with soluble support — ideal for automated support removal, even from fine, delicate parts and complex geometries. 3D printing with soluble support lets you easily clean models with extremely fine, delicate features, reaching internal voids that water-jetting can miss. And for complex geometries demanding a gentle cleaning process, support removal can be achieved in a matter of hours. This intricate part, printed in VeroWhitePlus with the Objet Eden260VS, has delicate features that can be easily cleaned. Benefit from 3D printing with soluble support on the Objet Eden260VS: Reduce hands-on labor time and cost and improve productivity with automated support removal. 3D print and easily clean small, intricate parts with fine features and hard-to-reach cavities. Switch between soluble and water jet modes to balance low-cost automation with hands-on support removal. Contact us today to learn more about 3D printing with the Objet Eden260VS.
Smooth and Seamless Product Implementation
Our products and services are customized to fit each individual company’s needs. We use your existing strengths and weaknesses to determine which products will produce the greatest results. Our extensive implementation process will seamlessly assist your organization in planning, implementation, design and development of products and systems. Cimquest has always been focused on customers. We know that the success of our business depends on your success, and have made it our mission to ensure that you not only get the right product for your needs, but also that months and years into the ownership, you continue to be successful with it. Through the years we have offered and continue to offer a number of customer programs to facilitate that mission. How CIMS works for you: Each new customer installation is assigned an Account Implementation Manager (AIM). Your AIM is a dedicated engineer/machinist whose goal is to aid in successfully guiding you through your customized product implementation schedule. Your AIM will process the initial evaluation of your organizational structure, industry and CAD/CAM and Rapid Prototyping needs. A report will be supplied to you indicating our analysis and recommendations. The best part about the CIMS program is that it is simple and doesn’t cost you [...]
Is 3D Printing Worth the Hype?
This is an excerpt from an article by Chad Sansing posted on SLJ.com If you’ve ever seen a 3-D printer at work, you know how mesmerizing it can be. LEDs flicker to life, fans and motors spin up to speed, and then, the print head (or nozzle) begins its dance back and forth along X- and Y-axis belt drives (and up and down the Z-axis), extruding its “make” into being onto the print plate. Equal parts robot, building blocks, and hot glue gun, 3-D printing is a technology that’s making its way into schools and libraries. The printers work like this: a print head draws plastic filament from a large reel, heats the filament, and then extrudes it onto a build plate to print in 3-D. The print head (and sometimes the build plate) move on X, Y, and Z axes following instructions from design files uploaded to the printer via USB cable or SD card. Once the heated filament hits the build plate, it cools quickly, so the print head can dash back and forth across cooled portions of the print and continue its additive work, building up to the top of the design. Of course, dash is a relative term. Complex [...]
Ten-motor Electric Plane Takes Off
The GL-10 prototype takes off in hover mode like a helicopter (Photo: NASA Langley/David C. Bowman) In seeking a compromise between helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft, engineers in recent years have opted for tilt rotors, but NASA has dusted off and improved on a tilt wing aircraft design that takes off and lands like a helicopter and flies like an airplane. Called the Greased Lightning, or GL-10, the unmanned prototype made a successful vertical takeoff and transition to horizontal flight at Fort A.P. Hill, not far from NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. One of the major challenges for aviation engineers is combining the vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) and hover capabilities of a helicopter with the speed and range of a fixed-wing aircraft. The V-22 Osprey and similar aircraft achieve this by rotating their engine nacelles while keeping their wings fixed because it's mechanically simpler and reduces crosswind drag. However, the GL-10 is an unmanned hybrid-electric aircraft that uses 10 electric motors for propulsion and NASA believes that a tilt wing is the better option for handling so many nacelles at once. Engineers David North (L) and Bill Fredericks (R) carry the Greased Lightning before one of its flight [...]
Chinese Space Program Builds 3D Printed Suit Connectors
This article is a repost from 3Dprint.com. The Feitian is a Chinese spacesuit developed for the Shenzhou 7 mission, and astronaut Zhai Zhigang wore it during China’s first-ever extravehicular activity (EVA) on September 27, 2008. The suit was modeled after the Orlan-M spacesuit developed by the Russian space program, designed to meet the requirements of spacewalks of up to seven hours by providing sufficient oxygen stores and allowing for the excretion of bodily waste. Chinese officials say the suit cost $4.4 million to build, weighed around 260 lbs, and was named using the Mandarin words for “flying” and “sky.” Now a research center operating as part of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation has used a 3D printer to build vent pipes and flanges to connect the next generation extravehicular space suit to an orbital vehicle. The designers say the vent pipe and the flange will improve the reliability and safety of the space suit while making the manufacturing process more efficient. Using the 3D printing technology was approved by the Scientific Research Training Center for Chinese Astronauts, and they say the plan is to use the suits for the country’s second orbiting space lab, Tiangong-2. The suits are expected to be [...]