From the Stratasys Blog – 3D Printing the Legendary Escher Lizard
The Dutch graphic artist M.C. Escher continues to fascinate and inspire more than 40 years after his departure. Especially well known for his mathematical bent and two-dimensional renderings of “impossible” three-dimensional geometries, workarounds for Escher’s tricky angles and structures have found a home with 3D printing! Rachel McConnell, who explores art, engineering and design in her work, used an Objet500 Connex Multi-Material 3D Printer by Stratasys to create a physical “Escher Curl-up model.” The model was based on Escher’s 1951 print “Wentelteefje,” which contains both drawings and text about an imaginary creature with articulated segments, human-like legs, eyes on stalks, and a bird-like beak. McConnell’s Curl-up was a complex exercise in geometry, physics, construction and materials science. McConnell identifies herself as both a hacker and a maker, as she confirmed to the Stratasys blog in an exclusive interview: “I am someone who likes to get into the guts of things, understand how they work, and to make changes to existing objects, especially repurposing them, often as opposed to buying something new.” McConnell, a past lead developer at Instructables, used their Objet500 Connex Multi -material 3D Printer from Stratasys to produce several iterations of the Escher Curl-up, experimenting with the size of the segmented pieces and various materials to produce [...]
Stratasys’ New Endur 3D Printing Material Looks and Functions Like Polypropylene
Reprinted from the Stratasys Blog -8 Apr. 2014 by Stratasys Staff In the video below, Boaz Jacobi, Product Marketing Manager at Stratasys, talks about the capabilities of Endur and examines some applicative models that look and behave like polypropylene in terms of flexibility, strength and toughness. Tweezers prototyped in Stratasys Endur 3D printing material to give polypropylene-like look and functionality This week, Stratasys expanded its portfolio of 3D printing materials with Endur, a newPolyJet 3D printing material. Endur has the chemical characteristics and composition to give models and prototypes a polypropylene-like look and functionality, much like the characteristics of standard plastics. Connex3 and Objet30 Pro 3D Printers.
Cimquest 3D Printing and Rapid Prototyping Services
Cimquest offers 3D printing and rapid prototyping services. Using the Dimension 3D printers, the new uPrint 3D personal printer or the Stratasys FDM 400 we can print your parts from your 3D CAD data. The parts and assemblies are printed with ABS plastic, a strong, durable material that can be used for extensive testing of form, fit and function. Maintaining build tolerances of +-.005, the resultant parts/assemblies produced are dimensionally accurate. The completed ABS parts may have secondary operations performed, such as hole drilling and tapping, for further testing. Email us your CAD file (a solid from SolidWorks, Solidedge, Inventor, CATIA, Pro E, STEP, SAT or IGES) along with your phone number and one of our representatives will contact you with a quote. Get a Real 3D Model for FREE! Contact us today: Toll Free: 866-277-8778 or Email: sales@cimquest-inc.com
Stratasys Gets Tough with Nylon 12
Reprinted from the Stratsys Blog: Tough and flexible bender bar created with FDM Nylon 12 material on the Fortus 3D Production System A new nylon material with the specs to be the toughest in additive manufacturing is a strong reason to take notice. Stratasys chose EuroMold 2013 to launch FDM Nylon 12 for Fortus 3D Production Systems. Designed to optimize strength and toughness while reducing the residual stresses and warp that have prevented semi-crystalline material use in the past, FDM Nylon 12 offers several key improvements over any other 3D-printed nylon. It out-performs on toughness and mechanical properties, exhibiting 100% improvement in elongation at break and also offers superior fatigue and chemical resistance. FDM Nylon 12 is also the first FDM material that can be annealed, improving the temperature and mechanical properties of 3D printed parts. All this presents compelling opportunities for jigs, fixtures and tooling with enhanced durability, dimensional stability and impact strength. Black rotary cap cover created in FDM Nylon 12 material on the Fortus 3D Production System It also opens up new possibilities for geometries and applications that can easily withstand repetitive stress, flex and vibrations such as snap fits and press fit inserts FDM Nylon 12 is available for use on Fortus 900mc, Fortus [...]
A Handheld 3D Scanner Turning Heads at the Trade Shows
Columbus, Ohio-based company, Knockout Concepts, is developing a mobile 3D Scanner. Their objective is to create the mobile 3D Scanner that can go wherever you go and capture whatever what you see. The 3D Scanner is a first-of-its-kind unit which contains an integrated depth sensor from Primesense, the same technology used in 3D Systems’ own scanning device. As it happens, Knockout used a rapid prototyped version to present at Maker Faire, turning more than just a few heads. Knocking out Concepts The benefit of Knockout Concepts’ product, first demonstrated at Maker Faire 2013, is that it offers complete wireless mobility–no cords are required to tether the user to a laptop. All point cloud data is processed right on the device using a Quad-core ARM CPU/GPU with the 3D scanning being done in real time, right on the touch screen. The content is stored to memory in the scanner with an internal battery that will keep you scanning for 5hrs+ on a single charge. The product renders a digital file that is suitable for further CAD development, 3D animation or 3D printing. The Technology House (TTH), a product development and rapid prototyping company, first came in contact with Knockout Concepts when they needed show [...]
3D Printed Injection Molds Demo at EuroMold 2013
At EuroMold 2013, Stratasys once again demonstrated the value of 3D printed injection molding. Watch the exciting booth demo here in either English or German, hosted by Michael Anton, Senior Pre-Sales and Application Engineer, Stratasys.