Acceleration of Metal 3D Printing Event
Thank you to all who attended our 3D printing event that took place at our headquarters in Branchburg, NJ last week. This was the culmination of our "Acceleration of Metal 3D Printing" series which introduced this advanced Additive Technology and its various applications. During yesterday's event, attendees were able to tour our new Metal 3D Printing showroom, interact with parts, and network with other participants. Special thanks to Nate Higgins, Co-founder of FreeFORM who shared his journey in the process of taking a concept and developing a path from prototyping to mass commercialization, Stevie Fealtman from Xact Metal, as well as Shannon Morgan and Cory Haas from Desktop Metal. The excitement and enthusiasm of the attendees are proof that Metal 3D Printing is a hot item this year 2022 and will continue to be a hot topic in years to come. As a special treat, all of the event attendees will be receiving one of the sample metal 3D printed parts shown below. We had a second event just like it in the Boston area on May 4th. This one was hosted by ABCorp in their facility in Boston, MA. At this event attendees got to see the Desktop Metal Shop System live, [...]
Electric Vehicles and CNC Machining: What You Need to Know
Electric Car Battery Pack The push for electric vehicles (EVs) is nothing new, but few expected the arms race Tesla would spark in the automotive world with their aggressive development. Now, IHS Markit predicts that 25 percent of all passenger vehicles sold worldwide will be electric by 2030. Others predict that even more will be sold by then. Currently, the inventory of automobiles, in general, is less than demand because of the supply chain issues of 2020 and 2021, leaving the market wide open for accelerated growth. The automotive manufacturers that learned from the pandemic reassessed their production processes to maximize cost containment. Often that meant optimizing their CNC machining approach. Luckily, that exact choice will make it easy to switch from manufacturing mainly internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles to EVs. That switch will be more difficult for shops that have overly specialized equipment, but investing in the right software in the coming years could put them back on the right path. The most obvious concerns when producing EVs rather than ICE vehicles are reducing weight, achieving the precision necessary for making battery packs, and producing internal components with longer lifespans than their ICE counterparts. The right software and machining centers [...]
Moldplus Offer Major Time Savings for Mastercam Programmers
When manufacturers are looking for a powerful suite of time- and money-saving solutions, they can turn to Moldplus SA for help in reducing the time required to prepare parts, molds, or tools. Founded in 1993, it was the first company to develop integrated add-on products uniquely designed to complement the CAD tools provided by Mastercam. The initiative to develop the successful Mastercam C-Hook SDK allowed Moldplus to create advanced CAD tools for mold creation and surface manipulation. Later, their advanced CAD and 5-axis path generation tools were developed due to market demand in Europe, Asia, and North America. Headquartered in Switzerland, the company’s offerings function exclusively with Mastercam Design, Mill, Lathe, Wire, and Router products. Used in industries such as aerospace, automotive, racing, medical, and more, Moldplus strives to get its customers’ designs completed and manufactured faster using their software solutions. These solutions include tools for preparing parts for manufacturing. “Moldplus provides the user with numerous surface extension functions and surface manipulation tools such as trimming and un-trimming. Our powerful mold preparation tool (core/cavity separation) that is still unique more than 25 years after its initial development, drove many Mastercam sales in the 90s,” said Anbu Lingappan, Business Development Manager, Moldplus. Another product [...]
AMUG Announces Scholarship Recipients
AMUG Awards the Guy E Bourdeau Scholarship to Akila Udage Rob Hassold, Cimquest Founder is pictured above with scholarship recipient Akila. The Additive Manufacturing Users Group (AMUG) has announced the recipient of its Randy Stevens Scholarship for educators in Additive Manufacturing and its Guy E Bourdeau Scholarship for students in Additive Manufacturing. The Guy E Bourdeau Scholarship is sponsored by Cimquest and recognizes students who demonstrate passion and vision for Additive Manufacturing. This year's winner was Akila Udage. Akila Udage was exposed to Additive Manufacturing while pursuing his master’s degree at the Lighting Research Center (LRC) at RPI. As a graduate research assistant, Udage’s work focused on integrating Additive Manufacturing into LED lighting systems. As part of his research, Udage has been analyzing the advantages and challenges of developing structural, thermal, electrical, and optical components for LED systems using Additive Manufacturing. Udage’s efforts on additively manufactured optics focus on the building of novel lenses for illumination applications, and he has been involved in the characterization of additively manufactured reflective and transmissive optical components. He has also been developing additively manufactured antennas and evaluating the effect of Additive Manufacturing properties on electrical traces. Udage has also been studying the thermal properties of [...]
3D Printing a Sensor Part with Desktop Metal
This blog post will take a look at a part that we recently printed on the Desktop Metal Shop System and then finished machined in our CNC manufacturing lab. The holder shown above is used to fixture multiple sensors for taking measurements in industrial equipment. It was printed in 17-4 PH stainless steel on the Shop System with a technology known as metal binder jetting. This process uses a binding agent to bond loose metal powder and defines part geometry. The printed parts are then placed in a shop-safe furnace for batch sintering. Final parts are fully dense and are near-net shape right out of the furnace. The intricate geometry of this sensor holder makes it an ideal candidate for metal 3D printing. More specifically some of the features like the deep narrow slots would require processes other than CNC to be formed such as burning with electrodes or designed as a casting. Obviously, these additional processes will add time and cost. Since these parts are near-net shape, some critical faces were needed to machine for flatness and or critical dimensions. Therefore, our original set-up strategy for these surfaces was to create two fixtures that were also 3D printed. One to hold the [...]
New Formlabs Nylon 12 Glass Filled Powder 3D Printing Material
Let’s take a look at the new Formlabs Nylon 12 Glass Filled powder 3D printing material. As applications for 3D printing continue to evolve, engineers are requiring a wide palette of materials to meet their needs. And with new gaps in supply chains appearing every day, there’s an increasing demand for functional in-house production. Formlabs Nylon 12 Glass Filled on the Fuse 1 can help make in-house production a reality. Here are some of the key characteristics. Nylon 12 GF has a high stiffness and thermal stability. This is great for companies in automotive, aerospace, and product development, either for functional prototyping or small batch production. This material also has high dimensional accuracy and low warpage. The dimensional accuracy stays consistent at elevated temperatures, making it perfect for testing under harsher environments. Medical manufacturers can also benefit from Nylon 12 GF. Medical devices, brackets, and enclosures are all ideal applications. Replacement parts for machinery are another great use that virtually any industry can benefit from. As you can see, Nylon 12 GF enables manufacturers to take control over their means of production. Ideal for parts that require high rigidity and thermal stability, companies can create industrial-grade parts in-house, instead of relying on outsourcing [...]