New Nylon 11 3D Printing Material
Formlabs has released a new 3D printing material for the Fuse 1 platform - Nylon 11. For ductile, robust parts, Nylon 11 Powder is their higher performance, bio-based nylon material for functional prototyping and small batch production. Nylon 11 Powder is suitable for printing parts that need to bend or take impact. Why Choose Nylon 11 Powder? Nylon 11 Powder is a ductile, strong, flexible material for when durability and performance are key. High Ductility: Print end-use parts that can handle wear and tear over time. Thin Walls: Print enclosures, ducts, and other geometries with ease using Nylon 11 Powder. No Nitrogen Needed: 3D print in Nylon 11 in-house without a nitrogen supply resulting in less upfront costs and operating costs compared to most other SLS systems. Environmental Stability: Nylon 11 prints absorb very little moisture and are resistant to light, heat, and chemicals. Download the brochure for more details. Brochure Download
The Future of CAD
by Randall Rothbort. A reprint from www.fabbaloo.com written as a follow-up to our recent xpand3D event. The Future of CAD discussion was a great view into the future technologies being used and incorporated into CAD software. Jon Hirschtick (founder of SOLIDWORKS and Onshape), Blake Courter (CTO of nTopology) and Rob Hassold (CEO of Cimquest) spoke regarding current developments in CAD, future goals, and how the industry will be shaped by current technological advancements. Two main focuses of the discussion were the impact of AI/Machine Learning on CAD, as well as the implementation of cloud computing into the systems. All three universally saw the potential of AI in improving the capabilities of CAD systems, allowing more menial and rule-based parts to be created automatically. However, while Blake and Rob saw this as reducing the role of the designer, Jon saw this as just a progression of the tool, amplifying the engineering rather than reducing it. This connects to a later discussion on parametric design, especially regarding producing alternative parts based on one master part. Rob brought up specifically how machine learning will be adapted to create these parts, reducing the time spent by engineers designing repetitive components. This functionality is just beginning to be [...]
Mastercam Drill Operations for Tapping
This blog post will discuss creating Mastercam drill operations for tapping. The order of operations for the tapping cycle will typically share common parameters from part to part. By creating custom drill operations, you can increase the efficiency of programming for these common features. Our example fixture plate has multiple drilled and tapped one half 13 holes. Starting with the chamfer drill toolpath, we took advantage of the solid feature defining the tapped hole. Remember that you can use the ctrl key to select all the matching diameters. Reset the whole sorting as needed and with the hole location selected, you can associate the spot drill to the toolpath. In the Cut Parameters, the depth for the transfer can be set to zero due to the chamfer being defined in the solid feature. The Linking Parameters were all set to incremental. By backplotting the toolpath we saw the spot drill was feeding to the proper depth matching the chamfer. Next, we opened a drill toolpath for the tap drill operation. Just close the whole selection utility and select yes to keep the drill toolpath. Use the left mouse button to select and drag the geometry from the chamfer tool path and release it [...]
xWASH Smart Affordable and Sustainable Washer from Nexa3D
Nexa3D, the maker of ultra-fast polymer 3D printers, recently announced the immediate commercial availability of xWASH, a new automated washer that works exclusively with its sustainable xCLEAN washing detergent to help manufacturers streamline, optimize, and scale their 3D printing and post-processing operations. The new xWash is a fully automated, smart cleaning washer that is designed to readily accept a full build plate from the company’s flagship NXE400 3D printer at volumes of up to 16 liters per print job. Customers using xWASH can experience significant post-processing cost reductions of as much as 75% compared with other post processing units and realize orders of magnitude throughput gains by producing consistent high-quality parts. “As demand for additively manufactured parts in volume production applications increases, the consistency of mechanical properties and finishing details is more important than ever, meaning there is greater need for automated, controlled, validated and sustainable post-processing solutions,” explained Kevin McAlea, COO at Nexa3D. “Our new xWASH matches the build volumes and process requirements of our ultrafast NXE400 3D printer, giving manufacturers repeatable and consistent control of their washing cycles. It also represents the final step in our end-to-end validated workflow, completing our suite of ultrafast photoplastic production system." Accessing an end-to-end post-processing [...]
Metrology Minute – Flatness
In continuing our series on GD&T callouts, today's Metrology Minute focuses on Flatness. Flatness is a very simple callout that focuses on just how flat a particular surface is without making reference to any specific datum. Very often, a Flatness callout can determine whether a job shop is able to face mill a surface to its finished dimension or if grinding and perhaps outside services are required to achieve the necessary Flatness. If a specific feature on a part needs to be uniformly flat within a given tolerance, without affecting or including any other dimensions or callouts on a drawing, Flatness is commonly used. A Min and Max tolerance are provided, which essentially callout two parallel planes as compared to the nominal (exact) flat surface. The resulting surface after machining must be flat and lie within these planes to therefore be within tolerance. The callout below references two parallel planes within .030 meaning none of the resultant, manufactured surfaces can have any points that measure outside of that provided tolerance. Using the manual, traditional measuring methods, Flatness is measured using a height gage or CMM, dragging a probe over the surface however with today’s software technology for inspection, very often color maps may [...]
Is Metal 3D Printing Ready for Primetime?
By Joseph Castine A reprint from https://www.fabbaloo.com/news/lessons-from-cimquests-2021-xpand3d-event-part-one With the rapid expansion of the additive manufacturing industry, metal printing technologies continue to emerge, but this raises the question “Is Metal Printing Ready for Primetime?” The discussion by Nate Higgins (President, FreeFORM Technology), Ric Fulop (Founder/CEO, Desktop Metal), Bob Hedrick (President, CAMufacturing Solutions), Kenneth Fortier (Product Owner – Visualization and Simulation, Mastercam), and Rob Hassold (CEO/Founder, Cimquest) came together to discuss. The metal segment is one of the fastest-growing of the additive manufacturing market, with some of the technology only recently becoming affordable. This is due largely in part to Desktop Metal, a company dedicated to making this growing technology more accessible for engineers, designers, and manufacturers. Desktop Metal went public at the end of 2020 with a valuation of $2.5 billion. Desktop Metal’s recent acquisitions include Adaptive 3D for elastomer and rubber materials and EnvisionTEC for photopolymer printers. Within this industry, there are several metal additive manufacturing technologies emerging, including Binder Jet. Binder Jet is a technology that Desktop Metal has implemented in their Shop and Production Systems, since the printers use laserjet printing heads which can be found in paper printers around the globe, the systems can produce parts up to 100 times [...]