Creating a Water-Tight Model from CAT scan
This blog post will show you an advanced method to clean up internal portions of a CAT scan with the goal of creating a water-tight model. When processing CAT scan data the biggest challenge is cleaning up the geometry. Typically, the internal geometry of a CAT scan contains disconnected poly-faces, which makes it difficult to select and delete only the unwanted geometry. A good example of this is a CAT scan of a bone, as you can see in the image below. This vertebra shows the disconnected poly-faces in what appears to be internal channels and bridges. How would you go about creating a water-tight model from this geometry containing numerous floating, disconnected, irregular objects? Geomagic Design X has a great solution for this. It is called Virtual Rescan. Virtual Rescan recreates a mesh by combining feature shapes captured in the normal direction of each virtual plane. In the settings, you select how the tool will recognize outside geometry, and in essence, it “rescans” to only give you the outside shell. Now, all you would need is to close all the remaining holes and generate your water-tight model. Imagine if you had to do this process manually, selecting and deleting each individual or [...]
Metal 3D Printing for Government and Defense
Encompassing more than 100,000 companies and subcontractors around the globe, the government and defense industries produce everything from equipment for law enforcement, infrastructure and public transit to the development, design, production, and maintenance of military weapons and systems, components, and parts. The mission-critical nature of many of their applications means government and defense manufacturers face a number of unique challenges, starting with production volume. From producing a handful of prototype parts for research to mass-producing a part for field deployment, government and defense manufacturers must be able to quickly move between low- and high- volume production, something that can be difficult - and expensive - for traditional manufacturing processes. To stand up to the harsh conditions they’ll face, including high stress, heat, and corrosion, those parts need to be made from metal - and often alloys with specific composition or performance criteria that can make them difficult to machine. Adding to the challenge government and defense manufacturers face is the fact that projects may last, in some cases, for 70 years or more. Maintaining or replacing parts over decades, however, can be challenging. If the original drawings or tooling is lost, they must be recreated from scratch, a process that is both time-consuming [...]
Introducing Desktop Metal Studio System 2™
The Studio System 2 - Office-friendly Metal 3D Printing in Just 2 Steps: Print. Sinter. With a simplified, two-step process that eliminates the need for solvent debinders, The Studio System 2 packs all the benefits of the original Studio System - no hazardous metal powders or lasers, no dedicated operators, no special facilities needs - into a package that’s more accessible than ever before and that produces even higher-quality parts. Using data from thousands of prints, Desktop Metal’s team of engineers and material scientists made significant advancements across virtually all aspects of the system, from material formulations to print/sinter profiles to hardware to the ability to sinter new geometries, all of which add up to improved part success. Along with new material formulations developed for improved surface finish, the Studio System 2 features a specially-formulated ceramic interface, designed to move more uniformly during sintering, reducing the chance of cracking or warping. With new print and sinter profiles built into the system’s software, complicated printing and metallurgical processes are automated, making it easy for Studio System 2 users to produce high-quality parts with improved feature accuracy, surface finish and material properties than Studio System 1 parts. The user-friendly hardware of the Studio System 2 [...]
New Photopolymers 3D Printing Materials Available for Nexa3D
Building on momentum from previous collaborations, Henkel and Nexa3D continue to drive solutions for functional 3D printed parts with the release of three new photopolymers. Leveraging the expanding portfolio of high-performance resins and Nexa3D’s productivity advantages using the NXE400 printer, both companies are enabling access to a wider range of durable prototypes, production tools, and end-use parts. This new digital workflow unlocks greater design freedom, supply chain resiliency, and rapid implementation that traditional manufacturing methods cannot compete with. “We believe that our rapidly expanding collaboration with LOCTITE, now spanning six materials, coupled with our demonstrated 20X productivity gains achieved by our ultrafast NXE400 3Dprinter and up to 85% lower total cost of ownership, delivers higher productivity, better-extended life functionality, and exceptional economics.” — Kevin McAlea, Chief Operating Officer, Nexa3D. xPP405 Black and xPP405 Clear A tough semi-rigid material with high-strength engineering plastic delivering good impact resistance with performance similar to unfilled propylene. Suitable for applications such as large housings, sheet metal forming dies, and see-through element. xPEEK147 Black Tough materials with excellent surface finish, strong dimensional stability, and temperature resistance up to 230°C. Suitable for applications, such as tooling, molding applications, automotive under-hood, and a variety of end-use parts. For more information on [...]
Partial Hand Solutions Create Pediatric Prosthetics with Fuse 1 3D Printer
Advanced prosthetics manufacturer Partial Hand Solutions (PHS) has leveraged Formlabs’ new Form 1 3D printer to optimize its artificial limb manufacturing process. Instead of outsourcing the production of its pediatric M-Finger and Elbow implants to an injection molding firm, PHS now uses the Form 1 to create patient-specific prosthetics in-house. By switching to Formlabs’ recently-launched system, the company has managed to 3D print more durable nylon parts cost-effectively while cutting their lead times down from two weeks to just a couple of days. “Waiting two days for a full build platform of printers blows away the weeks I used to wait for my injection molding parts to arrive,” said Matthew Mikosz, Founder of Partial Hand Solutions. “Using the Fuse 1 has expanded my horizons. Now I’m thinking about how I can improve my work and create better patient outcomes.” Partial Hand Solutions’ new 3D printer setup (pictured) has allowed it to produce patient-specific prosthetics for the first time. Photo via Partial Hand Solutions Partial Hand’s SLS Problem Since 2007, PHS has worked to push amputee technology boundaries and create prosthetics with new functionality for those with partial hand amputations. Given that many of the firm’s clients are either active soldiers or [...]
Metrology Minute – Free Control X Viewer
The Free Control X Viewer sets new standards for inspection report review. While Control X has always been able to produce complete inspection reports in various static formats, the Control X 2020 Viewer goes beyond a static review of inspection criteria. When the Viewer opens an inspection, each of the Model Manager inspection objects is populated by the author of the inspection program, yet no menus are available for you to add new or remove any of the inspection objects. Only the 3D Compare objects (3D Color Maps) are editable, enabling you to change nominal and critical tolerances, as well as any of the other menu settings. Below is a sample color map. For the 3D Compare tool, when you click on the 3D Compare node in the Model Manager, the menu opens, allowing you to make modifications to that portion of the inspection. In the example below, the specific tolerance was modified from +/-.003” to +/-.001” and you can see that much more of the model now falls outside of the new nominal specifications. While the Viewer doesn’t allow you to create new inspection criteria or edit most of the inspection node items, the ability to view any of the values in [...]