TriMech Blog

This week's Product Story showcases Taza Chocolate Manufacturing and their use of the Tulip Software Platform to identify bottlenecks on old machinery and improve overall effectiveness.

Over the past year, we at TriMech have been able to make some fantastic full-color PolyJet models using the Stratasys J750, but as we close in on 2020, Stratasys has just announced the newest addition to their J-series of PolyJet 3D printers, the J850. To celebrate, and also to prepare for Halloween, we’re taking full advantage of what the J-series can do by making some incredible full-color rigid and flexible semi-translucent TriMech lollipops!

Diran (Diran 410MF07) is an FDM nylon-based thermoplastic filament material that is perfect for manufacturing tooling applications. This new material is specifically ideal for jigs, fixtures and typical manufacturing tooling that require a non-marring interface that has interactions between the tool and the workpiece. Let's take a closer look at this new FDM thermoplastic.

Many people’s dream is to travel the world and experience new adventures. But this might not always be the case because of natural disasters, over-tourism or even human-motivated vandalism. To document these at-risk landmarks and relics, 3D technologies, such as laser scanning, drones and photogrammetry are used to capture the detailed images of these places and objects. While heritage preservation has played an important role in encouraging more cultural exploration, there is a whole new use of 3D technology which could cause awareness and appreciation nationwide over the next decade from the comfort of our own homes.

Have you ever wondered, “how do I change the information displayed about the files in the SOLIDWORKS PDM Vault view?” Maybe you’d like to see the information that’s available on the data card, but it’s not shown in the file view or a different set of information on the Bill of Materials than what’s shown. SOLIDWORKS PDM displays the information that you see about the files in the vault using COLUMNS.

Stratasys offers multiple 3D printing options to help your designs come to life. FDM printers use production-grade thermoplastics to create parts that are designed to be durable, easily replicated and stable over time. PolyJet printers provide unmatched realism with multi-colored prints and textures. Stratasys has taken them a step further with these new material additions.

The new J835 and J850 PolyJet 3D printers from Stratasys are the latest machines in their popular and expanding J-series. These PANTONE Validated™ 3D printers have the capacity to print color critical parts with incredible accuracy and realism. This new addition to the PolyJet portfolio builds on the previous printer platform and allows you to create models and prototypes with more material options, more realistic finishes and draft projects up to 2x faster than before.

By now you’ve probably seen the headlines of the great new enhancements to SOLIDWORKS with the latest release – SOLIDWORKS 2020. Sure, there are some real game-changing additions to the toolset, like envelope publisher, detailing mode for drawings and G3 continuity to name a few. But with countless enhancements and hundreds of pages of release notes, there are some that don’t get as much attention but are still welcomed additions to SOLIDWORKS. Here are the top enhancements you might have missed in SOLIDWORKS 2020. It’s the low-key features we’re sure you’ll be excited to use as soon as you get your hands on SOLIDWORKS 2020.

SOLIDWORKS Simulation Premium enables you to virtually test real-life scenarios more accurately. It provides you with a wide variety of material models for nonlinear analyses. Elastomers such as rubber, neoprene etc. are materials that go through large deformation very rapidly with relatively a low value of stress or applied load. In this article, we go over the different hyper elasticity material models available in SOLIDWORKS Simulation and how to use them to work with these types of materials. 

Stratasys announces the newest member to their J-series of PolyJet 3D printers: the Stratasys J750 Digital Anatomy Printer (DAP). This latest addition combines the outstanding realism of the popular J750 with anatomical simulation that is so life-like it can replace actual cadaver parts for practice and study. With hundreds of anatomical presets to choose from, this advancement allows you to practice procedures at 70% of the cost of cadavers and other medical models. The J750 DAP is the only printer today able to produce full-color, multi-material, textured models in a single print on a production scale. 

This week's Product Story showcases Alpha Precision Group and their use of the Desktop Metal Studio System+.

Alpha Precision Group (APG) uses Desktop Metal's Studio System+ to produce a wide variety of parts including jigs, fixtures and end of arm tooling to help their manufacturing floor operate at full efficiency. 

Do you work with living hinges? If you’re in the consumer products space, it's likely that’s a “yes.” A living hinge is simply a one-piece hinge—just a thin, flexible piece made from the same material as the rigid components it connects. Living hinges are found in plastic packaging, dispensing caps, thermoformed clam shell packaging and more. Manufacturing guidelines are easy to obtain for a variety of use cases.