3D Printing Materials (4) Page 4

In 2021, Stratasys introduced a new flexible material to the PolyJet platform in two different colors. Elastico is the new elastomeric PolyJet material that has a base shore hardness of A 45 and boasts an impressive elongation at a break of up to 400%. Elastico possesses superior tear resistance of more than 7 kg/cm making it an ideal addition to the PolyJet family. Let's take a closer look at this fantastic digital material.

SOLIDWORKS Simulation is a widely used tool to verify designs and minimize the prototyping phase. What if it could be used in conjunction with 3D printing? Well, it can! Engineers can 3D print simulation results with PolyJet 3D printing technology. This is a fantastic way to display information to other engineers and designers about simulation results due to the inherently robust communication with a 3-dimensional, physical copy of a 3D printed part. Teams can better identify hot spots, critical points and deformations by looking at the 3D printed part in their hand. Let's look at how this is done.

As more advanced and reliable solutions come to market to offset the percentage of a market owned by traditional manufacturing methods, additive manufacturing is consistently looked at with admiration. This new technology is currently positioned as a complement to subtractive manufacturing and will continue to do so until certain variables can be tamed with near-flawless accuracy and precision. One step closer to perfection is the addition of anchor columns in GrabCAD Print. Let's take a look at how this works. 

The goal for this project was to create a set of 3D printed mounting brackets that I wanted to bolt to the factory mounting locations at the front valance of my Toyota MR2. The original lower front spoiler on the car was cracked and in very poor shape. To replace this part would be costly and time-consuming, and because of that, I figured why not try and create my own? Let's take a look at the steps I took to create a prototype wind spitter using 3D scanning, SOLIDWORKS and 3D printing.

When you first put an STL file next to an SLDPRT file in GrabCAD Print, you might have noticed it can be difficult to tell them apart. However, looks can be deceiving, and the native SOLIDWORKS SLDPRT file format packs a surprising amount of functionality into a 3D model. In this blog post, we are going to dive into the three primary reasons you should be using SLDPRT files instead of STL for 3D printing.

GrabCAD Print version 1.54 now gives all FDM users access to the Wall Stabilizer tool so they can apply this tool to a 3D print that is tall and thin for better builds. Let’s dive in and take a quick test drive through the interface and check out the options that are available.

It has been an eventful year so far for the TriMech RP Services team. Six months ago we outgrew our longtime printing facility and now we’re established at our new location in Connecticut and fully operational! We keep up with the advancements in new technologies that come out regularly including several new materials and machines released from Stratasys the past few months (with more coming out later this year). 

Additionally, TriMech and another industry leader, Javelin Technologies of Canada have come together as one team. All of these changes are exciting TriMech, as well as the industry as a whole, but what I'm really excited to talk about are the changes to our Rapid Prototyping Services department and how we are making these technologies more accessible to new and existing customers.

The 3D printing space is chock full of different OEM’s boasting features and benefits that make them appear better, faster, or less expensive. Meanwhile; Stratasys is putting their money where their mouth is by constantly developing new materials to push the limits of additive manufacturing. Vero UltraBlack™ Black and Vero UltraWhite™ have opened a new avenue of 3D printing by allowing users to achieve rich and full true colors at a mind-boggling thickness. Additionally, they have increased their achievable color gamut to over 560,000 different colors, giving users more design possibilities allowing them to create without compromise on the PolyJet J8-Series and J55 Printers.

Here is another installment in the Know your Materials video series. In this video, we have some samples of the new Vero UltraBlack and Vero UltraWhite PolyJet material. You may be asking “What’s so 'ultra' about these materials?”