TriMech Blog

Stratasys printers offer a wide range of material options across their FDM product line. These materials are all true thermoplastics that are common to many traditional forms of fabrication (i.e. ABS, PC, Nylon, Ultem). The majority of FDM printed parts are used for prototyping, jig, fixtures, tooling and end-use applications. In these settings, it's common for the 3D printed parts to come in contact with various chemicals. This means when deciding which material is the best fit for an application it's important to not just look at the strength of a particular material (tensile strength, impact-resistance, elongation at break, etc.), but we must also look at how a material can hold up to potential chemical exposure.

FDM Nylon 12CF is a chopped carbon fiber-filled polyamide 12 material that is available for 3D printing on compatible Stratasys Fortus production systems. The material is 35% carbon-fiber by weight and has a high strength-to-weight ratio with a tensile strength on par with high-performance FDM material.
 

We want to tell you about a great application for our Stratasys FDM printers: 3D printing sacrificial cores. This is perfect for creating composite parts (such as hollow carbon fiber auto parts) with higher precision than traditional methods. Perhaps the best part is that it doesn’t require much complexity or expense on the 3D printing side, and the results are arguably better than you get with traditional methods. You’re getting the end-use part, in the real composite material, but with more design flexibility and smooth surfaces inside and out.

3D printing has come a long way from where it started. It has made so many advances that it can even help save people's lives. Currently, Stratasys offers (3) different materials that have either been tested by the raw material manufacturer, or by Stratasys, and have some level of compliance.

In most cases, when working with prototypes for consumer goods, product development engineers want a print that will most closely represent the final production part. The ability to print new iterations on the fly, as multiple changes typically take place, is crucial. This is where 3D printing comes in handy. Keep reading to learn the advantages of both PolyJet and FDM technologies when it comes to consumer goods.

Anyone who has compared traditional FDM (sometimes called Fused Filament Fabrication) to other 3D printing technologies, such as PolyJet, SLA and SLS, has definitely thought at one time or another, “This technology is both inexpensive to print and strong, but I really wish it had better resolution.” In this blog, we explore how to make FDM look as good as other technologies while remaining inexpensive and not impacting overall strength. We’ve printed a horde of Easter Island Moai to play around with the top three ways to smooth PLA parts.

Ready to take your designs to the next level? Objet Connex machines are a great aid because some of the printers have the ability to print in multiple materials and colors at the same time. This allows you to produce parts with varying durometers of rubber, different colors for text inlays and accents, live hinges and overmolded parts. This opens up countless doors, especially in the Consumer and Commercial Goods industries.

Materials are the building blocks of every model, literally. While your design is being printed, each layer stacks upon each other, building it up, until your print is complete. Stratasys has more color options and unmatched product realism than any other 3D printer on the market today. Keep readying to discover the different material properties that can match your company's needs. 

Yes, you did read that title right. It may seem counter intuitive and may go against everything you have been taught about 3D printing, but in reality ABS and ASA material have a few tricks hidden up their sleeve. There is a common notion to use ABS and/or ASA for strength and PolyJet/SLA for surface finish. However, you can get the strength and part stability ABS is known for, as well as the surface finish that rivals injection molded parts. And there are multiple methods of achieving this. 

For over a decade, companies have tried to pin FDM technology against PolyJet technology. Whether it be the fine detail of PolyJet capabilities outweighing the lack of support needed for FDM, or that the strength of materials available in FDM is worth the additional time of printing over the PolyJet, an argument can usually be made to justify one over the other. Although some industries may always lean one way more than the other, I am here to discuss the benefits of having both technologies under the same roof.

It seems like 3D printers can use any material nowadays. Desktop Metal is reinventing the way engineering and manufacturing teams produce metal parts with the ability to print in metal. There are even some printers that can print chocolate, pasta and wait for it— pizza! However, most commercial 3D printers create parts in some sort of plastic. To help you choose which is right for your application, we outline some key material properties below.