TriMech Blog

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.

Enough books to fill a bookshelf have been written about Design-For-Manufacture (DFM) parts that will be machined or casted. On the other hand, when it comes to resources on how to DFM for 3D printing, there is a void.

We know not everyone eats, sleeps and breathes technology like we do. Which means maybe you haven't dived too deep into what is going to happen in the future with the industry. Since we're tech obsessed, we're constantly following additive manufacturing trends and researching what's in store for the future of 3D printing. Read our top five predictions and tell us what you think.

3D printing is a process that embraces the production of unique, customized, short-run parts. During the holiday season, I can think of nothing better to take advantage of this concept than by designing some interesting TriMech and Stratasys themed cookie cutters in SOLIDWORKS and then printing them out using the food-contact safe ULTEM 1010 CG material.

The aerospace industry is fast moving. Once one challenge gets solved, the market has already changed and moved onto a new trend. This means expensive and time-consuming tooling and production aren't an efficient option. To remain competitive, the aerospace industry leans on additive manufacturing, especially 3D printing with ULTEM materials. Find out why in this blog.

Do you have demanding applications that require 3D printing strong parts? Then this blog is for you. We will explore Stratasys' strongest industrial-grade FDM thermoplastic, ULTEM 1010, what applications it is used for and how it differs from other materials in the ULTEM family.

Stratasys is the leader in 3D printing technology, which means they are constantly looking for more ways to expand their printer and material lineup. With more options than ever before, selecting the right technology can be overwhelming. That's why we're here to help you understand your different options—particularly when it comes to high-performance 3D printing materials. Keep reading to learn which materials are classified as high-performance, how they rank on different tests and what industries they are ideal candidates for.

Stratasys offers a variety of thermoplastic materials, all of which are designed to make strong, durable parts. Traditionally, consumers tend to gravitate toward ABS because it is the most well-known of the thermoplastic materials Stratasys offers. However, there is a dark horse in the FDM material lineup that few people look into, and it could prove to be a better solution to your needs over ABS. That material is called ASA. Keep reading to see how the two materials compare.

For this article, we compare the three different nylon based materials offered by Stratasys for FDM 3D printing. Each of these materials have their own advantages and drawbacks. Keep reading to learn about the technical properties of Nylon 6, Nylon 12 and Nylon 12CF (carbon filled) and why you would choose one material over another for your next engineering project.